Handbook of Terminology, Volume 2: Terminology in the Arab World

275 Pages·2019·4.24 MB·English

by  Abied Alsulaiman (Editor)

HANDBOOK
OF
TERMINOLOGY
volume
2
Terminology in the Arab world
EDITED BY
ABIED ALSULAIMAN
AHMED ALLAITHY
2
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
Handbook of Terminology, Volume 2
Terminology in the Arab world
Handbook of Terminology
issn 2352-1821
The Handbook of Terminology (HOT) aims at disseminating knowledge about terminology
(management) and at providing easy access to a large range of topics, traditions, best practices,
and methods to a broad audience: students, researchers, professionals and lecturers in
Terminology, scholars and experts from other disciplines, such as linguistics, life sciences,
metrology, chemistry, law studies, machine engineering, and any other expert domain. In
addition, the HOT addresses experts in (multilingual) terminology, translation, interpreting,
localization, editing, etc., such as communication specialists, translators, scientists, editors, public
servants, brand managers, engineers, and (intercultural) organization specialists.
All chapters are written by specialists in the different subfields and are peer-reviewed.
Editors
Hendrik J. Kockaert Frieda Steurs
Hamad Bin Khalifa University / KU Leuven / KU Leuven / University of the Free State /
University of the Free State Université Catholique de l’Ouest
Editorial Assistant Linguistic Editor
Leen Boel Susan Lilley
KU Leuven London Metropolitan University
International Advisory Board
Abied Alsulaiman Dirk Geeraerts
KU Leuven KU Leuven
Tegau Andrews Jacobus A. Naudé
Bangor University University of the Free State
Gerhard Budin Nadia Rodriguez
University of Vienna Universidad Pontificia Comillas
Philippe Caignon Nicole Sevigny
Concordia University Government of Canada’s Translation Bureau
Rute Costa Dominique Vauquier
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Praxeme Institute
Christian Galinski Changqing Zhou
InfoTerm / Twinned Secretariat of ISO/TC37 China National Institute of Standardization
Volume 2
Handbook of Terminology. Terminology in the Arab world
Edited by Abied Alsulaiman and Ahmed Allaithy
Handbook of Terminology
Volume 2
Terminology in the Arab world
Edited by
Abied Alsulaiman
KU Leuven
Ahmed Allaithy
American University of Sharjah
Linguistic Editor
Kara Warburton
Assistant Editor
Karima Tegnougui
KU Leuven
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
doi 10.1075/hot.2
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress:
lccn 2014024922
isbn 978 90 272 0198 0 (hb)
isbn 978 90 272 6306 3 (e-book)
© 2019 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other
means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com
Table of contents
Introduction 1
Ahmed Allaithy and Abied Alsulaiman
chapter 1
The history of Arabic lexicography and terminology 7
Ali M. Al-Kasimi
chapter 2
Terminology standardization in the Arab world: The quest for a model
of term evaluation 31
Hassane Darir, Abdelhamid Zahid & Khalid Elyaboudi
chapter 3
Terminology and translation in Arabic: Shared aspects
and conflictual relationships 59
Hassan Hamzé
chapter 4
Medical terminology in the Western world: Current situation 83
Maria-Cornelia Wermuth & Heidi Verplaetse
chapter 5
Medical terminology in the Arab world: Current state and developments 109
Kassem Sara
chapter 6
The dilemma of legal terminology in the Arab world 139
Said M. Shiyab
chapter 7
There is nothing like Him: A syntactic, semantic, rhetorical
and translational analysis of Qur’anic terminology 155
Ahmed Allaithy
chapter 8
Sufi terminology and aspects of interaction with symbols: An investigation
into the orientalists’ approaches to the study and translation of Sufi terms:
The case of Massignon 181
Khalid Elyaboudi, Abdelhamid Zahid & Hassane Darir
vi Terminology in the Arab world
chapter 9
Linguistic inferiority in software localization 217
Lahousseine Id-youss & Abied Alsulaiman
chapter 10
Covering linguistic variability in Arabic: A language ideological exercise
in terminology 235
Helge Daniëls
List of contributors 255
Index 259
Introduction
Ahmed Allaithy & Abied Alsulaiman
The Prophet Muhammad’s immigration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE marks the
beginning of a decisive era in the history of mankind. Within a few decades, the rising
Muslim nation managed to march from Arabia to almost every corner of the known
world at the time. The Arabs, who had virtually no contribution to human civiliza-
tion for centuries before the advent of Islam (c. 609 CE), successfully embarked on
an unprecedented journey that transformed the entire world in almost all fields. For
centuries to come, the language of knowledge and science was no other than Arabic.
No work of any value was produced in any other language. Centers for learning and
enlightenment spread across the Islamic empire promoting both Islam and scholar-
ship in general. The scholarly contribution of the Islamic empire was indeed unparal-
leled in terms of content, depth, value and relevance for the advancement of human
civilization.
The achievements of that Arab-Islamic empire had taken the world by surprise
especially since the Arabs of the pre-Islamic era were generally an illiterate nation.
Their intellectual contribution during that period of Jāhiliyyah (c. 500 BCE – 599
CE) was limited to poetry and rudimentary rhymed prose narratives, with localized
impact confined to Arabia only. It is true that they were the unchallenged masters of
eloquence, but only within the confines of their Arabic language and the borders of
Arabia. Their talents were kept local until Islam overtook the world.
It is of great importance to note that the first revealed Āyah (verse) of the Qur’an
to the illiterate Prophet Muhammad was a command to ‘read’ and acknowledge
the Lord, God, to be the Creator of mankind. (Q96:1). The connection between the
earthly mundane and the heavenly divine is then established for good. “The reader
of the Qur’an is invited and indeed urged in many places to ponder upon everything
around them, to try to understand and appreciate God’s creation.” (Allaithy, 2014, p.
1). Reading or reciting could only be achieved through learning. The divine command
to 'read' clearly indicated that ‘learning’ was a key to understanding the universe and
its Creator. Indeed, Qur’anic Ayahs were revealed covering all aspects of life and carv-
ing a straight path for success in this world and the afterlife. Not only did the scholars
and scientists of old benefit from the Qur’anic references to advance in their fields, but
many sciences developed as direct result of the revelation of the Qur’an.
Encouraging literacy and eradicating illiteracy were on the top of the list of the
priority tasks shouldered by the Prophet Muhammad. In Ramadan, 2 AH, the early
https://doi.org/10.1075/hot.2.01all
© 2019 John Benjamins Publishing Company
2 Ahmed Allaithy & Abied Alsulaiman
Muslims won their first armed fight, the battle of Badr, against the Meccans and cap-
tured 70 of them. Later on, those captives were allowed to ransom themselves if they
wished to be set free. Those of limited or no financial means but were literate could
ransom themselves through teaching ten Muslims how to read and write (Ibn Ḥanbal,
1993, v.3, no. 2216, p.20). This was a step of phenomenal magnitude in terms of high-
lighting the importance of learning.
The teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the efforts by early Muslims accel-
erated learning so quickly that within seven years of the Qur’an's compilation under
the Caliph ‘Utmān ibn ‘Affān in 30 AH, as reported by al-Mas’ūdi, hundreds of copies
had been produced and came into use by the Muslim population (Allaithy, 2005, p.
54). With the expansion of the Islamic empire under the Umayyads (661-750) and
the Abbasids (750-1258), many nations became part of the Islamic Caliphate. This
brought intellectual richness, diversity and human genius under one umbrella.
The scientific achievements made during the Muslim’s Golden Age would not
have been possible without translation. The translators played a major role in these
remarkable intellectual and cultural developments by opening lines of communication
with other nations, languages, and cultures. Without translators, it is controversial if
the Arab-Islamic Empire would have had such a global impact as the one achieved,
and most likely, its development would have been much more regionally constrained.
With the newly developed body of Arabic knowledge, produced by both Arabs
and non-Arabs, the world witnessed phenomenal advancements in almost all fields.
Arabic disciplines based solely or partly on the study of the Qur’an included gram-
mar and lexicography (works of al-Du’ali, al-Halīl, etc.), biography (Sīrah), theology
(Tafsīr, Ḥadīth), philosophy (Kalām or scholasticism) and law (Sharia, Fiqh or Islamic
Jurisprudence), to name but a few. While most such disciplines had no recourse to
anything outside the Arabic language and culture, philosophy also took inspiration
from works in Greek and other languages, which were translated into Arabic. It is
undoubtedly the Arabs who must be “credited with initiating the first organized, large-
scale translation activity in history. This activity started during the reign of the Umayy-
ads … and reached its zenith under the Abbasids …, particularly during the reign of
Al-Ma’mūn (813–33), known as the Golden Era of translation.” (Baker & Hanna 2009,
p. 330). It was in this particular era that the renowned Bayt al-Ḥikmah, or House
of Wisdom, was established and many works from Greek, Syriac, Pahlavi and San-
skrit were translated into Arabic and formed a strong basis for substantial intellectual
and scientific leaps in areas such as medicine, astronomy, mathematics, pharmacy,
botany, zoology, and architecture. This Golden Era of translation “was followed by
a rich period of original writing in many fields … The flowering of knowledge that
took place in the Islamic world during the tenth and eleventh centuries and that later
provided the impetus for the development of all branches of knowledge in the West,
including natural science and philosophy, could not have taken place had it not been
Introduction 3
for the intense programme of translation carried out under the Abbasids.” (Baker &
Hanna 2009, p. 333).
For centuries that followed, most knowledge worthy of mention produced in
the Arab world was produced in Arabic by scholars and scientists who lived under
the Islamic Caliphate. This is strangely confirmed by the fact that some Latin works
were claimed to be translations from Arabic, just to elevate their status and draw more
attention to them. Commenting on Serapion Junior Or Ibn Serābi, of the first half of the
twelfth century, Sarton states: “It is very probable that the treatise on simples, which
has come down to us under his name and is best known in its Latin form, was originally
written in Arabic. … However, it has been claimed that the Latin text was an original
passed off as a translation from the Arabic for the sake of prestige.” (our emphasis)
(Sarton 1975, v. II, Part 1, p. 133).
As birds soar up in the sky only to come down, so the case was for the Arabic-
Islamic civilization which has been witnessing a steady decline since late twelfth cen-
tury. While the reasons for such decline are worthy of discussion, it is best to leave
them out of the current work. It is undeniable, however, that transfer of knowledge
through translation has been facing complex obstacles and difficulties in the Arab
world in particular. In spite of the efforts made by such projects and initiatives as
the National Translation Centre (Egypt), the Council for Culture, Arts and Literature
(Kuwait), and Tarjem and Kalima (UAE), it seems that achieving anything remotely
similar to the glory of the Golden Era of translation requires much more concerted
work. The absence of accurate statistics or reliable data about translation in the Arab
world adds to this problem.
However, the efforts in the area of Arabic translation, lexicology and terminol-
ogy studies are not to be underestimated. The idea for the current volume originated
from the desire to introduce to the interested reader some works written with Arabic
in mind. The contributions of Arab and/or Arabic-speaking scholars as well as those
working with Arabic may be a step in the right direction by helping to bridge this
existing gap in translation, terminology, lexicology and other related fields.
Chapter 1, by Al-Kasimi, is concerned with the history of Arabic lexicography and
terminology. He starts by pointing out that one of the earliest Arabic disciplines was
lexicography. As producers of original knowledge and technology, Arabic-speaking
scholars and scientists named their discoveries and inventions with their own unique
specialized terminology. Al-Kasimi takes us through a historical journey starting with
Abu Al-’Aswad Al-Du’alī, the father of Arabic grammar, in the time of the Caliph, ‘Alī
Ibn ’Abī Ṭalib, the early seventh century, all the way to the present day. Creating the
first dictionary of the Arabic language is widely acknowledged as an extremely com-
plex undertaking, since Arabic words are based on the concept of radical letters, where
words need to be taken back to their trilateral origin before they can be identified and
entered as a dictionary entry. This, however, was not how the first Arabic dictionary