In mahmūz al-ʿayn, hamzah occupies the second root position. سَأَلَ has the radicals س، ء، ل, making hamzah its middle radical.
رَأْسٌ (“head”) likewise contains ر، ء، س.
Written hamzah may be seated on alif, wāw, or yāʾ depending on orthography. A change of seat does not change its underlying position in the root. The criterion is the radical, not merely the graphic support on which hamzah is written.
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Hamzah as Middle Radical
The Seven Morphological Classes: Sound, Hamzated, Weak and Doubled
In mahmūz al-ʿayn, hamzah occupies the second root position. سَأَلَ has the radicals س، ء، ل, making hamzah its middle radical.
رَأْسٌ (“head”) likewise contains ر، ء، س.
Written hamzah may be seated on alif, wāw, or yāʾ depending on orthography. A change of seat does not change its underlying position in the root. The criterion is the radical, not merely the graphic support on which hamzah is written.