Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer

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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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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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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




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


Review by- Muhsin Mahdi -- Wörterbuch Der Klassischen Arabischen Spracheby August Fischer

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