The Classical Names of Some of the Most Important Wild Plants in the book of Ad-Dalīl Al-Muṣawwar lil-Nabātāt Al-Barriyyah fī Minṭaqat Jazān (‘The Illustrated Guide to Wild Plants in Jazan Region’): A Lexicographical Study

Abstract

This study deals with the most important names of wild plants in Jazan region, based on the book Ad-Dalīl Al-Muṣawwar lil-Nabātāt Al-Barriyyah fī Minṭaqat Jazān (The Illustrated Guide to Wild Plants in Jazan Region). The researcher recorded the names as they appear in Al-Dalīl and then placed them alongside their original roots as in Arabic dictionaries and textbooks. This reveals their proximity to classical Arabic (Al-Fuṣḥā) in terms of meaning, as their roots in Arabic dictionaries demonstrate. The study consists of an introduction, two sections, and a conclusion. The first section covers the most important names of wild trees while the second covers the most important names of wild herbage. The most prominent results of the study are the following: Many of the wild plants names that are classified as being of the local dialect in The Illustrated Guide to Wild Plants in Jazan Region are in fact classical in terms of structure and meaning. Some names of plants have a classical structure according to Arabic dictionaries but their meanings are different. Some plants were given names based on their appearance or on some other characteristics they bear. The dialect preserved some synonyms for one particular plant, as found in Arabic dictionaries.