Semantic Change-Induced Misunderstanding in the Qurʔân and Ḥadîth | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Linguistics and Translation | ||||
| Article 2, Volume 8, Issue 1, July 2022, Page 35-72 PDF (470.49 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Research in linguistic and literary studies | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejlt.2022.153294 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
Adel Refaat Mahfouz 
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| English department Faculty of Al-Alsun Minia University | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| This study explores misunderstanding that results from the semantic change of some Qurʔânic and Prophetic words via investigating the causes and types of that change. Besides, theories that best account for this phenomenon such as the prototype theory, the referential theory, and the theory of qualia have been discussed and multimodality has been proposed as a therapeutic approach that may rectify the misconceptions caused by semantic change. To conduct this study, the various usages and meanings of some misunderstood words of the Glorious Qurʔân and Noble Ḥadîth have been examined and compared with the modern usages to show how far the change has affected the perception of the religious texts and flag its potential repercussions in the long run. The study has revealed that the causes that led to the semantic change are either linguistic such as calque, false friends, polysemous and homonymous overlapping, or extralinguistic like the loss, change, or development of the possible referents and the prototypes of these words. As for the types of change such as restriction, degeneration, and elevation, they are the most frequent and significantly contribute to widening the gap between the classical and contemporary meaning of such words that may have the Muslim layperson partially or fully misunderstand them. The study has also found that the semantic change is remarkably high in nouns and verbs. In the end, a conclusion has been drawn and some recommendations have been made regarding the words under discussion. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Semantic change; Classical and Modern Arabic; Qurʔân; Ḥadîth | ||||
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