حسین مهتدی

Semantics is a scientific study of meaning that analyzes the meaning of words in terms of their semantic systems. Nowadays, one of the most important ways which literary scholars take into account is to rey on syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, because through the semantic network, the exact meaning of the word can be obtained by examining the words in the context of the verses. The term "azaab" ("chastisement"), is one of the most frequent words of the Qur'an. Taking into account the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes, it can be said that this term, in the Holy Qur'an, comes alongside with words such as "kufr" ("disbelief"), "zulm" ("oppression"), "kibr" ("arrogance"), "nifaq"("hypocrisy") which bring about "azaab" (chastisement); also, this term comes with the attributes such as: "elim" ("painful), "shadid" (sever), "mohin" (humiliating) and …; and, in possessive forms, comes with words such as "naar" (hellfire)"," sa'ir" (burning fire) and … . Also, this term is in the opposite of the words like "rahmat" ("mercy"). In the paradigmatic axis, also, it is relatively synonymous with words such as "khosr" ("loss"), "habt" ("annulment of one's work"), "eqaab" ("requiting"), "naar" (hellfire), "jazaa" ("punishment"), each of which, in some way, shows the "chastisement". The present descriptive-analytical research, thus, aims to investigate the term "azaab", relying on terminological studies and syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis of the words; therefore, after choosing the term "chastisement", the first frequent syntagms of this term are determined and then, based on them, substitutes of this concept are dealt with. The descriptive study shows that the term "chastisement" in its revelatory usage, is relatively synonymous with the words such as: "khosr", "habt", "eqaab", "naar", "jazaa", and in syntagmatic axis, it is completely influenced by its adjacent words and attributes.