Arabic-L:LING:Dictionaries discussion

[Wim Raven]

Since some subscribers encouraged me privately to clarify my accusation 
that Wehr in his Arabic-German/English dictionary dealt with ancient 
words from an unmentioned source, I will do so.

In my classes of classical (old!) Arabic texts, I use Rudolph Ernst 
BrŸnnow & August Fischer, Arabische Chrestomathie aus 
Prosaschriftstellern, 3d. ed. Leipzig 1924, 7th ed. Wiesbaden 1988. 
This book has an Arabic-German glossary, which is useful for the 
students, since there is no reliable Classical Arabic-German 
dictionary. When the glossary is not satisfying, or the German words 
are simply outdated, we look into the German edition of Wehr as well. 
And there I have been struck at many occasions by the verbatim 
similarity of the renderings. But Wehr does not mention BrŸnnow-Fischer 
among his Ôsecondary sourcesÕ. Had he done so, it would not have looked 
good, since BrŸnnow-Fischer contains only age-old texts.

Of course, akala means Ôto eatÕ, in all dictionaries. But when the 
rendering is a bit longer, the similarities are obvious.
Some examples:

- tah.annatha means according to BrŸnnow-Fischer's Glossar: 
EntsŸndigung, religišse LŠuterung suchen.
- In the German Wehr, 5th edition, I read: Frommigkeit Ÿben; 
EntsŸndigung, religišse LŠuterung suchen; der SŸnde widerstehen, der 
SŸnde nicht nachgeben.
- In Wehr/Cowan, 3d ed., this was translated into English: to practice 
piety, perform works of devotion; to seek religious purification; to 
scorn sin, not yield to sin.
Now this word goes back to only ONE old prose text from the 8th 
century. Its meaning was unclear already in the 9th century and it is 
until now. (About tah.annatha see M. Kister, ÔAl-tah.annuth: an enquiry 
into the meaning of a term,Õ BSOAS 31 (1968), p. 223-236.)
BrŸnnow-Fischer ventured a meaning; Wehr took it over and ÔknewÕ even 
more.
Apart from not mentioning his source in his introduction, Wehr made two 
more mistakes here: 1) fantasizing     2) making us believe, this 
obscure word is Ômodern written ArabicÕ and frequent enough to deserve 
a place in a dictionary.


A far more frequent, but equally obscure word:
- h.an”f means according to BrŸnnow-Fischer's Glossar: jmd. der statt 
e. ihn umgebenden falschen d. wahre Religion bekennt.
- German Wehr, 5th edition: RechtglŠubiger; e-r der statt der ihn 
umgebenden falschen die wahre Religion bekennt, etc.
- Wehr/Cowan, 3d ed.: true believer, orthodox; one who scorns the false 
creeds surrounding him and professes the true religion, etc.
This word is from the Koran. It should be in Wehr, all right, since it 
is quoted in many modern texts. It is obvious that Wehr copied B/F's 
loquacious and rather ÔtheologizingÕ circumscription of the meaning 
almost verbatim. The meaning: true believer, orthodox cannot be used 
outside a koranic context. No modern Arab would call himself or a 
fellow Arab h.an”f when he means true believer.


Another interesting case is found under the root Ãsrr :
- BrŸnnow-Fischer: V tasarr‰ (neben tasarrara) c. bi  mul.: zur 
BeischlŠferin (surriyya) nehmen.
- German Wehr: V tasarr‰ (neben tasarrara) (bi od. h‰ eine Frau) zur 
Konkubine (surriyya) nehmen, als Geliebte haben.
Wehr/Cowan: V tasarr‰ (and tasarrara) to take (bi or h‰ a woman) as 
concubine (surriyya).
In the German Wehr, only the word BeischlŠferin was replaced by the 
somewhat chaster and/or modern word Konkubine. Both works enter this 
lemma under the root Ãsrr instead of Ãsry, although they apparently 
consider Ãsry primary. (In ancient dictionaries, it does occur under 
both roots.)

Etcetera. Please, give us new dictionaries!

Wim Raven
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Dr. Wim Raven
Orientalisches Seminar
J.W. Goethe-UniversitŠt
Senkenberganlage 31
60325 Frankfurt, Germany