What is it about?
Collecting Arabic terms for life forms other than birds and mammals is difficult, for many reasons. The difficulties can be illustrated by the Arabic lexicon for plants. This lexicon is vast, much larger than the lexicon for mammals and birds. I found over 950 basic plant terms, not including the compound terms that consist of several words. (An example of a compound term is šaǧarat al-ʿarab, literally “the tree of the Arabs”; it means “maple tree” [Acer campestre L.]). Also, the plant lexicon contains many synonyms. For instance, there are three basic terms for “maple tree” that are used in various parts of the Arab world: qayqab, dubb, and isfandān. I included all three variants in my list of Arabic plant terms. Another problem lies with the ethnobotanical literature. The researchers who have identified local plant terms may be experts in botany but do not always have comparable expertise in Arabic linguistics. When they publish their research in English, they sometimes transcribe Arabic terms incorrectly. Other books in Arabic must then be consulted to determine what the correct transcription should be.
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Why is it important?
Scholars who utilize Arabic botanical works need accurate translations of the plant terms in these works. I also needed accurate translations to capture the meanings of the kinship group names that are derived from plant terms. The same observations apply to Arabic terms for insects, reptiles, and marine life.
Perspectives
I was startled to discover that Arabic has over 950 basic terms for plants. I realized that they reflect the long history of Arab involvement in plant domestication and the Arabs’ use of plants, not just as food crops, but as spices, herbal medicines, and ingredients in manufacturing. They have used various species of woody plants for constructing tools and have used plant extracts for dying cloth and tanning leather, for making glass, and concocting paints and other useful materials. All of these activities have had an impact on the Arabic lexicon.
Dr. William Charles Young
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Arabic Terms for Plants, Insects, Reptiles, and Marine Life, January 2024, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004690370_006.
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