List of Arabic dictionaries

Following are lists of notable Arabic dictionaries.

Explanatory dictionaries

Title Author Date Vocabulary Notes
Kitab al-'Ayn[n 1]
(Arabic: كتاب العين) 		Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi
(Arabic: الخليل بن أحمد الفراهيدي)
(b. 718 - d. 791) 		8th century Kitab al-Ayn was the first dictionary for the Arabic language.[1]
Kitab al-Jim[n 2]
(Arabic: كتاب الجيم)
a.k.a. Kitab al-Lughat or Kitab al-Huruf 		Abu Amr al-Shaybani
(Arabic: أبو عمرو الشيباني)
(b. ca. 738 - d. 828) 		8-9th century The only copy is in the El Escorial Library.[2]
Al-Jamhara al-Lugha[n 3]
(Arabic: جمهرة اللغة)
a.k.a. Al-Jamhara fi al-Lugha (The all-embracing in language)[3] 		Ibn Duraid[4]
(Arabic: ابن دريد)
(b. 838 - d. 933) 		9-10th century The dictionary was inspired in part by the earlier dictionary Kitab al-Ayn of al-Farahidi.[5]
Tahdhib al-Lugha[n 4]
(Arabic: تهذيب اللغة) 		Abu Manshur al-Azhari al-Harawi
(Arabic: أبو منصور الأزهري الهروي)
(b. 895 - d. 981) 		10th century The dictionary is important as a source of the Lisan al-Arab.[6]
Al-Muhit fi al-Lugha[n 5]
(Arabic: المحيط في اللغة) 		Al-Sahib ibn Abbad
(Arabic: الصاحب بن عبّاد)
(b. 938 - d. 995) 		10th century
Taj al-Lugha wa Sihah al-Arabiyya[n 6]
(Arabic: تاج اللغة وصحاح العربية)
shorter title: Taj al-Lugha or al-Sihah 		Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari
(Arabic: إسماعيل بن حماد الجوهري)
(b. ? - d. 1009) 		10-11th century It contains about 40,000 dictionary entries.[7] The author died at Nishapur while attempting flight.[8]
Mu`jam Maqayis al-Lugha[9](Arabic: معجم مقاييس اللغة; "Language Standards Compendium) Ahmad Ibn Zakariyya al-Qazwini Ibn Faris 11th century
Al-Muhkam wa al-Muhit al-A'zam[n 7]
(Arabic: المحكم والمحيط الأعظم)
shorter title: Al-Muhkam 		Ibn Sidah
(Arabic: ابن سيده)
(b. 1007 - d. 1066) 		11th century The author was a blind man.[10]
Lisan al-Arab[n 8]
(Arabic: لسان العرب) 		Ibn Manzur
(Arabic: ابن منظور)
(b. 1233 - d. 1312) 		The dictionary was completed in 1290.[11] It contains about 80,000 dictionary entries.[12]


Al-Misbah al-munir[9](Arabic: المصباح المنير ; "The Enlightening Lamp") Ahmed Al Maqri Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Maqri Al Fayoumi The dictionary dates to 1368
Al-Qamus al-Muhit wa al-Qabus al-Wasit[n 9] [n 10]
(Arabic: القاموس المحيط، والقابوس الوسيط; "The Encompassing Ocean/Lexicon")
shorter title: Al-Qamus al-Muhit 		Al-Firuzabadi
(Arabic: الفيروزآبادي)
(b. 1329 - d. 1414) 		The dictionary was completed in 1410.[13] It contains about 60,000 dictionary entries.[14] The dictionary served as the basis of later European dictionaries of Arabic.[15]
Ahkam Bab al-I`rab `n Lughat al-A`rab (Arabic: أحكام باب الإعراب عن لغة الأعراب)[citation needed] Germanus Farhat (1670–1732) Printed by Rashid Dahdah (1813–1889) A revision of Fairuzabadi’s Al-Qamus Al-Muheet. Arranged by word ending.
Taj al-Arus Min Jawahir al-Qamus[n 11]
(Arabic: تاج العروس)
shorter title: Taj al-Arus 		Abu al-Fayd Mohammad Murtada al-Zabidi[9]
(Arabic: أبو الفيض محمد مرتضى الزبيدي b. 1731 - d. 1790) 		The dictionary was completed in 1774.[16] It contains about 120,000 dictionary entries.[16]
Muhit al-Muhit[n 12]
(Arabic: محيط المحيط)
a.k.a. Qutr al-Muhit (The Diameter of the Ocean)[17] 		Butrus al-Bustani
(Arabic: بطرس البستاني)
(b. 1819 - d. 1883) 		The dictionary was completed in 1870.[17] The author had dedicated the work to the Sultan Abdulaziz. The sultan awarded him with a higher medal and 250 golden liras.[18]
Al-Faraed Al-Hissan Min Qalaed Al-Lisan (Arabic: الفرائد الحسان من قلائد اللسان) Ibrahim al-Yaziji (Arabic: إبراهيم اليازجي; b. 1847 - d. 1907) 1870
Matn al-Lugha (Corpus of the language)[19] Ahmad Rida
(Arabic: أحمد رضا)
(b. 1872 - d. 1953) 		1958
Lexicon of the Modern Arabic Language
(Arabic: معجم اللغة العربية المعاصرة) 		Ahmad Mukhtar Omar 2008

Bilingual dictionaries

Influential Arabic dictionaries in Europe:

Influential Arabic dictionaries in modern usage:

  • English: Collins Dictionaries, Collins Essential - Arabic Essential Dictionary, Collins, Glasgow 2018.[21]
  • English: Lahlali, El Mustapha & Tajul Islam, A Dictionary of Arabic Idioms and Expressions: Arabic-English Translation, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2024.[22]
  • English: Oxford Languages, Oxford Arabic Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014.[23]
  • French: R. Blachère, C. Pellat, M. Chouémi, and C. Denizeau, Dictionnaire arabe-français-anglais (langues classique et moderne), Paris 1967 ff.[20]
  • French: D. Reig, As-Sabil, Dictionnaire arabe- français, français-arabe, Larousse, Paris, 1984.
  • German (Classical Arabic): M. Ullmann, Wörterbuch der klassischen arabischen Sprache I, kāf, Wiesbaden 1970; II/1-4, lām, Wiesbaden 1984–2009. Missing mīm, nūn, hā’, wāw, and yā’.[20]
  • German (Modern Standard Arabic): Hans Wehr, Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart. Arabisch-Deutsch, Wiesbaden 1952; 5th ed., 1985.[20]
  • Greek: G. Endress (ed.), A Greek and Arabic Lexicon, Leiden 1992 ff.[20]
  • Polish: J. Kozłowska and J. Danecki, Słownik arabsko-polski, Warszawa 1996 and J. Łacina, Słownik arabsko-polski, Poznań 1997.[20]
  • Russian: Х.К. Баранов, Арабско-русский словарь, Moscow 1957; 6th ed., 1985.[20]

Online dictionaries

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The name means "Book of the Ayn (Letter)".
  2. ^ The name means "Book of the Jim (Letter)".
  3. ^ The name means "Collection of Language".
  4. ^ The name means "Refinement of Language".
  5. ^ The name means "Surrounding of The Language".
  6. ^ The name means "The crown of Language and the authentic of Arabic".
  7. ^ The name means "The arbitrator and the Great Ocean".
  8. ^ The name means "The tongue of the Arabs".
  9. ^ Al-Qamus al-Muhit means "The surrounding Ocean".
  10. ^ The Qamus - which may be derived from Greek okeanos became, and has remained, the commonest Arabic word for dictionary.
  11. ^ The name means "The bride's crown from the pearls of the Qamus (Ocean)".
  12. ^ The name means "Circumference of the Ocean".

References

  1. ^ "Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad" Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved 02 February 2015
  2. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" PDF "TDV Encyclopedia of Islam". Retrieved 31 January 2015
  3. ^ Hausmann, F. J. Dictionnaires, P.2441
  4. ^ "Ibn Durayd" Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved 02 February 2015
  5. ^ "Ibn Durayd" Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved 30 May 2015
  6. ^ Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and Its Place in the General History of Lexicography, John A. Haywood, p. 53.
  7. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" PDF "TDV Encyclopedia of Islam". Retrieved 02 February 2015
  8. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" PDF "TDV Encyclopedia of Islam". Retrieved 02 February 2015
  9. ^ a b c al-Musawi, Muhsin J. (2015-04-15). The Medieval Islamic Republic of Letters: Arabic Knowledge Construction. University of Notre Dame Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-268-15801-9.
  10. ^ Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and Its Place in the General History of Lexicography, John A. Haywood, p. 65.
  11. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" PDF "TDV Encyclopedia of Islam". Retrieved 02 February 2015
  12. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" PDF "TDV Encyclopedia of Islam". Retrieved 02 February 2015
  13. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" PDF "TDV Encyclopedia of Islam". Retrieved 02 February 2015
  14. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" PDF "TDV Encyclopedia of Islam". Retrieved 02 February 2015
  15. ^ "Al-Fīrūzābādī" Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved 02 February 2015
  16. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Vol.2, Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey, p.817.
  17. ^ a b al-hakawati Butros Bustani Retrieved 02 February 2015
  18. ^ "İslâm Ansiklopedisi Online (in Turkish)" Muhitü'l-Muhit article PDF. TDV Encyclopedia of Islam. Retrieved 05 June 2015
  19. ^ Rida, Ahmad (1958). معجم متن اللغة : موسوعة لغوية حديثة [The language corpus dictionary: a modern linguistic encyclopedia] (in Arabic). Beirut: Dar Maktabat al-Hayat. Archived from the original on 2022-05-28.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Edward Lipiński, 2012, Arabic Linguistics: A Historiographic Overview, pages 32-33
  21. ^ "Collins Essential - Arabic Essential Dictionary: All the words you need, every day (Second edition)". Collins. Collins. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  22. ^ "A Dictionary of Arabic Idioms and Expressions". Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  23. ^ "Oxford Arabic Dictionary". Oxford University Press Academic. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 13 February 2024.