The Notion of gharīb in Arabic Lexica

Abstract

From very early in the Islamic linguistic tradition, the study of strange words, patterns, and constructions (gharīb) has been of interest. For the early philologists, words and expressions were gharībwhen they were in use in the language of the Bedouins (A'rāb) but were rare in the contemporary language of those who collected the material. In this article, the early gharīb lexica and the development of the genre of gharīb works in later centuries is discussed, focusing on gharīb al-lugha (gharīb in the speech of the Arabs, kalām al-'Arab), gharīb al-Qur'ān, and gharīb al-Hadīth, respectively. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019.