Semantic Change in al-Mu'jamu'l-Arabi el-Esâsî

Abstract

Each language has its own vocabularies that describe the meanings and connotations of words. The Arabic language also has its own dictionaries such as " al-'Ayn", " Lisan al-Arab", "Et-Tehzib al-Luga", "Qamus al-Muhit", "Taj al-Arus". Among the modern Arabic dictionaries, which is intended for native speakers and learners, is a dictionary called "al-Mujamu'l-Arabiyyu’l-Esasi", which was published in 1988 and prepared and written by a group of senior Arabic linguists on behalf of the Arab Organization for education, culture and science. This dictionary, as stated in its introduction, is intended for non-Arabic speakers who have reached an intermediate or advanced level in their study of the Arabic language. It is also an assistant for lecturers and university students, and the general Arab intellectuals and other non-native learners of the Arabic language. It is a dictionary interested in addressing the Semantic change that occurred in some of the words that were mentioned in it. This is what made me study this phenomenon in it, and I used the descriptive-analytical method, as I demonstrate and analyzed the vocabularies found in the Mujemul-Arabiyyu'l-Esasi dictionary, which indicated that a Semantic Change occurred in it.