Sharjah: “The Gulf”
A number of scholars and lexicographers unanimously agreed that the historical dictionary of the Arabic language, which was issued under the supervision of the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah, will be the beginning of further work and research. Researchers can rely on it as fertile linguistic material to extract several dictionaries, such as “Dictionary of Terms and Their Evidence,” “Dictionary of Syndromes and Their Evidence,” and other sub-dictionaries that serve scholars and specialists.
This came in a symposium organized by the “Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah” at the 42nd Sharjah International Book Fair, entitled “What after the completion of the historical dictionary… ways to benefit and employ it,” in which Dr. Amhamed Safi Al-Mustaghanemi, Secretary-General of the Academy, and Dr. Emile Yacoub, university professor and expert, participated. Lexicographers from Lebanon, Dr. Muhammad Bakri Al-Hajj, President of the Arabic Language Academy in Sudan, and the symposium was moderated by Ms. Rasha Abujahin, head of the Arabic Language Center at the Academy.
Dr. Mosteghanemi said, “The historical dictionary of the Arabic language dates all the words of the Arabic language. Words, entries, and some roots may be omitted, but in general it is a comprehensive encyclopedic dictionary concerned with the history of words in the language. While other dictionaries do not follow a specific approach, the scholars of the Union of Linguistic Academies have developed a curriculum.” A determinant of a dictionary is the arrangement of verbs and nouns in a single root.
He explained that “other dictionaries did not care about when the verb was written, its context, who pronounced it, in what era it was mentioned, and whether it continued in the following eras or not?” As for the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language, it traces the pronunciation in the pre-Islamic, Islamic, Umayyad, and state eras. And the Emirates, and the modern era, and traces its development through the ages.”
Dr. Al Mosteghanemi stressed that the challenges were many, the most important of which was funding, and stressed the key role of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who dreamed from an early age of issuing the dictionary, and financed, sponsored, and followed it up until it was published.
He pointed out that “500 academics from 27 countries, 16 academies, and hundreds of editors, experts, and rapporteurs contributed to its preparation, and their efforts were focused in Sharjah, where the linguistic review, proofreading, and printing took place.”
He explained that the dictionary – which consists of 120 volumes – constitutes fertile linguistic material that researchers can benefit from in extracting several dictionaries, such as “The Dictionary of Terms and Their Evidence,” “The Dictionary of Syndromes and their Evidence,” and other sub-dictionaries that serve scholars and specialists.
In turn, Dr. Emile Yacoub identified ten advantages of the historical dictionary of the Arabic language, saying, “The dictionary was distinguished by an unprecedented speed of completion, and was unique in a new concept of the historical dictionary. It was the most correct division of linguistic eras, in tracing the source of the word throughout history, and the best arrangement in the derivatives of the roots. The most correct approach in proving standard derived names, the best understanding of the historical dictionary, the widest coverage of terminology, the most comprehensive investigation of roots, and the greatest size, wealth, and richness.”
For his part, Dr. Muhammad Bakri Al-Hajj confirmed that the dictionary did not depend on transfer from other dictionaries, and reviewed some of the challenges that faced the project, the largest of which was financing, saying, “The dictionary project stopped in 2008 when it was under the supervision of the Arabic linguistic academies, but His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah decided The year 2017 is to address this work by spending, financing, supervising and following up until it is issued. In addition to other challenges, such as approving the curriculum, which was not achieved until 2018, when researchers and technical staff were trained, and a team distributed among 13 research complexes and centers in the Arab world was qualified.
Dr. Al-Hajj explained that he presented seven research papers on the use of the historical dictionary, in which he focused on methodology, evidence, and text and discourse analysis, and identified areas for benefiting from it, saying: “The historical dictionary of the Arabic language can be used in various fields such as semantics and sociology, which is a major aspect that can be worked on.” Researchers starting from the era of Islam onwards, to know the culture of the language.”
2023-11-04 13:48:36
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