Arabic Beyond the Arabs
Two bishops who wrote in Arabic
أسقفان كتبا بالعربيّة
John, bishop of Seville in the ninth century, whom the Arabs called Saʿīd al-Maṭrān, is credited with an Arabic commentary on the Torah and an Arabic translation of the Gospels, because his flock had come to read Arabic. Under ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Nāṣir, Bishop Recemund, known to the Arabs as Rabīʿ ibn Zayd, composed a calendar in Arabic – the Calendar of Córdoba, later translated into Latin.
- In brief
- Even the churchmen of al-Andalus needed Arabic to reach their flocks
- Outside Arabic
- Calendario de Córdoba
«وقبله اشتهر نصرانيٌّ آخر اسمه جوان الإشبيليّ (Juan Hispalense)، وهو سعيد المطران الذي ورد ذكره في الكتب العربيّة، فألّف تفسيرًا بالعربيّة على "التوراة"، وترجم الأناجيل من اللاطينيّة إلى العربيّة.»
The print has «Rabīʿ ibn Ziyād»; the usual form is Rabīʿ ibn Zayd. The attribution of the translation to John is traditional and some scholars doubt it, hence «is credited». He is not the twelfth-century translator John of Seville. The Calendar of Córdoba is not in the lecture.
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Sources
- هنري بيريس، مجلّة المجمع العلميّ العربيّ ١٩/٩ (١٩٤٤م)، ص٤٠١–٤٠٢
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