Historical Semantics of the Term Mahr in the Qur'an
Keywords:
Historical semantics, mehr, QuranAbstract
Given the antiquity of the term mahr, the present study seeks to answer this key question: What semantic components did the word mahr possess in the pre-Islamic Arabian culture that led the Qur'an to avoid using it and instead employ four new terms to refer to the concept of bridal payment (dower)? To address this question, the study draws on the discipline of historical semantics in order to clarify the various semantic components of the term mahr and to enhance understanding of its lexical shift over time. Historical semantics is a method that examines the semantic changes of a word throughout history. It is first necessary to identify the earliest roots of the word through a comparative study with cognate languages, and then to trace its semantic developments step by step across different historical stages. Through adopting a historical semantic approach, it becomes possible to discern what semantic components the word carried within the cultural context of pre-Islamic Arabia. In this article, the history of the root “m-h-r” in the Arabic language is analyzed, and using the tools of historical semantics, its genealogy and historical roots are identified and studied.
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