Semantic Evolution of the Word "Balad" and Its Uses in the Holy Quran

The first step to obtain the knowledge of the Quran is to know the exact meaning of its words, i.e., semantically. Semantics is a part of today's linguistics and a way to check the words of a language; it is an efficient tool for discovering new meanings in the text, which reveals the history of the semantic evolution of each word and examines the worldview that governs the language as the analyst pays attention to the culture and customs or the culture of the one who wrote the text. The word Balad is one of the words of the Holy Quran that has various uses and is mentioned 19 times in the Quran. Considering semantics as a useful method in examining the words of the Qur'an, the present study examined the special position of this word and its importance in the holy book. In fact, by applying semantics, it is possible to analyze the different semantic layers of a word, sometimes by putting together synonyms and antonyms and the plural and singular forms of the word, and also by analyzing the exact root of a word. Accordingly, the semantic evolution of the word "balad" in the Qur'an was investigated along with its lexical and conceptual meanings. The study examined an example of this word. In fact, the word Balad has various uses in the Qur'an,  and it is different from the word Madina, and it has a geographical extension.