BRIEF DISCUSSION ON “MUARRABOT” BY RASHIDI
BRIEF DISCUSSION ON “MUARRABOT” BY RASHIDI
Abstract
The article dwells on the study of a brief discussion on “Muarrabot” by Rashidi. It is noted that “Muarrabot” or “Muarrabot Treatise” by Rashidi is considered to be one of the first dictionaries written by Persian-speaking lexicographers, and Muhammad Abbasi calls Rashidi`s work as “Exact Research” in the relevant streamline.
While considering some new materials up to the seventeenth century AD, the author comes across the names of many books and treatises. These treatises, despite the fact that they have some religious approaches, are very important in Tajik linguistics, and a large part of their material consists of Tajik-Persian lexicons.
Adducing the results of the conducted analysis beset with the theme explored, one can assert that “Muarrabot” by Rashidi has not been studied in details yet.
1. Introduction
It is known that the Tajik Persian language is considered to be one of the oldest ones that has a long history of existence, and during that time it has had interactions with various languages of the world. However, in the history of the last thousand years, we can note such a connection of Tajik Persian language, especially with Arabic. It is as a result of such connections that a number of words are called “muarrab” in Arabic. Of course, all the words of such type did not pass from Tajik Persian into Arabic, but the majority of them are from the relevant language. The sign of all these influences and impressions of Tajik and Arabic languages is manifested in the creation of a number of lexicographical works known as “Muarrabot” or “Muarabot” .
2. Main results and discussion
“Muarrab” refers to the words that have been transferred from another language to Arabic. All such words are subjected to changes in term of their usage, grammatical and phonetic laws of the Arabic language, and this is one of the main signs of Arabized words. However, in this way, our forefathers have pioneered and completed worthy works. We can see an example of it in some of the lexicographical productions. An outstanding scholar in linguistic studies Sodiq Kiyo in his preface to the book entitled as “Arabized words of “Jahongiri’s dictionary” and “Burhoni kote'” makes interesting points concerning the former in question and emphasizes three special muarrab dictionaries. One of them is “Al-mu'arrab min al-kalami-l-Ajami ala hurufi-l-mujam” by Abu Mansur Mawhubi Javoliqi, the second is “Shifa-ul-alil fimo fi kalami-l-arabi min ad-dakhil” by Shihobuddin Ahmadi Khafaji, and the last one is “Muarrabot” by Rashidi, which belongs to the pen of Abdur Rashid ibn Abdul Gafur Husayni Madani Tatavi .
The existence of the book under study takes place almost at the same time as “Muarrabot” by Abdur Rashid ibn Abdul Gafur Tatavi is known as Rashidi. Namely, from this information, it follows that for about four centuries no special books of muarrabot or treatises were written, in which these words were mentioned. Sodiq Kiyo , Sayyid Hamid Tabibiyon emphasize this point by adding the name of the book by Addi Sher Kildoni (1868-1915) – “Al-alfoz-ul-forsiyat al-ma'arraba” , which is also after Khaffaj`s treatise. As well as, in the course of consideration and presentation of the book “Muarrabot” by Rashidi , the researcher paid attention to the books and pamphlets referred to as “Quratu aiyun ula-r-raghabat fi bayani anwa-il-mabniyot wal-l-muarrabot” by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Ibn Abu Hazir Dimyoti Ash'ari Shafei (alive in 1350), “Nazm-ul-muarrabat min al-lughat” by Ahmad ibn Habib (1834-1893), and “Al-muarrabatu aala-l-awmil” by an unknown author . In this context, except for the book “Quratu ayun ula-r-raghabat fi bayani anwa-il-mabniyot wal-l-muarrabat” by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu Hazir Dimyoti Ash'ari Shafi'i, which belongs to the fourteenth century, all other after were written after Khaffoji`s book. We cannot give much information about this book because we have not yet found its copy or published version.
One of the first treatises written based on this context after Javoliqi`s book, if we approach it from the historical principle, it is the margin of the relevant book, which belongs to the pen of Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Barri (died 1186). Its copy is preserved in the library of the Escorial of Madrid, No. 5, and a digital No. 235 is kept in the Research Center for the Revival of the Islamic Heritage of Umm al-Qura University. Sulaiman Oid asserts that due to Ibn Barri`s contemporaneity with Ibn Jawzi some researchers have attributed it to Ibn Jawzi .
Designing on the premise of the analysis beset with the theme explored, one can underscore that the only book written into Persian refers in this context, which being “Muarrabot” or “Muarrabot Treatise” by Rashidi. As it was mentioned above, the book in question is considered to be one of the first dictionaries written by Persian-speaking lexicographers. Muhammad Abbasi invokes the work done by Rashidi as “exact research” in the relevant direction . “Muarrabot” by Rashidi contains two main parts, such as:
1. Introduction – begins with the praise of the God according to the tradition of prologues and covers the need for a treatise and the rules of translation (Arabized words) and Arabic types and styles, in particular . The introduction of the treatise is written in a simple and clear language, and its most important peculiarities is the concise and specific presentation of the article. All the rules of the compiler in the introduction, except for the last one, is under the heading “qoida”. Only the last part of the prologue was entitled as “Tanbeh” by the author.
2. The text of the dictionary: its text is arranged according to the order of the book referred to as “Rashidi`s Dictionary” in Muhammad Abbasi`s edition. Namely, the word order is from the last letter of the word. However, the text of “Muarrabot” by Rashidi is divided into chapters according to the Arabic alphabet. The former in question contains 472 lexical items, excluding the letter “yo”. Because the corrector himself emphasizes in the introduction that the entries of this letter are taken from Javoliqi`s book . Considering the material of the letter “yo”, the text of “Muarrabot” consists of 481 entries . In the Pakistani edition of the book, which is accompanied by its Urdu translation, the number of entries reaches 492 .
The former in question is not well-known in Tajik and Arabic linguistics, and we do not know many copies of it. One of its publishers - Muhammad Abbasi informs about the only copy of this dictionary, which belonged to his friend Mr. Sultani, and it is also adduced without the letter “yo” . Another publisher and translator of the book in Urdu - Mazhar Mahmudi Sheroni said that the copy used by Muhammad Abbasi is preserved in the Majlis library . In reference to it, he informed about the existence of two other copies of it in “Rashidi`s dictionary” and another column.
The dictionary explored has been published twice, the first edition was published as an appendix to “Rashidi`s dictionary” in 1958 under the editorship of Muhammad Abbasi. Then, in 2003, it became available to the public in the form of a separate book referred to as “The Treatise of Rashid`s Muarrabot”. The compiler of this edition in calligraphy and Persian language was Abdusattar Siddiqi, and the translation and editing of the book was done by Mazhar Mahmudi Sheroni. Into the bargain, he gave a detailed introduction to Abdur Rashid ibn Abdul Gafur Tatavi`s life and scientific activity , , which is written in Urdu.
3. Conclusion
Adducing the results of the conducted analysis beset with the theme explored, one can come to the conclusion that the discussion of muarrabot is one of the least mentioned ones in Tajik linguistics. We can confidently express our own opinion that if we do a little more research in the relevant field and will come across other treatises and books, those ones have not been canvassed at all.
Thus, we make an endeavor to discuss certain new materials up to the 17th century AD and faced to the names of many books and treatises. These treatises, despite the fact that they have some religious approaches, are so important in our linguistics, and a large part of their material consists of Tajik Persian lexicons.