Edward Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, Vol. 1

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Edward Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, Vol. 1

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E. W. Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, Vol. 1 (of 8)
Reprint, Librairie du Liban | 1968 | 367 pp (of 3064) | ISBN: 8120601076 | PDF | 419 MB

A contribution to our Classical Languages Team Project

The most scholarly dictionary of the Arabic language available. This work is the product of over thirty years of unrelenting labour. It is a work of such unique greatness that, since its first appearance almost 150 years ago, it has remained to this day supreme in the field of Arabic lexicography. No scholar or group of scholars has produced anything to supplant it. As it originally appeared and was later reproduced, the Lexicon consisted of eight large, cumbersome volumes, which made it difficult to use. Now, for the first time, the Islamic Texts Society has, with no loss whatsoever of clarity or legibility, brought together the eight large volumes into two compact volumes; it is now possible to keep the Lexicon on the work desk and refer to it with ease.

Edward William Lane was one of the more interesting scholars of Arabic in the ninteenth century (for an essay on him and some other interesting British oriental scholars, see Arberry's Oriental Essays). He spent over thirty years working on a lexicon that is still the standard for Classical Arabic - but died after finishing only seven of the eight volumes (halfway through the letter <kaf>). His nephew finished the job from his notes… It is a must for serious scholars of Arabic.