On the lexicography of horses in medieval Arabic sources
On the lexicography of horses in medieval Arabic sources
Author(s): Zsuzsanna KutasiSubject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Middle Ages, Lexis, Other Language Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: hippology; Arabic lexicography; terminology of horse; bones; cannon; croup; forehead; frog; hock hoof; pastern; thigh; thorax; tibia;
Summary/Abstract: The subject matter of the present research is medieval Arabic literature in the 8th to 15th centuries, dealing with horses and hippology. Numerous descriptions of horses have been left to us from this period, the most renowned authors being Abū ‘Ubayda, al-Aṣma‘ī, Ibn Sīda and Ibn Qutayba. The present article has made extensive use of these works and subjected the explanations found therein to a comparison with dialectical variants of the various body parts of a horse, for instance, the different sections of the forehead, the croup, the side or the hoof. The classical meanings of these body parts have sometimes radically changed by now, in other instances the meanings have been extended, and part of the classical vocabulary has simply disappeared, or survived but in a completely altered new sense.
Journal: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
- Issue Year: 63/2010
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 197-209
- Page Count: 13
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF