By The Arabic School
Matn al-Lughah is the knowledge of words and their meanings as the Arabs used them. A student who cannot use the classical dictionaries will always depend on a teacher or a translation. This article explains how the dictionaries are arranged, how to look a word up, and which ones to own.
Why the dictionaries are hard at first
Arabic dictionaries are arranged by root, not by the word as you see it on the page. To find يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ you look under غ ف ر. That is why Ṣarf comes before serious dictionary work. You must be able to strip a word to its root before you can find it.
The three schools of arrangement
- Sound and permutation (التَّقْلِيبَاتُ). Roots are ordered by point of articulation or by alphabet, with every permutation of a root treated together. Examples: Kitāb al-ʿAyn of al-Khalīl, Tahdhīb al-Lughah of al-Azharī, al-Muḥkam of Ibn Sīdah and Jamharat al-Lughah of Ibn Durayd.
- Rhyme (الْقَافِيَةُ). Roots are ordered by their last letter, then their first. Examples: al-Ṣiḥāḥ of al-Jawharī, Lisān al-ʿArab of Ibn Manẓūr, al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ of al-Fīrūzābādī and Tāj al-ʿArūs of al-Zabīdī.
- Ordinary alphabet (الْأَبْجَدِيَّةُ الْعَادِيَّةُ). Roots are ordered by their first letter. Ibn Fāris follows an order of his own within each letter in Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lughah and Mujmal al-Lughah.
How to look a word up
- Strip the word to its root. Remove prefixes, suffixes and augmented letters.
- Restore any weak or dropped letter. قَالَ is from ق و ل.
- Find the school of the dictionary, then the section and chapter that hold the root.
- Read the whole entry. The meaning you need may be the fifth one listed.
- Check the sense against the sentence you are reading.
Which dictionaries to own
- Daily use: al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ of al-Fīrūzābādī and Mukhtār al-Ṣiḥāḥ of al-Rāzī.
- Root meaning: Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lughah of Ibn Fāris.
- Deep research: Tahdhīb al-Lughah of al-Azharī.
- In English: Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon for the classical language, and Hans Wehr for modern prose.
Do not settle for a smooth translation
When you translate, verify the meaning against these dictionaries. A smooth English equivalent can hide the exact sense of the Arabic. Lane's Lexicon is especially valuable because it gathers the classical dictionaries' explanations in English.
When to begin
Begin dictionary work at A2, once you can find the root of a regular word. By B2 a student should be using the classical dictionaries comfortably. Keep a vocabulary log: write each word with full tashkīl, its root, its pattern, its meaning and the sentence it came from.
A full English guide to around 40 to 50 major Arabic dictionaries and how to use them, by Ustadh Ibrahim A. Farooqui, is in preparation.
Study with The Arabic School
Our Ṣarf courses give you the root-finding skill that dictionary work depends on, and Fiqh al-Lughah explores how the Arabic lexicon works.
For the full map of the sciences, the two classical routes and the texts for every level, download the free guide, Learning Arabic: Skills and Systems. You can also see all our courses and prices or book a one-to-one class.