Our protagonist today is Ibn al-Nadim who lived in tenth-century Baghdad, a towering intellectual, the celebrated compiler of the bibliographic-biographic encyclopaedia Kitab al-fihrist (the book of catalogue), which references circa 10,000 books and 20,000 authors!
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There are at least eight extant manuscripts of the Catalogue, the oldest & most complete being held at Chester Beatty Library (MS 3315), another at Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi (MS 1934), and two (v incomplete) copies at our library,
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In modern print the Catalogue amounts to over 600 pages, a remarkable feat for a tenth century compiler. To the best of knowledge we still lack an English translation (which could make for a great PhD project!).
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One of my favourite chapters of the Catalogue is the one on ancient and medieval scripts of other non-Muslim civilisations, which begins an exordium on the benefits of good penmanship and chirography (فضل القلم)
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We read, “the pen is the ambassador of the intellect, its messenger, articulate tongue, & spokesman”. In another instance, Ibn al-Nadim speaks through Aristotle, “the pen is the efficient cause, reed material cause, script formal cause, and articulate formulations final cause”.pic.twitter.com/gHQIXWxIRN
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SYRIAC: we are told that Syriac is derived from the Adamic language, which, according to Ibn al-Nadim’s Christian source, is derived from Nabatean. Ancient Syrians & folk of Harran spike Syriacpic.twitter.com/VfnijMU38x
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Citing another Christian authority, Ibn al-Nadim tells us that Adam was taught Syriac by an angel called سيمورس. The Syriacs have three scripts: Estrangela, Serto, & Eskolithya (Nestorian?). The closest to Arabic script is Serto.
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PERSIAN: the first to speak Persian was a man named جيومرث whom the Persians called the King of Mud, the Persian doppelgänger of Adam. Persian is made up of dialects: Pahlavi, Dari, Farsi, & Khuzi.
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Pahlavi was dominant in five regions: Isfahan, Rayy, Hamadan, Mahnahavand, & Azerbaijan. Dari in Madain and Khurasan (& Balkh). Farsi in Fars region & among scholars. Khuzi the speech of royals & in jest.
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Ibn al-Nadim provides visuals of ancient Persian scripts:pic.twitter.com/PaoNz1r778
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HEBREW: Hebrew is derived from Syriac. Its etymology comes from the Semitic root (عبر) (עבר) meaning “across,” in reference to those who crossed Euphrates river with Abraham from Ur to Harran, then to Canaan, to escape persecution of Nimrodpic.twitter.com/l4vAZYQXgG
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Ibn al-Nadim transcribes all the Hebrew alphabet and renders the Arabic equivalentpic.twitter.com/GpzkhaGrwT
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GREEK: Ibn al-Nadim says he came across ancient histories that say the Greeks were ignorant of writing until two wise men from Egypt introduced a writing system consisting of 16 alphabets. The Greeks then added 4 followed by another 4 letters to form their own system.
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Ibn al-Nadim names Isaac of Nineveh (d. c. 700 AD), seventh century Syriac theologian, as his source on Ancient Greek script. The ancient Greek scripts are: Leyton (language of sacred texts), Afusafibandan (of royals), Suryatun (chancellery documents).
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Ibn al-Nadim then goes on to adumbrate lesser known ancient scripts. First, لنكبرده, a nation who lived somewhere between Romans and Franks. Their alphabet consists of 21 letters that uses left to right style.
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CHINESE: Ibn al-Nadim writes with admiration, “ancient Chinese script is reminiscent of a visual art,” a script that burdens the most capable of scribes, the best of whom can produce no more than two leaves in a day. Again, Ibn al-Nadim offers examples:pic.twitter.com/3y9G3wfcgQ
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Ibn al-Nadim mentions an ancient script called Manian which derives from Persian and Syriac, it being the language Mani, the founder of Manichaeism. Manian was spoken in Samarkand and Transoxiana, and used for religious purposes. Visual example:pic.twitter.com/9evP8OH7dB
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SOGDIAN: the language of Sogdia, an ancient Iranian civilisation that inhabited the present-day regions of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, & Uzbekistan. Some inhabitants were Christians, others pagans. A visual example of their script:pic.twitter.com/D6Rl0v70mm
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Land of the Blacks: consisting of ethnolinguistic groups of Africans, namely Nubia, Zaghawa, Beja, Berber, & Astan. Their script is borrowed from ancient Indian alphabet. A visual example. END.pic.twitter.com/Onb8mUiEzm
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