Acknowledgments
The conceptual framework at the basis of the present study linking the prehistory of Arabic to Ancient Egyptian was elaborated in the course of a stint of comparative linguistic research conducted under the auspices of an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship at the University of Leipzig in 2015, whose initial results have been published in WZKM 109.
I here renew my thanks to the Humboldt Foundation for its continued generous support of my research into the history of the Arabic language, and to Prof. Ekkehard Schulz at the Oriental Institute of the University of Leipzig for his sponsorship of my research project. I am also indebted to Prof. Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert at this university’s Institute of Egyptology for his collegial support and for access to the institute library.
This work’s specific focus on the internal history of dialectal Arabic rests on recognition of the latter’s pivotal function in the mammoth task of embarking on a prehistory of this ancient and important world language. The present pioneering glossary is a modest initial step towards the attainment of that grand design. My involvement in this research domain has long been animated by the insights and encouragement I experienced in the course of my doctoral studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the guidance of the late Prof. Haim Blanc.
The comparatist engaged in research involving the Arabic vernaculars is dependent on the quality and scope of the ethnolinguistic sources at his disposal. Documentation of the Arabic Sprachraum has been tangibly enriched in the course of the last few decades by the endeavours of field researchers delving into native speech patterns across the Arab world. The present venture owes its inspiration in no small measure to the industry of Dr. Peter Behnstedt, whose original and stimulating documentation of the Yemenite lexicon, in particular, has been frequently and profitably utilized throughout the present research.
For inclusion of this volume into the present Brill monograph series I am profoundly indebted to Prof. Aaron Rubin of Penn State University and his co-editor Prof. Ahmad Al-Jallad of Ohio State University. Dr. Beata Sheyhatovitch of Tel-Aviv University earned my profound thanks for her technical assistance in the task of readying the final text. I also express my sincere gratitude to the two anonymous readers of my MS for their encouraging constructive comments and recommendations, and to the Brill linguists Elisa Perotti and Jorik Groen, whose brisk and efficient handling of my monograph facilitated its preparation for publication.