Abu Nasr Isma'il ibn Hammad al-Jawhari () also spelled al-Jauhari (died 1002 or 1008) was a medieval Turkic

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

and the author of a notable Arabic dictionary ''al-Ṣiḥāḥ fī al-Lughah'' ().

Life

He was born in the city of Farab (

Otrar Otrar or Otyrar ( ; ), also called Farab, is a Central Asian ghost town that was a city located along the Silk Road in Kazakhstan. Otrar was an important town in the history of Central Asia, situated on the borders of settled and agricultural civ ...

) in

Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (, now called the Amu Darya) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...

(in today's southern

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

). He began his studies of the Arabic language in Farab, then studied in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, continuing among the Arabs of the

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

, then moving to northern

Khurāsān KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...

, first to

Damghan Damghan () is a city in the Central District (Damghan County), Central District of Damghan County, Semnan province, Semnan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is east of Tehran on the high-road to Mash ...

before settling finally at

Nishapur Nishapur or Neyshabur (, also ) is a city in the Central District (Nishapur County), Central District of Nishapur County, Razavi Khorasan province, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Ni ...

. It was here he met his death in a failed attempt at

flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

from the roof of a mosque, possibly due to delusions of being a bird.

Works

* ''Taj al-Lugha wa Sihah al-Arabiya'' () "The Crown of Language and the Correct Arabic" - His magnum opus dictionary of Arabic; often abbreviated as ''al-Sihah fi al-Lugha'', "The Correct Language", and ''al-Sihah'' (). It contains about 40,000 dictionary entries. Written in Nishapur, it was incomplete at his death and completed by a student. Al-Jawhari uses an alphabetical ordering system with the last letter of a word's root being the first ordering criterion. ''Al-Sihah'' is a principal Arabic dictionary of the medieval era and later compilers of Arabic dictionaries incorporated its material. Over the centuries several abridgements and elaborations in Arabic were produced and a large portion was copied into the huge 13th century dictionary compilation ''

Lisan al-Arab ''Lisān al-ʿArab'' () is a dictionary of Arabic completed by Ibn Manzur in 1290. History Ibn Manzur's objective in this project was to reïndex and reproduce the contents of previous works to facilitate readers' use of and access to them. ...

''; published online at http://www.baheth.info.Boo
''Arabic Lexicography: Its History...''
by John A. Haywood, year 1965, chapter six: "The ''Ṣaḥāḥ'' of al-Jauharī". A fully searchable online edition available a
Baheth.info
* Edition begun by E. Scheidius with a Latin translation, but one part only appeared at

Harderwijk Harderwijk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city of the Netherlands. It is served by the Harderwijk railway station. Its population centres are Harderwijk and Hierden. Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe. The south ...

(1776). * Complete edition,

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

(1854). * Complete edition,

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

(1865). * Many abridged and Persian language editions. In 1729 Ibrahim Muteferrika's Arabic-Turkish dictionary, based on Jawhari's, became the first book printed by

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

of Ottoman era.The ''al-Sihah'' of al-Jawhari was rendered as an Arabic–Turkish dictionary by Vankulu (died 1592) and was published in Istanbul in 1729. This publication is of significance in the history of publishing under the Ottomans, as discussed in the article about its publisher Ibrahim Muteferrika. Further information a
ref
.

References

Bibliography

* Boo
''Arabic Lexicography: Its History, and Its Place in the General History of Lexicography''
by John A. Haywood, 1965. * * *

External links

Encyclopedia Islamica
{{Authority control 10th-century births 1000s deaths 10th-century Iranian people Lexicographers of Arabic Medieval grammarians of Arabic Inventors killed by their own invention 10th-century Arabic-language writers