Taj al-ʿArus Min Jawahir al-Qamus explained

Taj Al-ʿArus min Jawahir Al-Qamus (short title Taj al-ʿArus; "The Bride's Crown from the Pearls of al-Qāmūs") is an Arabic language dictionary written by the Egyptian scholar Murtada al-Zabidi (; 1732–1790), one of the foremost philologists of the Arab post-classical era. The monumental dictionary contains around 120,000 definitions, and is an expansion of Fairuzabadi's earlier Qamus Al-Muhit and Ibn Manzur's Lisan al-Arab. It is considered the largest Arabic dictionary ever written in history.[1]

Begun in 1760, when al-Zabidi was 29 years old, the dictionary took him fourteen years to complete; he concluded it on the eighth of September 1774. The dictionary's introduction included a lengthy commentary on the dictionary of Fairuzabadi.[2] [3]

Zabidi's chose a feminine subject in the title of his dictionary in commemoration of his deceased wife; he made use of antecedents, particularly Fairuzabadi's Qamus and Ibn Manzur's Lisan al-Arab, and undertook multiple travels and meetings to validate his work.[4] He expanded previous word definitions, added new entries, and corrected errors found in previous lexicographic works.[5]

Zabidi's extensive bibliography numbered 115 consulted sources, including ones on Hadith and history. He also gave credit to previously unnamed authors.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Stefan Reichmuth, Jörn Rüsen. Humanism and Muslim Culture: Historical Heritage and Contemporary Challenges. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 2012. 9783899719376. 121.
  2. Book: Reichmuth, Stefan . Stefan Reichmuth (academic) . The World of Murtada Al-Zabidi: 1732-91 Life, Networks and Writings . 2009-05-04 . Gibb Memorial Trust . 9781909724723 . 54–59 . en.
  3. Book: Taj al-Arus min Jawahir al-Qamus تاج العروس من جواهر القاموس . Dar Sader . 2011 . 9789953132563 . ar.
  4. Book: al-Musawi, Muhsin J. . The Medieval Islamic Republic of Letters: Arabic Knowledge Construction . 2015-04-15 . University of Notre Dame Pess . 978-0-268-15801-9 . 84 . en.
  5. Book: Gouws . Rufus . Wörterbücher / Dictionaries / Dictionnaires. 3. Teilband . Heid . Ulrich . Schweickard . Wolfgang . Wiegand . Herbert Ernst . 2008-07-14 . Walter de Gruyter . 978-3-11-020339-4 . 2443 . en.
  6. Book: El-Shamsy, Ahmed . Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition . 2020-02-11 . Princeton University Press . 978-0-691-20124-5 . 57–58 . en.