سوغ

Core meaning

To pass easily down the throat: what is drunk without resistance, or what one cannot manage to swallow.

Uses

1. سَآئِغ → "pleasant to drink" : the liquid that passes without resistance.

   • «لَّبَنًا خَالِصًۭا سَآئِغًۭا لِّلشَّٰرِبِينَ» — "a refined milk, pleasant to drink for those who drink it" (16:66)
   • «هَٰذَا عَذْبٌۭ فُرَاتٌۭ سَآئِغٌۭ شَرَابُهُۥ» — "this one is sweet, fresh, pleasant to drink" (35:12)

2. أَسَاغَ → "to swallow" : to manage to swallow, said here in the negative.

   • «يَتَجَرَّعُهُۥ وَلَا يَكَادُ يُسِيغُهُۥ» — "which he will sip little by little, hardly able to swallow it" (14:17)

Evidence from the text

The milk drawn from between chyme and blood and the fresh water are "pleasant to drink" (16:66, 35:12): they pass without resistance. The purulent water of Jahannam is the reverse: it is sipped little by little, hardly swallowed (14:17). The same criterion measures favour and punishment.

Distinctions

• شرب — to drink: the act; سوغ says the ease of the passage
• جرع — to sip little by little, when nothing passes easily