year word in 29:14

[Student]

Salaam,

What is the subtle difference between عَامًا and سَنَةٍ  in the ayah 29:14 which got lost in the translations with equal treatment = years?

[Duster]

Shalom / peace

See post below and comments..

https://m.facebook.com/joseph.a.islam/posts/395974967206303?stream_ref=10

Also note sooner of the comments are from those that don't believe in Bible miracles......brother Joseph often has to repeatedly provide proof from the Quran for this .....

[Joseph Islam]

Jazāk Allāhu Khayran brother Duster for sharing this very old post. 

[Student]

Thanks Duster for the post, I don't know how I missed it from FB main page probably it is part of some broken links in there. At any rate, I still see the the post and comments didn't explicitly give answer I'm looking for though the post captures the wisdom and correctly defended possibility of literal 950 years of life of Nuh AS.

IF you or someone can give the nuance between the two that would be helpful inshallah. 

[wanderer]

Try this:
http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp
Just from a cursory observation, they do appear to be synonyms.
Regards
wanderer

[wanderer]

Whoops, wrong link:
http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=29&verse=14#(29:14:12)
Here you go
Regards
wanderer

[Joseph Islam]

Dear Student,

As-salamu alaykum

For the subtle nuance difference, I share an excerpt from a lexicon which provides a detailed discussion.

• " عَامٌ A year syn. سَنَةٌ: (S, K;) or حَوْلٌ; [not سَنَةٌ; for] El. Jawáleekee says, the common people do not distinguish between the عام and the سنه, making them both to have the same meaning; but the right state of the case is what I have been told on the authority of Ahmad Ibn-Yahyà [i. e. Th], that the سنه is from any day from which one commences a reckoning to the like thereof, and the عام is only [a period of] a winter and a summer; and it is also said in the T and in the Bári that the عام is a حَوْل that makes an end of a winter and a summer, so that every عام is a سنة, but every سنة is not an عام; for when you reckon from a day to the like thereof, that is a سنة, and there may be in it half of the summer. and half of the winter, whereas the عام is only a winter and a summer, without interruption: (Msb, MF: *) Er-Rághib mentions a difference in the uses of the words عَامٌ and سَنَةٌ [as has been stated in art. سنو and سنى: see سَنَةٌ in that art.] and Suh says, in the R, that the سنة is longer than the عام; that the former is “ a single revolution of the sun; ” and that the latter is applied to the [twelve] Arabian months [collectively]: it is said to be called عام because of the sun's عَوْم [or coursing] through all of its zodiacal signs [during the period which it denotes]: (TA:) its pl. is أَعْوامٌ, (S, Msb, K,) because the sing. is originally of the measure فَعَلٌ [i. e. عَوَمٌ]: (Msb:) it has no other pl. than this. (TA.) ―
   - One says, لقِيتُهُ عَامًا أَوَّلَ [I met him in a former year; generally meaning, the year immediately preceding, or, as we say, last year]; making the last word imperfectly decl. as being an epithet [and of the measure of a verb]: and لَقِتُهُ عَامًا أَوَّلًا [I met him in a year before: generally meaning the same as the phrase preceding]; making the last word perfectly decl. as not being an epithet [but an ad(??) and K in art. وأل) or the meaning is, (??) year] before this year; even if it be by a number of years: ('Alee El-Kári, on the authority of Seer, in a marginal note in my MS. copy of the K, art. اول:) and one says also, accord. to AZ and IAar, لَقَيتُهُ عَامَ الأَوَّلِ; (TA in art. وأل;) or the is rarely said; (K and TA in that art.;..) or should not be said; (ISk, S and TA in that art.;..) (??) should one say, لَقَيتُهُ عَامَ أَوَّلَ (ISk TA in the present art.) And [in like manner] one says, ما رَأَيْتُهُ مُذْ عَامٌ أَوَّلُ, putting the last word in the nom case as being an epithet, (S and K in art. وأل,) as though he said أَوَّلُ مِنْ عَامِنَا [i. e. I have not seen him since a year preceding this one year]; (S in that art.;..) and مُذْ عَامٌ أَوَّلَ, putting the last word in the accus. case as an adv n., (S and K * in that art.,) as though he said مُذْ عامٌ قَبْلَ عَامِنَا [since a year before this our year]; (S in that art.;..) and مُذْعَامًا أَوَّلَ and مُذْ عَامُ الأَوَّلِ are also mentioned by different authors (??)in art, منذ) And [using the dim. form] one says, لَقِتُهُ ذَاتَ ↓ العُوَيْمِ i. e. [I met him] in the course of some years; like as one says, لَقِيتُهُ ذَاتَ الزُّمَيْنِ, and ذَاتَ مَرَّةٍ: (S:) or the meaning is, (some few years ago; or] three years ago or more, to ten: (AZ, Az, TA:) and it is like the saying, لَقِيتُهُ مُنْذُ سُنَيَّاتٍ: the fem. form is used because they mean by it مَرَّة وَاحِدَة. (Az, TA.) ―
   - One says also نَاقَةٌ بَازِلُ عَامٍ and بَازِلُ عَامِهَا [A she-camel that has passed a year, and her year, after cutting her tush], (TA,) and بازِل عَامَيْنِ that has passed two years after cutting the tush. (MF and TA in art. بزل.)
   = See also عَامَةٌ, in two places.
   = It is also said in the K that العَامُ signifies النَّهَارُ: but this is a mistake and a mistranscription it is العَيَامُ; and its place is art. عيم; as it as mentioned by Az, on the authority of El-Muärrij, (TA.)"

[1]


Regards,
Joseph


REFERENCES
 
[1] LANE. E.W, Edward Lanes Lexicon, Williams and Norgate 1863; Librairie du Liban Beirut-Lebanon 1968, Volume 5, Page 2202

[Student]

Thank you Wanderer and Sir Joseph