Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology

Glossary of Names and Terms

429 429 Glossary of Names and Terms adab good manners, erudition, rules of conduct, belles-lettres. ʿajab amazement. ʿajāʾib sg. ʿajībah mirabilia, wonders. ʿāmmiyyah vernacular. ʿarūḍ prosody. badīʿ novel, original, figures of speech. baḥr pl. buḥūr meter, lit. sea, big river. balāghah eloquence. bayt pl. abyāt line of verse. dīwān pl. dawāwīn collected poetry. fakhr self-praise, vaunting. fiqh jurisprudence. fuṣḥā pure, standard Arabic. gharaḍ pl. aghrāḍ purpose, theme. ghazal love poetry. ghazal muʾannath love poetry on women. ghazal mudhakkar love poetry on men. ghuṣn pl. aghṣān strophe, lit. branch. ḥadīth tradition, esp. about the Prophet. hijāʾ invective, lampoon, satire. ʿifrīt pl. ʿafārīt demon. ʿilm al-ʿarūḍ the science of prosody. inshāʾ composition, letter-writing, epistolography. istiʿārah metaphor. istiṭrād digression; satirical aside. ʿitāb reproach. jinn sg. jinnī demons, spirits. kāhin pl. kuhhān soothsayer, diviner. kalām speech; speculative theology. kātib pl. kuttāb secretary, civil servant, lit. writer. khamriyyah pl. khamriyyāt Bacchic poem. 430 430 430 430 Glossary of Names and Terms kharjah lit. exit; last segment of a muwashshaḥah. khayāl apparition, shadow, imagination. khayāl al-ẓill shadow play. khuṭbah pl. khuṭab oration, speech, sermon. kitāb pl. kutub book. kunyah teknonym, name beginning with Abū or Umm. lafẓ pl. alfāẓ word, wording, expression. lahw amusement, entertainment. laqab pl. alqāb nickname, agnomen, honorific. madīḥ panegyric, eulogy. maʿnā pl. maʿānī meaning, sense, motif. maqāmah pl. maqāmāt maqamah. marthiyah pl. marāthī elegy, lament. mathal pl. amthāl proverb, common saying, parable. maṭlaʿ opening stanza. maysir pre-Islamic form of gambling. muḥdath pl. muḥdathūn “modern” [poet/poetry]. mukhaḍram pl. mukhaḍramūn [poet] straddling [the pre-Islamic and Islamic eras]. munāẓarah pl. munāẓarāt debate. mushabbah primum comparationis. muwallad pl. muwalladūn non-classical [poet]. muwashshaḥah pl. muwashshaḥāt a kind of strophic poem. naqīḍah pl. naqāʾiḍ polemical poem, in reply to another poem . nasab genealogy, lineage. nasīb amatory or lyrical introdution. nathr prose. naẓm versification, poetry. qāfiyah pl. qawāfī rhyme, rhyme-word. qarīḍ poetry, excluding rajaz and other non-classical forms. qaṣīdah pl. qaṣāʾid qasida, ode, longer poem. qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ Tales of the Prophets. raḥīl journey. rajaz name of a simple poetic meter. rāwī pl. ruwāh transmitter or reciter of poetry. risālah pl. rasāʾil letter, epistle. rithāʾ elegy, lament. 431 431 431 431 Glossary of Names and Terms riwāyah transmission. rubāʿiyyah quatrain. sabab element of metrical analysis. sajʿ rhyming prose. ṣanʿah artfulness. ṣawt voice; song text. shāʿir pl. shuʿarāʾ poet. shiʿr poetry. simṭ pl. asmāṭ strophe. sīrah pl. siyar conduct, biography; epic, romance. ṭabʿ natural talent. tafsīr [Qur’anic] exegesis. takhyīl make-believe. ṭarab strong emotion, rapture, transport. tashbīb amatory verse. tashbīh pl. tashbīhāt comparison, simile. urjūzah pl. arājīz poem in rajaz meter. wajh al-shabah tertium comparationis. waṣf pl. awṣāf description, ekphrasis. waṣf al-nāqah description of one’s she-camel. watid element of metrical analysis. wazn pl. awzān meter, lit. weight. zajal pl. azjāl zajal, strophic poem in vernacular Arabic. zuhd asceticism, renunciation. zuhdiyyah pl. zuhdiyyāt ascetic, renunciant poem. ...