The Semantics of ‘šaʕara’ (to realize) As a Quranic Word and Its Status in the Semantic Field of Cognition

چکیده مقاله

In the holy Quran, several words have been used for the meaning of perception and knowledge. The verb "šaʕara" as one of the words in Persian translations more often is equated with words ‘know‘ and ‘understand‘; but its more detailed component is the issue of this essay that is devoted to two sections of etymological and contextual study. Etymology based on the methods of historical linguistics and sources of Semitic languages, a comprehensive contextual study of all applications alongside each other, content analysis of verses and use of the anthropological achievements in discourse analysis of Quranic verses are the methods used in this article. Etymological evidences suggest that this word dates back to the ancient Semitic language and is made up of the hypothetical root of the "šʕr" (to divide, break open) in the same language and this root is also derived from the Afro-Asian root (ĉaʕ), meaning "cut" but in the Pre-Islamic Arabic discourse it is influenced by the word šiʕr (poetry) by semantic contamination. Negative application, no application in descriptive phrases, devotion to the perception of hidden affairs are the functional features of the term šaʕara that make the definition of the Qur'anic meaning of šaʕara as a "non-process perception" justifiable. Non-process perception entails an increase in the role of imagination and reducing the role of time-consuming rational processes. © 2024, Tarbiat Modares University. All rights reserved.