The “Consolidated PhoenicianEnglish Arabic Dictionary” stresses the fact that with their introduction of the phonic alphabet, the Phoenicians helped humanity preserve knowledge.
A. D. Hope, the Australian poet, clearly gives credit to the Phoenicians when he says:
“ When nature fashioned giants in the dew
Surely the morning muses too
Created genius in an ampler mould
To celebrate her Age of Gold.
Yet think, for lack of letters all was lost,
Think Homer’s Iliads to our cost
Gone like those epics before the Flood
As, but for Cadmus, sure they would.”
This dictionary lists words and expressions extracted from Phoenician inscriptions available at the time of compiling it. Each term is transliterated into the alphabet letters of the corresponding language, and then translated into both English and Arabic to get the correct pronunciation and meaning as it occurred in the original inscription. Also, sample inscriptions are provided at the end of the book for reference and translation purposes.
The current version “the golden edition” has introduced new elements to facilitate reading and word root recognition. Also, illustrations are in-bedded with the terms they illustrate so that future additions or changers will not affect them.
