Muhit al-Muhit ( / ) is an early modern Arabic dictionary written by the Lebanese writer and scholar

Butrus al-Bustani Butrus al-Bustani (, ; 1819–1883) was a Lebanese writer and scholar. He was a major figure in the Nahda, the Arab renaissance which began in Ottoman Egypt and had spread to all Arab-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire by the end of the ...

(1819–1883), one of the leading figures of the

Nahda The Nahda (, meaning 'the Awakening'), also referred to as the Arab Awakening or Arab Enlightenment, was a cultural movement that flourished in Arabs, Arab-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire, notably in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia, ...

. Bustani's vision was to revive and modernize the Arabic language. Mindful of the importance of pedagogy, he created the dictionary to make it easier for teachers and students to attain language proficiency. The work was also strongly motivated by the writer's

Syrian nationalist Syrian nationalism (), also known as pan-Syrian nationalism or pan-Syrianism (), refers to the nationalism of the region of Syria, as a cultural or political entity known as "Greater Syria," known in Arabic as '' Bilād ash-Shām'' (). Syrian n ...

ideology, leveraging language as a unifying factor for the peoples of the Levant. Bustani finished the first version of the dictionary in 1869, eleven years after he had begun. ''Muhit al-Muhit'' is considered by modern lexicographers as a seminal step in the transition from classical to modern Arabic. Bustani introduced new lexical items in ''Muhit al-Muhit'', expanded the meaning of others, and added brief modern examples of word uses. He also removed or reduced features typical to classical Arabic lexicography such as using

Quranic The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

and poetic verses as references to lexicographical use. The first is the omission or reduction of typical features characterizing classical Arabic lexicography, such as citing Qurʾānic verses and poetic verses as examples. The second involves incorporating briefly imodern meanings. He accomplished this by extending their meaning via historical, psychological, sociological, scientific and religious explanations. This lexical achievement is likely to have required a preparatory stage. We suggest that the project of ''Muhit al-Muhit'' was one such stage assisting in the transformation from classical to modern Arabic. A close examination of this dictionary suggests that it remains a classical dictionary that imitates classical dictionaries such as ''

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. ...

'' with two fundamental differences. The first is the omission or reduction of typical features characterizing classical Arabic lexicography, such as citing Qurʾānic verses and poetic verses as examples. The second involves incorporating briefly modern meanings.

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* {{cc-notice, by4, from this source=yes Arabic dictionaries