A historical cultural feat for the Arab world has been attained, as His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, released the first 17 volumes of the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language – the first-of-its kind project to chronicle 17 centuries of development in the Arabic language, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, HE Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence; Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA); Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, President of the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF).
The volumes were unveiled by the Sharjah Ruler during the opening ceremony of the milestone 40th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) held on Tuesday (2 November) evening in Expo Centre Sharjah, in the presence of a host of Arab Ministers of culture; presidents of Arabic language academies in the region; and several Arabic language scholars and researchers. His Highness also unveiled the official website of The Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language.
In a keynote address, The Sharjah Ruler noted: “Arabic is one of the longest living languages. We are here to celebrate Arabic language experts who gathered to work for years to document the roots and meanings of the Arabic language alphabet. We have started to work hard and bridge the gaps that were existing in the documentation of the language. Finally, the sun has risen on this beautiful Corpus, which is the fruit of the efforts of a number of Arabic language institutions across the region”.
“The role this detailed corpus will play in informing and educating students, researchers, and linguists and even the everyday language enthusiasts will be immense. I am not exaggerating when I say that there has been no other project that has attracted my attention or the attention of the Arab linguist community in our region to the extent that this project has. I am following up on the development of the efforts of everyone involved in this project, and I assure you that in the coming years we will be publishing several more volumes. I thank each and everyone involved in making this project a success”, His Highness added.
The Sharjah Ruler spoke about the online platform and smart phone applications that have been designed to make the Historical Corpus available digitally, and facilitate easy access to these resources from anywhere in the world.
His Highness also signed the first edition of the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language at the SIBF 2021 opening ceremony. The first volumes of the corpus are dedicated to the first five Arabic letters: the hamza (ء), ba (ب), ta (ت) tha (ث) and jeem (ج) and outline their evolution throughout the pre-Islamic period, the Islamic era from 1 AH to 132 AH, the Abbasid Caliphate from 133 AH to 656 AH, and the modern-day era from 1214 AH to date.