Lexicography in History of Islam and Science: Arabic-Persian Dictionary of Kânûnu’l-Edeb by Hubaysh Tiflîsî

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Studies of lexicography go back to 7th century BC while Chinese, Indians and Greeks are presumed among the nations that made the first studies of lexicography. The studies of philology and lexicography have increasingly continued to develop in many regions of China, Latin, Egyptian Mesopotamia and Japan since the first century BC.

Studies of lexicography began in the East with the arrival of Islam mostly in VIII. Century began to comprehend the Qur'an correctly, to convey the divine message to its members and to learn the difficult words in the Qur'an verses and hadiths. The Islamic world broadened its area of domination with conquests as well as establishing scientific centers. The works produced in different civilizations between the 7th and 12th centuries BC were translated into Arabic in these centers.

In terms of the history of science, dictionary is an essential source of reference. Without dictionary, it is difficult to maintain and complete translation activities. In the Islamic world, Ibn Abbâs should be considered one of the first dictionary authors. Based on the available sources, studies on the lexicography in the Islamic world were first established by Halil b. Ahmed with his work Kitâbü'l-ayn while the first Arabic-Latin bilingual study is estimated to be written in 12th century in Spain.

It is known that three manuscripts of Kânûnu'l-edeb (548/1153) written by Hubaysh Tiflîsî in 13th century is available, which are registered at number 434 in Istanbul Süleymaniye Library Mehmed Hafîd Efendi, number 157/3 at Bodlein and number 2276 at Ethé.

Kânûnu'l-edeb as an Arabic-Persian dictionary is one of the important sources of its period both in terms of preparation and method. It is prepared according to the rhyme system in the alphabetical order from the left to the right and it consists of 60,000 words with their meanings. Word groups and tags of masculine-feminine, singular-plural and complements are given as separate titles.

According to the information given in introduction of the work, the male and female Arab poets, infinitives and plural verses are not included in this manuscript though it is stated by the author of the work. The absence of section for male and female Arab poets, which might be called as the index of names currently, indicates the possibility that the copy was not written by the author.

Since Kânûnu'l-edeb is considered an important source of reference both in terms of vocabulary, preparation method and bibliography of its period, a study on this work is conceived as a great contribution to the history of Islam and science.