WOMAN IN ANCIENT ARABIC PROVERBS

Abstract

This research attempts to shed light on the life of women, as portrayed by ancient Arabic proverbs and the environment where they lived. The proverbs, recorded in the amthāl works, represent the Arab lifestyle with the most accurate details.Various groups of society contributed to the production of proverbs, whereas they were narrated and transmitted by Arabs, Arabic proverbs present credible reflection of the living realities of Arabs. Given their evidentiality, this article explores the proverbs as a main source to bring to light the lives of women. The study shows the richness of proverbs as a source material for its documentation of details and underscores especially the usefulness of the largest encyclopedia of proverbs in Arabic literature, Majma‘ al-Amthal by alMaydani. As al-Maydani reports the stories related to the proverbs — their originators and the occasions of their creation, his work can be seen as one of the important sources, through which the cultural, social and literary realities of the Arab society from different perspectives can be studied.This study concludes that proverbs were more accurate in portraying the living realities of women and the attitude of the society towards them more than poetry, because they are often free from the metaphorical images and artistic conventions found in poetry