Magdi Wahba (1925–1991) was an Egyptian university professor, Johnsonian scholar, and

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 ...

. He was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

in 1925, the son of a high court judge ( Mourad Wahba Pasha) and later cabinet minister. His mother had been educated at

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College (CLC) is a private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding and day school for girls aged 11 or older in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school was established in 1853 to provide "a sound academic edu ...

and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. The grandson of a Prime Minister ( Youssef Wahba Pasha) he belonged to the Egyptian aristocracy of the time but was nonetheless a member of the communist party in his youth. He was a graduate of

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

and the Sorbonne where he obtained a Diploma in High Studies in International Law in Paris (1947). He decided to pursue his interests in English literature and went to Exeter College, Oxford University, and received his B.Litt. and D.Phil. in 1957. During 1957–1966 and 1970–1980 Wahba taught English literature at

, Egypt. During that time he started the Annual Bulletin of English Studies which later became Cairo Studies in English published by the Department of English Language and Literature. He continued supervising countless PhD students as emeritus professor. After his death, the English Department's library at Cairo University was named after him. He also served for four years between 1966 and 1970 as the Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Culture for Egypt where he organized in 1967 the Cairo Millennium event to celebrate the

millennial Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ...

anniversary of the city of Cairo. The event is considered by many as one of the great cultural event to occur in recent

Egyptian history Egypt, one of the world’s oldest civilizations, was unified around 3150 BC by King Narmer. It later came under Persian, Greek, Roman, and Islamic rule before joining the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Controlled by Britain in the late 19th century, ...

. It included scholars from all over the world, including academics such as

Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British-American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near ...

, notwithstanding his sympathies to Israel. His key contributions to literature include some of the only English translations of Egyptian authors

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through wo ...

and

Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was among the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a leading figure of the Arab Renaissance and the modernist movement in the Arab world. His sobriquet ...

. He also edited existing versions of the authors' works in English. He was a well-known scholar of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

, editing ''Johnsonian Studies'', which included the oft-referenced bibliography of Johnson by James Clifford and

Donald Greene Donald Johnson Greene (November 21, 1914 – May 13, 1997) was a literary critic, English professor, and scholar of British literature, particularly the eighteenth-century period. Known especially for his work on Samuel Johnson, he also wrote on ...

. Wahba introduced to the Arabic reader the first Arabic translation of Johnson's '' Rasselas'' in 1959 and Chaucer's ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse, as part of a fictional storytelling contest held ...

'' in 1984. He edited the commemorative lectures for the bicentennial of Samuel Johnson's death celebrated at Oxford University in 1986, published by Longman. In 1989, shortly before his death, he published an article in the Journal of Arabic Literature entitled "An Anger Observed" that summarized the anger and suspicion felt by the Muslim world towards the West. The article was shortly after translated into Arabic and widely seen among Muslim scholars as an example of how it is possible to understand the Muslim viewpoint and develop a dialogue between the Muslim world and the West. Wahba produced several lexicographic works, including several English–Arabic dictionaries. His ''Dictionary of Literary Terms'', published in 1974 and re-issued several times, has become an important tool for scholars of

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

in the Arab world. In 1989 he published ''Al-Mukhtar: a Concise English–Arabic Dictionary'', considered as one of the most thorough dictionaries of its kind. The ''Mukhtar'' was followed by ''An Nafeess'', published after his death. He was elected a member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo in 1980, as well as a member of the

Institut d'Égypte The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon I of France, Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his French Invasion of Egypt (17 ...

(founded in 1798 by Bonaparte) and became its secretary-general shortly after. He was also an active member of the International Committee for Philosophy and the Social Sciences (CIPSH). While he shied away from political roles (he declined a ministerial position offered by President

Sadat Sadat () is a suffix, which is given to families believed to be descendants of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. In Iran, after the revolution, it is mandatory to mention "Seyed" or "Sadat" in the names of or whose descent from Muhammad has been men ...

), he was a member of the

Shura Council In Arab culture, a Majlis-ash-Shura (; Shura Council in English) is an advisory council or consultative council. In Islamic context, the Majlis-ash-Shura is one of two ways that a khalifa (Islamic leader) may be selected, the other way being b ...

(Egyptian Senate), following the footsteps of his father and grandfather Youssef Wahba. He died in London in 1991 from Leukemia.

References

*Baraka, Magda (1998). ''The Egyptian Upper Class between Revolutions 1919–1952''. Reading: Ithaca Press. *Cairo Studies in English (1990). ''Essays in Honour of Magdi Wahba''. Published by the Department of English Language and Literature, University of Cairo, Cairo. *Vatikiotis, P.J. (1997). ''The Middle East: From the end of Empire to the end of the Cold War''. London: Routledge. *Wahba, Magdi (ed.)(1962). Johnsonian Studies: Including a Bibliography of Johnsonian Studies, 1950–1960 Compiled by James L. Clifford and Donald J. Greene. Cairo: Oxford University Press. *Wahba, Magdi (1974). ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms, English-French-Arabic''. Beirut: Librairie du Liban. *Wahba, Magdi (1989). ''Al Mukhtar: A Concise English–Arabic Dictionary''. Beirut: Librairie du Liban. *Wahba, Magdi (1989). "An Anger Observed". Journal of Arabic Literature, Vol. XX, London: Brill. *Wahba, Magdi (1990). ''Cairo Memories in Studies in Arab History: The Antonius Lectures, 1978–87''. Edited by Derek Hopwood. London: Macmillan Press.

Obituary notices

Albert Hourani Albert Habib Hourani, ( ''Albart Ḥabīb Ḥūrānī''; 31 March 1915 – 17 January 1993) was a Lebanese British historian, specialising in the history of the Middle East and Middle Eastern studies. Background and education Hourani was bo ...

, "Magdi Wahba", ''

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'', October 1991 *''

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'', October 1991 * Andre Raymond "Magdi Wahba", Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale IFAO, Volume 93, {{DEFAULTSORT:Wahba, Magdi Literary critics of English Egyptian lexicographers Arab lexicographers Cairo University alumni Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford University of Paris alumni Egyptian Copts Academic staff of Cairo University Members of the Shura Council 1925 births 1991 deaths Deaths from leukemia in England Egyptian expatriates in France Egyptian expatriates in the United Kingdom 20th-century lexicographers Members of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo