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Article published In: Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 50:2/3 (2023) ► pp.201–226

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Anachronistic bias in the study of Arabic grammatical tradition

The case of the term ḥarf in Sībawayhi’s al-Kitāb

 | Bar-Ilan University
Published online: 4 March 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00136.kas
Abstract
One of the most obscure and most frequently commented on texts in Arabic grammatical tradition is the opening formulation in its earliest extant book, Sībawayhi’s al-Kitāb, concerning the tripartite division of parts of speech. For the third part of speech, the particle, around which the present article revolves, Sībawayhi uses a complex term, whose head is ḥarf, a term which is commonly used by itself by later grammarians for this part of speech. This article revisits the question of whether the term ḥarf by itself denotes “particle” in al-Kitāb, alongside the denotation “word”. Following Weiss’ article, published more than a hundred years ago, it will be argued that ḥarf does not denote “particle” in al-Kitāb, though occurrences thereof may refer to particles, and that scholars who ascribe the later denotation “particle” to ḥarf in al-Kitāb do so due to an anachronistic bias.
Résumé
L’un des textes les plus obscurs et les plus commentés de la tradition grammaticale arabe est le passage ouvrant le premier traité complet qui nous soit parvenu, le Kitāb de Sībawayhi, et proposant une division tripartite des parties du discours. Pour la troisième partie du discours, la particule, autour de laquelle s’articule la présente étude, Sībawayhi emploie un terme complexe, dont la tête est ḥarf, terme qui est d’usage commun pour désigner cette partie du discours chez les grammairiens plus tardifs. Dans cet article, nous revenons sur la question de savoir si, dans le Kitāb, ḥarf dénote bien par lui-même la “particule” en plus de dénoter le “mot”. Suivant en cela un article de Weiss publié il y a plus de cent ans, on montrera que, dans le Kitāb, ḥarf ne dénote pas la “particule”, même si des occurrences du terme sont susceptibles de référer à des particules, et que les spécialistes qui attribuent à ḥarf la dénotation de “particule” sont victimes d’un parti pris anachronique.
Zusammenfassung
Einer der rätselhaftesten und meistkommentierten Texte in der arabischen grammatikalischen Tradition findet sich in der einleitenden Formulierung des frühesten erhaltenen Buches, Sībawayhis al-Kitāb, bezüglich der dreiteiligen Gliederung der Wortarten. In Bezug auf die dritte Wortart, die Partikel, um die sich der vorliegende Artikel dreht, verwendet Sībawayhi einen komplexen Terminus, dessen Kopfwort ḥarf ist — ein Ausdruck, der von späteren Grammatikern für diese Wortart häufig isoliert verwendet wurde. Dieser Artikel wirft erneut die Frage auf, ob der Begriff ḥarf allein in al-Kitāb einfach „Partikel“ bedeutet, zusätzlich zur Bezeichnung „Wort“. Im Anschluss an den vor mehr als hundert Jahren veröffentlichten Artikel von Weiss wird argumentiert, dass ḥarf in al-Kitāb nicht zwangsläufig „Partikel“ bedeutet, obwohl Vorkommen darauf hinweisen können, und dass Gelehrte, die ḥarf in al-Kitāb die spätere Denotation „Partikel“ zuschreiben, dies aufgrund eines anachronistischen Vorurteils tun.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.ḥarf – General notes
  • 3.Studies on ḥarf before Weiss
  • 4.Opponents of ḥarf = “particle”
  • 5.Proponents of ḥarf = “particle”
  • 6.Talmon on ḥarf in al-Kitāb
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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