Arabic Beyond the Arabs
al-Jawhari: from Farab in the land of the Turks to «al-Sihah»
الجَوْهَريّ: من فاراب في بلاد الترك إلى «الصحاح»
al-Jawhari came from Farab, one of the lands of the Turks, which is why al-Thaʿalibi called him «one of the wonders of the world»: a master of the Arabs' own language. He studied Arabic in Iraq, then went to the desert to hear it from the Arabs in their homes, and gathered what he found sound into a dictionary he named al-Sihah. In its preface he wrote that God had made the knowledge of both religion and the world depend on knowing this language.
- In brief
- «One of the wonders of the world»: from the land of the Turks, and a master of the Arabs' language
- Outside Arabic
- al-Jawharī · al-Ṣiḥāḥ
«من أعاجيب الدنيا، وذلك أنه من الفاراب إحدى بلاد الترك، وهو إمام في علم لغة العرب.»
The sources say he was «from Farab, one of the lands of the Turks» without calling him a Turk, and some modern scholars think him Persian, so the card does not name his people. The year of his death is disputed, around 393 AH (1003).
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Sources
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