quran-search-engine

English to Arabic Translation Search

Overview

This feature adds the ability to search the Quran using English words (and their synonyms), which are translated to Arabic roots for searching. The implementation leverages the library’s existing root search capability.

Data Structure

interface EnglishArabicConcept {
  english: string[]; // All English variants (synonyms) in one field
  arabic: string[]; // Arabic roots only - library handles the rest
}

Example

{
  "english": ["truth", "verity", "trueness", "accuracy"],
  "arabic": ["حق", "صدق"]
}

Why This Structure Works

1. Reduced Data Complexity - Group all English synonyms in one field instead of duplicating entries
2. Leverage Existing Features - Store only roots in arabic field; the library’s built-in root search automatically finds all derived words
3. Consistent with Phonetic Flow - English translation lookup runs at the same point as phonetic, creating a unified non-Arabic query pipeline

How It Works

Query Processing Flow

User Query: "truth verity"
    ↓
Split into tokens: ["truth", "verity"]
    ↓
For each token:
    ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  isArabic(token)?                   │
├──────────────┬──────────────────────┤
│   YES        │       NO             │
│   ↓          │       ↓              │
│  Pass        │  1. English→Arabic   │
│  through     │     (NEW)            │
│  unchanged   │  2. Phonetic         │
│              │     (existing)       │
└──────────────┴──────────────────────┘
    ↓
If English found in translation map:
  "truth" → ["حق", "صدق"]
  "verity" → ["حق", "صدق"]
    ↓
Dedupe and combine: ["حق", "صدق"]
    ↓
Run search with root:true enabled
Library automatically finds:
  - "الحق", "بالحق", "حقا" (from root "حق")
  - "صدق", "صدقا", "بالصدق" (from root "صدق")

Implementation Details

Integration Point

The English→Arabic translation is integrated at search.ts#L158, right before the existing phonetic lookup:

if (!isArabic(token)) {
  const cleanToken = token.toLowerCase().trim();

  // 1. English → Arabic translation (NEW)
  let arabicRoots = englishArabicMap.get(cleanToken);
  if (arabicRoots) {
    return arabicRoots[0]; // Use roots, library handles rest
  }

  // 2. Phonetic fallback (EXISTING)
  let arabicPossibilities = phoneticMap.get(cleanToken);
  // ...
}

When Does Translation Run?

The English translation lookup only runs when the query is NOT Arabic:

if (token && !isArabic(token)) {
  // Translation or Phonetic lookup happens here
}

This means:

• Arabic queries → Direct search (no translation)
• English/Latin queries → English translation lookup first, then phonetic fallback

Usage

import { search } from 'quran-search-engine';

// Search using English word
const result = search('truth', quranData, morphologyMap, wordMap, {
  lemma: true,
  root: true, // Important: enables root-based search
  semantic: true,
});

// The library will:
// 1. Look up "truth" in English→Arabic map
// 2. Find roots ["حق", "صدق"]
// 3. Search for all words derived from these roots
// 4. Return matching verses

Comparison: Phonetic vs English Translation

Feature	Phonetic	English Translation
Input	Latin letters mimicking Arabic pronunciation	English words
Example	“bismillah” → “بسم الله”	“truth” → [“حق”, “صدق”]
Type	Transliteration (sound-based)	Translation (meaning-based)
Data	Pre-computed phonetic mappings	English synonyms → Arabic roots

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