Dictionary of Post-Classical Yemeni Arabic.

• Author: Kaye, Alan S.
• Position: 2 vols.

As Wolfdietrich Fischer of Erlangen-Numberg University (and the editor of the Grundriss der arabischen Philologie, vol. 1: Sprachwissenschaft [Wiesbaden, 1982]) is always fond of saying at annual meetings of the North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL), Yemen is a museum of Arabic dialects. Piamenta, a retired professor of Arabic language and literature at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, well known for his book on The Uses of Tenses, Aspects and Moods in the Arabic Dialect of Jerusalem Jerusalem, 1964; originally his dissertation done under the guidance of the late H. J. Polotsky [d. August, 1991] and S. D. Goitein), has turned his attention over the past few years to the present dictionary of colloquial medieval and modern Yemenite Arabic dialects. These two volumes are handsomely prepared camera-ready copy by Between the Lines, Ltd., Jerusalem, containing a very legible Orientalist (Semitological) transcription plus elegant and very readable, albeit small, Hebrew and Arabic scripts. Not only do the data come from the very rich and abundant publications on Yemenite dialects by specialists (abbreviations of the references are on pp. xv-xxiv of vol. I), but the author also utilized the unpublished Yemenite glossaries of Otto Jastrow, Peter Behnstedt, and Yehuda Ratzaby on Jiblah, Tihamah, and San'a' dialects, respectively, as well as hundreds of old Yemenite manuscripts located all over the world. In addition, all the written materials were supplemented by data from many Yemenite informants who emigrated to Israel from different regions of their native country.

The reason that Fischer's statement mentioned above is accurate is that, as the author states, "Yemeni Arabic [is] quite unknown beyond its boundaries.... Its wealthy lexicon is based on extremely conservative dialects of formerly roadless regions, characterized by ancient features ... words borrowed during the ages from local ancient South-Arabian (Sabaean) ... " (p. v). The fascinating Yemenite vocabulary was then put through a high-powered comparative telescope by collating these data with those of the Arabic lexicons of Edward William Lane (1863-1893) and J. G. Hava (1915). The result is a major accomplishment destined to be the classic work in this field for many years to come.

Let us briefly examine some of the fascinating data Piamenta has gathered. The Classical Arabic (= CA) verb [delta]ahaba 'to go' survives (not with this meaning, though) as dihib...