al-Zahir fi Maani Kalimat al-Nas
- Author died
- 328 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
al-Zahir fi Maani Kalimat al-Nas (also titled al-Zahir fi Maani al-Kalam alladhi Yasta'miluhu al-Nas) is a philological and lexicographical work by the Kufan grammarian and linguist Ibn al-Anbari (271–328 AH / 885–940 CE), dedicated to explaining the etymologies, linguistic derivations, and meanings of everyday spoken phrases, idioms, and religious expressions.
Purpose and Composition
The work expanded upon an earlier treatise titled al-Fakhir by al-Mufaddal ibn Salama (d. 291 AH), which had compiled common conversational phrases and proverbs whose origins were often unfamiliar to general speakers. Finding al-Fakhir devoid of poetic citations, Ibn al-Anbari structured his book around that foundation, significantly augmenting it with extensive poetic evidential verses (shawahid) from early Arabic poetry and incorporating various doctrinal discussions of Kufan grammar.
Content and Method
The book examines expressions current in daily discourse, post-classical (muwallad) phrasing, and established Islamic formulas. Among the phrases analyzed are expressions such as hasbuna Allah wa-ni'm al-wakil, la hawla wa-la quwwata illa bi-Llah, formulas of seeking forgiveness and distress, as well as the wording of the adhan and the tashahhud.
Ibn al-Anbari introduces each item by referencing common usage, investigates its morphological derivation (ishtiqaq), presents divergent scholarly opinions regarding its semantic interpretation, and traces the phrase back to its classical Arabic origins while providing poetic attestations.
Abridgments and Reception
The extensive inclusion of poetic evidence and detailed grammatical excursuses prompted contemporaries and later scholars to produce abridgments:
- Abu al-Qasim al-Zajjaji (d. 337 or 340 AH) authored Ikhtisar al-Zahir (or Mukhtasar al-Zahir), summarizing Ibn al-Anbari's explanations, excising the lengthy poetic citations and extended commentary to facilitate memorization, and appending a concluding chapter on rare vocabulary and specialized linguistic notes.
- Abu Bakr Khattab ibn Yusuf al-Mardi al-Qurtubi (d. after 450 AH) prepared another abridgment of the work in al-Andalus.
The text served as a key reference for later lexicographers, including Ibn Sida in al-Mukhassas, al-Saghani in al-Takmila and al-Ubab, and Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Fihri in Tuhfat al-majd al-sarih. In modern times, the work was edited by Hatim Salih al-Damin and published in Baghdad (1979) and Beirut (1992).
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