Mehmed Zihni Efendi’nin Eserlerinde Arapça Sözlükleri Kullanma Usulü

Abstract

Mehmed Zihni Efendi (d. 1913) was a distinguished Arabic language education scholar in the late Ottoman Empire. This article focuses on his use of Arabic dictionaries in his scholarly studies. A competent and meticulous scholar, he utilized dictionaries for varied reasons and approached them critically. He used 26 dictionaries, predominantly bilingual Arabic-Turkish and Arabic. This study attends to Mehmed Zihni Efendi’s al-Muntakhab, al-Muqtadab, and al-Qawl al-Jayyid, works related to Arabic language and literature. It also addresses his marginal notes on the dictionaries in his private library. The information he conveyed in his dictionaries always included critique, comparison, or analysis. He approached the errors in printed works with caution, expressed his evaluation of them, and occasionally preferred to use other editions and copies of texts in the related domain. Mehmed Zihni Efendi contemplated the vocalization of Arabic words to prevent misunderstanding and to correct misuse, comparing his vocalization with the usage of the words in other grammatical and literary works. In addition to instantiating, he inserted new definitions, elucidated the origins, noted changes in meanings, indicated misuse, and explained the morphological features of the words. He also offered historical and cultural information on Arab society and clarified the grammatical rules of the Arabic language in his insertions.