The term tamyīz is used by the Arab grammarians to refer to one of the functions of the accusative. Generally translated as ‘specification’ or ‘specifier’, tamyīz, especially in the earlier sources, has the synonyms mumayyiz, mufassir, tafsīr, mubayyin, and tabyīn (see, however, Ibn Šuqayr, Muḥallā 15–16, where tafsīr is reserved for the accusative after numbers; cf. Mubarrad, Muqtaḍab II, 144, 164, 173, III, 32, 91, 259, where tabyīn and tamyīz are distinguished, but not uniformly).

Although Sībawayhi (d. 180/796) discusses tamyīz in various places of his Kitāb (I, 204–211, II, …