University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections

Scope and Contents

This is an Arabic glossary arranged according to subjects, by Abū Mansūr 'Abd al-Malik b. Muḥammad b. Ismā'īl al-Tha'ālibī (d. 429 A.H., 1037 C.E.).

Scope and Contents

A dictionary of Arabic nouns and infinitives, including their derivations and equivalents in Persian by Abū Ja'far Aḥmad b. 'Alī Maqrī Bayḥaqī (nicknamed Ja'farak), d. 544 A.H. (1159 C.E.). It is stated by the author that this work refers in the first place to the Qur'ān, next to the traditions, and finally to ancient poetry.

Scope and Contents

A famous zoological dictionary, but it is something more. The work contains chapters on the history of the Arab rulers, on religion and law, annotations on the Qur'ān and dissertations on science, poetry, diction, etc. The author was Kamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Mūsá b. 'Īsá b. 'Alī al-Damīrī (d. 808 A.H., 1406 C.E.), who compiled it in 773 A.H. (1371 C.E.).

Scope and Contents

A very famous dictionary of the Arabic language, by Shaykh al-Islām Majd al-Dīn Abū Ṭahir Muḥammad b. Ya'qūb al-Fīrūzābādī (d. 817 A.H., 1414 C.E.), who extracted material for it chiefly from his earlier work entitled as al-'Ubāb w-al-Muḥkam, which was in 65 vols. The manuscript is in good preservation and complete.

Scope and Contents

A very famous dictionary of the Arabic language, by Shaykh al-Islām Majd al-Dīn Abū Ṭahir Muḥammad b. Ya'qūb al-Fīrūzābādī (d. 817 A.H., 1414 C.E.), who extracted material for it chiefly from his earlier work entitled as al-'Ubāb w-al-Muḥkam, which was in 65 vols. This copy is missing a few pages at the end.

Scope and Contents A dictionary of Arabic words with their explanations in Latin. At the beginning there are five pages of printed matter containing the preface. The title-page, unfortunately, is missing. The rest of the book is in manuscript, and looks as if it had never been completed in print.The author is Dr. Thomas Erpenius, the Dutch Oriental scholar, who was born 1584 and died 1624 C.E.. His Arabic Grammar, often reprinted, has, almost to the commencement of the nineteenth century C.E. , been one of the...

Scope and Contents

A fragment of the famous historical encyclopaedia by Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī b. Ḥusayn b. ‘Alī al-Mas‘ūdī (d.c. 345 A.H., 956 C.E.). It begins with the reign of the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwān (r. 685–705 C.E.) and ends with the Abbasid Caliph Mūsá al-Hādī (r. 785–786 C.E.).

Scope and Contents

A splendid old copy of the famous Arabic Lexicon of Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī, Muslim philosopher and polymath of the 4th century A.H./ 10th century C.E.

Scope and Contents The comprehensive Arabic dictionary by Nashwān bin Sa'īd al-Ḥimyarī, who completed this work in Egypt in Ramadan, 570 A.H./ March-April 1175 C.E. (see fol. 185).The present copy (610 folios) is written in six different hands. The name of the sixth transcriber is given on fol. 465a as 'Abd al-Ghanī bin 'Abdallāh bin 'Uthman bin Shihāb al-Dīn al-Lāhūrī. It is slightly worm-eaten; a few pages of the original text are cancelled either partly or entirely, see for instance fols. 85,...