Learning Arabic in Renaissance Europe (1505-1624) (History of Oriental Studies)

In his classic study Learning Arabic in Renaissance Europe (1505-1624)', Robert Jones explores the practical and intellectual challenges faced by scholars of Arabic, especially of Arabic grammar, from Pedro de Alcal� to Guillaume Postel, Giovan Battista Raimondi and Thomas Erpenius. Illustrations 16 Acknowledgements 11 Contents 7 Preface 14 Abbreviations 18 Part 1 19 Learning Arabic in Renaissance Europe (1505–1624) 19 Introductory Remarks 21 1 The Difficulties 21 2 The Achievement 22 3 Dramatis Personae 22 4 Middle Ages to Renaissance: Continuity 23 5 Middle Ages to Renaissance: Discontinuity 26 6 Spain 27 Chapter 1 32 The Books 32 1 Manuscript Acquisition 32 2 Arabists Abroad 33 3 Agents 40 4 Eastern Christians in Europe 44 5 The Spoils of War 47 6 Vienna 49 7 Tunis 49 8 Lepanto 52 9 Hungary 53 10 Piracy 59 11 The Value of Plunder to Arabic Studies 60 Chapter 2 66 The Teachers 66 1 Captives and Converts 66 2 Leo Africanus 66 3 Paul Willich 72 4 Darwīsh Ibrāhīm 74 5 Neophytes at Rome 84 6 François de Boulogne 89 7 Juan Andrés 89 8 ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad 91 9 Aḥmad ibn Qāsim al-Ḥajarī 95 10 Ḥusayn of Buda 110 Chapter 3 113 The Rules 113 1 Preamble 113 2 Pedro de Alcalá 119 3 Leo Africanus to Nicolaus Clenardus 127 4 Guillaume Postel and Teseo Ambrogio 131 5 Mid-Century Polyglot Handbooks 138 6 Jakob Christmann and Ruthger Spey 140 7 The Medicean Grammars 144 8 The Medicean Grammars in Europe 154 9 Joseph Justus Scaliger and Franciscus Raphelengius 158 10 Thomas Erpenius 162 11 1620–1624 184 Supplement 190 Part 2 193 The Arabic and Persian Studies of Giovanni Battista Raimondi (c. 1536–1614) 193 Chapter 4 195 The Alphabetum Arabicum 195 1 Introduction 195 Figura 196 2 Arabic Script in the Alphabetum arabicum 196 3 Arabic Script in other Renaissance Arabic Grammars 197 Potestas 199 4 Arabic Vocalization. Imāla 199 5 Vocalization in the Alphabetum arabicum 202 6 Arabic Consonants in the Alphabetum arabicum 208 7 Arabic Consonants in other Renaissance Arabic Grammars 213 8 Conclusion 214 Chapter 5 217 The Grammars of 1592 217 1 The Ājurrūmiyya within the Islamic Grammatical Tradition 217 2 The Ājurrūmiyya within the European Grammatical Tradition 220 3 The Rome Edition of 1592 223 4 The Kāfiya 226 5 Conclusion 228 Chapter 6 231 The Liber Tasriphi 231 1 Introduction 231 2 Arabic Terms Preserved 233 3 Translations ad verbum and ad sensum 235 4 Postel and the Morphology of the Verb 239 5 Conclusion 242 Chapter 7 245 Arabic Grammar Translated in Manuscript 245 1 A Note on the Derived Forms of the Verb 245 2 Kitāb Miʾat ʿāmil 247 Chapter 8 254 Grammars of Persian Translated in Manuscript 254 1 Introduction 254 2 Qawānīn al-furs 255 3 Other Grammars of Persian 260 Concluding Remarks 264 Appendix 1 269 The Identification of a copy of Bartholomaeus Radtmann’s Introductio in linguam arabicam, Frankfurt a.d. Oder, 1592, now in the British Library 269 Appendix 2 271 Arabic Transliteration 271 1 The Arabic Alphabet 271 2 The Arabic Lord’s Prayer in Latin Script 272 Appendix 3 273 Raimondi and Saltini 273 Appendix 4 288 Raimondi on Arabic, Persian and other Languages 288 Appendix 5 293 Raimondi’s Latin Translation from Avicenna’s Arabic Canon 293 Appendix 6 298 Raimondi’s Grammar and Dictionary List 298 Raimondi’s Grammars and Dictionaries Identified 301 Appendix 7 305 Raimondi and the Lead Books of Granada 305 Bibliography 309 Index 327 "From the first Arabic grammar printed at Granada in 1505 to the Arabic editions of the Dutch scholar Thomas Erpenius (d.1624), some audacious scholars - supported by powerful patrons and inspired by several of the greatest minds of the Renaissance - introduced, for the first time, the study of Arabic language and letters to centres of learning across Europe. These pioneers formed collections of Arabic manuscripts, met Arabic-speaking visitors, studied and adapted the Islamic grammatical tradition, and printed editions of Arabic texts - most strikingly in the magnificent books published by the Medici Oriental Press at Rome in the 1590s. Robert Jones' findings in the libraries of Florence, Leiden, Paris and Vienna, and his contribution to the history of grammar, are of enduring importance"-- Provided by publisher