Yemeni Lexical Entries Classified as Unattested in Kitab al-Ayn and Their Survival in the Yemeni Tihama Dialect: A Semantic Study in Light of Wave Theory

This study investigates Yemeni lexical entries classified as unattested in Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad’s Kitab al-Ayn that remain in use in the Yemeni Tihama dialect. It tests the hypothesis that their exclusion reflects limitations in early lexicographical documentation rather than their absence from Arabic usage. Employing historical comparison and drawing on Wave Theory, the study examines eleven entries subsequently recorded by lexicographers, most of whom identified them as Yemeni or Himyaritic. It also considers Al-Farabi’s account of the exclusion of Yemeni speakers from recognized sources of linguistic evidence and the possibility that peripheral dialects preserve features lost in central varieties. The findings show that seven entries retain their original or closely related meanings, while four exhibit internal semantic change. Al-Hamdani’s fourth-century AH documentation of zahab provides historical evidence of continuity in Tihama usage. Furthermore, most of these entries were preserved by lexicographers connected to Yemen through ancestry or residence. The study concludes that their classification as unattested in Kitab al-Ayn primarily reflects gaps in linguistic transmission rather than actual nonexistence, highlighting the significance of peripheral dialects in preserving historical Arabic vocabulary.