Naṣrid colors. Patterns of use and cultural dimension of color terms in Ibn al-Khaṭīb’s Iḥāṭa

Abstract

The present study addresses the analysis of the use of color terms in the biobibliographical dictionary al-Iḥāṭa fī akhbār Gharnāṭa, of the 14th-century Andalusi intellectual Lisān al-Dīn Ibn al-Khaṭīb. The aim is to reconstruct the cultural category of COLOR in the context of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada through its linguistic codification in the digitized corpus of the Iḥāṭā. For this purpose, the study has used a methodology based on an annotation scheme that serves as a baseline for data mining and contemplates specific lexical, morphological, and semantic aspects in addition to the genres. The analysis sheds light on the frequencies of use and their distribution following different parameters, the types of referents to which color terms are associated and their cultural dimension, the paradigms, and their morpho-semantic aspect, among other extra-linguistic issues relevant to understanding the perceptual experience of the Nasrid COLOR. The results show the effectiveness of Cultural Linguistics for reconstructing the cognitive experience in a pre-modern context, the Eastern influence in formulating this Nasrid cultural category, and the social connections that color terms have in this culture.