‫‪J J.Edu. Sci , Vol. (14) No.(3) 2007 K‬‬
‫‪Synonymy in English and Arabic‬‬
‫‪A contrastive Study‬‬
‫‪Sahar Faiq Ali‬‬
‫‪Department of English/College of Education/University of Mosul‬‬
‫‪Accepted‬‬
‫‪09/05/2007‬‬
‫ﺍﻟﻤﻠﺨﺹ‬
‫‪Received‬‬
‫‪30/11/2006‬‬
‫ﺇﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻜﻤﺎ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻟﺤﺎل ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻹﻨﻜﻠﻴﺯﻴﺔ ﻟﻴﺱ ﻟﻪ ﺃﺴﺱ ﻭﺍﻀﺤﺔ )ﺇﻥ‬
‫ﺸﺭﻭﻁ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺘﺭﻀﺔ ﺼﻌﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻘﻕ( ﻭﺒﺎﻟﻨﺘﻴﺠﺔ ﻓﺎﻥ ﻤﻔﻬﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﻤﺎﺯﺍل ﻤﺜﺎﺭ ﺠﺩل ﺒﻴﻥ‬
‫ﺍﻟﻠﻐﻭﻴﻴﻥ ‪.‬‬
‫ﻜﻼ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺘﻴﻥ ﺜﺭﻴﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﻤﺘﺭﺍﺩﻓﺎﺕ ﺇﻻ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻷﻜﺜﺭ ﻏﻨﹰﺎ ﺒﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﻟﻴﺴﺕ ﻭﺍﻀﺤﺔ ﺇﻟـﻰ ﺃﻻﻥ‪.‬‬
‫ﻭﺒﻨﺎﺀ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﺎ ﺘﻘﺩﻡ ﻓﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﻴﻬﺩﻑ ﺇﻟــﻰ‪-:‬‬
‫ﻑ ﻟﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﻓﻲ ﻜﻼ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺘﻴﻥ‪.‬‬
‫‪ .1‬ﺘﻘﺩﻴﻡ ﺸﺭﺡ ﻭﺍ ِ‬
‫‪ .2‬ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﻐﻨﻴﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﻤﺘﺭﺍﺩﻓﺎﺕ ﻤﻨﻬﻤﺎ ‪.‬‬
‫‪ .3‬ﻗﻴﺎﺱ ﻤﺩﻯ ﺼﺤﺔ ﺸﺭﻭﻁ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﺍﻷﺴﺎﺴﻴﺔ‪.‬‬
‫ﺘﻔﺘﺭﺽ ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﺃﻥ‪:‬‬
‫‪ .1‬ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﻓﻲ ﻜﻼ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺘﻴﻥ ﺠﺯﺌﻲ ‪.‬‬
‫‪ .2‬ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺭﺍﺩﻓﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺃﻜﺜﺭ ﻤﻨﻬﺎ ﺸﻴﻭﻋﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻹﻨﻜﻠﻴﺯﻴﺔ‪.‬‬
‫ﻭﻁﺒﻘﺎ ﻟﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻀﻴﺎﺕ ﻴﺒﺩﺃ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﺒﺘﻔﺴﻴﺭ ﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﻓﻲ ﻜﻼ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺘﻴﻥ ﺜﻡ ﻴﻘﺩﻡ ﻤﻘﺎﺭﻨـﺔ‬
‫ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺘﻴﻥ ﻟﻺﺸﺎﺭﺓ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻭﺠﻭﻩ ﺍﻻﺨﺘﻼﻑ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺸﺎﺒﻪ ﺍﻟﺭﺌﻴﺴﺔ ﺒﻴﻨﻬﻤﺎ‪.‬‬
‫ﺇﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻭﻓﺭﺓ ﺘﻅﻬﺭ ﻋﺩﻡ ﻭﺠﻭﺩ ﺃﻱ ﻜﻠﻤﺘﻴﻥ ﻤﺘﻁﺎﺒﻘﺘﻴﻥ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﻭﻫﺫﺍ ﻴﺅﻜـﺩ ﻋـﺩﻡ‬
‫ﻭﺠﻭﺩ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺴﻤﻰ ﺒﺎﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﻡ‪ .‬ﻋﻼﻭﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺫﻟﻙ ‪ ،‬ﻓﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺩﻑ ﺍﻟﺠﺯﺌﻲ ﻭﺍﺴﻊ ﺍﻻﻨﺘﺸﺎﺭ ﻓﻲ ﻜﻼ‬
‫ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺘﻴﻥ ﻟﻜﻨﻪ ﺃﻜﺜﺭ ﻭﻀﻭﺤﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻤﻨﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻹﻨﻜﻠﻴﺯﻴﺔ‪.‬‬
‫‪Abstract‬‬
‫‪In English as in Arabic, the concept of "synonymy" has no clear‬‬
‫‪bases , i.e. the alleged conditions of synonymy are difficult to be‬‬
‫‪achieved. In consequence, this concept is still a controversial matter‬‬
‫‪among linguists.‬‬
‫‪On the other hand, both languages are rich in synonyms, but it is not‬‬
‫‪evident which is the richest one. Thus, this research aims at:‬‬
‫‪1‬‬
Synonymy in English and Arabic ….
1.describing the phenomena of synonymy in both languages adequately.
2.identifying the language which is richer in synonyms. 3.examining the
validity of the main conditions of synonymy.
In this research, it is hypothesized that: 1.in both languages synonymy is
always partial. 2.synonyms are more numerous in Arabic than in
English.
According to these hypotheses, the research begins with an explanation
of synonymy in both languages. Then, it presents a comparison between
English and Arabic to highlight the principal differences and similarities
between them.
This research makes clear that in both languages, no two words are
identical in meaning on every occasion, which determines the nonoccurrence of what is called "absolute synonymy". Moreover, partial
synonyms are widely spread in both languages, but they are more
obvious in Arabic than in English.
( i ) The Problem:
Introduction
"Synonymy" is a phenomenon that is widely spread in both English
and Arabic. It is defined as "two or more lexical items which have the
same meaning if they can replace each other without any change in the
meaning of that context". (Lyons, 1968: 448) For example tall and high
are synonymous in : a tall building and a high building whereas they are
not in a structure such as: a tall boy , since high cannot be used instead of
tall to indicate the same meaning. The same is true in Arabic, for example
‫ اﻟﺤ ﺮب‬and‫ اﻟﻬﻴﺠ ﺎء‬are conceptually synonymous but they are not in: ‫اﻟﺤ ﺮب‬
‫ اﻟﻨﻔ ﺴﻴﺔ‬and* ‫ اﻟﻬﻴﺠ ﺎء اﻟﻨﻔ ﺴﻴﺔ‬. Thus, synonymy remains a problem in terms of
its identification and delimitation. Moreover, the relative size of
synonymy in English as compared to Arabic has not been investigated yet
to the best of my knowledge.
(ii) The Hypotheses:
It is hypothesized that:
1. synonymy in English and Arabic is always partial never complete or
absolute.
2. Arabic is richer than English in synonyms.
(iii) Purposes of the Study:
This research aims at fulfilling the following aims:
1. describing the phenomenon of synonymy in English and Arabic
fully.
2. comparing the phenomenon of synonymy in English on the one hand
and Arabic on the other.
3. formulating conclusions.
2
Sahar Faiq Ali
(iv) Procedures of the Study:
1. A thorough illustration of the phenomenon of synonymy in both
English and Arabic will be carried out.
2. A comparison of the phenomenon of synonymy in English and
Arabic will be conducted to point out the differences and similarities
between these two languages concerning this phenomenon.
3. A number of tables will be introduced to emphasize the validity of the
hypothesis which states that Arabic is richer than English in
synonyms.
2. Synonymy in English
Many linguists , Lyons (1968: 446) among them , state that "two
items are synonymous if they have an identical meaning and they are
interchangeable in all contexts without any change in meaning". This
definition is rejected by Ullmann(1962: 142) who states that such identity
is probably not realized by any natural language. Therefore, Lyons (1968:
448) classifies synonyms into four types:
1. complete and total synonymy.
2. complete, but not total.
3. incomplete but total.
4. incomplete and not total.
Complete and total synonymy which is often called "absolute" or "real"
synonymy by semanticists is an extremely rare occurrence, a luxury that
language can ill-afford. Many linguists Ullmann (1962: 142) and Lyons
(1968: 448) among them, argue that this type of synonymy can be
obtained if the complete equivalence and total interchangeability are
connected. The second type requires the equivalence of both cognitive
and emotive senses while the third type refers to all synonyms which are
interchangeable in all contexts. Finally, the fourth type represents an
objection to the phenomenon of synonymy as a whole.
2.1 Absence of Absolute Synonymy in English:
Ullmann (1962: 142) states that two or more words may be absolutely
synonymous on the conceptual level, but the speaker needs to choose
between these synonyms. So, he makes his choice according to certain
factors:
1. social position including the level of education, e.g. refuse / turn
down.
2. age, i.e., language of children /adults, e.g. daddy /father.
3. profession, e.g. death /decease.
4. geographical differentiation, e.g. butcher / flesher.
5. humour, e.g. kick the pocket / die.
6. pejorative affectivity, e.g. skinny / thin.
Thus, meaning in common is distinguished by the potential presence
of the meanings which lexes do not have in common. As a consequence,
two words may be absolutely synonymous as far as their conceptualsymbolic content is concerned, but they are never such if we consider the
33
Synonymy in English and Arabic ….
above factors which depend on the speaker and the structure of the
language. So, Ullmann (1962: 251) states that the cognitive sense allows
absolute synonymy while a cluster of additional stylistic values which
because of their complexity do not allow absolute synonymy.
Many semanticists state that the content of a word is composed of
conceptual, emotive or evaluative meaning, but Lyons (1968) and
Ullmann (1962) distinguish conceptual from emotive meaning , and
they restrict the term "synonymy" to conceptual synonymy by stating
that two or more words have to be conceptually synonymous, then we
can say that they are emotively synonymous.
Palmer (1981: 90) argues that separating the emotive meaning from
the conceptual meaning is a mistake for three main reasons:
1. It is not reasonable to define the conceptual meaning in terms of
reference to physical properties. It is noticed that in this sense, many
verbs and adjectives have little or no conceptual meaning .
2. Some words in English are used purely for evaluative purposes, e.g.
good and bad, but it is not normally assumed that they have no
conceptual meaning. So, he thinks that such words are of interest to
philosophers, but should not have any special place in linguistics.
3. The meaning of words is a matter of objective fact and a great deal of
it is subjective, and it is not easy to distinguish between the two.
2.2 The Reasons Behind the Abundance of Synonyms in
English:
Palmer (1981: 89) argues that English is rich in synonyms for several
reasons:
1. Synonyms may belong to different dialects of the language , e.g. fall
is used in the united states , while others use autumn
2. The process of euphemism, which is a way of avoiding taboo words,
enriches English with many words to replace those that have socially
distasteful subjects.
3. English borrowed foreign words from almost every country in the
world, e.g. words of music, architecture and poetry were taken from
Italy which was the center of European Culture for so long. French
also had an influence on English because it was at the height of
prestige, therefore, most of the legal words or those that refer to
fashion and meals are French.
This borrowing has made English rich in vocabularies which are
growing daily, e.g. the general idea of "thief" has thirty seven
synonyms (robber, burglar, plunderer, cracksman, house breaker, pick
pocket, cut-purse, stealer, …etc) (Eckersley, 1960 : 432).
Robertson (1938: 177) states that this borrowing does offer the users
great possibilities for precise and complete expressions . Thus, there
exist in the English vocabulary two planes: one is made up of familiar
words , and the other of rarer, more learned ones. These two planes
cannot be strictly equated with native and borrowed, but certainly the
majority of the familiar are native while the majority of the learned are
borrowed ones. Thus, it is possible in English to speak of two general
4
Sahar Faiq Ali
types or style of expression: the first style is characterized by directness,
brevity and plainness, while the second is characterized by eloquence,
grandeur and sonority.
4. English knows a large number of synonyms by extension, e.g. "the
capital of France" is an extension of Paris and "the morning star" and
"the evening star" are the synonyms of Venus (Ullmann , 1962: 241)
.
3. Synonymy in Arabic
Synonymy is one of the old linguistic phenomena that attracted the
attention of linguists in the 2nd century A.H. It is defined by many
linguists, Leabi among them, as "many words that have one meaning".
(1980: 48).
Most linguists, Al-Asmaee and Sibawayeh among them, supported
this idea which was not a point of dispute at that time in order to
achieve certain non-linguistic purposes(Al-Mubarak, 1986 : 100):
1.Some synonyms are created for the purpose of giving meter or rhyme
to poems and proses.
2.Some words in use are recondite to some people because they are not
popular in the society therefore they use some simple or polished
words to explain the meaning of those in use.
3.With the phenomenon of synonymy, the speaker can have a bunch of
words, he can use the one that he remembers.
4.Sometimes, some speakers cannot use some words for certain reasons,
i.e., the speaker is stammering, therefore an alternative word which
carries the same meaning will solve the problem (Al-Zaidi,1987:184 ).
3.1 The Reasons Behind the Abundance of Synonyms in
Arabic:
The phenomenon of synonymy is used in an amplified way in
Arabic for several reasons:
1. Metaphor: Al-Mubarak states that there are many social and
psychological reasons that make people avoid using the real name
of a thing, especially those related to love, death, fear, pessimism,
optimism, … etc. Instead, they use metaphor. For this reason, many
words that refer to sex, desert, death, catastrophe,…etc. spread
widely in this language. The wide use of such words makes such
metaphors more close to the intended meaning than the real word.
This reason explains the transference of metaphor into reality, e.g.
‫ اﻟﻤ ﺰادة‬which is a skin is called ‫ اﻟﺮاوﻳ ﺔ‬which is a camel used for
carrying water because both of them carry water (1986 : 102).
2. The prevailing adjectives: Leabi (1980 : 144-48) states that animals
or things that are of great importance in society have names, but for
certain purposes, people try to describe the merits of these things
or animals by using adjectives. In the course of time, these
adjectives become names denoting these things or animals, e.g.
‫ اﻟ ﺴﻴﻒ‬and ‫ اﻟ ﺼﺎرم‬are known as two names that refer to one thing
55
Synonymy in English and Arabic ….
although the first word indicates the identity itself while the second
refers to one of its merits. Another example is that of ‫ اﻟﺨﻤ ﺮ‬which
has many names such as ‫ اﻟ ﺼﻬﺒﺎء‬which means "the juice of the
white grapes", while ‫ اﻟﻜﻤﻴ ﺖ‬refers to ‫ اﻟﺨﻤ ﺮ‬which is both black and
red. This expresses the occurrence of more than (500) names for
the lion, (70) names for the stone, while they collected about (200)
names for the word "snake" (Al-Mubarak , 1986: 103).
3. The variety of the Arab dialects: Al-Zaidi (1987 : 190) states that
standard Arabic is a mixture of all Arabic dialects. In other words ,
it is the dialect of ‫ﻗﻴﺲ‬, ‫ﺗﻤﻴﻢ‬, ‫أﺳﺪ‬, ‫ ﻃﻲ‬and ‫ ﻗﺮﻳﺶ‬because the majority of
the words and expressions used in standard Arabic are taken from
these tribes. Accordingly, each dialect contributes in building the
vocabulary of standard Arabic, e.g. ‫ اﻟ ﺴﻴﻒ‬is called ‫ اﻟﺨ ﻂ‬in Bahrain
and Oman, while it is called ‫ اﻟﻠ ﺞ‬by the tribes of ‫ ه ﺬﻳﻞ‬and ‫ﻃ ﻲ‬. This
means there is at teast two words or expressions that indicate each
meaning in standard Arabic.(Wafi, 1945: 71).
4. Borrowing foreign words: This factor provides our language with
many words which have counterparts in Arabic and the Arabs
make use of the foreign as well as the native words. It is stated that
these words are borrowed either because they are easy to
pronounce, e.g., ‫ ﻗﺜـﺎﺀ‬is called ‫ ﺨﻴـﺎﺭ‬which is a Persian word or that
they are used as euphemisms.
5. Exaggeration: Linguists try to prove that Arabic is the best language
in the world since it has the ability of presenting several words for
each meaning. This belief leads some groups of linguists to
compete with each other in collecting several names that indicate
the same identity. Those linguists try to exploit this phenomenon to
achieve fame. Thus, Leabi (1980 : 287) states that this aim
encourages them to write books on synonymy, but it is noted that
some of these books include words as synonyms of one thing,
whereas they are used in another book as names of something else,
e.g. ‫اﻟ ﺼﻬﺒﺎء‬, ‫اﻟ ﺴﻼف‬, ‫اﻟﻤﺎدﻳ ﺔ‬, ‫ اﻟﻐ ﺮب‬and ‫ اﻟﻴﻤﺎﻧﻴ ﺔ‬are used to mean ‫ اﻟ ﺸﺮب‬,
while they are used to mean ‫ اﻟﻌ ﺴﻞ‬in another book. This shows that
linguists aim just to get pride and glory.
6. Generating new words: In the past, some of the artists and poets
were obliged to lie when they were asked about the meaning of a
word that they did not know. So, they generated words that have no
connection with the intended meaning to save themselves from this
embarrassment and to avoid being criticized by other linguists,
e.g.‫ ﺷﺮﺷ ﺮ‬which is a name of plant is used to mean dog. This
technique leads to the emergence of a large group of words that
become part of the language although it is asserted by many
linguists that these words do not convey these meanings (Leabi,
1980: 291).
7. The diachronic study of synonymy: the traditionalists collected
these synonyms from different periods of times, (i.e., a large
number of them are abandoned or obsolete) . (Wafi, 1945: 73)
6
Sahar Faiq Ali
3.2 The Conditions of Synonymy in Arabic:
In the 4th century A.H., Arar (2002: 79) states that a struggle began
among linguists concerning this phenomenon in that some linguists try
to restrict its meaning and differentiate it from other phenomena and
abandon those that have no relation with this term. Therefore, they
adopt the following conditions:
1. Two or more words are synonymous when every one living in one
society insists that these words are identical in meaning, but if a
speaker finds in a word like ‫ ﺠﻠﺱ‬a meaning that is not found in the
word ‫ ﻗﻌﺩ‬this means the two words are not synonymous.
2. The synonyms must belong to one or more close dialects of the
same language.
3. The synonyms must be synchronic.
4. The linguists argue that both metaphors and euphemism cannot be
considered as types of synonymy.
5. Words such as ‫ اﻟﺠﺜ ﻞ‬and ‫ اﻟﺠﻔ ﻞ‬are no more synonymous because
they are the phonetic development of ‫اﻟﻨﻤﻞ‬.
As a consequence, some linguists Leabi (1980: 66) among them,
define
"synonymy" as two or more lexical items that are identical in meaning
and are interchangeable in all contexts without any difference in the
conceptual or emotive meaning .
The term "identity of meaning" required for the synonymous terms can
be understood in two ways: either as "an absolute identity" or as "a very
great similarity of meaning". Thus, the term " synonymy" is specified
by the attribute "absolute" only for cases of absolute identity in
meaning, while for the great similarity of meaning, the term ''near or
partial" synonymy is used.
The linguists argue that absolute synonymy rarely occurs in Arabic
since these synonyms may be affected by the emotive meaning of the
word, e.g. ‫ﺍﻤﺭﺃﺘﻪ‬, ‫ ﺤﻠﻴﻠﺘـﻪ‬or ‫ ﻋﻘﻴﻠﺘـﻪ‬are synonymous, but it is only the last
word which can be used with the word ‫ ﺍﻟﻤﻠـﻙ‬because it is the most
prestigous one among those three words . So, it is the social situation
which selects ‫ ﻋﻘﻴﻠﺘﻪ‬but not ‫ ﺤﻠﻴﻠﺘﻪ‬to be used here. Another example is ‫ﻴﺩﺨل‬
and ‫ ﻴﻠﺞ‬which are considered absolutely synonymous while they are not
because ‫ ﻴﻠـﺞ‬has a bad connotation that is not found in ‫ ﻴـﺩﺨل‬since ‫ﻴﻠـﺞ‬
means "he enters a house for stealing". Therefore, it is not possible to
have two words with an identical meaning. This means those linguists
who assert the identity of meaning as a precondition for synonymy aim
at denying the phenomenon of synonymy as a whole. This view is
rejected by the majority of linguists who state that synonyms are
always partial, and never absolute (Arar, 2002: 84).
77
Synonymy in English and Arabic ….
4. Comparison of Synonymy in English and Arabic
4.1 The Conditions of Synonymy in both English and
Arabic:
The majority of linguists in both languages assert that synonymy is
present in English and Arabic, but it is interpreted in different ways
(Leabi , 1980: 71).
The first group define synonymy as two or more words which have the
same sense and thus can replace each other in any context without any
difference in their conceptual or emotive import. Such synonyms are
called absolute or real synonyms.
The second group of linguists deny such synonyms by stating that if
such synonyms occur, they can live for a very short time. They argue
that lexical items may share the same conceptual meaning but vary in
the emotive meaning because such items are used by people who are
from different tribes or countries. This means different societies,
conventions and traditions. Moreover, the speaker himself in using a
word, may add his own feeling and imagination to the word he uses
which differs from the others.
The linguists in both languages also note that the second condition of
synonymy is difficult to achieve because such synonyms differ in use,
e.g. ‫ ﺍﻟﻬﻴﺠﺎﺀ‬and ‫ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﺏ‬have a similar meaning but it is not possible to use
‫ ﺍﻟﻬﻴﺠﺎﺀ‬instead of ‫ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﺏ‬in ‫ﺍﻟﺤﺭﺏ ﺍﻟﻨﻔﺴﻴﺔ‬.
The same is true in English, e.g. tall and high are synonymous since
we can say: a tall building and a high building but they are not in *a
high boy and a tall boy.
4.2 Types of Synonyms in English and Arabic:
Leabi (1980: 70) states that linguists in both languages classify
synonyms into the following types:
1. Pure (absolute) synonymy: This type refers to the words which can
replace one another in all contexts without any little change in the
conceptual and emotive value of their contents. This type does not
exist in both languages.
2. Near (partial) synonymy: It can be of two types: (a) words can be
coextensive and interchangeable in some contexts, e.g. ''leap-jump"
in English, ‫ ﻳﺜ ﺐ‬and ‫ﻳﻘﻔ ﺰ‬
in Arabic. (b) words which are
interchangeable from the conceptual but not from the emotive angle,
e.g. "liberty-freedom" in English, ‫ اﻟﺤﺮﻳﺔ‬and ‫ اﻟﻌﺘﻖ‬in Arabic.
4.3 The Wealth of Synonyms in English and Arabic:
Arabic is richer than English in synonyms for several reasons:
1. Most traditional linguists in English believe that the ideal language is
the one in which each form has only one meaning and each meaning
is associated with only one form. Thus, giving more than one form to
indicate the same meaning is considered a defect in English (Lyons,
1968: 405).
8
Sahar Faiq Ali
2. In Arabic, most linguists believe that the ideal language should be
rich in vocabularies and they consider synonymy as one of the main
sources of vocabularies. This belief leads the linguists to collect as
many synonyms as they can to prove that Arabic is the best in this
respect (Wafi, 1945: 168) .
3. The study of synonymy in Arabic is diachronic. Thus, the synonyms
that are used by the linguists are collected from different times. This
technique expresses the large number of synonyms in Arabic.
Palmer (1981: 88) asserts that English is also rich in synonyms for the
historical reason that its vocabulary has come from two different main
sources: Anglo - Saxon on the one hand and from French, Latin and
Greek on the other. Since English is considered to be a Germanic
language from a historical point of view, with Anglo-Saxon as an earlier
stage of its development, the Anglo-Saxon's words are considered to be
native while those from French, Greek and Latin are foreign.
Palmer (1981: 88) states that the terms "native" and "foreign" are
misleading for the fact that most of the English words, even those that
are believed to be native may have been borrowed from some other
languages at some time in the more remote past. Thus, no language
seems to be so ready as English to absorb foreign words, perhaps
because there has never been any self-conscious worship of pure
English that opposed the debasing of the language by the introduction of
new words. This wealth gives English its power to express exactly the
most suitable shades of meaning.
In Arabic, this factor does not contribute much in enriching standard
Arabic with synonyms because in the course of time, people abandon
using one of the two synonyms while the other is still in use, e.g. ‫ﺧﻴ ﺎر‬
and ‫ ﻗﺜ ﺎء‬are synonymous, but it is only the former which is still in use in
Iraq while the latter is abandoned. Moreover, these words are
transferred into our language from nations that have important
commercial, cultural and social relations with the Arab countries.
Therefore, these words which are used in one country may not be used
in another. For example, in Syria, people use the Roman word ‫اﻟﺮﺳ ﺎﻃﻮن‬
to mean ‫اﻟﺨﻤ ﺮ‬, while all other Arab countries do not use it. Thus,
borrowing such words is not a main source of synonymy in Arabic
(Leabi, 1980: 168-78).
Arabic is rich in synonyms because standard Arabic is a mingling of
the dialects of so many tribes. This describes the occurrence of several
words for each meaning.
Conclusion
The major findings of the present research are the following;
1. Absolute synonymy (i.e., identity of content between two words)
does not exist except on the symbolic level (i.e., the scientific
terms) because these terms are precisely delimited and emotionally
neutral.
99
Synonymy in English and Arabic ….
2. English is rich in partial synonyms and the major source of
synonyms in English is borrowing from other foreign world
languages, specially French, Greek and Latin.
3. Arabic is richer than English in partial synonyms for several
reasons:
(A) These synonyms are collected from many Arabic dialects
especially the dialects of ‫ﻗﺭﻴﺵ‬, ‫ﺘﻤﻴﻡ‬, ‫ ﻁـﻲ‬and ‫ﺃﺴـﺩ‬. This means
every dialect contributes to enrich standard Arabic with
vocabularies which have counterparts in other dialects.
(B) Exaggeration is one of the major sources of synonyms in
Arabic,
i.e, some linguists and poets compete with each other to
collect as many synonyms as possible in order to gain fame
and present enough evidence that Arabic language is the best
in the world.
(C) Seventy-eight words of different lexical-categories are
collected from dictionaries in Arabic such as Nizgat ?lraa?id
wa sir9at ?lwaarid fi ?lmutaradif wa ?lmutawaarid (1970),
?alifsaah fi Fi9h ?alugh (1987) and Dictionary of Synonyms
and Antonyms (1957) while in English we have dictionaries
such as Chambers Dictionary of synonyms and Antonyms
(1997). This collection presents a clear evidence that partial
synonyms are more numerous in Arabic than English. See
tables (1), (2) and (3) below:
10
Sahar Faiq Ali
Table (1) : Nouns
No.
The word
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Anger
Artist
Cloud
Deceiver
Desert
Disease
Dust
Fear
Grass
Happiness
House
Knife
Malice
Nation
Negotiation
Poverty
Rain
River
Sand
Science
Sleep
Snow
Sorrow
Spear
Sword
Villain
Water
Well
Number of synonyms in
English
20
8
21
19
4
18
8
23
5
22
9
1
9
10
7
29
17
11
6
6
11
0
21
0
0
8
7
14
11
11
Number of
synonyms in Arabic
28
42
42
22
25
45
18
55
11
26
40
6
22
48
18
70
36
24
27
12
45
9
32
33
41
34
93
19
Synonymy in English and Arabic ….
Table (2) : Adjectives
No.
The word
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
Ambitious
Authentic
Beautiful
Blind
Brave
Clever
Deaf
Dying
Eloquent
Famous
Fat
Fertile
Generous
Handsome
Humble
Hungry
Lazy
Magnanimous
Meek
Passive
Patient
Polite
Sick
Stingy
Strong
Stupid
Tall
Ugly
Unkind
Number of synonyms in
English
28
18
22
10
19
13
7
13
17
20
36
15
26
23
20
14
6
11
15
13
25
14
17
10
19
34
24
42
19
12
Number of
synonyms in Arabic
34
65
90
13
48
39
10
37
70
28
100
42
119
80
23
22
29
44
37
19
55
26
33
56
84
41
42
49
28
Sahar Faiq Ali
Table (3): Verbs
No.
The word
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
Accompany
Accord
Betray
Boring
Conceal
Curse
Drink
Flatter
Forget
Forgive
Hate
Lament
Lie
Listen
Look
Love
Praise
Scorn
Smell
Tempt
Weep
(D)
Number of synonyms in
English
14
15
15
16
16
14
21
11
12
10
20
10
9
20
32
29
26
15
4
15
19
Number of
synonyms in Arabic
20
26
57
19
21
75
34
30
18
32
31
19
44
30
99
32
34
28
9
26
36
Unlike English , borrowing from other world languages does
not contribute much in enriching Arabic with synonyms.
13
13
Synonymy in English and Arabic ….
English References
Eckersley, C. E. and Eckersly, M.A. (1960). A Comprehensive English
Grammar for Foreign Students. Longman group limited: London.
Lyons, John (1968). Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics.
Cambridge: Cambridge University press.
Manser, M. (1997). Chambers Dictionary of synonyms and Antonyms.
Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap published Ltd.
Palmer, F. R. (1981) . Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
press.
Robertson, Stuart (1938). The Development of Modern English.
Prentice-Hall, INC.
Robins, R.H. (1964). General Linguistics, An Introductory Survey.
London: Longman Group Ltd.
Ullmann, Stephen. (1962). The principles of Semantics. Oxford: Brazil
Blackwell and Mott Ltd.
Arabic References
Al-Lubnani, I. (1970). Nizgat ?lraa?id wa sir9at ?lwaarid fi ?lmutaradif
wa ?lmutawaarid. . Beirut: Lebanon Library.
Al-Mubarak , A.H.(1986). Fi9h ?al-luga. Basrah University Press:
Basrah.
Al-Sumayddaei, A. A., (1987). ?alifsaah fi Fi9h ?alugh. Beirut:
Scientific books press.
Al-yassoi, R. (1957). Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms. Beirut :
Catholic Press.
Al-Zaidi, G. (1987). Fi9h ?al-luga ?al-9arabyya.Mosul: Dar Al-Kutub.
Arar, M.A. (2002). Zadal ?allaf Di wa ?alma9na. Amman: Wa'el press.
Ibn Faris, A. (1970). Mutaxayir ?al-?lfaaD. Baghdad: Al- Ma'arif press.
Leabi, H. (1980). ?al-Taraaduf fi ?al-luga. Baghdad :Dar Al-huriya
press.
Wafi, A.A. (1945). Fi9h ?al-luga. Cairo: Nahthat Maser press.
14