A Comparative Lexical Study of Qur?anic Arabic

CHAPTER ONE
PAST LEXICAL STUDIES
1.1 Muslim lexicography
The need for a comprehensive study of 'Arabiyya was being felt since
the first years of Islam. 1 The expanding Muslim Umma was fully
aware of the role of Arabic as the unifying language of all Muslims.
This consideration, coupled with the widespread ignorance of 'correct'
Arabic and the threat to its integrity from other linguistic traditions
with which early Islam came into close, particularly Persian,
rendered Arabic philological studies (fiqh al-lugd) of utmost importance
and urgency. Lexicography ( c ilm al-lugd) sought to explain obscure
words in the Qur'an and the Hadit, but also in pre-Islamic poetry.
By the end of the 8th century A.D., the nahw and the luga schools
had already produced their first philological chefs-d'oeuvre, some of
which are widely consulted up to this day. 2 The task of the lugawiyy,
or 'lexicographer', was to preserve and ensure the purity of the
Arabic language. Thus, single words and expressions were checked
and ultimately included in the dictionaries. 3 Moreover, the due reverence
accorded to the Qur'an and the Hadit, and the strict conformity
to Muslim Orthodox exegesis, left the Muslim lexicographer no
choice but to seek, above all, 'comprehensiveness'. As many words
as possible, from the most commonly attested to the rarest, were
included in the huge early Arabic lexica. 4 In view of pressures from
the traditional exegetical circles, lexicographers were not always in
a position to dismiss certain mistaken interpretations and put forward
their philologically correct ones. 3 This tendency's inherent risk
was that lexical material was being collated without much order or
1 Kopf 1956: 40.
2 Particularly Srbawayh's Al-Kitdb and Al-Halil's Kitab al- c qyn. Rundgren 1973:
145 states that: "Quant a la naissance et 1'evolution de la lexicographic nationale,
le 'Urn al-luga, nous ne possedons pas encore une vraie histoire de la lexicographic
arabe, complete et satisfaisante a toutes les exigences scientifiques. ..."
3 Haywood 1960: 18. See also Kaltner 1996.
4 Kaltner 1996: 11.
5 Kopf 1976: 24.