Sharjah Ruler releases first 17 volumes of ‘Historical Corpus Of The Arabic Language’

In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah released the first 17 volumes of the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language – the first-of-its-kind project to chronicle 17 centuries of development in the Arabic language.

In his keynote address, the Sharjah Ruler noted: “Arabic is one of the oldest living languages. We are here to celebrate Arabic language experts who gathered to work for years to document the roots and meanings of the Arabic language alphabet. We have started to work hard and bridge the gaps that existed in the documentation of the language. Finally, the sun has risen on this beautiful Corpus, which is the fruit of the efforts of a number of Arabic language institutions across the region.” 

He added: “The role this detailed Corpus will play in informing and educating students, researchers, and linguists, and even the everyday language enthusiasts will be immense. I am not exaggerating when I say that there has been no other project that has attracted my attention or the attention of the Arab linguist community in our region to the extent that this project has. I am following up on the development of the efforts of everyone involved in this project, and I assure you that in the coming years we will be publishing several more volumes. I thank each and everyone involved in making this project a success.”

In the presence of a host of Arab ministers, presidents of Arabic language academies in the region, and several Arabic scholars and researchers, the Sharjah Ruler unveiled the Corpus volumes during the opening ceremony of the 40th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) on Tuesday (2 November) at Expo Centre Sharjah. On this occasion, HH Ruler of Sharjah officially launched the official website of The Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language.

The Sharjah Ruler discussed the online platform and smart phone applications created to make the Historical Corpus digitally available and allow easy access to these materials from anywhere on the planet. At the SIBF 2021 opening ceremony, he also autographed copies of the first edition of the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language.

The first volumes of the Corpus have dedicated to the first five Arabic letters: the hamza (ء), ba (ب), ta (ت) tha (ث) and jeem (ج) and outline their evolution throughout the pre-Islamic period, the Islamic era from 1 AH to 132 AH, the Abbasid Caliphate from 133 AH to 656 AH, and the modern-day era from 1214 AH to date.

Dedicated website

Scholars, linguists, researchers, and language aficionados will be able to access the 17 volumes of the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language via a website dedicated to the Corpus.

Champions of the Arabic language from across the region joined hands

Hundreds of academics, linguists, editors, and experts from ten Arabic language academies from across the Arab world collaborated on the Corpus, which was overseen by the Union of Arab Scientific Language Academies in Cairo, Egypt, and managed by the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah. The Corpus is based on a collection of sources containing 20,000 Arabic books, manuscripts, and historical documents, including antique inscriptions and archaeological finds, collected and digitized over the last four years.

The Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language is dedicated to giving vital information on the history of the Arabic lexicon, including the original root of each word and all terms derived from it and their vocal and phonetic changes. It traces the origins of a word, identifying the initial user and charting its evolution from pre-Islamic Arabia to the present day. It differs from other dictionaries in this regard because it includes living verses from the Holy Quran as well as Hadith from the Prophet, peace be upon him.

It also exposes the evolution of Arabic idioms and expressions over time and the admission of new terms into the Arabic language, a list of words that are no longer used, and explanations for why they are no longer used. Furthermore, the Corpus examines the evolution of language arts and sciences such as grammar, morphology, philology, phonetics, rhetoric, rhyming, and so on.

It also includes lexical comparisons of Arabic and its impact on other Semitic languages like Hebrew, Akkadian, Syriac, Abyssinian, and Amharic. An expert committee described the similarities and contrasts between Arabic words and their equivalents in other languages, offering instances and recording the project’s bibliography and reference materials.

Several senior officials were present during the launch, including Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence; Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association; Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, President of the Sharjah Art Foundation; Sheikh Khalid bin Issam Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Department of Civil Aviation in Sharjah; Sheikh Salem bin Abdulrahman Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Ruler’s Office; Sheikha Nawar bint Ahmed Al Qasimi, Director, SAF;  Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad Al Owais, UAE Minister of Health and Prevention.

The launch of the Corpus’s 17 volumes was also witnessed by Dr. Salah Fadl, President of the Arab Language Academy in Cairo; Dr. Mamoun Wajeeh, Scientific Manager of the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language; Dr. Abdulhamid Madkour, Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Scientific Language Academies, and Secretary-General of the Arabic Language Academy, Cairo.