‘Abdullāh Muslim Ibn Qutayba’s Biblical Quotations and their Source: An Inquiry into the Earliest Existing Arabic Bible TranslationsSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/WSY6I98D/tei
Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
2024-08-15-04:00
Born digital.
CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.AlbertIsteero‘Abdullāh Muslim Ibn Qutayba’s Biblical Quotations and their Source: An Inquiry into the Earliest Existing Arabic Bible Translationshttp://syriaca.org/cbss/WSY6I98Dhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/WSY6I98Dhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/WSY6I98D1991This study attempts to determine whether an Arabic translation of the Bible was available prior to the earliest existing Arabic Bible manuscripts (10th century C.E.). There are ninth century Arab writers known to have quoted the Bible. Among these the renowned scholar Ibn Qutayba al-Dinawari (828-889) stands out both through the number of his works and the frequency of his Biblical quotations. Therefore the purpose of this dissertation is to determine the exact scope of these quotations and whether or not they quoted a written Arabic source. Ibn Qutayba’s works were searched and all Biblical quotations identified, assembled into a corpus, and translated into English. The corpus was studied in the context of Ibn Qutayba’s text, especially with regard to his source document(s). The study provides a detailed commentary on each quotation, discussing differences from the original Hebrew and Greek; semantic, linguistic, and stylistic features; and Ibn Qutayba’s purpose in using the quotations. Ibn Qutayba quotes 262 verses or parts of verses from the Old Testament. These quotations are mostly from Genesis and a few are from other books of the Pentateuch (Torah), 1 and 2 Samuel, Psalms and Isaiah. With the exception of the one verse from Psalms, these are all older than any extant Arabic Old Testament manuscript. Ibn Qutayba quotes 83 verses or parts from the New Testament, all from Matthew. These are contemporary with the oldest Arabic manuscript containing this gospel. The study concludes that Ibn Qutayba used multiple sources for these quotations, including written manuscripts of the Pentateuch and Matthew. Oral traditions including that of Wahb Ibn Munabbih, who is often quoted by name, are the source of the other quotations, which are less faithful to the original. The manuscripts of the Pentateuch and Matthew were written in Arabic, translated by a Christian, and based on the Syriac Peshitta or a derivative. This analysis, and the corpus of quotations, will be especially useful to scholars studying the earliest Arabic translations of the Bible, derivative translations of the Peshitta, or Ibn Qutayba’s use of source materials.
Isteero, Albert. “‘Abdullāh Muslim Ibn Qutayba’s Biblical Quotations and Their Source: An Inquiry into the Earliest Existing Arabic Bible Translations.” Ph.D. dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University, 1991.
Albert Isteero, ‘Abdullāh Muslim Ibn Qutayba’s Biblical Quotations and Their Source: An Inquiry into the Earliest Existing Arabic Bible Translations (Ph.D. dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University, 1991).GenesisGospel of MatthewIX CEIbn QutaybaMuslim-Christian relationsNew TestamentOld TestamentPeshitta OTSyriac influence [Arabs]quotationstranslations from Syriactranslations into Arabic