Semantic development in the historical dictionary- an applied study on the dictionary of the Union of Arab Linguistic Academies

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Arabic language, faculty of Al Alsun, Ain Shams university, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Over the years of the last century, specialists continued to call for the necessity of having a historical dictionary of the Arabic language, until the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo responded to the call.
The Academy considered that lexical compilation should include three types of dictionaries: big, Collegiate, and Concise. The big dictionary was supposed to be historical.
The Council entrusted the German orientalist Fischer with carrying out this mission, but it stopped due to World War II.
During the first decade of the current century, two historical dictionaries of the Arabic language appeared: the Doha dictionary, and the dictionary of the Union of Arabic Linguistic Academies (Sharjah).
Hence, this research seeks to study the historical dictionary of the Arabic language, by tracing the semantic development of words throughout the ages of Arabic, as presented by the dictionary. The study also criticizes the dictionary’s methodology in presenting these words.
The study chose the Dictionary of the Union of Historical Academies as an applied subject. It follows the descriptive approach, and also uses lexicography in criticizing the dictionary’s methodology in presenting these words.

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