Chapter 3

Arabic monolingual dictionaries:to introduce their distinguishing features and explain how they differ from English dictionaries and how translators can make use of them.

I) the macrostructure:1) Front matter:Arabic dictionaries differ in many respects on their

macrostructure. The front matter may contain different and

unexpected material depending on the interests of the compiler.

Besides telling us about the method of compiling the dictionary, this part of the dictionary may contain :

1- an essay about the Qur'anic cryptic letters (with which some qur'anic suras begin, e.g. كهيعص ٙو� عسق، ،�،ٌُ ,( الم

2- an essay about the mysterious powers of sounds, and how effective they are in curing some diseases or in changing people’s moods and lives.

But Most often the front matter in these dictionaries do not offer the kind of information expected by modern readers such as:

1- guides to pronunciation.2- how to use the dictionary.3- how to locate a specific type information.

This is quite explicable in light of the original purpose of compiling these dictionaries, which is to preserve the language and protect its purity.

2) Back matter:Arabic dictionaries may contain a

back matter which includes a list of the quotations cited inside the dictionary or the names of persons or places referred to.

3) Alphabetization:1) The anagrammatical system.2) The rhyme system3) The root system

The anagrammatical system

- المخرجي – الصوتي النظامالتقليبات

The rhyme system القافية منهج

The root system التجريدي الهجائي المنهج

I t was initiated by الفراهيديIt is a mathematical system of making sure to include all the possible words in Arabic. The roots of the words are classified into : biliteral, triliteral, quadriliteral, and quinquiliteral. The biliteral word can produce 2 transformations, e.g. " قد" ” .and no more "دقThe triliteral has 6 transformations because it has 3 letters multiplied by 2 which is the number of the transformations of the bilateral root, e.g - عمج- عجم

- - جمع- جعم مجع .معجThe quadriliteral has 24 transformations because it has 4 letters multiplied by 6 which is the number of the trilateral root transformations and so on. He then takes each letter in rotation, and record all the roots containing that letter.

where words are arranged according to their last consonants

where words are arranged according to their roots and all the derivative forms are listed under one root. The roots are arranged alphabetically.

4) Guide words:Arabic dictionaries do not use guide words

II) The microstructure:1) Entry: consists of a headword

and all the information provided about this word.

2) Sub-entry: is a word or a phrase derived from the main entry and included within the main entry.

Arabic dictionaries treat most derived words as sub-entries under one main entry because they follow the root system.

3) Headwords: may be divided into 4 types:1. the radical roots of nouns. a) trilateral ثالثيlike عنب b) quadrilateral رباعي like جندب c) quinquilateral (خماسي like سفرجل2. the radical roots of verbs. a. trilateral, like (اخذ b. quadrilateral, like (دحرجFurther verbal roots can be derived from

these two roots but they are not treated as separate entries such as (تدحرج

3. bilateral roots exemplified by particles. (قد)

4. Some commonly used foreign or borrowed words. (اندرورد)

One difficulty that may encounter the user when looking up a word is that :

1- you have to predict the root of the word searched for. Sometimes this task is not easy.

For example, it is not easy to tell whether a word like اريحيةcan be found under ريح or روح or or does not have a root and therefore can beراحfound in an independent entry.

2- Another problem with ancient dictionaries is that they do not include modern words. They include the words of the Arabic spoken at the time of writing these dictionaries. Therefore, you cannot find words like هاتفand عولمةin them.

4. Orthographic information. Variant spellings of some words are pointed out if they happen to be spelled differently. E.g. و مسيطرونمصيطرون

5. Morphological information. This kind of information includes four aspects in Arabic dictionaries: word root, morphological paradigm or pattern, word inflections, and derivational forms.

E.g. - - - مبرد- يبرد برودة بارد برد A word’s homographs (words that look the same but pronounced

differently) are also included. Information pertaining to the word inflections is also included. The dictionary may tell you how a word is made plural or feminine. The morphological pattern is also sometimes stated as an aid showing the reader how to pronounce the word.

أبؤس: ... و أنعم الجمع و بؤس، يوjم و نعم يوjم قjال ...نعم 6. Phonological information. This kind of information includes any

means of guiding the user to the right pronunciation of the word. This may be through vowelization (using special diacritic marks).

... بالكسر الجعالة و بالفتح ...الجعالة 7) Syntactic information: Sometimes he mentions what part of

speech a word is, or how it functions in a sentence. المخاطب: ضمير انت 8) Etymological information: Sometimes the origin of the word is

pointed out if it is borrowed from another language. فارسية: كلمة اندرم

9) Semantic information :relates to the following aspects:

a) Meaning: one or many senses or definitions are provided for any word, but unlike English dictionaries, they are not numbered.

b) Synonyms and antonyms. Word synonyms or antonyms are presented to help clarify its meanings.

c) Collocations, idioms, and expressions: Arabic dictionaries indicate the words which collocate with the headword, or the idioms or expressions in which the headword appears. :أجد

أجد ناقة10) Pragmatic informationA lot of information is given about how a word or

an expression is used and whether it is current, rare, obsolete, or anomalous. - جمع: بحر نادره أبب

المؤنث في غريب

11) Helping aids: includes the following: a) Examples: Arabic dictionaries abound with illustrative examples

taken from different sources: qur'anic verses, prophetic hadiths, poetry, and everyday Arabic.

One entry can include tens of examples along with their explanations. By these examples, three types of context are provided: 1. The linguistic context when he mentions a verse, a prophetic

tradition or a line of poetry that contains the entry word.

2. The social context such as : : مرحى و برحى الرمي عند كلمتان للعرب و برح

3-The causal context such as: الستبحاره بحرا البحر سمي و ...بحر

b) Illustrations and Graphics. This type is lacking in both ancient and modern dictionaries.

c) Cross-reference: A lot of repetition is observed in ancient dictionaries because they do not use cross reference techniques.

12) Encyclopedic information: So much encyclopedic information is provided in many ancient

dictionaries: historical events, stories, biographical names, geographical names, measures, and so on.

But modern dictionaries tend to stick to linguistic information only. See the examples.

The types of Arabic dictionaries

Linguistic dictionaries ( األلفاظ معاجم

1) General dictionaries

2) Specialized dictionaries

Translators and Arabic dictionaries

Semantic relations dictionaries ( معاجم

المعاني

Dictionaries of idioms and

collocations:

Dictionaries of loan words and neologisms

( الدخيل و المولد معاجم

Dictionaries of terminologyDictionaries of

common mistakes

Translators and Arabic dictionaries: A translator may need an Arabic dictionary : WHY? 1- to know the current as well as the older meaning(s) of a word.

But the problem is that almost all dictionaries attach more importance to the older meanings. For instance, if you look up a word like رضخyou'll never find the modern meaning of خضع in any old dictionary.

However, there are modern dictionaries which will give the modern meanings one would need.

2- A translator may need to check whether a word exists in the language or not or has the right form. Here it is recommended to consult dictionaries of common errors in the Arabic language.

3- Finally, a translator would definitely need to consult an Arabic dictionary when translating any old Arabic text that belongs to ancient eras like poetry or when translating religious texts.

E.g.: : يقول وسلم عليه الله صلى النبي سمعت قال الخزاعي وهب بن حارثة سمعتباهل) اخبركم اال البره الله على اقسم لو متضعف ضعيف كل الجنة؟ بأهل اخبركم اال) مستكبر جواظ عتل كل النار؟

In this Hadith, two words would most probably bewilder any translator, like what you can see in the four translations provided. are problematic because they are no longer used in جواظ and عتلmodern Arabic. Here, traditional Arabic dictionaries may help in deciding the meanings of these words.