al-Mujam al-Mufassal fi Shawahid al-Arabiya
- Author died
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- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah
Al-Mujam al-Mufassal fi Shawahid al-Arabiya (The Detailed Lexicon of Arabic Textual Citations) is a twelve-volume reference work of Arabic poetic and linguistic citations (shawahid) compiled by Emil Badi Yaqoub . It indexes and references poetic evidence cited across Arabic lexical and grammatical traditions .
Background and Composition
The work took five years of continuous compilation, classification, voweling, and source-referencing . Yaqoub had previously published a specialized precursor titled Al-Mujam al-Mufassal fi Shawahid al-Nahw al-Shi'riyya in 1413 AH / 1992 CE, which focused exclusively on grammatical poetic citations . During the preparation of that earlier book, he accumulated a substantial body of non-grammatical poetic citations and resolved to produce a comprehensive dictionary encompassing general linguistic evidence as well .
In his introduction, Yaqoub noted earlier endeavors in indexing Arabic citations, including Abd al-Salam Muhammad Harun's Mu'jam Shawahid al-Arabiyya (1972) and Hanna Jamil Haddad's Mu'jam Shawahid al-Nahw al-Shi'riyya . He aimed to remedy omissions in those works, particularly their omission of full verses or the specific linguistic issues under citation, and to correct errors found in the indices of major classical lexicons . The book forms part of his broader series, Silsilat Ma'ajim al-Khizana al-Lughawiyya .
Structure and Organization
The work was published in twelve volumes by Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah in Beirut in 1417 AH / 1996 CE . It is arranged alphabetically by the rhyme letter (qafiya) of each verse, from hamza to ya :
- Within each rhyme letter, entries are subdivided by the final vowel: quiescent (sakina), followed by open (maftuha), dammah (madmuma), and kasrah (maksura) .
- Volumes 1 through 8 cover standard poetry (shi'r), arranged from the letter hamza through ya .
- Volumes 9 through 12 cover rajaz verses from hamza through ya .
- The twelfth volume contains half-lines (ansaf al-abyat) and supplementary addenda (mustadrak) for both standard poetry and rajaz .
Each entry presents the complete poetic line, identifies its poetic meter (bahr), attributes it to its author or notes if the poet is unidentified, and supplies cross-references to major Arabic language dictionaries and sources, including Lisan al-Arab, Taj al-Arus, Jamharat al-Lugha, and Maqayis al-Lugha .
Production
In his acknowledgments, Yaqoub credited Muhammad Abu Ali with reviewing and verifying the poetic meters, Ahmad Shams al-Din with proofreading the galley proofs, and publisher Muhammad Ali Baydun of Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah for undertaking the publication of the reference work .
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