Handbook of Terminology

Book excerpt: The current volume represents a revival of Arabic translation and terminology studies. These disciplines have been dominated by Western scholarship in recent decades, but in truth their historical tradition as a whole owes a great debt to Arabic scholarship. The first systematic translation activity ever organized was under the Abbasids in Baghdad in the 9th Century CE, and Arabic domination continued for several centuries before the tide turned. In this collection, the importance of the ongoing translation and terminology movement in the Arab world is revealed through the works of some of the most distinguished scholars, who investigate a wide range of relevant topics from the making of the first ever Arabic monolingual dictionary to modern-day localization into Arabic. Arabic terminology standardization as well as legal, medical, Sufi and Quranic terms — issues with both cultural and economic ramifications for the Arab world — are thoroughly examined, completing the solid framework of this rich tradition that still has a lot to offer.