matni

Matni is a term found in several languages of the Silk Road region, notably Urdu, Persian, and Arabic, where it functions primarily as an adjective or noun related to text or content. The word derives from the root maṭn (متن in Arabic script), meaning the body, substance, or main text of a document. The form matni often appears in romanized transliterations as well, reflecting the same sense in different scripts.

In linguistic and literary usage, matni denotes the textual portion of a document or discourse—the main body of material as opposed to headings, marginalia, or footnotes. In scholarly and philological contexts, it is used to indicate in-text content, the actual words of a passage, or the substantive content of a work. In religious and hadith studies, the term maṭn (and its adjectival form matni) is used to refer to the text of a statement or narration, distinguishing it from the isnād, the chain of transmission.

In publishing and typography within South Asian contexts, matni can describe the main body text of a page or article, and it may appear in discussions of script styles, layout, or typesetting where the primary text is treated separately from headings, captions, or glosses. The exact usage and connotations of matni can vary by language, region, and discipline, but the common thread is its association with textual content.

As a proper noun, matni may occur as a surname or place name in some communities, though such uses are less widespread and highly regional. The term is typically capitalized when used as a proper noun in Latin script.

Related terms include maṭn (the base noun for “text” or “content”) and isnād (the chain of transmission in hadith studies).