Guidelines

The database is divided into the following sections: Entries, Poems, Poets/Authors, Bibliography and Tags.

ENTRIES Preliminary The lemmas in the database are differentiated as (i) common nouns, verbs and particles and (ii) proper nouns. There are slightly different guidelines for entering a lemma in the database depending on whether it is regular or not. Whenever a new lemma is entered into the database, the user has five tabs to work with: Lemma definition, Related lemmata, Senses, Tags and Other details.

Lemma entries: common nouns, verbs and particles Lemma definition tab A lemma is the smallest linguistic unit independently used in a language, without inflection (i.e. an entry in a dictionary).

This tab contains the following categories that may be filled in: Lemma, Root/ consonantal pattern, Related lemmata, Grammar group and Specific notes.

Lemma Transliterated: Transliteration of lemma (lexicon-form, not the root) in Latin characters using the project's transliteration system (see current Guidelines, Transliteration of Arabic, page 6). Full inflection (ʾiʿrāb) must be provided, e.g. ǧabalun not ǧabal, nazala not nazal etc.

Arabic: The lemma (lexicon-form) in Arabic characters. Here too, provide full ʾiʿrāb and vocalisation: جَبَلٌ etc.

Root/consonantal pattern: Enter the abstracted 'consonantal skeleton' of a word. Either, the established root or, in the case e.g. of proper nouns or original compounds, the main consonants according to what has been laid out in 'Geographic names' (see below). (In the following 'root' is intended to encompass all the above mentioned).

Transliterated: Enter the root using Latin transliteration according to the project's standard (see current Guidelines, Transliteration of Arabic, page 6). The format for entering a root in transliteration is: FʿL (in capital letters)

Arabic: Enter the root in Arabic characters. Note that Hamza is always written ء never with an alif: أ Enter the root as follows: فعل. Second root: In rare cases, where a word (lemma) can be derived from more than one root, please enter the second (or consecutive ones) here.

Related lemmata: this function becomes active only when the Related lemmata tab has been filled in.

Grammar group: Four word classes are distinguished: particle, noun, verb, proper noun. The category 'nouns' also includes adjectives and adverbs. If the category 'noun' is selected, a submenu appears. In case the noun is either a participle or a maṣdar, this then is to be specified in the submenu. Upon selecting a category from aforementioned submenu, a third menu appears, where the stem (i.e. wazn) of the participle/maṣdar is to be specified (i.e. I stem, X stem etc.). If the category 'verb' is selected, a submenu appears where the stem (wazn) of the verb can be specified. Gender is only to be specified if it doesn't conform with standard overt markers: if a word is 'morphologically' masculine (i.e. without tāʾmarbūṭa) but semantically/syntactically feminine (i.e. denotes a feminine entity, is constructed as a feminine in a sentence) or if a word is 'morphologically' feminine (i.e. with tāʾ marbūṭa) but semantically/syntactically masculine. Cases of natural sex (i.e. ummun 'mother') are excluded. Indicate if one and the same form can apply to semantically/syntactically either masculine or feminine (or rather male/female), e.g. ḥabībun (faʿīl in passive meaning).
Number: Enter here plurals that you found attested in a text. Also, if a word is a collective or a singulative (nomen unitatis, nomen vicis) this should be indicated here. Proofread This function indicates whether an entire entry has been proofread or not.

Specific notes: There are six kinds of notes: syntactic, semantic, morphological, literary context, etymological and phonological. Related lemmata tab A 'related lemma' is a lemma that forms a more complex expression/phraseme with the lemma just entered, e.g. when two words describe one thing: 'feathers and points' with the meaning 'arrow', etc. To add a related lemma, go to the 'Related Lemma' tab, enter a root/lemma in the search field. Once the desired lemma is displayed, click 'save' to make it available under 'Senses'.

Senses tab Here, the meaning(s) of a word (lemma) is/ are entered. Enter 'sense 1' and keep adding, if appropriate, more senses by clicking on 'Add sense'. A Sense is a meaning semantically distinguished from another one (e.g. 'cold' and 'solid' are two different senses). There is also the subcategory Synonym. Every 'sense' is entered first into 'Synonym 1' etc. You can enter as many synonyms as you wish for a sense. Note that 'synonym' is an approximate value, as there rarely are real synonyms. Rather, this can be used to describe the 'flavour' of a meaning, such as 'cold, chilly, fresh' rather than, e.g. 'cold, freezing, icy' etc. For every synonym translation into different languages (English, German, French and Russian for the moment) can be given. Always enter the translation into English as the first one. At least the specific sense of the word in context should be given. Alternatively, other corroborated senses can be added as well.

Other details tab Here, inflected forms and notes on dictionaries can be added. Both are optional. It may, at some point, be decided to add certain inflected forms, if they differ from standard ones. This, however, can also be specified in the morphological notes. At times entries will differ more or less from what is found in other dictionaries. This can be remarked upon in the dictionary notes.

Proper noun entries These refer to names (people, places, etc).

Lemma definition tab

Lemma Transliterated: follow the guidelines below:

1.  start every part of the name with a capital letter:
    Qudsun, Wādi l-Qurāʾi, ʾUlātu Ḏū l-ʿArǧāʾi
2.  transliterate in the contextual form, i.e. with ʾiʿrāb:
    Wādi l-Qurāʾi (not Wādi al-Qurāʾ)
    ʾUlātu Ḏū l-ʿArǧāʾi (not ʾUlāt Ḏū al-ʿArǧāʾ)
3.  transliterate the article always with a minuscule letter: al- not Al
    al-Ǧawāʾu
4.  in case of proper names starting with a solar consonant, transliterate the 
    defnite article by using the assimilated consonant rather than the l: ar-Rabāb, 
    not al-Rabāb.

Note: Contextual (suprasegmental) shortening of long vowels before initial (anlauting) double consonant is not marked in writing, thus ʾilā l-faǧri rather than ʾila l-faǧri etc.

Note: Pronouns are entered both in their independent as well as in their enclitic form as separate lemmata. That applies even if the forms are outwardly identical, e.g. -kunna ‘them, their’ (3rd p. fem. pl.) and kunna ‘they’ (3rd p. fem. pl.).

Arabic: fully vocalised

Root/consonantal pattern

1.  include all consonants except the lām of the article:
    QDS, WDQRʾ, ʾLTḎʿRǦ

2.  transliterate in the pausal form, i.e. without ʾiʿrāb:
    Wādi al-Qurāʾ (not Wādi l-Qurāʾi)
    ʾUlāt Ḏū al-ʿArǧāʾ  (not ʾUlātu Ḏu l-ʿArǧāʾi)

Grammar group

Select: part of speech> proper noun. This will bring up several categories: Personal name, Affiliation name, Animal, Deity, Geographical name, Celestial object.

Senses tab

Translation:

1.  In case of name frequently usedd in English type in the English equivalent:
    Damascus for Dimašq
2.  Translate names, which have commonly known meaning in English:
    Egypt for Miṣr
3.  Type in the transliterated Arabic name in the pausal form in cases other than 1 and 2:
    Wādi al-Qurāʾ, ʾUlāt Ḏū al-ʿArǧāʾ  (not ʾUlātu Ḏu l-ʿArǧāʾi)
    Tāʾ marbūṭa is transliterated as -a in senses.

4.  Nota bene: Additional geographic information is to be given in a semantic note, not under senses.

Notes: Provide additional information if known: For Damascus: city in present-day Syria This information is not to be given as 'sense'!

Geographic categories (under construction): Select relevant category (to be added): city, region, valley, mountain, , river, sea, lake, other

POEMS Preliminary Use this section for either entering a new poem, in which case you have to select “New poem”, or for editing an existing poem, in which case select “All” or “Recent” in order to find the particular poem you are working on. If the poem belongs to a poet that has not been entered into the database yet, you have to go the Poets/Authors section and enter his details there first.

New poem entry Metadata tab The “Alternative title” can be skipped, because the first line of a poem entered is automatically taken as the title of the poem. If you, for some reason, want to change that, please give the alternate title here; transliteration can also be provided. The next few fields are largely self-explicatory.

Genre: please put the kind of poetical composition, e.g. Qaṣīda. (Can be selected from drop-down menu). The same goes for the Meter, a drop-down menu is provided. If unsure about the metre, just leave blank.

Rhyme: Please use the system as explained in the current Guidelines, under "Notational system for Arabic rhyme" to enter the rhyme scheme of the poem. Transliterated names are entered in pausal forms. 'Satznamen' (i.e. name rendered by a whole sentence, such as Abram “the father is exalted”), however, receive full ʾiʿrāb, e.g. "Taʾabbaṭa Šarran/Šarrā". Arabic ones with full vocalisation.

Number of lines: The total number of lines a poem contains can be entered in. If unsure as to variants or if the quote is only fragmentary, leave blank.

Bibliography/ authors: use this function to add the author as well as other relevant bibliographical data.

Bibliography tab: enter the respective information, using Zotero (i.e. free bibliographical citation management tool that allows you to save, collect and research resources).

Add lines tab Enter the actual lines of the poem in Arabic with full ʾIʿrāb and vocalisation. Enter the line number (Line) of the main source you're using. Enter each hemistich (i.e. half line) separately in the respective fields. Once you have entered the text, hit save (button left) to save the lines just entered. Only then, click Save poem form the options above. You can continue to add lines following the same steps. Hit Finished once you're done and/or want to see what has already been entered.

Existing poem - edit In order to identify meanings of words in the poem, i.e. to link them to a lemma entry, first select the line of poetry you wish to work on. To do this, you have to click on Poems > All (or Recent). The system will bring up the list of poems. Select the one you want to work on. After the system has brought up the first line of the poem, click Finished. You will be taken to a page where you can access the line you want to work on. Having selected a line, you will be presented with a row of individual words. Click on the word you wish to work on. Below the screen the Senses of words section presents you with the word (written in Arabic) and a box Root. Enter here the root of the word you wish to work on in Latin transliteration, following the instruction in section “Lemma entries” of the current Guidelines. Press enter and the system will bring up a list of lemmata pertaining to the root you entered. Select the correct one, then select sense(s) for it. Select any note that is relevant to the text passage you work on. If a corresponding lemma isn't found, you'll have to add it in the Lemma entries section (q.v.). Bibliographical reference: By using the Metadata tab, you can assign bibliographical data as well as page number (as in the printed edition used) to the particular line one is working on.

Poets/Authors This section is used to add a poet’s details into the database by accessing the New Person function, or to search for an already existing poet by clicking on All or Recent.

New Person If you want to add a poet’s details into the database, click on New person. This will bring up the following categories that may be filled in: Name, Affiliations, Dates and Tags.

For entering the poet’s name in Arabic as well as for providing the transliteration, use the same guidelines as for Entries > Special Lemma Entries.

Bibliography This section contains all the works used by the project. The bibliographical data is imported from the XML file generated by Zotero (see Zotero guidelines). MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) is an XML-based bibliographical description schema developed by the Library of Congress. Zotero’s output comes in MODS XML format.

Tags
The database implements additional tags that allow for analytical cross-referencing of its data.

Notational system for Arabic rhyme The system makes use of one-to-one representation of letters, i.e. ā for ā and cover symbols. The cover symbols are: x = any consonant 3 = u, i, a 2 = ū, ī Compare the following examples with the rhyming letter (ar-rawiyyu) bāʾ: -xb -xbū -xbī -xbā -3b -3bū -3bī -3bā -2b -2bū -2bī -2bā -āb -ābū -ābī -ābā -āxib -āxibū -āxibī -āxibā -xbuh ‎ ‎ ‎ -xbih -xbah ‎-xbuhū ‎ ‎‎ -xbihī -xbahū -xbuhā ‎ ‎-xbihā -xbahā -3buh -3bih etc. -3buhū -3bihī -3buhā -3bihā -2buh etc. -2buhū - 2buhā etc.

Transliteration of Arabic

Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft rules apply with the following changes:

The hamzat al-qaṭʿ is always written. Sequences of vowel + semi-consonant are written aw and ay, for example: baytun. faʿīl and faʿūl forms of tertiae infirmae (i.e. weak roots) are written –iyy and –uww respectively. faʿil, fāʿil and faʿul forms of tertiae infirmae are written -iy and -uw respectively.

Examples: أثار aṯar not aṯar, أبو ʾabū not abū; الطبريaṭ-Ṭabarī not ʾaṭ-Ṭabarī, ابن ibn not ʾibn; أيام ʾayyām, قوام qawwām, not aiyām, qauwām; عدو ʿaduww,نبي nabiyy not ʿadū(w), nabī(y) or the like; حاليḫāliy not ḫāli/ī or the like.

1. ʾAlif ا a ʾa, ex. أبو ʾabū ā ʾā ex. أطفال ʾaṭfāl

2. Bāʾ
   ب b

3. Tāʾ ت t

4. Ṯāʾ ث ṯ

5. Ǧīm ج ǧ

6. Ḥāʾ ح ḥ

7. Ḫāʾ خ ḫ

8. Dāl د d

9. Ḏāl ذ ḏ

10. Rāʾ ر r

11. Zāy ز z

12. Sīn س s

13. Šīn ش š

14. Ṣād ص ṣ

15. Ḍād ض ḍ

16. Ṭāʾ ط ṭ

17. Ẓāʾ ظ ẓ

18. ʿAyn ع ʿ

19. Ġayn غ ġ

20. Fāʾ ف f

21. Qāf ق q

22. Kāf ك k

23. Lām ل l

24. Mīm م m

25. Nūn ن n

26. Hāʾ ه h

27. Wāw و w وّ is transliterated ww

28. Yāʾ ي y يّ is transliterated yy
29. Hamza ء ʾ Always written when hamzat al-qaṭʿ
30. tāʾ marbūṭa ة a In pausa

Why this transcription?

1. Adheres to the principle „one phoneme, one character“, which accurately reflects how Arabic is written.
2. Is based on phonology rather than conventions followed in various European languages and is thus universal instead of nationally-idiosyncratic.
3. Given these principles mentioned above, the project uses established conventions wherever possible.
4. Last but not least, this convention allows for more effective use of transliteration in an electronic environment. E.g. occurrences of consonants and vowels (and hence syllables) can be easily ascertained due to the system 1 = 1, whereas other systems do not allow this (e.g. dh = one or two sounds?, Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft bait = two vowels written, but just one syllable).

This transliteration system has been adopted by the ERC-project ‘Arabic Cultural Semantics in Transition’ and by its partners.

David Kiltz, 12. May 2014, St Andrews, UK.