A. Kudriavtceva. Al-Shanfarā's Legacy: An All-in-One Etymological Dictionary of Ancient Arabic by Anna Belova

Anna Kudriavtceva

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) RAS,
St. Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: kudriavtsevaa@mail.ru 

Al-Shanfarā's Legacy:
An All-in-One Etymological Dictionary
of Ancient Arabic by Anna Belova 

Abstract. Between 2012 and 2016, Anna Belova's remarkable three‑volume work, Etymological Dictionary of the Ancient Arabic Lexicon, was published. This opus stands as one of the crowning achievements of the research school associated with Igor Diakonoff (1915—1999), a school dedicated to the study of Afroasiatic languages and human history and prehistory. Throughout the latter third of the twentieth century, the very existence of the “Diakonoff circle” and the dynamic development of its ideas profoundly influenced fellow Orientalists, particularly those who worked alongside the scholar at the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences. For instance, the adoption by Piotr Gryaznevich and, subsequently, his student Efim Rezvan of Ksenia Kashtaleva's ideas concerning the contextual analysis of Qur’anic terminology was significantly informed and stimulated by the influence of Diakonoff's own work and intellectual legacy. This article analyses the place and significance of Belova's work within Russian and global Oriental studies, and its implications for the development of contemporary Qur’anic studies. 

Keywords: Anna Belova, Igor Diakonoff, Arabic lexicography and etymology-based studies, the Proto-Afrasian (Afroasiatic) languages, lexical reconstructions, the Qur’anic studies 

Acknowledgement. The study was carried out within the framework of the research topic “Russia — the West — the Islamic World: conflicts and interaction in competitive paradigms of spatial development (historical, cultural, museum and archival sources)” of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences. It forms part of the research direction “Ethnic History and Diversity of the Cultural Heritage of the Islamic World in Historical Dynamics”, which has been pursued by the International Centre for Islamic Studies at the MAE RAS since the Centre establishment. 

DOI: 10.31250/1238-5018-2025-31-2-102-108 

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Received by the Editorial Board: 04.03.2025