8. Excerpt from Yūsuf al-maġribī’s Dafʿ al-iṣr ʿan kalām ahl Miṣr (1606)
p. 209-225
Texte intégral
1The following is an excerpt from Dafʿ al-iṣr ʿan kalām ahl Miṣr, ‘Removing the burden from the speech of the Egyptians’ (henceforth Dafʿ al-iṣr), written in the year 1014–1015/1606 by the Egyptian Yūsuf ʾAbū al-Maḥāsin Jamāl al-Dīn b. Zakariyyā b. Ḥarb al-Maġribī al-Miṣrī al-ʾAzharī (ca. 1562–1611).
2Al-Maġribī was born and raised in Cairo as the descendent of North African immigrants. He grew up in the Ibn Ṭūlūn quarter, which was the meeting point for North African pilgrims, and the living quarter of a large number of North African immigrants. After first being set up in the fabric trade by his uncles following the death of his father, al-Maġribī went to study at al-Azhar University and subsequently worked in a government position. Al-Maġribī knew Persian and Turkish and translated some literary works from these languages into Arabic, but these translations have not survived.1 He does, however, comment on Turkish and Persian words and phrases and cites some poetry in these languages in Dafʿ al-iṣr.
3Dafʿ al-iṣr is a dictionary of Egyptian Arabic words that al-Maġribī checked for consistency with Classical Arabic, mainly using al-Fīrūzābādī’s (1329–1415) al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ as his reference, but also citing from the Qurʾān and ḥadīth and from Classical Arabic poetry. Al-Maġribī introduces the Egyptian words and phrases by the word yaqūlūna ‘they say’, which was usual in the so-called laḥn al-ʿāmma literature. Al-Maġribī was acquainted with this genre, having written an arrangement of, and appendix to, al-Ḥarīrī’s Durrat al-ġawwāṣ fī awhām al-xawāṣṣ. However, al-Maġribī’s objective was the opposite of that of the laḥn al-ʿāmma-literature, because whereas the authors of laḥn al-ʿāmma works set out to correct ‘mistakes’ that people made in the Arabic language, al-Maġribī’s purpose for writing Dafʿ al-iṣr was to prove that many words and expressions that were generally thought to be ‘incorrect’ actually had equivalents in the Classical Arabic language (Zack 2009, 31–32; see Pellat (2012b) on laḥn al-ʿāmma literature). If a word used in the Egyptian dialect was found with the same meaning either in one of the Classical Arabic dictionaries, in the Qurʾān or ḥadīth, or in Classical Arabic poetry, al-Maġribī would classify it as ṣaḥīḥ ‘correct’; if not, he would comment in terms of lam yuʿlam ‘it is unknown’, wa-laysa ka-ḏālik ‘it is not like this’, ġayr ṣaḥīḥ ‘incorrect’, and similar phrases (Zack 2009, 50–51).
4Besides being an important source for Egyptian Arabic in the 17th century,2 Dafʿ al-iṣr also contains numerous interesting observations on Egyptian culture, such as games, food and drink, clothing, and household utensils. Al-Maġribī also makes comments about his own friends and acquaintances as well as about noteworthy events, as the selected text fragment will show. Al-Maġribī often digresses from the original word under discussion. Most of his comments were triggered by reading something in al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ that interested him or that reminded him of something that he had experienced. This is demonstrated in his entry for ṭabṭab ‘to pat’, where a note in al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ about the nickname ṭabāṭabā for someone who pronounced the qāf as ṭāʾ reminded him of one of his own acquaintances with the same speech impediment.
5Only one manuscript of Dafʿ al-iṣr has survived—the autograph, which is kept in the St. Petersburg University library (catalogued under no. MS OA 778). In its present form, it consists of 134 folios, but originally it contained 25 kurrāsas ‘quires’, of which quires 3–13 have been lost. The manuscript appears to be a first draft of Dafʿ al-iṣr, as there are a large number of corrections, additions, and comments (such as unẓur ‘look up’) added in the margins in the author’s handwriting.3 An abbreviated version, based on the complete manuscript, was written by Ibn Abī al-Surūr (1589–1590). This book, titled al-Qawl al-muqtaḍab fīmā wāfaqa luġat ahl Miṣr min luġat al-ʿarab ‘The abbreviated speech concerning what corresponds in the language of the people of Egypt to the language of the Arabs’, contains only one-third of the original lemmata of Dafʿ al-iṣr, namely those that had the same meaning in Egyptian Arabic and Classical Arabic. Furthermore, it is stripped of all cultural information, poetry, and anecdotes, which is precisely what makes Dafʿ al-iṣr an important source of information on Egyptian language and culture in the 17th century.4
6The excerpt from Dafʿ al-iṣr presented here is from the chapter bāʾ, section ṭāʾ and the first part of section ʿayn. Note that words are arranged according to the last letter of the root, like in other dictionaries, such as Lisān al-ʿarab and al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ, so that, for instance, the word ʿazab is found in chapter bāʾ, section ʿayn. The excerpt starts on fol. 16r line 10 of the manuscript, and ends at fol. 17r line 13. The orthography is kept exactly as it was written in the manuscript. The text fragment is followed by a translation and commentary.
Transcription
fol. 16r


fol. 16v


fol. 17r

Translation
fol. 16r
9(10) Section ṭāʾ. They12 say: ṭabṭab ʿalā al-šay, (11) and this has an equivalent.13 [Al-Fīrūzabādī] said in al-Qāmūs: “al-ṭabṭaba is the sound of water and the sound of the dashing of the torrent (12) and al-ṭabṭabiyya is a whip and ṭabṭab is a sound.” Interesting fact: “ṭabāṭabā is the nickname (13) of Ismāʿīl b. al-Ḥasan b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī—may God be pleased with them—which was given to him because he used to (14) replace qāf with ṭāʾ, or because he was given a qabāʾ,14 so he said: ṭabāṭabā, but he meant qabāqabā”, end [of the quotation]. (15) The faqīr15 said: I heard the late son of sheikh al-Ġayṭī, who replaced letters (16) with ṭāʾ, say nāṭis baʿḍ wurayṭāṭ, that is, nāqiṣ baʿḍ wurayqāt,16— (17) may God rest his soul, and we have profited much from his noble ancestors— “Al-ṭabṭāb is a bird with big ears”. (18) They say: so-and-so experienced al-ṭarab, which they apply to the agitation17 of joy, and it is used [in Classical Arabic] (19) for the agitation of both joy and grief, [so this is] one of the words with two opposite meanings, and “a man who is muṭrāb and ṭarūb.”18 (20) It seems now that the saying “if two donkeys happen to meet, [their voices] agitate,” means that they evoke the agitation of grief, not (21) joy, because the voice of a single donkey evokes grief, from which one should seek protection, (22) so what would it be like if it were doubled? Interesting fact: ṭarib “like katif19 is the name of the horse of the Prophet—God bless him and grant him salvation.”
fol. 16v
10(1) They say ṭāb to [the game] they play, and also ṭāba to the counter.20 (2) I do not know a corresponding [word in Classical Arabic] for these two words.21 Al-ṭāba in the [Classical Arabic] language is “wine, and Ṭayba is al-Madīna, (3) and ʿaḏq ibn ṭāb is a type of date palm in [al-Madīna], or ibn ṭāb is a type of date.” It is written thus in al-Qāmūs, (4) so it could just be that ṭāb is [derived] from one of these two, because it is [made] from the palm tree, so it is (5) ṭāb from the first one, or it is from the palm trees in [al-Madīna] [called] ibn ṭāb, from the second one. And ṭiyāb (6) like kitāb is a type of palm tree in Baṣra.22, 23 They call baked bricks ṭūb, and this is correct, (7) and [they call] joking muṭāyaba, which is also correct. One of the events (8) events [sic] that happened this year, which is the year 1014,24 (9) in the land of Egypt, is the herb that has become known under the name of ṭābġa ‘tobacco’. They inhale25 its smoke, (10) and its use has now increased to the point that it is being sold every day in a world (11) full of vice and it has become a general necessity, all types in designated shops, (12) and now the idea has come up to open special houses for it like cafés.26 (13) I don’t have reliable information about it. They say that it came from the West, and it is praised (14) in a long poem that I have heard. I have sucked up a little bit of its smoke and got (15) a kind of dawxa, dizziness, and no wonder, because duxxān ‘smoke’, which is also called duxx, is close to it.27 (16) Section ʿayn. They say al-ʿbb to that which is next to the chest, but (17) the correct [meaning] is that it is the sleeve. [Al-Fīrūzābādī] said in al-Qāmūs: “al-ʿubb with the vowel u is al-rudn, the sleeve,” and [al-Fīrūzabādī] said about (18) rudn: “the base of the sleeve, its plural is ardān.”28 They say: ʿatabat al-bāb, with which they mean (19) that which is at the bottom of the door, and what is written in the Qāmūs is that it is “uskuffat al-bāb, the threshold of the door, and the upper part (20) of it,” end of quotation.29 It appears that uskuffa (21) is the lower part; then [al-Fīrūzābādī] said “mā ʿatabtu bābahu means: I did not step upon his threshold,” and this is a sign that it is the lower part. (22) Interesting fact: the words of the Sublime and if they ask amends yet no amends shall be made to them30 mean that if (23) they ask their Lord to forgive their fault, he will definitely not do so, which means that he will not return them to the world. They say
fol. 17r
11(1) he ʿarqab the riding animal, if he hamstrung it, which is correct, and as for the famous expression (2) “the promises of ʿUrqūb, this is “Maʿbad b. Asad, one of the Giants, who was the most untruthful person of his time. (3) Once a beggar came to him, so he told him: when my palm trees put forth the spadix [I will give you alms],31 so when that happened, he said: when it brings forth dates, so when that happened, he said: (4) when the redness appears in the dates, and when that happened, he said: when the dates become ripe, so when that happened, he said: when the dates become dry, and when that happened, (5) he cut them off at night, and did not give [the beggar] anything.” Al-Ašjaʿī32 said: “You made a promise, but not fulfilling it was in your character (6) Like the promises of ʿUrqūb to his brother in Yaṯrib.” And from the poem Suʿād is gone:33 (7) “The promises of ʿUrqūb were for her a model tall-tale promises, empty talk.” They call (8) someone of the night guards ʿazab ‘bachelor’, which has an equivalent, because in the [Classical Arabic] language ʿazab is “someone who does not (9) have a family”, and someone who has a family as a rule does not do this [night] watch, and someone who does not have a wife (10) is also a ʿazab, “and do not say aʿzab, or it is rare; the plural is aʿzāb and the feminine ʿazaba and ʿazab, (11) and the verb is like naṣara;34 and taʿazzaba means he abstained from marriage.” A curiosity: just like taʿazzaba with a zāy means ‘to abstain’, (12) so also with a rāʾ,35 because it means that he left his land, and likewise yaʿzibu with the meaning ‘to be absent’, so the proximity is in both (13) the pronunciation and the meaning. It is known that the man is ʿazab and the woman ʿazaba, not ʿāziba as they say.
Commentary
12This section is divided into two parts: the first will discuss the orthography of the Classical Arabic component of the text, and the second part will focus on the Egyptian Arabic entries.
Classical Arabic: Orthography
13The main body of the text, which consists of al-Maġribī’s comments on the Egyptian Arabic words under discussion, and contains quotations from al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ and other dictionaries, the Qurʾān, ḥadīth, and poetry, are all in Classical Arabic in terms of morphology, syntax, and vocabulary. However, the orthography is not according to the standards of Classical Arabic, but follows patterns that are well-known from Middle Arabic texts. Al-Maġribī’s biography shows that he was an educated man, who studied at the Azhar University, was interested in the Arabic language, and had good knowledge of dictionaries and other works on linguistics. He also composed poetry in Classical Arabic. This is indicative of his excellent knowledge of the Arabic language. The fact that the orthography he used does not adhere to the standards of Classical Arabic can therefore not be attributed to insufficient knowledge of the language. As Lentin (2011) points out, “many writers have left us works written both in faultless or even sophisticated Classical Arabic and works written in Middle Arabic. For those writers at least, one has to abandon the idea of their inadequacies in Classical Arabic.” We have to bear in mind that in many text editions, the orthography has been standardised by the editors, and that many Classical Arabic texts originally contained Middle Arabic features (Lentin 2011). In fact, the history of Arabic orthography has not been sufficiently studied yet; in order to do so, more text editions that are faithful to the original orthography need to be published (Den Heijer 2012). As for Dafʿ al-iṣr, the most important orthographic features are highlighted in the sections that follow (see also Zack 2009, 77–83).
The hamza
14The hamza has been omitted in many cases. As the text is in Classical Arabic, this omission of the hamza is unlikely to be indicative of its loss in the pronunciation. Rather, as Blau (2002, 32) suggests, it could reflect “an ancient orthographic habit preserved also through N [eo-] A [rabic] influence.”
15Some examples of omission of the hamza (see also Blau 2002, 32–33):
initial hamza:
16r, ln. 16 (
);
16r, ln. 19 (
). medial hamza:
16v, ln. 13 (
);
16v, margin (71
;)
ا r, ln. 5 (
).
final hamza:16r, ln. 10 (
);
16r, ln. 11 (
); 61 اطلاب r, ln. 16 (
.
16When the yāʾ is the seat of the hamza, it is written below the yāʾ, e.g., 61 ىاط ٕ ر r, ln. 17 (71 ىاس ٕ ل ;) رئاط r, ln. 3 ( لئاس ). It can also be omitted, as in 61 هدىاف r, ln. 1236 (61 رىاس ;) ةدئاف v, ln. 11 ( رئاس ).
The madda
17The madda is sometimes omitted, e.g., in 61 نעا r, ln. 20 ( نעا ). However, more interesting is that the madda is added on the ʾalif to write the combination āʾ: 61 رىاس v, ln. 11 (61 اط ;) رئاس r, ln. 14 ( ءاط ). Often for good measure an extra hamza is added as well: 61 ىاط ٕ ر r, ln. 17 (71 ءارلاب ;) رئاط r, ln. 12 ( ءارلاب ).
The yāʾ and ʾalif maqṣūra
18The yāʾ and alif maqṣūra are often used interchangeably.
alif maqṣūra instead of yāʾ: 61 ىف r, ln. 11; 61 ىضر r, ln. 13; 61 ىتلا v, ln. 8.
yāʾ instead of alif maqṣūra: 61 يلص r, ln. 22; 61 يولبلا v, ln. 1171 يهزا ;r, ln. 4; 71 ينعمب r, ln. 12.
The tāʾ marbūṭa
19The tāʾ marbūṭa is often written without dots, even if it is the first part of a genitive construction. Examples: 61 هباطلا v, margin; 61 هخودلا v, ln. 15; 71 هردان r, ln. 11; 71 هبزع r, ln. 13.
Egyptian Arabic Lemmata
20ṭabṭab ‘to pat’: this entry provides a good example for how al-Maġribī comments on Egyptian Arabic vocabulary. In most cases he does not give a definition of the word under discussion, assuming that his readers know what it means. In Egyptian Arabic, ṭabṭab is used nowadays with the meaning of ‘to pat’ (Badawi and Hinds 1986, 530b; see also Dozy 1881, 2: 21b); the combination with ʿalā given by al-Maġribī makes it likely that it meant just that in the 17th century, but the quotation from al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ does not give the exact same meaning. The entry also shows how al-Maġribī integrates anecdotes about his own acquaintances and events from his own life into the dictionary.
21al-ṭarab ‘agitation’: as in al-Maġribī’s time, in modern Egyptian Arabic it is used to mean only pleasure, not sadness, but more specifically the pleasure derived from listening to singing (Badawi and Hinds 1986, 534a).
22ṭāb ‘the ṭāb-game’: the game of ṭāb is still played today in Egypt. It is a “game for two players with stone counters and four strips of palm branch, each strip having one green side and one white side; the strips are thrown against a vertical surface and the various combinations of green and white govern the movement of the stones on a grid drawn in the dust” (Badawi and Hinds 1986, 528a). Lane (1863–1893, 55–58) gives a detailed description of the game and how it is played (Zack 2009, 74, 243; see also Dozy 1881, 2: 65a–b).
23ṭāwb ‘to bow one’s head in greeting’: no references found in Classical Arabic or Egyptian Arabic dictionaries.
24ṭūb ‘bricks’: from Coptic τωωβε ‘brick’ (Crum 1939, 398a; Badawi and Hinds 1986, 548b). The reason that al-Maġribī does not refer to its non-Arabic origin is that al-Fīrūzābādī (1999, 103a), al-Maġribī’s main source, does not mention that it is a loanword.
25muṭāyaba ‘joking’: as in Classical Arabic (Lane 1863–1893, 1952c).
26ṭābġa ‘tobacco’. Tobacco was introduced in Egypt in 1603–1604 (Matthee 2012), two years before al-Maġribī wrote Dafʿ al-iṣr (Zack 2009, 70–71). His comments show how tobacco very rapidly became popular, with special shops and coffee houses where customers could smoke being established within the two years of its introduction. Al-Maġribī did not view the smoking of tobacco favourably, as he comments on how he tried it and became dizzy and considered it a vice. He returns to the subject of tobacco on fol. 75v, where he mentions that there were discussions about whether it was permissible to smoke tobacco while fasting during Ramadan, with one sheikh ruling that it was indeed allowed. Al-Maġribī found this reprehensible (he mentions this anecdote in the lemma raḏil ‘depraved’). Badawi and Hinds (1986) do not mention the word ṭābġa for tobacco, and neither does Spiro (1895).37 It is mentioned by Steingass (1884, 162b) as tabġ and by Dozy (1881, 2: 141a) as tibġ.
27ʿbb ‘bosom of a garment’. It still has the same meaning in modern Egyptian Arabic, vocalisation ʿibb (Badawi and Hinds 1986, 558b; ʿubb in Classical Arabic, where it means ‘base of the sleeve’, as demonstrated in the quotation from al-Fīrūzābādī mentioned by al-Maġribī).
28ʿataba ‘threshold’. According to al-Maġribī, this applied only to the lower part of the door frame, but in modern Egyptian Arabic it is both the lower and upper part (Badawi and Hinds 1986, 558b).
29ʿarqab ‘to hamstring’, i.e., incapacitate by cutting the hamstring tendon. The word is still in use in modern Egyptian Arabic (Badawi and Hinds 1986, 574a).
30ʿazab ‘member of the night guard’: this meaning was derived from the original meaning ‘bachelor’, because only men who did not have a family would work in the night guard.38 Dozy (1881, 2: 124a) mentions ‘milice bourgeoise’. The 17th-century meaning of ‘member of the night guard’ disappeared in the 19th century, as it is not mentioned by Spiro (1895, 396b). Badawi and Hinds (1986, 574b–575a) mention only the forms ʾaʿzab and ʿāzib ‘bachelor’, not ʿazab, although they do mention the feminine form ʿazaba (alongside ʿazba < ʿāziba).
Notes de bas de page
1 For more information on al-Maġribī’s life and works, see Zack (2009, 9–19).
2 Another important source is Yūsuf al-Širbīnī’s Hazz al-quḥūf fī šarḥ qaṣīd Abī Šādūf, description by Davies (1981), text edition and translation by Davies (2016).
3 For more information on the manuscript and the contents of Dafʿ al-iṣr, see Zack (2009, 21–35).
4 For more information on al-Qawl al-muqtaḍab see Zack (2009, 35–36).
5 Margin:
6 Margin:
7 Margin:
8 Sic.
9 Margin:
10 Margin:ا
11 Margin:
12 I.e., the Egyptians.
13 I.e., it can be found in al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ.
14 An outer garment with sleeves.
15 Al-Maġribī always refers to himself in the third person with the epithet al-faqīr ‘the poor’, or ‘living for the Lord alone’ (see Nizami 2012 for the use of this term in the context of Sufism). Al-Maġribī had connections with some of the Sufi orders in Cairo (see Zack 2009, 15–16).
16 “some little papers are missing”
17 Lane (1863–1893): “طَرَب Emotion, or a lively emotion, or excitement, or agitation, or unsteadiness […] by reason of joy or grief […]” (1888a); “حَرَكة motion; commotion; agitation” (556b).
18 This means that these are the two adjectives derived from the word ṭarab, i.e., ‘a man who is filled with joy or grief’.
19 That is, with the same vocalisation as katif.
20 Literally: ‘ball’. See the Commentary below for a discussion of the Egyptian Arabic terms in the text.
21 Margin: Look up ṭāb and ṭāba.
22 Margin: As to ṭāba, it is not known; correct.
23 Margin: They say: he ṭāwb to someone, which means that he bowed his head in greeting to him, look this up.
24 1605–1606 CE.
25 Literally: ‘drink’.
26 Margin: A raṭl of it is sold for three gold pieces. [Note: the raṭl is a unit of weight.]
27 Here, al-Maġribī makes a connection between dawxa ‘dizziness’ and duxx ‘smoke’, because they sound similar.
28 Margin: al-ʿbb is the sleeve.
29 Margin: Look up what the difference is between the two conjuncts. [Note: Al-maʿṭūf and al-maʿṭūf ʿalayhi: a word to which another word is conjoined, for instance by the particle of conjunction wa-, in this case: uskuffat al-bāb wa-l-ʿulyā minhā.]
30 Qurʾān 41: 24, translation by Arberry (1963, II: 187).
31 See Lane (1863–1893, 1919c) for the meaning ofThe
, translated by Lane as the spadix (1921b) is a fleshy stem with small flowers that turn into dates if the palm tree is female.
32 Abū ʿĀmir Ibn Šuhayd al-Ašǧaʿī (992–1035) was an Andalusian poet, man of letters, and vizier. See Pellat (2012a).
33 This is from the lāmiyya known as the Burda, by Kaʿb b. Zuhayr, a contemporary of the Prophet. See Basset (2012). Translation of this verse by Sells (1990, 149).
34 I.e., it has the vowels a-a, so ʿazaba.
35 I.e., taʿazzaba and taʿarraba have the same meaning.
36 And other instances; in such cases, only one line number is given here.
37 Badawi and Hinds (1986) mention tumbāk / ṭumbāk (136a, 546b) and duxxān (282a). Spiro (1895) mentions the Turkish tutun (68a) as well as duxxān (194b).
38 See Cezzâr (1962, 32) for more information on the night guard in Ottoman Egypt.
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