[kissickas]

> There are a great deal more things than books that have authors

And those things all have their own words for their authors, as well.

poetry - sha3r

poet - shaa3r

composition (the noun of the verb) - ta2leef

composition (the thing written) - mu2allaf

composer - mu2allef

letter, correspondance - resala

messenger - rasool

correspondent (like a news reporter) - murasel

You can also use kaateb for the author of a letter or perhaps a poem, but not really a symphony. Just like you wouldn't use author. Pardon the use of the numbers in words - it's how people represent letters that aren't in English in Arabic.

[int_19h]

So then the correct translation was "writer"?

Note, by the way, that your examples showcase the same pattern in English - the author of "poetry" is a "poet", the author of a "composition" is a "composer" etc.

[kissickas]

Yes, kaateb can be translated as "author" or "writer" or "scribe" etc.

I was more replying to your comment than continuing GP's argument, but I believe what they were trying to say is that the system used in Arabic is very regular and predictable. If I didn't know English, I might say that the person who writes poems is a poemer. Or a poetrier. I might try to use "to poetry" as a verb.

I wouldn't really make that argument because through learning Esperanto I realized that a truly logical language would make nearly no sense. You can't just invent any word you like in Esperanto, although it is sometimes billed that way, and you can't in Arabic. But at least it's very predictable and, at least, you can derive the meanings of an already-written text fairly easily.

The problem (touched upon in the OP) is that each dialect has its own domain of vocabulary, so even apart from foreign/native language influences, the classical vocabulary that sticks around in each dialect varies widely from one place to another. Some people use the verb for "work" to mean "work" and some use the verb for "preoccupy oneself" to mean "work."