Following the Bosnian Alhamiado Lexicography In the 19th Century: A Review of Berbić’s Thematic Lexicographic Contributions

Abstract

Each dictionary is a valuable document about the time in which it was created, a cultural monument and a testimony to the state of the language in past times. In the context of Bosnian alhamiado lexicography, the work of Ibrahim Berbić The Bosnian Turkish Teacher (1893), reflects the lexicographic awareness and desire of the author to make a step forward in writing more extensive and precise Bosnian-Turkish and Turkish-Bosnian dictionaries, so that works written on those languagescouldbe translated as successfully as possible. In 49 thematic units, approximately the same size, Berbić chooses lexiconfrom everyday life using the so-called encyclopedic-thematic dictionary approach. However, the lexicographic procedures of this author indicate more the stages of making the basic work, respecting bilingual grammar, and not the development of a special dictionary as a separate unit, that would follow some other principles, and not just the primary pedagogical-didactic requirements. Unlike conceptual Ottoman dictionaries in Bosnia, including dictionaries by Bosnian authors, which contain a traditional thematic hierarchy of lexicon (first sacred lexicon, tradition, and then everyday life) that reflects first worldview and then other elements of tradition, lexicon in “The Bosnian Turkish Teacher” primarily uses everyday material. being such way, this work as a whole is unusual for both the Ottoman and the Bosnian alhamiado lexicographic tradition.