breaking the grounds for an etymological dictionary...
TRANSCRIPT
Breaking the Grounds for
An Etymological Dictionary of Arabic
Language and Culture ( EDALC )
Stephan Guth
Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk (IKOS), Oslo
ESF Exploratory Workshop
University of Oslo
June 22–23, 2013
This presentation Overview
Is there a need for an etymological dictionary of Arabic?
There is already...
The fear of incompleteness
newly lanced Muʿjam – a competing initiative?
Types of etymological dictionaries
Entry structure: some examples
My suggestion: EDALCSG
main ideas
Where to start from?
Material to build on
word lists
How far to go back in history?
samples entries
steps to take
Is there a need for EDALC ? Some critical reservations (1) : “There is already…”
David Klein, A Comprehensive Etymol. Dict. of the Hebrew Lang. (1899-1983)
Wolfram von Soden (<Bruno Meissner), Akkadisches Hdwörterb. (1965-81)
Wolf Leslau, Etymol. dict. of Harari (1963); id., Etymol. Dict. of Gurage
(Ethiopic) (1979); id., Comp. Dict. of Gǝʿǝz (Classical Ethiopic). Gǝʿǝz -
English/English-Gǝʿǝz with an index of the Semitic roots (1987)
Orel/Stolbova, Hamito-Semitic Etymological Dictionary (1995)
Christopher Ehret, Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian) (1995)
David Cohen [et al.], Dict. des racines sémitiques ... (1996 ff.)
Gábor Takács, Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian (1999 ff.)
Militarev/Kogan, Semitic Etymological Dictionary. Vol. 1: Anatomy of Man and
Animals (2000), vol. 2: Animal Names (2005), ... .
Encyclopædia of Islam and other lexica
No need for an EtymArab ? Arabic and other Semitic Cognates in
Wolf Leslau
Etymological dictionary of Harari Berkeley 1963
Wolf Leslau
Etymological dictionary of Gurage
(Ethiopic), 3 vols.
Wiesbaden 1979
No need for an EtymArab ? Arabic and other Semitic Cognates in existing dictionaries
Wolf Leslau
A Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic)
Geʿez-English/English-Geʿez with an index of the Semitic roots.
3 vols. Wiesbaden 1987
No need for an EtymArab ? Arabic and other Semitic Cognates in existing dictionaries
Helpful – but making
EtymArab
unnecessary?
”Index of Semitic Roots”
in
Wolf Leslau
Etymological dictionary of
Gurage (Ethiopic), 3 vols.
Wiesbaden 1979
Helpful – but making
EtymArab
unnecessary?
”Index of Semitic Roots”
in
Wolf Leslau
A Comparative Dictionary of
Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic) Geʿez-English/English-Geʿez with an index of
the Semitic roots
3 vols. Wiesbaden 1987
”Once bitten, twice shy” The fear of creating another torso
Wikipedia-type online tool is different!
Completeness? – not achievable!
Open questions, research lacunae, ongoing
discussion, scholarly dispute? – natural and
no shame!
cf. =>
Open questions,
incompletenes,
lacunae:
Natural, not
unusual...
and absolutely
nothing to be
ashamed of !
Pierre Chantraine
Dictionnaire étymologique
de la langue grecque :
histoire des mots
nouvelle éd. Paris 2009
Ét. : « Ignorée. ... »
Ét. : « Hapax
obscur. ... »
Ét. : « Souvent
considéré
comme... »
Ét. : « Peut-être
terme
d’emprunt. »
Gábor T
aká
cs, E
tym
olo
gic
al D
ictio
na
ry o
f Eg
yp
tian
, Leid
en
[etc
.] 1999 ff.
”Etymology obscure”, ”Origin disputable”, ... Incompletenes, lacunae, scholarly disputes
Gábor T
aká
cs, E
tym
olo
gic
al D
ictio
na
ry o
f Eg
yp
tian
, Leid
en
[etc
.] 1999 ff.
6 pages 7 lemmata
Gábor T
aká
cs, E
tym
olo
gic
al D
ictio
na
ry o
f Eg
yp
tian
, Leid
en
[etc
.] 1999 ff.
Balance
6 pages... 7 lemmata, thereof
2 “ obscure”
1 “ disputable”
1 “disputed”
1 “highly debated” .
5 highly interesting discussions !
Newly (re-)lanced project al-Muʿjam al-tārīḫī lil-luġa al-ʿarabiyya
joint venture of the Union of Arabic
Language Academies (Ittiḥād al-majāmiʿ al-
luġawiyya al-ʿilmiyya al-ʿarabiyya)
formed “Hayʾat al-Muʿjam al-tārīḫī...” (Cairo)
preparatory conference in Sharja (al-Šāriqa/
UAE) (funded by the Emir of Sh.), Dec. 2006
conference in Fes / Morocco, April 2010
documents and sample entries in: al-
Muʿjam al-tārīḫī li’l-luġa al-ʿarabiyya:
waṯāʾiq wa-namāḏij , ed. by Muḥ. Ḥasan ʿAbd
al-ʿAzīz, Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2008
process got stuck “bayn al-ʾamal wa’l-
ʿamal” (preface, p. 16)
new initiative spring 2013
other sample entries (2006): qiṭār ★ siyāsa ★ zunnār ★ √trjm, tarjamah, turjumān
★ wazīr, wizāra ★ ḥājib, ḥijāba ★ ḥukūma
What kind of etymological dictionary? Some samples and categories
“basic” : Kluge
“basic extended ” (1) : Online Etymological Dictionary O.E.D.
“basic extended ” (2) : Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.
“basic extended ” (3) : Littmann, Osman, Huehnergard
“hard core” : Turner, Indo-Aryan
“hard core extended ” (1): Cohen et al., DRS
Bjorvand/Lindeman, Våre arveord
“hard core extended ” (2) : Jeffery 1938
“hard core extended ” (3): Thesaurus Linguae Sericae (TLS)
“Arabic extended” : al-Muʿjam al-tārīḫī, zero version
“Basic” Friedrich Kluge: Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (6th ed. 1899)
A French equivalent of OED http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/ e.g., ”rupture”
CNRTL Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales, cf. also TLF-Etym
Étymol. et Hist. 1. a) xives. [apr. 1328] « cassure, séparation en morceaux » (Poème moralisé sur les propriétés
des choses, ms. Bibl. Nat. fr. 12483, éd. G. Raynaud, f o90, L, 2 ds Romania t. 14, p. 462); b) 1784 point de
rupture ici, p. transpos. « tension extrême, état de crise » (Diderot, Élém. de physiol., p. 94); 2. a) 1441 « non
respect, transgression d'une loi » (Archives dép. du Nord, B 642 ds Bibl. Éc. Chartes, t. 98, p. 308); b) 1616
rupture de la tresve (A. d'Aubigné, Hist. univ., I, X, éd. A. de Ruble, t. 1, p. 65); c) 1780 rupture de mon ban
(Mirabeau, Lettres orig. écrites du donjon de Vincennes, t. 4, p. 309); 1868 au fig. en rupture de ban (A. Daudet, Pt
Chose, p. 64); 3. a) 1538 méd. « hernie » (Est., p. 250); b) 1655 méd. rupture de ses organes (Cyrano de
Bergerac, Estats et empires de la lune, p. 37); 4. a) 1566 « renvoi des différents corps d'une armée » rupture du
camp de l'empereur (Lettres de Catherine de Médicis, éd. H. de La Ferrière, t. 2, p. 403, col. 2); b) 1601 «
dissolution, dispersion » rupture du parlement (Cl. Fauchet, Fleur de la maison de Charlemaigne, p. 81); 5. a) 1602
« interruption, cessation » (Id., Déclin maison de Charlemagne, p. 115); b) 1688 spéc. rupture ... de ... table
(Mmede Sévigné, Corresp., t. 3, pp. 405-406); 6. a) 1624 « destruction, annulation d'un lien entre des personnes »
rupture du mariage (V. d'Audiguier, Les Amours d'Aristandre et de Cleonice, p. 210); b) 1648 « querelle, brouille »
(G. de Balzac, Le Barbon ds Œuvres, t. 2, 1665, p. 711); c) 1656 « séparation, fait de quitter, d'abandonner
quelqu'un ou quelque chose » (Corneille, L'Imitation de J.-C., l. 1, chap. 6, p. 55: rupture avec les douceurs d'ici-
bas); 7. 1629 « dégradation, destruction » rupture des chemins (N. de Peiresc, Lettres, éd. Tamizey de Larroque, t.
2, p. 179); 8. 1684 peint. Rupture des Couleurs (Du Fresnoy, Art de Peint., p. 52-55 ds Brunot t. 6, p. 738, note 1);
9. 1832 « discontinuité, forte variation d'aspect » (Hugo, N.-D. Paris, p. 140); 1933 spéc. rupture de pente
(Malègue, Augustin, t. 1, p. 374). Empr. au lat.ruptura « rupture, bris », dér. du rad. du supin de rumpere (v.
rompre) à côté des formes d'a. et m. fr. régulièrement issues du lat. ou demi-sav. telles que roture « déchirure »
(1172-90, Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval, éd. F. Lecoy, 3709), routure « hernie » (1262, Jean Le Marchand, Mir. N.
D. Chartres, 89 ds T.-L., s.v. roture), ropture « non respect, transgression (d'une ordonnance) » (1404, 1recoll. de
lois, n o139, f o34 v o, Arch. Fribourg ds Gdf., s.v. routure), ca 1500 rompture (d'une trêve, d'un mariage) (Philippe
de Commynes, Mém., éd. J. Calmette, t. 1, p. 102 et t. 2, p. 247), et roupture « fracture, brèche » (1524, Reg. des
délib. de l'Hôtel de ville d'Autun, ms. Troyes, 711 ds Gdf. Compl., s.v. rupture).
“Basic extended ” (3) Huehnergard 2011 Cognates & etymologi (1)
John Huehnergard
»Proto-Semitic Language and Culture«
In: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, 5th ed., Boston & New York: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt, 2011: 2066-78.
Appendix II: Semitic Roots
“Basic extended ” (3) Huehnergard 2011
Cognates & etymologi + essay (2)
»There are many Proto-Semitic terms referring to agriculture. Words for basic farming
activities are well represented: fields (*ḥaql-) were plowed (*ḥrṯ), sown (*ḏrʕ), and reaped
(ʕśd); grain was trampled or threshed (*dyš) and winnowed (ḏrw) on a threshing floor
(*gurn-), and ground (ṭḥn) into flour (*qamḥ-). Words for several specific grains can be
reconstructed, including wheat (*ḥinṭ-), emmer (*kunāṯ-), barley (*šiʕār-; West Semitic
only, related to Proto-Semitic *śaʕr- ‘hair’), and millet (*duḫn-). The words for many other
agricultural products may provide clues as to the original homeland of the Semites, though
this is a matter of conjecture and dispute: they were acquainted with figs (*tiʾn-), garlic
(*ṯūm-), onion (*baṣal-, replaced in Akkadian by a Sumerian word), palm trees (*tamr- or
*tamar-; see tmr), date honey (*dibš-), pistachios (*buṭn-), almonds (*ṯaqid-), cumin
(*kammūn-; see kmn), and groats or malt (*baql-) as well as oil or fat (*šamn-; see šmn).
The early Semites cultivated grapes (*ʕinab-) growing on vines (*gapn-) in vineyards
(*karm- or *karn-), from which they produced wine (*wayn-, akin to Indo-European words
for wine and probably a loanword in Proto-Semitic as well). Another alcoholic beverage,
*šikar- (škr), was also known; it was stronger than *wayn-, perhaps fermented or distilled.«
(p. 2068)
John Huehnergard: »Proto-Semitic Language and Culture«, in: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language, 5th ed., Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011: 2066-78.
“Hardcore” Cognates only (comparative dict.)
karpūˊra 2880 karpūˊra m.n. ʻcamphorʼ Suśr. [Prob. ← Austro-as. EWA i
75 with lit.]
Pa. Pk. kappūra – m.n.; K. kôpur, oru m. (kôphur, oru m. ← Pers.
kāfur), S. kapūru m., P. kapūr m., N. kapur, B. kapūr, Or. kapūra,
Bhoj. Aw. lakh. H. kapūr m., G. kapūr n., M. kāpūr m., Ko. kāpūra, Si.
kapura. – Deriv. P. kapūrī ʻ pale yellow ʼ; H. kapūrī ʻ white or fragrant
as camphor ʼ; G. kapūryã n.pl. ʻ slices of raw mango ʼ (< ʻ yellow ʼ?).
Addenda: karpūˊra – : Garh. kapūr ʻ camphor ʼ.
Austro-as. Austro-asiatic | Aw. lakh. Lakhīmpurī dialect of Awadhī | B. Bengali (Baṅglā) | Bhoj. Bhojpurī
G. Gujarātī | Garh. Gaṛhwālī | H. Hindī | K. Kashmiri (Kāśmīrī) | Ko. Koṅkaṇī | M. Marāṭhī | N. Nepāli
Or. Oṛiyā | P. Panjābī (Pañjābī) | Pa. Pali | Pers. Persian (Iranian) | Pk. Prakrit | S. Sindhī
Si. Singhalese | Suśr. Suśruta
Sir Ralph Lilley Turner: A comparative dictionary of Indo-Aryan languages.
London: Oxford University Press, 1962-1966.
Includes three supplements, published 1969-1985.
http
://dsa
l.uchic
ago.e
du/d
ictio
narie
s/s
oas/
David Cohen [et al.]
Dictionnaire des racines sémitiques ou attestées dans les langues sémitiques
Leuven: Peeters, 1970-
“Hardcore
extended ” (1a)
Cognates,
arranged acc. to
Sem. branches +
ref. literature &
basic discussion
“Hardcore extended ” (1b)
Cognates
+ explanation & discussion
Harald Bjorvand, Fredrik Otto
Lindeman
Våre arveord: etymologisk
ordbok
Oslo: Novus, 2007
“Hardcore extended ” (2) Includes discussion, sometimes cultural background
Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’ān (1938)
“Hardcore extended ” (2)
Includes discussion, some-
times cultural background
Arthur Jeffery
The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’ān (1938)
Main Features : TLS...
is designed as a collaborative forum for discussion on the close reading of Chinese
texts
provides a corpus of classical Chinese texts wherever possible with interlinear
translations
links the texts incorporated with an analytic dictionary of the Chinese language
pays special attention to historical keywords.
works towards a cross-cultural study of conceptual history
compiles a detailed synonym dictionary of Chinese
systematically organises the Chinese vocabulary in taxonomic hierarchies of
synonym groups
develops a system of syntactic categories for the analysis of Chinese texts
develops a system of rhetorical devices for the analysis of Chinese texts
deploys a system of standard semantic relations, aiming to define the Chinese
conceptual space as a relational space
seeks to make available up-to-date databases on historical phonology and the
history of Chinese characters
TLS
Complex
Search
Options
TLS –Thesaurus Linguae Sericae Simple search, English word: “world”
“Arabic extended ”
al-Muʿjam al-tārīḫī lil-luġa al-ʿarabiyya
Sample entry: ḏarra (pp. 92-99)
Matityahu Clark
Etymological dictionary of
Biblical Hebrew /
based on the commentaries of
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
Jerusalem 1999
Entry structure Some examples
+ verbal root as etymon עבר
e/c explanation/commentary
gv gradational variant
dv derivational variant
cm cognate meaning
pc phonetic cognates
Johnny Cheung
Etymological dictionary of the
Iranian verb
Leiden 2007
Entry structure Some examples
lemma: reconstructed proto-
Iranian form
evidence from older stages of
the language (Avesta, Middle
Persian)
evidence from other branches
of the language family
Sanskrit cognates
reconstructed Indoeuropean
form
Indoeuropean cognates
(shortcut) References
R. S. P. Beekes /
Lucien van Beek
Etymological dictionary
of Greek
Leiden 2010
Entry structure Some examples
Entry structure Some samples
Alexander Militarev /
Leonid Kogan
Semitic Etymological
Dictionary Vol. 1: Anatomy of Man and
Animals. 2000
“basic extended” (2) OED, 2nd ed.
al-Muʕjam
al-muʔarriḫ
li-luġat al-ḍād
as suggested by
Muḥammad al-Dabbāġ (Ṣanʕāʔ)
Entry structure Some examples
EDALCSG Main ideas
A Etymology + B Conceptual-cultural history (contextualization,
explaining the data against a background of
relevant historical processes) [+ comparative cross-cultural discussion]
make existing material, scattered here and there,
available worldwide in 1 tool (online)
solid research and discussion
EDALCSG Main ideas
A Etymology +
B Conceptual-cultural history (contextualization,
explaining the data against a background of
relevant historical processes) [+ comparative cross-cultural discussion]
make existing material, scattered here and there,
available worldwide in 1 tool (online)
solid research and discussion +
easily „digestable“ summaries of research results
Approach / guiding principles From the ideal to the feasible
No doubt we will have to limit ourselves. But...
Before limiting ourselves, let the ideal guide us ! =>
In conceptualizing, think the future, not the present ! =>
Keep the structure as open (and simple) as possible (in order to allow
later extensions, additions, etc.) !
Then start with what is feasible now and promises the establishment
of a broad and solid foundation (basic structures first)
list of basic items / lemmata Which items to start with?
list of basic data / categories NUTSHELL, DETAILS, HISTCON, DATEDSOURCE
list of key texts / periods mark YEAR, PERIOD
Where to start from ?
Material to build on
There is already... To be incorporated, made accessible in 1 tool online
David Klein, A Comprehensive Etymol. Dict. of the Hebrew Lang. (1899-1983)
Wolfram von Soden (<Bruno Meissner), Akkadisches Hdwörterb. (1965-81)
Wolf Leslau, Etymol. dict. of Harari (1963); id., Etymol. Dict. of Gurage
(Ethiopic) (1979); id., Comp. Dict. of Gǝʿǝz (Classical Ethiopic). Gǝʿǝz -
English/English-Gǝʿǝz with an index of the Semitic roots (1987)
Orel/Stolbova, Hamito-Semitic Etymological Dictionary (1995)
Christopher Ehret, Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian) (1995)
David Cohen [et al.], Dict. des racines sémitiques ... (1996 ff.)
Gábor Takács, Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian (1999 ff.)
Militarev/Kogan, Semitic Etymological Dictionary. Vol. 1: Anatomy of Man and
Animals (2000), vol. 2: Animal Names (2005), ... .
Encyclopædia of Islam and other lexica
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. => cf., e.g., ... =>
Vladimir E. Orel
Olga V. Stolbova
Hamito-Semitic
Etymological
Dictionary: Materials for
a Reconstruction
Leiden [etc.] 1995
Material to build on Afroasian cognates
in
Material to build on Afroasiatic and cognates and reconstructed etymon
Material to build on Semitic Cognates
in
Martin R. Zammit
A Comparative
Lexical Study of
Qurʾānic Arabic
Leiden [etc.] 2002
Material to build on Cognates in Semitic &
discussion history
Alexander Militarev / Leonid Kogan
Semitic Etymological Dictionary Vol. 1: Anatomy of Man and Animals. 2000
M Militarev / Kogan
SED, I (2000)
Material to build on Cognates in Semitic and Afroasian
& discussion history
Where to start from ?
semantic fields
word lists
Which items to start with? E.g., Swadesh list ? (“final”, 1971 version)
http
://en
.wik
ipe
dia
.org
/wik
i/Sw
ad
esh_lis
t
Morris Swadesh (ed. posthum by Joel Sherzer): The Origin and Diversification of Language. Chicago: Aldine,
1971 (list on p. 283)
Which items to start with? Other wordlists
Swadesh list
Haspelmath & Tadmor, World Loanword Database (WOLD)
24 semantic fields :
The physical world • Kinship • Animals • The body • Food and drink • Clothing and
grooming • The house • Agriculture and vegetation • Basic actions and technology •
Motion • Possession • Spatial relations • Quantity • Time • Sense perception •
Emotions and values • Cognition • Speech and language • Social and political
relations • Warfare and hunting • Law • Religion and belief • Modern world •
Miscellaneous function words
< Intercontinental Dictionary Series meaning list, proposed by Mary Ritchie Key, and
ultimately based on Carl Darling Buck’s Dictionary of selected synonyms in the principal
Indo-European languages (1949). Two fields added for the Loanword Typology project
LWT code =>
M. Haspelmath / U. Tadmor Loanword Typology project LWT code h
ttp://w
old
.livin
gso
urc
es.o
rg/s
em
antic
field
Which items to start with ? Key concepts from
Brunner/Conze/Koselleck (eds.), Geschichtl.Grundbegriffe (1974 ff.)
GG i: A-D (1974) nobility, aristocracy • anarchy, anarchism, anarchist • employee •
anti-semitism • work, job • worker • enlightenment • state of emergency (necessitas publica,
state of siege, state of war, national emergency, state emergency right) • autarky •
authoritarian • farmer, peasantry • need • occupation • education, formation • fraternity,
brother shank, fraternization, brother love • federation, alliance, federalism, federal state •
citizen, citizenship, bourgeoisie, middle class • Caesarism, Napoleonism, Bonapartism, leader,
boss, imperialism • Christianity • democracy • dictatorship
GG ii: E-G (1975) honour, reputation • property • unity • emancipation • development,
evolution • factory, manufacturer • family • fanatism • feudalism, feudal • progress •
freedom, liberty • peace • history • civil society • society, community • law • division of
power • equilibrium, balance • equality • fundamental rights, human rights, citizen rights
GG iii: H-Me (1982) rule, power • hierarchy • ideology • imperialism • industry, trade •
interest • The Internationale (anthem), international, internationalism • capital, capitalist,
capitalism • communism • conservative, conservativism • war • crisis • criticism •
legitimacy, legality • liberalism & economic liberalism • power, force • Marxism • materialism
– idealism • majority, minority • mankind, humanity, humanism, human, humane
[etc. (7 vols.)]
Swadesh list
Haspelmath & Tadmor, WOLD / LWT codes
Brunner/Conze/Koselleck (eds.), Geschichtl. Grundbegriffe
Kirsten Malmkjær (Leicester), Key Cultural Texts project
Key concepts excerpted so far: The Barbarian • The self and The other • Creation •
God • (leap of) Faith • Marriage • Women • Humanity • Harmony • Peaceful co-
existence • Guilt • Culpability • The natural world • Landscape • Success • Panache
• Death • Fate • Self defence • Behaviours • Childhood • Upbringing • Education •
Adulthood • Masculinity • Femininity • Benevolence • Modesty • Humility • Justice
• Right • Choice • Angst • Ethics • Genuineness • Pretence • Being true to (self ...)
• Conventionality • Sacrifice • The individual • The collective • Reason and the
irrational • Reality • The sacred • The secular • The divine • The magical • The
world • Evil • Sin • Relation to the Other • Uses of and Reactions to religion • Power
v Cleverness • Wily servant • Respect v Fear • Good v Bad • Values • Virtues •
Love • Heroism • The Journey • Borders
K. Ali / O. Leaman, Islam : the Key Concepts
What to start with? Other wordlists
Where to start from ? Focus on a period ?
pre-Islamic: Afroasian
pre-Islamic: Semitic, Middle Persian, Greek, Roman
early Islamic / Umayyad
Abbasid
post-classical / pre-colonial / Ottoman
nahḍa
post-nahḍa
dialects ???
How far to go back
in history? Nostratic
Aharon Dolgopolsky
Nostratic Dictionary
3rd edition
Cambridge: McDonald Institute for
Archaeological Research, 2012
http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/
1810/244080
(downloadable pdf !)
Cf. also:
Sergej Starostin
Tower of Babel (StarLing)
šʕr شعر
√šʕr
DISAMBIG
šʕr (1) ‘feel, know intuitively; (compose) poetry’ : see below
šʕr (2) → šaʕr ‘hair’
šʕr (3) → šaʕrā ‘scrub country’
šʕr (4) → al-šiʕrā ‘Sirius, Dog Star’
šʕr (5) → šiʕār ‘password, slogan, motto’
šʕr (6) → šaʕīr ‘barley’
šʕr (7) → šaʕīra ‘rite, cultic practice’
šʕr (8) → šaʕārā ‘goats’
šʕr (9) → šaʕʕār ‘male dancer in female roles’
šʕr (10) → šawāʕir ‘attacks, diatribes’ (pl)
šʕr (11) → mašʕūr ‘split; mad, crazy’
LEMMA →
“ROOT” →
DISAMBIGUATION → (< homonymy, semantic
complexity, etc.)
EDALCSG Suggestion for standard entry (1)
šaʕr شعر var. شعر šaʕar (coll.; n.un. ة ) pl. شعور šuʕūr
√šʕr
[ BP#947 ] – WC1979: hair LWT#4.14 ; bristles; fur, pelt; cracks,
haircracks (e.g., in a vase) Haspelmath/Tadmor, Loan Word Typology code
DERIV
OBS شعر šaʕar- [-a-] be hairy
šaʕrī hairy, hirsute; hair (in compounds); capillary شعري
šaʕriyya wire grill, wire netting, lattice work; capillarity شعرية
šiʕriyya (eg.), šaʕriyya (ir.) vermicelli; spaghetti شعرية
šaʕrānī hairy, hirsute, shaggy شعراني
šuʕayra little hair شعيرة
šaʕīriyya vermicelli شعيرية
ʔašʕaru hairy, hirsute, long-haired, shaggy أشعر
mušʕarānī hairy, hirsute, shaggy مشعراني
For other items of the root → √šʕr
LEMMA →
“ROOT” →
ID in Buckwalter/Parkinson → Frequency dict. 2011
Wehr/Cowen, ArEngDict, 4th ed.
DERIVATIVES →
EDALCSG Suggestion for standard entry (2)
ETYMOLOGY IN A NUTSHELL
From Grk Seírios. [ Add general info on astronomy etc.]
ETYMOLOGY – DETAILS
Jeffery 1938, 186: »The Commentators know that it is the Dog Star,
which was anciently worshipped among the Banu Khuzāʿa (Bagh. and
Zam. on the passage, and cf. LA, vi, 84). – The common explanation of
the philologers is that it is from √šʿr and means ‘the hairy one’, but there
can be little doubt that it is derived from the Grk Seírios,[1] whose r, as
Hess shows, is regularly rendered by Arab ʿ. The word occurs in the old
poetry[2] and was doubtless known to the Arabs long before Islam.«
Probably not related to other items of → √šʿr .
HISTCON
[ Add general info on astronomy etc.]
DATEDSOURCE perhaps better above, under ETYMOLOGY DETAILS
• mark (general) PERIOD and/or specific YEAR (?)
• identify SOURCE (SOURCE-AUTHOR and SOURCE-TITLE ?)
• give relevant STRING in Arabic (including, or only in transliteration?)
and English translation
NUTSHELL →
free text .
DETAILS →
Data (& discussion) given in
reference literature
Historical / cultural context →
(summary, free text)
Semantic history in dated →
sources) .
EDALCSG Suggestion for standard entry (3)
e.g. الشعرى al-šiʿrā ‘Dog Star, Sirius’
Etymology – details
Jeffery 1938: »[...] The word is obviously not Arabic, and Fraenkel, Fremdw, 30, though
admitting that he was not certain of its origin, suggested that it came to the Arabs from
Abyssinia. Eth [Gz] ḫaymat means ‘tentorium’, ‘tabernaculum’ (Dillmann, Lex, 610), and
translates both the Hbr אהל and Grk σκηνή [skēnḗ]. Vollers, however, in ZDMG, 1, 631, is
not willing to accept this theory of Abyssinian derivation, and thinks we must look to Persia
or N. Africa for its origin. The Pers ḫaymat, ḫiyam and ḫiyām, however, are direct
borrowings from the Arabic and not formations from the root √ḫmy meaning ‘curvature’. –
We find the word not infrequently in the early poetry, and so it must have been an early
borrowing, probably from the same source as the Eth ḫaymat.«
Orel/Stolbova 1994, no. (2058): Within Sem, the many cognates of Arab ḫaym-at- have
either the meaning ‘tent’ (Ug ḫm-t, Gz ḫaymat, Jib ḫom = pl.) or ‘hut, cabin’ (SAr ḫym, Tgr
ḫaymät, Amh haym-ät), while Hss ḫīm-ēt- can mean both. The common Sem ancestor is to
be reconstructed as *ḫaym- ‘tent; hut, cabin’. Outside Sem the word has cognates in Berb
*γ(V)yam- (ta-γyam-t, Kby a-ḫḫam, Ahg ta-ḫyam-t ‘tent’; another ta-ḫyam-t ‘village’), Eg
ḫm ‘temple’ (pyr), ECh *kam-kam- (redupl.; kankama, kamkama). According to the authors,
all of these go back to AfrAs *qam-/*qayam- ‘tent, house’.
Cohen et al. 10 (2012), s.v. ḪYM (1): Ug ḫmt ‘tent (?)’, ḫym ‘baldaquin’, ḫmn ‘petit temple’,
Arab ḫaym- ‘maison de boue’, ḫaymat- ‘tente, pavillon rond’, ḫayyama ‘dresser une tente’,
Mhr ḫīmēt, Jib ḫũyät ‘abri contre le soleil’, Gz ḫaymat-, ḥaymat- ‘tente, tabernacle’, Te
ḥaymat, Amh haymät ‘hutte ronde faite de branches’. [...]
DETAILS →
Data (& discussion)
given in reference
literature
Extract cognates into
own COGN section
with data in-line?
Cf. COHEN et al. →
EDALCSG Suggestion for standard entry (4)
e.g. خيمة ḫayma ‘tent’
Etymology – derivatives
II to pitch one’s tent, to camp; to settle down; to stay, linger, rest, lie down, lie;
(fig.) to reign (e.g., calm, silence, peace, etc.), settle. – V to pitch one’s tent; to
camp : denominative
SEM-REL semantic relation to lemma word
ḫayyām tentmaker : profession noun, faʿʿāl formation from ḫayma خيام
GRAMM gives grammatical information in-line
[ BP#1249 ] مخيم muḫayyam pl. -āt : n.loc. II : camping ground, camp,
encampment. SEM-REL: explain semantic development | HISTCONT: explain
historical / cultural context | DATEDSOURCE => or better in own lemma ?
ETYM-DERIV →
Repeat Arabic spelling?
(given already above in
DERIV)
Repeat translation?
(given already above in
DERIV)
EDALCSG Suggestion for standard entry (5)
e.g. خيمة ḫayma ‘tent’
Steps to take Invitation to contribute, collaborate, cooperate
international networking => Web-based, functioning like
Wikipedia
editorial committee
assessing and processing existing material (studies)
digitalize source texts that are not yet available in digitalized
forms
fund raising
connect with relevant projects and corpora, and check possible
cooperation/collaboration =>
EDALC as part of a network Cooperation with ongoing/planned projects possible?
Safaitic Database Online (SDO, Oxford)
Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions (CSAI, Pisa)
Arabic Papyrology Database (APD, Zurich/Munich)
Greek into Arabic , incl. Glossarium Graeco-arabicum (GALex, Bochum/Berlin)
Arabic and Latin Glossary (ALG, Wurzburg)
Corpus Coranicum (CC, Berlin BBAW)
Concordance of Early Arabic Poetry (Arazi/Masalha, Jerusalem, under constr.)
Analytical Database of Early and Classical Arabic Poetry (K. Dmitriev, St
Andrews, projected)
arabiCorpus (D. Parkinson, Brigham Young Univ./US)
nahḍa project (conceptual history, Berlin)
Etymological Dictionary of Akkadian (EDAkk, Jena, Moscow)
Steps to take
(2) No budget needed for...
student papers
make familiar with EDALC tools via simple
transfer of data (e.g., entries in dictionaries)
reading and excerpting relevant material into the
‘right’ categories
master theses, doctoral dissertations
ISSN for an EDALC Publications series
History of Concepts in Arabic Difficulties / challenges (3)
Conceptual history: underdeveloped
only few (though valuable) studies exist
EI entries
specialized studies on intellectual history and religious thought (include
terminology)
individual periods (e.g., early Abbasid translation movement; nahḍa > :
Ayalon, Lewis, Hourani, Monteil, Rebhan)
individual terms/concepts (e.g., Nallino, Bonebakker on ʾadab, Tibawi
on ṯaqāfa)
cultural coding : highly complex semantic systems