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Lisan al-Arab

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Lisan al-Arab
AuthorIbn Manzur
Original titleلسان العرب
LanguageArabic
GenreDictionary

Lisān al-ʿArab (Arabic: لسان العرب, lit.'The Tongue of the Arabs') is a dictionary of Arabic completed by Ibn Manzur in 1290.

History

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Lisan al Arab.

Ibn Manzur's objective in this project was to reïndex and reproduce the contents of previous works to facilitate readers' use of and access to them.[1] In his introduction to the book, he writes:

In this book there is nothing unprecedented, nor is there a particular methodology I hold other than that I gathered what had been dispersed in those academic books... I did not include any other text, so let anyone who cites my book understand that he is citing these five original sources.[1]

Occupying 20 printed book volumes (in the most frequently cited edition), it is the best known dictionary of the Arabic language,[2] as well as one of the most comprehensive. Ibn Manzur compiled it from other sources to a large degree. The most important sources for it were the Tahdhīb al-Lugha [ar] of Azharī, Al-Muḥkam of Ibn Sidah, Al-Nihāya of Ibn Athīr and Jauhari's Ṣiḥāḥ, as well as the ḥawāshī (glosses) of the latter (Kitāb at-Tanbīh wa-l-Īḍāḥ) by Ibn Barrī.[3] It follows the Ṣiḥāḥ in the arrangement of the roots: The headwords are not arranged by the alphabetical order of the radicals as usually done today in the study of Semitic languages, but according to the last radical [4] - which makes finding rhyming endings significantly easier. Furthermore, the Lisān al-Arab notes its direct sources, but not or seldom their sources, making it hard to trace the linguistic history of certain words. Murtaḍá al-Zabīdī corrected this in his Tāj al-ʿArūs, that itself goes back to the Lisān. The Lisān, according to Ignatius d'Ohsson, was already printed in the 18th century in Istanbul,[5] thus fairly early for the Islamic world.

Published editions

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References

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  1. ^ a b "ابن منظور صاحب "لسان العرب"". www.aljazeera.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  2. ^ Kees Versteegh, The Arabic Language, pg. 63. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001. Paperback edition. ISBN 9780748614363
  3. ^ Lisān al-ʿArab, (Ādāb al-Ḥawza, Iran; 1984, vol.1 p.4)
  4. ^ Cf. for the arrangement of Arabic lexikographical works J. Kraemer: Studien zur altarabischen Lexikographie, in: Oriens 6 (1953), p.201-238.
  5. ^ Cf. C. Brockelmann: Geschichte der arabischen Literatur. Volume II, p. 21 u. Georg Jacob: Altarabisches Beduinenleben: Nach den Quellen geschildert. Mayer, Berlin ²1887, p. XXXV, who both refer to I. d'Ohsson: Allgemeine Schilderung des Othomanischen Reichs. Volume I, p. 573.
  6. ^ Raid Naim. "الباحث العربي: قاموس عربي عربي". Baheth.info. Retrieved 2014-03-05.
  7. ^ "downloadable". Retrieved 2014-03-05.