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8/16/2019 Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer
1/6
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ReviewAuthor(s): Muhsin MahdiReview by: Muhsin MahdiSource: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan., 1961), pp. 60-64Published by: University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/543070Accessed: 18-12-2015 02:58 UTC
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8/16/2019 Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer
2/6
8/16/2019 Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer
3/6
8/16/2019 Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer
4/6
62
JOURNAL
OF
NEAR EASTERN
STUDIES
of
comprehensive
investigators
of words
that
were
more
systematic
and
precise
than
those
of their
predecessors.
The
positive aspect
of
these criticisms
(cf.
more
recently
J.
Fiick
in ZDMG, CVII [1957], 341-42) was the
progressive
formulation of
the
principal
re-
quirements
for
a
newly
organized
Arabic
dictionary.
These
requirements
are
now
generally
known;
and
they
had
been
stated
and fulfilled in
many
parallel projects
(no-
tably
in the discussions
centering
around
the
Thesaurus
Linguae
Latinae
[Leipzig,
1900--]).
August
Fischer,
one of
the
greatest
Arabists
of
all
times,
stated them
for
Arabic
on
many
occasions,
the last
of
which
was
in the
intro-
duction to the first and only fascicle pub-
lished
of his
dictionary
(cf. below)
as
follows:
each
single
word
existing
in
the
language
must be
investigated
and
presented
with
re-
gard
to
the
following
seven
aspects:
(1)
its
history,
(2)
its
etymology,
(3)
its
flection,
(4)
its
semasiology,
(5)
its
syntax,
(6)
its
phrase-
ology,
and
(7)
its
stylistic
uses
(cf.
also
J6rg
Kraemer
in
ZDMG,
CV
[1955],
86-88).
The
result
should
be a
comprehensive
(though
not
necessarily
exhaustive)
historical
dic-
tionary, covering all periods and subjects,
and
documented
directly
from
the
sources.
Such
an
ambitious
project
remains
today,
i.e.,
at least in
so
far
as the
present
century
is
concerned,
a
distant
hope.
The
reason is
that
both
the
relevant
text
editions
and the
number
of
qualified
readers
and
specialists
willing
to
dedicate
their
full
time
to it are so
limited
that all
that
could
be
hoped
for
at
present
is
to
make a
modest
beginning
in
the
organization
of
the
project:
to en-
courage scholars to edit and to prepare
suitable
indexes for
such
texts as
are in-
dispensable
for
the
projected
dictionary,
and
to
establish
a
center
(preferably
with a
specialized journal)
where
information
and
documents
related to
the
project
could
be
accumulated,
relevant
problems
discussed,
and a
card
archive
assembled. All
this
has to
be
undertaken
by
western
Arabists. In
the
Arab
countries,
both
Language
Academies
and
scholars
are
at
present
absorbed
in
the
immediate task of helping to make Arabic
the
medium
of
modern
thought,
and
of
find-
ing
or
coining
equivalents
of modern
scien-
tific terms.
Yet once
a
center
and
a
journal
for Arabic
lexicography
are
established,
it
may
be
possible
to arrive
at some
arrange-
ment whereby all new text editions
(including
those done
in Arab
countries)
are
executed
according
to
generally
accepted
principles
and
provided
with
uniform
indexes
which can
then be
directly
used
in
building
up
the card
archive
for the
projected
dictionary.
This
discouraging
situation
has
been
the
subject
of
intensive
consultations
among
Arabists
in recent
years.
The
result has
been
an
International
Committee
of
Arabic
Lexicography formed under the auspices of a
number of international
learned
societies
and
organizations
and
composed
of
prominent
scholars
in
the field.
Its work has
already
born fruit
in the form
of two
important
pro-
jects.
The
first is
apparently
a
long-term
pro-
ject
undertaken
by
the Institut
d'
Etudes
Islamiques
in Paris
(cf.
R. Blachere
in
Arabica,
II
[1955],
134-35).
Its
objective
is
a
systematic
investigation, evaluation,
and
d6pouillement
of
representative
literary
Arabic douments, including technical works
and
existing glossaries,
with
a view
to
organ-
ize a cumulative
card
archive
to
serve in
the
composition
of
a new
Arabic-French
dic-
tionary
to
replace
that
of
Kazimirski
(it
will
also
include
selected
quotations
from
the
material
thus
excerpted).
This card
archive
will
be made available
for use
by
all
interested
scholars.
It is to
be
hoped
that
with
the
sup-
port
of international
learned
societies,
and
of
Arabists
both
in the
West and
in
the
Islamic
world, this
project
will attract a sufficient
number
of
qualified
specialists,
absorb
exist-
ing
collections
such
as
that
of
Fischer,
and
become
a sound
beginning
for
the
eventual
project
that
would
bring
the
hoped-for
his-
torical
dictionary
into
being.
It
certainly
deserves
all
possible
encouragement
and
sup-
port.
The
second
project
was
designed
to
meet a
more
immediate
need.
The
most
exhaustive
Arabic-European
dictionary,
that of
Lane,
stops somewhere in the middle of the letter
Q&f,
and
there is
a
genuine
need
for
some
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8/16/2019 Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer
5/6
BOOK REVIEWS
63
form
of
a
continuation
of it. With the
exist-
ence of
important
lexical material
collected
by prominent
German
Arabists
(which
the
Deutsche
Morgenlindische
Gesellsehaft
was
interested in publishing), it was decided that
these
collections
should
form the basis
of a
Lane-continuation to
begin
with the
letter
Kaf.
(Under
the
direction of Professor
M.
Guillaume,
Dr. W. cArafdt is
editing
and
completing
the
rest of
the letter
Qaf
on
the
basis
of
the
collection
begun.
C.
H.
H.
Mac-
naghten
who
had
planned
to
continue
Lane,
following
the latter's
principles,
but did
not
go
beyond
this
incomplete
letter.)
The fas-
cicle under
review
is
the
first
to
be
published
in this second project.
At
the foundation
of
the whole
work
are
two
important
lexical
collections. The
first
and more
extensive
is
that
of
August
Fischer
(d. 1949)
on which the
great
Arabist worked
for about four
decades and
of
which
we
now
have a
relatively
detailed
description
(Jorg
Kraemer
in
ZDMG,
CV
[1955], 89-96).
Fischer
began
to
organize
this
collection on
the basis of
the
material left
by
H.
L.
Fleischer
(d.
1888)
and
H.
Thorbecke
(d. 1890) which he complemented by the re-
sults
of
his own
systematic
research
while
in
Leipzig.
In
1936 the
Egyptian
Academy,
of
which he was
a
member,
offered
him
its
patronage
and
financial
support;
he
trans-
ported
his
material to
Cairo,
and
continued
to
work
there
intensively
with
the
help
of
numerous
assistants until
1939
when
he had
to
return to
Germany
leaving
his
collection
behind him.
This
short
Cairene
period
was
responsible
for
about
half of
the
slips
in
his
collection. Of the final results of his labor, he
saw
only
the
proofs
of
a
sample
fascicle
he
had
prepared
for
publication.
After
his
death,
it
was
finally
published
by
the
Academy
under
the
title
Mucjam
Fisher,
Muqaddima
wa-numifdhaj
minh
(Cairo,
1950).
Apart
from
the
restricted
number of
entries
(from
Alif
to
bd),
significant
for
gaining
a
clear
idea of
the
intended
character
of
the
work,
it
contains
his
valuable
introduction
(pp.
1-38)
in
which
he
justifies
the
need
for
a
new
lexicon
and
sets down the principles that must govern
the
new
enterprise.
The
material
he left
behind, however,
comprises
diverse
periods
representing
various
stages
of
completeness,
and
is of uneven
quality
and
utility.
The
second collection
comprises
the material
left
by Theodor N6ldeke (d. 1930) and Hermann
Reckendorf
(d.
1924).
J6rg
Kraemer
(who
gave
a short
description
of
this
collection
in
ZDMG,
XCIX
[1945-49],
94-96)
edited
a
sample
of
it
containing
the
letter
Alif
(Theodor
Ngldekes
Belew6rterbuch
zur
klas-
sischen arabischen
Sprache,
1-2
Lfg.
[Berlin,
1952-54]).
Unlike Fischer's
collection,
which
was
made
systematically
and was
intended
to
be
comprehensive,
this
comprises
valuable
but more or less incidental
readings
intended
to supplement and complete existing lexicons.
To
prepare
this material
for
publication
was
a
delicate
and difficult
task. It
contained
sizeable
gaps,
new and
improved
editions
had
in the meantime
become
available,
and
all
the evidence had
to be
sifted,
evaluated,
and
controlled.
The
general
principle
adopted by
the
editors was to
take the
Fleischer-
Thorbecke-Fischer collection as
a
point
of
departure
(it
forms about
50
per
cent
of
the
published
material),
to
complete
it first
with
the aid of the Noldeke-Reckendorf collection
(which
supplies
another
25
per
cent),
and
then
to
fill
the
remaining
gaps
with
their own
collections,
with
the aid of
published glos-
saries
and
indexes,
and
finally
by
turning
to
the Arabic lexicons
for such words and
quota-
tions as
they
had not
succeeded
in
docu-
menting
from
other
sources
and
for
those
that cannot
be found
except
in
these
lexicons.
The
product
will
thus
continue
Lane
as far
as
the
alphabetical
order
is
concerned;
yet
it
will
be of a
completely
different character. It will
certainly
fill
the
gap
left
by
Lane,
but it
will
also
be the first
significant
attempt
to
con-
struct an
Arabic
dictionary
meeting
the
requirements
of
modern
scholarship.
Because
of
the conditions
already
mentioned,
it
will
not
be
fully
complete
or
even
representative;
nevertheless,
for
the classical
period
(i.e.,
down to
the
third/ninth century),
it
will
be of
a
much
wider
scope
than
that
of
Lane
and
in
many
ways
more
useful. In
any
case,
it
is
an
excellent
experiment
through
which Arabists
will
become
better
prepared
for
working
to
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8/16/2019 Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer
6/6
64 JOURNAL
OF
NEAR EASTERN
STUDIES
achieve
the future
comprehensive
historical
dictionary.
After
the
completion
of a more
substantial
part,
the editors
promise
an
introduction
in
which they will discuss the method, sources,
and other technical
problems
relating
to
the
organization
of the
dictionary.
The
review
of these
matters will have
to
await the
com-
pletion
of
at least one
letter and
preferably
also
the
publication
of
the
introduction.
MUHSIN
MAHDI
The
University
of Chicago
Lebanon in History. By PHILIP K.
HITTI.
London: The
Macmillan
Company,
1957.
Pp.
xix
+
548.
Maps.
Illustrated.
$9.00.
Professor
Hitti has
once more
presented
us
with
a
sizeable
volume
unfolding
the
progress
of
meaningful
events
in
the Middle
East.
Since the
appearance
of his
History
of
the
Arabs
he has
narrowed the
area of
concentra-
tion
first in
the
History
of
Syria
and
now still
further
in
this
companion
volume
under re-
view.
This is
no local
history
of
a
small
country but, as the well-chosen title implies,
a
study
of
the
historic
role of a
strategic
region
in
the
rise
and fall
of
successive and
rival
world
empires
from
ancient
times to
our
day,
making
the
story
that
of
a
large
part
of
the
civilized
world in
miniature
(p.
vii).
Lebanon
and
Palestine
have for
the
greater
part
of
their
political
history
formed
but
a
small
district of
a
Syrian
province
of
this
or
that
empire.
Yet,
because
of
their
location
and
the
character of
their
people,
both
ter-
ritories have acquired a supra-political iden-
tity by
virtue of
their
tangible
contributions
to
the
Mediterranean
cultures
that have
evolved
into
what
we
know as
Western
Civilization.
The
Old
and
New
Testaments
and
the
countless
books
that
they
have
in-
spired
have
dramatized
the
history
and
cul-
ture of
Palestine.
Professor
Hitti
makes
here
a
daring
attempt
to
dramatize
that
of
Lebanon.
The
work
is
divided
into
five
unequal
parts: Prehistory, the Ancient Semites, and
the
Greco-Roman,
Arab,
and
Ottoman
periods;
more
than half
of the book
is
devoted
to
parts
four
and five. Centered
in
so
large
a
canvas
for
its
continuous
and
progressive
background,
Lebanon's
distinctive
story
is
delineated in a series of pictures with dif-
ferent
angles
of
perspective
so as
to
reflect
the
changes wrought by
the
long
march
of
time
and to
give
added dimensions
to
that
country's
economic, social,
and
intellectual
history.
The author
nowhere
states
a
general
thesis
and the reader
is hard
put
to find and
state
one
briefly
and
simply-there
are so
many
strands
to the unbroken
thread
of the
story.
The
introductory
chapter,
however,
provides
a key to Lebanon's history. This is to be
found
perhaps
less in
its
strategic
location,
which is shared
by
several
of its
neighbors,
than
in the
distinctive
features
of the
land
itself.
Unlike
its
neighbors,
Lebanon
does
not
have
to
contend with
the desert.
Its
coastal
plain
and
the inland
plateau
contrast
with
its mountain
chains. These
attract
dif-
ferent
types
of settlers
to
give
rise
eventually
to
a
different
type
of
society-the
palimpsest
in the
plain
and
plateau
and the mosaic
in
the mountains. Periodically the people of
the mountain
descend
either
to
challenge
or
reinforce
those
of the
plains,
or
to
join
them
in waves
of
migrations
westward
reaching,
in
time,
the
New World.
More
often than
not
they
established
commercial
colonies,
some
of which
developed
into
powerful
city-states,
pioneered
in
navigation,
and
entered
early
contests
for sea
power
(pp.
113,
152).
Long
exposure
to the
interactions
of the
East
and
West rendered Lebanon
a
cultural
bridgehead
and cast its people in the role of resourceful
middle
men who
could
develop
and
propa-
gate,
for
instance,
the
Phoenician
alphabet
(p.
122).
The
attraction
of
Lebanon
and
neighboring
territories
for
Egypt,
who,
as far
back
as the
fifteenth
century
B.C.,
first
incor-
porated
this
entire
area-a
feat
she
was
to
repeat
on
several
occasions
down to
modern
times-is
instructively
told.
Egypt
and all
of the other
Mediterranean
empires
who ab-
sorbed
this area
administered
it
with
little
regard for the geographic unity or the
political
aspirations
of
Lebanon
as
such.
Even
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