الكتابة والالتزام

Abstract

Writing and commitment

It seems difficult to reduce the word "literature" to a specific concept; because the word has a long history. Several concepts have joined it in the history of modern European languages, evolved with the development of society. In its origin, it is taken from the Latin word (littératura) translated from the Greek word (Gramatiké), which means knowledge of the art of writing letters. The word, then, in its first connotation meant everything under writing without distinguishing between different and diverse fields of knowledge, then the word was used to define books that have importance, whatever their subject matter. And this definition is limited to great books, that greatness based on the scale of quality. If this is the case with the word in the history of European literature, then it has another story in the history of our Arabic language. In its first connotation, it included the meaning of inherited customs and traditions. The Italian orientalist "Nelino" went to say that "etiquette" is taken from the word "daaba" in the sense of habit and affair. And from it it was said: the priniciples of speech, and the principles of the lesson. This means that the moral meaning was closely related to the word. However, the scope of its coverage expanded from the first century AH, when it was used predominantly in the sense of poetry, stories and news, and all kinds of culture and politeness. This means that the word “Adab” has become denoting everything that enters the field of knowledge, such as philosophy among other things. The word “Adab” is what we understand today from the word “educated”. From the foregoing, it is clear that the term “Adab” has a lot of connotations, with are difficult to limit and customize; because the word has a complex semantic load, burdened with the legacy of its ancient uses. For this reason, this paper is meant to disambiguate the different significances allotted to the term writing in the light on some  theories.