Dictionnaires arabes bilingues : présentation historique et étude comparative.

Abstract

Bilingual Arabic lexicography came into being at the end of the 9th century. Unlike monolingual lexicography, bilingual lexicography in the Arab world advanced little during the Muslim empire, and lay dormant under the Ottoman occupation. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century, when European interest in the Arab world coupled with communication needs arising out of its colonization and the growing realization among Arabs themselves that terminological development had been sadly neglected for centuries, that bilingual lexicography was spurred into activity. Thanks to this renewed interest, bilingual lexicography is today in a state of full expansion and is characterized by an evergrowing of number of dictionaries. Bilingual Arabic dictionaries produced since the Renaissance are not only numerous, but varied. Nonetheless, most of them share the trait of following traditional lexographic methods. An indepth study of four dictionaries reveals the most significant characteristics of modern French-Arabic lexicography. Although these dictionaries provide a great deal of generally valuable information, their presentation of this information is disorganized and hampers easy consultation. This organizational aspect needs to be improved in French-Arabic bilingual dictionaries. Such improvement may be brought about by the application of computerized methods in dictionary production.