Arabic Beyond the Arabs
Yahya ibn ʿAdi, a Christian who copied al-Tabari's Qur'an commentary twice by hand
يحيى بن عديّ: نصرانيٌّ نسخ «تفسير الطبريّ» بيده مرّتين
Yahya ibn ʿAdi, a Jacobite Christian, led the logicians of Baghdad in his day. He translated books from Syriac into Arabic and copied tirelessly in his own hand. When Ibn al-Nadim chided him for copying so much, he answered that he had copied al-Tabari's Qur'an commentary twice and taken both copies to the rulers of the provinces, and that he used to write close to a hundred leaves in a day and a night.
- In brief
- A translator from Syriac into Arabic, and a copyist who never tired of the pen
- Outside Arabic
- Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī
«قد نسخت بخطّي نسختين من التفسير للطبري، وحملتهما إلى ملوك الأطراف … ولعهدي بنفسي وأنا أكتب في اليوم والليلة مائة ورقة وأقل.»
The Arabic sources call him a Jacobite Christian without naming his people, so the card does not. His «a hundred leaves or fewer» is given as «close to a hundred». He died in 363 or 364 AH (974).
Click a card to see it full size; each has a download button for sharing.
Sources
- ابن النديم، الفهرست، تحقيق أيمن فؤاد سيد، مؤسسة الفرقان، لندن، ط ٢، ١٤٣٥هـ/٢٠١٤م، ٢/٢٠٢
- ابن أبي أصيبعة، عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء، تحقيق نزار رضا، دار مكتبة الحياة، بيروت، ص٣١٨ (النقل من السريانيّة)
Spotted a mistake, or have something to add?
Your note comes to us only; it is not published here. We read it, and if it holds we correct the card.
