An Andalusian lexicographer reading an Oriental grammarian

Abstract

In his important dictionary, al-Muḫaṣṣaṣ, Ibn Sīda, the most distinguished Andalusian lexicographer, born in Murcia and died in Denia in 458/1066, presents, as the foundations of his work, a conception of the nature of language and the origin of speech. The latter theory is borrowed, almost literally, from al-Ḫaṣāʾiṣ, without this being stated explicitly. Al-Ḫaṣāʾiṣ, as we know, is the epistemological work of Ibn Ǧinnī, a great Baġdādi grammarian of Greek origin of the 4th/10th century. As Ibn Ǧinnī’s extract seems to be taken literally, Ibn Sīda’s passage has been described as a servile borrowing and has not, to our knowledge, been more extensively studied. I will try in this paper to show that this is, in fact, a reading with significant differences about some important points, leading to a somewhat different conception of language. Some aspects of Ibn Sīda’s relation to Ibn Ǧinnī’s work will be examined in this regard.