LINGUISTICS & LITERARY STUDIES the Role of Hindushah Nakhchivani
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BULLETIN OF THE KIH OF THE RAS, 2016, Vol. 24, Is. 2 LINGUISTICS & LITERARY STUDIES Copyright © 2016 by the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the Russian Academy of Sciences Published in the Russian Federation Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the Russian Academy of Sciences Has been issued since 2008 ISSN: 2075-7794; E-ISSN: 2410-7670 Vol. 24, Is. 2, pp. 98–105, 2016 DOI 10.22162/2075-7794-2016-24-2-98-105 Journal homepage: http://kigiran.com/pubs/vestnik UDC 81.374 The role of Hindushah Nakhchivani and his son Mahammad Ibn Hindushah Nakhchivani in the formation and development of Persian Lexicography Mamedova Manzara Hasan kizi1 1 Ph. D. of Philology (Doctor of Philological Sciences), Associate Professor, Department of Iranian Philology, Baku State University (Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan) Abstract A unique role of the language in the history of mankind is an undeniable truth. From this perspective, the history of languages is of great interest for scientists. Of course, the Persian language is no exception in this regard. It was one of the three main languages (Turkish, Arabic and Persian) of the Middle and Far East during the middle Ages, still those were non-Persian, particularly the Azerbaijani poets, writers and lexicographers who had contributed to the development of this language. It is no coincidence that the beginnings of Persian lexicography took shape in the work Tefasir”) of the great Azerbaijani scholar and poet Qatran Tabrizi in the beginning“) ”ﺭیﺱﺍﻑﺕ“ of the eleventh century. This article explores the works by the famous statesmen and Azerbaijani scholars Hindushah Nakhchivani and his son Mahammad ibn Hindusah Nakhchivani in the fi eld of the Persian language of that time and scientifi cally substantiates their role in the formation and development of the lexicography of this language. Keywords: Hindushah, “Sihah ul-acam”, creation, “Sihah ul-furs”, history, lexis, vocabulary, person, science. 98 LINGUISTICS Relevance of the subject. Scientists have In view of this, we should provide brief always thought of language as a social occa- information about the two great personalities. sion. Compiling vocabularies and explanatory Sanjar ibn Abdullah ibn Hindushah Nakh- dictionaries the scientists have played an im- chivani is known as a historian, linguist, phi- portant role in the development of languages losopher, writer, translator, poet, scribe and and in enriching their lexical structure and statesman. He is the author of “Mavarid al- grammar. In this regard, the creation and de- arab” (“About Arabs”, 1307) and “Tajarub al- velopment of the lexicography of the Persian salaf” (“Predecessors’ experience”, 1324) and language as well as the role of individual lexi- others, as well as the Persian-English diction- cographers in this process is of great interest ary “Sihahul-ajam” (“Ajam’s truth”). Being from a scientifi c perspective, and the topic – on one of the fi rst sources of very valuable Persian the role of Hindushah Nakhchivani and his son as well as Azerbaijani lexicography, “Sihahul- Mahammad ibn Hindushah Nakhchivani in the ajam” consists of 21 sections and 393 chapters. formation and development of the Persian lexi- According to the structure this work consists cography — is of great importance. of 3 parts and includes an introduction to the The usage rate. Though, numerous scien- Persian language. Note that the parts “Vo- tists, including [Tatavi XVII c], [Taati 1963], cabulary” and “Grammar” are written in Ara- [Alizadeh 1947], [Kapronov 1964], [Akhmano- bic. As compared to the previous dictionaries va 1957], [Ivanov 1926], [Zarinazadeh 1962] “Sihahul-ajam” contains more Persian words and others have studied the lexicography of the (5,117 words) and approximately 10,000 of Persian language, its formation and develop- their Azerbaijani equivalents. ment issues, the role of Hindushah Nakhchiva- When it comes to Mahammad ibn Hin- ni and his son Mahammad ibn Hindushah Na- dushah Nakhchivani, he is more known as an khchivani in the formation and development of encyclopedist, lawyer, statesman, linguist, the Persian lexicography have not been subject philologist and a poet. His “Dastur al-katib fi - to special studies yet. tayin al-maratib” (“Guideline for secretaries Goals and objectives: The goal of the to defi ne positions”) is an encyclopedia which study is to review the scientifi c heritage of Hin- refl ects all aspects of that period. The work is quite voluminous. The author worked on this dushah Nakhchivani and his son Mahammad work for about 50 years. A corresponding criti- ibn Hindushah Nakhchivani. The objective of cal academic text by A. A. Alizadeh was pub- the study is to explore their roles in the estab- lished in 3 large books in 1964–1976 in Mos- lishment and development of the lexicography cow. There is no area of life that would not be of the Persian language. refl ected there. Method of the study: This study was car- Another famous work by Mahammad ried out mainly on the basis of manuscripts, ibn Hindushah Nakhchivani that survived till personal research and historical comparison nowadays is an explanatory dictionary of the methods. Persian language “Sihahul-furs” (“Precise Per- Among the people that made their contri- sian”, 1328). The dictionary contains an intro- butions to the world science, history, literature duction, 25 sections and 431 chapters. and culture there have been numerous per- There had been available only three works sonalities from different Azerbaijani families in this area — before the Persian-Turkish ex- -Seha“) ”ﻡﺝﻉﻝﺍ ﺡﺍﺡﺹ“ named — Nakhchivanis. This article describes planatory dictionary two great personalities who achieved success hul-ajam”) by Hindushah Nakhchivani and ﺡﺍﺡﺹ“ in many areas and provided exceptional con- the Persian explanatory dictionary Sehah ul-furs”) by Mahammad ibn“) ”ﺱﺭﻑﻝﺍ -tribution especially to the formation and devel opment of Persian lexicography. These person- Hindushah Nakhchivani. Those are as follows: ,Tafasir”) by Qatran Tabrizi“) ”ﺭیﺱﺍﻑﺕ“ alities are the representatives of the generation Loghatname”) by Asadi Tusi, and“) ”ﻩﻡﺍﻥﺕﻍﻝ“ founded in the thirteenth century by Sanjar ibn Resale”) by Abu Hafs Soghdi. For“) ”ﻩﻝﺍﺱﺭ“ [Abdullah Nakhchivani [Нахичеванская 2002 who gained a senior position in science, culture the sake of fairness we should emphasize that and public administration. One of them is San- the Azerbaijani scientists have played an excep- jar ibn Abdullah Nakhchivani’s son — San- tional role in the formation and development of jar ibn Abdullah ibn Hindushah Nakhchivani the lexicography of the Persian language, and (1245–1328), and the other one is his grand- it is no coincidence that the lexicography of the son Mahammad ibn Hindushah Nakhchivani Persian language was founded by the above- (1293–1376). mentioned works written by the great Azerbai- 99 BULLETIN OF THE KIH OF THE RAS, 2016, Vol. 24, Is. 2 jani scholar and poet QatranTabrizi in the early Finally, there is information about another eleventh century. interesting manuscript of the dictionary which Though the works by Hindushah Nakh- is its Azerbaijani copy. H.Zarinazadeh writes chivani and Mahammad ibn Hindusah are often in the article on this manuscript that the origi- identifi ed in the world of science [Taati 1963], nal manuscript of the author was copied in the availability of the copies of their various 1551 [Zarinazadeh 1966]. Thus, nine copies of manuscripts is suffi cient enough to prove this the dictionary are now available and the most wrong evidence. The fi rst of the works — the ancient of them is manuscript No. 1681 copied manuscript of bilingual dictionary “Sehahul- in 1507 that is kept at the library of Bodleian, ajam” – is more widely available rather than India. Chronologically the Azerbaijani copy of the second one. Information about them can be the dictionary ranked second. obtained from explanatory catalogs that com- The book written by Hindushah Nakh- prise descriptions of various manuscript treas- chivani is the oldest Persian bilingual diction- ures around the world. Information about the ary, at the same time a number of grammar is- manuscript of this dictionary was fi rst provided sues of the language are also interpreted here. in the description catalog of Arabic, Turkish, In this respect, as this section of the dictionary and Persian manuscripts of the University of is one of the fi rst grammar means of the Per- Upssala by Tornberg in 1849 [Gornberg 1963]. sian language it becomes of great importance. The note on the manuscript – the copying date Since, no authors have ever mentioned this is- still remains unknown – provides information sue in any Persian dictionaries so far. according to which it is a Persian-Turkish dic- Further development of Persian lexicogra- Ketabi- phy and revelation of its aspects is associated“) ”ﻡﺝﻉﻝﺍ ﺡﺍﺡﺹ ﺏﺍﺕک“ tionary called Sehahul-ajam”) that consists of nouns, verbs with the name of Hindushah Nakhchivani’s and grammar parts. son, Mahammad ibn Hindusah. Mahammad ibn The author of the catalog which provides Hindushah Nakhchivani used the works on Ar- information about the second edition of the abic and Persian lexicography in his dictionary. dictionary is Wilhelm Pertsch. His catalog that Working under the infl uence of Arabic lexicog- contains manuscripts’ descriptions of the Gotha raphy and using its experience was very natural Library indicates that the author of that edition for the dictionary authors of Persian lexicogra- is Hindusah Nakhchivani and that it was copied phy, as it was demand of that time. Since the in 1530. The other data and the fi rst lines of the available Dictionaries of the Persian language Sehahul-furs”) were“) ”ﺱﺭﻑﻝﺍ ﺡﺍﺡﺹ“ manuscript are consistent with the description prior to of the fi rst copy. not satisfactory, their use was inappropriate Other manuscripts of the dictionary are for that period. However, Arabic lexicography available at the Berlin State Library which are achieved a number of successful results in this also refl ected in the catalog developed by Wil- area, both in the fi elds of theory and practice.