brother wadood suggests that 'insaan' can also be derived from 'uns'/comfort. which reminds me of imam riDa's verse: ik terey rukh ki rawshni chayn hai do jahaan ki ins ka uns usi se hai, jaan ki woh hi jaan hai the light of your radiant countenance, is the comfort for dwellers in both worlds, from him, is the solace to men; and he is the life of the jinn [or he is the essence of life] homonyms: ins=human; uns=solace. jaan=life; jaan=plural of jinn. the second line is bit tricky - the word jaan can have two meanings and accordingly the meaning of the verse changes, being correct in both ways. ---- another alliteration is found in his quatrain: Allah ki sar taa ba qadam shaan haiN yeh in saa nahiN insaan woh insaan haiN yeh qur'an toh imaan bataata hai unheN imaan yeh kahta hai meri jaan haiN yeh he is the manifest Glory of Allah from head to foot, he is that human, unlike any other human qur'an says that he is the very faith, and faith proclaims that he is my very life!
