DICHY - Foundations of Arabic Linguistics-3 - 23-10-14

On the emergence of Arabic
dictionary making in the 2

nd
and
3
rd
cent. H:
al-all, Ibn Durayd, al-Jawhar and
Ibn Fris
(working slide show)
Joseph Dichy,
Universit Lumire-Lyon 2
and ICAR-CNRS/Lyon 2, ENS-Lyon Rersearch Lab
<joseph.dichy@univ-lyon2.fr>
Foundations of Arabic Linguistics III Paris 23,24/10/2014

1
Arabic Lexicography
Too little number of studies:
Haywood, 1960 and later papers
John A. Haywood, Arabic Lexicography. Its History and its Place in the general
History of Lexicography, Leiden, Brill, 1960

Amad Abd al-afr Ar, 1956

Introductory volume to al-Jawhar, al-i (or al- a), Cairo, 1956, reprint:
Beirut, Dr al-ilm li-l-malyn, 1979, 6 vol. plus one.
Daniel Reig a few remarkable papers
Very recently (special thanks to Manuella Giolfo):
Dichy J., Al-alls Conjecture: how the First Comprehensive Dictionary in
History was invented, in Giolfo, Manuella (ed.), Arab and Arabic Linguistics:
Traditional and New Theoretical Approaches, (Journal of Semitic Studies
Supplement Series). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, p. 39-64
Etc. unfair to many works!
Matk and Nar very criticisable

2
Joseph Dichy - 23-10-14
Who invented the dictionary?
According to Alain Rey (Dictionnaire amoureux
des dictionnaires), 2 answers could be given:
China: Xu Shens (58-147) Shuwn Jizi
= explained pictograms (wen) and ideo-
phonograms (zi), the 2 categories of
Chinese characters. Number of entries:
only 9353 characters and 1163 variants,
under 540 keys.
Medieval Arabic scholars with the Kitb al-
ayn, due to Al-Khall bn Amad al-Farhd,
d. v. 175 H/792.

3 Joseph Dichy - 23-10-14
The two do not actually compare
Neither in aim:
pictograms vs sound related to meaning

Nor in scope:
Al-Khalls work aimed at lexical
comprehensiveness
The Shuwn Jizi did not aim at
comprehensive coverage
Lexical comprehensiveness, a
hardly imaginable project
A comprehensive dictionary aims at covering
the entire vocabulary of a language, and
presenting it in a manuscript/volume.

In the 2
nd
/8
th
cent., lexical comprehensiveness
could hardly be imagined in any culture, and
could even be deemed delusive...

In the 2
nd
/8
th
cent., lexical comprehensiveness
could hardly be imagined in any culture, and
could even be deemed delusive...
Moreover, in the Arabic culture, no treaty had
encompassed an entire area of knowledge (al-
Kitb, the Book of Sbawayhi was the first G.
Schler, 2002).

This where the first alphabetic or
sound-to-meaning comprehensive
dictionary in history appeared.

The question is: how?

a set of dictionaries / lexicographic
tradition, as we shall see.
Oral vs written transmission
The context was that of the public reading
of manuscripts
Dictionary order was less important than the
elaboration of knowledge.

of manuscripts
The order of the dictionary was less important
than the transmission of knowledge

Heuristic presentation, rather than
easy consultation
Memory access

of manuscripts
The order of the dictionary was less important
than the transmission of knowledge
Heuristic presentation, rather than
easy consultation
Memory access

looking up concerns only appeared by the
end of the 4
th
/10
th
cent., probably with al-
Jawharis al-i.
4 main scholars / conjectures
Making the story a bit shorter than it really is:
2
nd
cent. H/8
th
G:
I- al-all (d. ar. 175/791) and the Kitb al-Ayn
Ab Amr al-aybn, Kitb al-Jm [not analysed here]
3
rd
cent. H/9
th
G:
Arrival of al-alls Kitb al-Ayn in Iraq crucial role
of Ibn Durustuwayh in its diffusion
4
th
cent. H/10
th
G:
II- Ibn Durayd, d. 321/933, Jamharat al-lua
III - Isml bn ammd al-Jawhar, d. 398/1007
al-i (or al- a)
IV- Ibn Fris, d. 385/1005, Maqys al-lua

12
1
st
of 4 main scholars
I- al-alls (d. around 175/792) conjecture:
the mathematics of letter-sounds (arf) and
their combination into constructs (bin).
The mathematical mind of al- all allowed
him to imagine a way of covering all the
virtual combinations of the language, which
were then to be confronted to extant words.
(Dichy, 2014 the next slides appeared there. In the
written paper, they will be made much shorter.)

Al-Khalls formal and
mathematical conjecture 1
Al-all had phrased his conjecture in nearly explicit
words,
in the first lines of the introduction of the K. al-Ayn, and
in a crucial tradition, related by Ibn Durustuwayh (d. 370
AH/981 CE) and quoted in Ibn Nadms library catalog, al-Fihrist
(fourth century AH/tenth CE).

The narrative occurs in rsn, where al-Lay
(deemed to have completed K. al-Ayn) dwelt, and
where Al-all has spent some time towards the end of
his life:
(...) Qla l-Lay... Kuntu asru il l-all bn Amad, fa-qla l
yawman:
(...) Al-Lay ... said: I used to go and see al-all Ibn Amad.
He told me one day:
14
Joseph Dichy - 23-10-14
Law anna insnan qa ada wa-allafa urfa alif
wa-b wa-t wa- al m amaluhu
la-stawaba f lika jama kalmi l-arab fa-
yatahayyau lahu alun l yaruju anhu ayun
minhu battatan.

If someone contemplated the [letter-]segments
alif, b, t, , etc., and combined them, he
would, by so doing, enclose the whole speech of
the Arabs, and find himself looking upon a
principle that would fail to embrace no element
whatsoever of [their speech].

Qla [al-Lay]: fa-qultu lahu: Wa-kayfa yaknu
lika?
Qla [al-all]: Yuallifuhu al l-un wa-l-ul wa-
l-rub wa-l-ums, wa-annahu laysa yurafu li-l-
arabi kalmun akara minhu.

Al-Lay said: I asked him: How could that be?
He said: He would combine them
according to two, three, four or five constructs (bin),
and [according] to [the fact] that no [construct with]
more [segments than that] is known in the speech of
the Arabs.

Al-Layths narrative (recall)
(...) Qla l-Lay... Kuntu asru il l-all bn Amad, fa-qla l yawman:
Law anna insnan qa ada wa-allafa urfa alif wa-b wa-t wa- al
m amaluhu la-stawaba f lika jama kalmi l-arab fa-yatahayyau
lahu alun l yaruju anhu ayun minhu battatan.
Qla [al-Lay]: fa-qultu lahu: Wa-kayfa yaknu lika?
Qla [al-all]: Yuallifuhu al l-un wa-l-ul wa-l-rub wa-l-ums,
wa-annahu laysa yurafu li-l-arabi kalmun akara minhu.
(...) Al-Lay ... said: I used to go and see al-all Ibn Amad. He told me
one day:
If someone contemplated the [letter-]segments alif, b, t, , etc., and
combined them, he would, by so doing, enclose the whole speech of the
Arabs, and find himself looking upon a principle that fails to embrace no
element whatsoever of [their speech].
Al-Lay said: I asked him: How could that be?
He said: He would combine them according to two, three, four or five
segment [constructs], and to [the fact] that no [construct with] more
[segments] is known in the speech of the Arabs.

Why did al-all take to a phonetic
inventory of letter-segments
(urf)?
He knew of course the alif, b, t
alphabet order (the alphabet of
teachers Ibn Jinn).
The trouble is, alif is not a standard
letter-segment.
He needed to base his inventory on
solid grounds.
Joseph Dichy - 23-10-14 18
A quick visual recall of Al-
Khalls conjecture-1
1) Two-segments combine in two ways, which
correspond to the only two possible relations,
e.g. d- and -d, as below:

Fig. 1: Two-segment virtual combinations

2) Three segments combine, virtually, in six ways (awjuh),
resulting from the multiplication of three segments by two
relations.
Considering segments n, and m, one obtains the following
six virtual constructs : n--m, -m-n, m-n-, n-m-, m--n
and -n-m, four of which are in use (mustamal): -nm, n--
m, m--n and m-n-. The two un-actualized ones (muhmal)
are: *n-m- and *-m-n. The result is obtained by circling
around the triangle, starting from each summit in turn,
from right to left, and vice-versa.


3) Four segments virtually combine in 24 ways,
i.e. in the six ways above multiplied by four. The
introduction presents the example of segments q,
, b and r, 23 combinations of which are in use,
and only one remains un-actualized: *q--b-r. In
the following drawing, a quadrangle includes its
two diagonals; the six ways above (combining
three segments) can then be multiplied by the
four angles. In other words, six combinations are
related to each of the four angles.


4) Five segments combine virtually in 120 ways,
because the five segments multiply by the ways
(awjuh) [associated with] the four-segment
combinations (i.e. 24 x 5), of which only a little
number is in use (loc. cit.). Just for the pleasure of
readers with a geometrical mind, I have designed the
following representation, in which 24 combinations
can be obtained, starting from each of the five
summits.

II- Ibn Durayd (d. 321/933)
The Jamharat al-lua takes up the
fundamentals of al-alls method in
covering the entire set of virtual constructs
, with a few differences same heuristic
approach

23
approach
Ibn Durayds main original contribution lays
in the way he accesses effective data
from Iraq (linguistic/historic context)
He explicitly mentions, for instance, among
others, Syrian usage (lua miyya).

24
approach
Ibn Durayds main original contribution lays
in the way he accesses effective data
from Iraq (linguistic/historic context)
He explicitly mentions, for instance, among
others, Syrian usage (lua miyya).
He tries to further define words through
intuitive glosses, after al-all,
Also: he quoted/collected verse (awhid)

25
III- Al-Jawhari (d. 398/1007)-1
Al-i (or al-a), due to Isml bn
ammd al-Jawhar

Elaborated during the years when the author
had to flee to Arabia for political reasons ,
and live among the tribes he originated from.

Al-Jawhar based his information on in situ
observation in Arabia

III- Al-Jawhari (d. 398/1007)-2
A first later dictionary
(A) Dictionary order: the order of the dictionary
became based on the last letter of what we call a root.
Al-Jawhar is one of the first Arabic lexicographers, if
not the first, who has introduced an easier look up
order (known among western Arabists as a rime
order), as opposed to the heuristic order of al-all,
Ibn Durayd or Ibn Fris (d. 395/1005).
(B) Also: the dictionary introduces a normative
conception. The complete title is Tj al-lua wa i
al-arabiyya (i = plural, a = infinitive form,
madar).

IV-Ibn Fris (d. 385/1005)
A second later dictionary

Ibn Friss conjecture: the analogies
(maqys) of meaning are associated
by him with what we call a formal
root (Dichy, 2003) , and
comprehensively analysed.
There is no term for root, though.

Ibn Friss preface

.
(Attempted transl.) There are, in the language of the
[ancient] Arabs, true analogies and principles of
which branches can be derived. Authors of
language compilations have have written their
works without mentioning any of those analogies
nor a single one of those principles.
Ibn Friss method
The entry is analyzed into
semantic principles (): Ibn Faris
mentions 1, 2, 3 of them, rarely
more.
Some entries cannot be considered
as a semantic principle:
Onomatopea, such as babba, to
bubble ; bakh bakh, said in
appreciation of sth; uf, uf , etc.
Single words: (p. 199)
The case of 4-consonant entries
Some are as we would say
motivated (I, 328-336):
Port-manteau entries (nat), combining two words, such
as ayala, to come to, a combination of ayya, come! and
the prep. al. (Ibn Fris quotes, for this example, al-all).
Entries combining 3-consonant words + one letter-segment
(arf), the addition of which is hyperbolic (mublaa)
such as: barza (he does not recall Srat al-Ramn, probably
too well-known) combining barz, a wide surface of land, wich
becomes a land that cannot crossed (il) with the addition of
.
Entries which cannot be brought to any other word, such as:
balat, who has a bad complexion (sayyi al-uluq), bahnaka,
speed

The power of the idea
Ibn Fariss conjecture is explored by him
to the point when he admits it is not
comprehensive
like al-alls formal work, which covered the
entire speech of the Arabs
to the point of stating not part of the
speech of the Arabs
The conjecture goes as far as to express
its own limitations.
The inheritage of Ibn Fris
His conjecture was not understood
although some results were
integrated by later authors (al-
Zamaar, Ass al-Bala)
The inheritage is still to come!
Arabic lexicography, on the basis of al-
alls power comprehensive method,
complemented by a very wide collection of
data, developed a huge number of large
dictionaries.

Haywood, 1960, who remains a fundamental reference for
Arabic lexicography, wrote that, were a Bagdad or Basra
scholar from Abbassid times be carried through space and
time to the British Museum, and shown, say, the twelve in-
quarto volumes of the 1933 edition of the Oxford English
Dictionary, he would not have been surprised, because
similarly comprehensive lexicons already existed in
manuscript in his own times.


Thank you for your attention


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dictionary making in the 2

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