غدو

Core meaning

To go out at the start of the day: the departure that opens a stage. Hence the morning, facing the evening, the day to come, and the meal taken on the way.

Uses

1. غَدَوْتَ, ٱغْدُوا۟, غَدَوْا۟ → "to leave early", "to go out early" : to go out from home in the morning for an undertaking.

   • «وَإِذْ غَدَوْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ» — "And when you left your household early" (3:121)
   • «وَغَدَوْا۟ عَلَىٰ حَرْدٍۢ قَٰدِرِينَ» — "And they went early, headstrong, capable" (68:25)

2. ٱلْغُدُوّ, ٱلْغَدَوٰة, غُدُوًّا → "the morning", "morning and evening" : the hour of departure, always paired with the evening to say the whole day.

   • «ٱلَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلْغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلْعَشِىِّ» — "those who invoke their Guardian, morning and evening" (6:52)
   • «ٱلنَّارُ يُعْرَضُونَ عَلَيْهَا غُدُوًّۭا وَعَشِيًّۭا» — "the Fire, to which they are exposed morning and evening" (40:46)

3. غُدُوُّهَا → "its outward course" : the going-out become a journey, when a length of time follows it.

   • «غُدُوُّهَا شَهْرٌۭ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهْرٌۭ» — "its outward course was a month's journey, and its homeward course was a month's journey" (34:12)

4. غَدًا, لِغَدٍ → "tomorrow" : the next departure: the day to come, and what it will bring.

   • «إِنِّى فَاعِلٌۭ ذَٰلِكَ غَدًا» — "I will do that tomorrow" (18:23)
   • «وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌۭ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍۢ» — "let every Self consider what it has prepared for tomorrow" (59:18)

5. غَدَآءَنَا → "our meal" : what one takes along at departure and eats on the way.

   • «ءَاتِنَا غَدَآءَنَا» — "Bring us our meal" (18:62)

Evidence from the text

In 34:12, Sulayman's wind has "its outward course" and "its homeward course", each of a month: the pair that elsewhere says morning and evening (6:52, 7:205, 13:15, 18:28, 24:36, 40:46) becomes two journeys. The core of the word is thus the departure itself, and the morning is only its ordinary hour: in 68:21-25, the owners of the garden call one another "in the morning" and go out early to their tilth.

"Tomorrow" extends the same gesture: it is the next departure, the one not in our hands. One does not say "I will do that tomorrow" without God's will (18:23); "no Self has any idea what it will earn tomorrow" (31:34); and each must consider what it has prepared for that day (59:18). The meal, finally, is the meal of the journey: Moussa asks for it after they had traversed, when fatigue is felt (18:62).

Distinctions

• روح — the return to the place of rest, in the evening; غدو names the going-out that opens it

See also

عشو (the evening)