ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the impact of the ubiquitous presence of the Internet and digital applications on Arabic lexicography, on the impact of the new methods, new media and new tools which have fundamentally changed the way dictionaries are being produced, published and used. Arabic scholars produced dictionaries as early as the eighth century CE and developed a very sophisticated culture of dictionary writing in the centuries thereafter. The coexistence of two distinct written forms, namely Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), has characterised the linguistic landscape until this day. CA, the basic structure of which has by and large remained unchanged until the present day, is generally regarded by Arabic philologers as the norm against which everything else has to be measured. Incorporating references to literary sources into dictionary entries has a long tradition in Arabic lexicography going back to the very early times.
