The Myriad Sources of the Vocabulary of ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Kātib (d. 132/750)
This study examines the myriad sources that influenced the vocabulary of ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Kātib (d. 132/750), the foremost secretary in the chancellery of the late Umayyad caliphs and the “founder” of literary and epistolary Arabic prose. It identifies some of these sources, first generally, through...
| Published in: | Arabica |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2019]
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| In: |
Arabica
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| Further subjects: | B
ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Kātib
B Arabic epistolary prose B traductions du grec à l'arabe B Qurʾān and Arabic literature B influence grecque et persane sur la littérature arabe B Greek and Persian influence on Arabic literature B translations from Greek into Arabic B chancellerie omeyyade B Coran et littérature arabe B Sālim Abū l-ʿAlāʾ B Umayyad chancellery B pre-Islamic Near East B prose épistolaire arabe B Proche-Orient pré-islamique |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This study examines the myriad sources that influenced the vocabulary of ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Kātib (d. 132/750), the foremost secretary in the chancellery of the late Umayyad caliphs and the “founder” of literary and epistolary Arabic prose. It identifies some of these sources, first generally, through what we know of his biography, and then more specifically, through a new interpretation of the educational “curriculum” he laid out for the secretaries of the Islamic state. This interpretation led to the identification of these sources as three: I. Arabic literature, i.e. pre-Islamic and by extension early Islamic Arabic poetry; II. the secular traditions of the pre-Islamic Near East, i.e. the Greek, Persian, and Arabian military and historical traditions, some of whose materials were available to ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd in translation; and III. the religious tradition of Islamic Near East, written in the shadow of the Qurʾān and with a commitment on ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd’s part to the cause of the Umayyads, and including the areas of theology, law, and history. The study examines the various ways in which ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd used each of these sources while simultaneously highlighting his resourcefulness, creativity, and independence. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Arabica
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341536 |