IV. Literature. — The native works in Arabic are . exceedingly numerous and varied, embracing philolo- gy, philosophy, natural science, poetiy, history, etc. Many are still unpublished. A compendious view of the literary productions of Arabic authors ma}' be found in Pierer's Universal Lexikon (Altenb. 1857 sq.), s. v. " Arabische Literatur;" also in Appleton's New American Encyclopaedia, s. v. "Arabic Language and Literature." Oomp.alsoan articleon the "Arab. Lang, and Lit." by Prof. Packard, in the Am. Bib. Repos. Oct. 1836, p. 429-448. Zenker's Bibliotheca Orientatis ( Lpz. 1846-62, 2 vols. 8vo) gives a full list of Arabic books hitherto issued.
European works expressly on the history and usage
of the Arabic language are by the following authors: Pococke (Oxf. 1661), Celsius (in Barkey's Bibl. Brem. iv, 1, 2, 3), Hyde (in his Syntug. Diss, ii, 450), Schul- tens (in his Orig. Jleb. Lugd. B. 1761, p. 615), De Jenisch (Vien. 1780), Eichhorn (introd. to Richardson's Abh. iib. morgenland. Vulktn, Lpz. 177'J), Hottinger (in his Anakcta hist, theol. Tigur. 1652), Schelling (Stuttg. 1771), Schnurrer (in Eichhorn's Biblioth. iii, 951 sq.), Tingstad (Upsal. 1794), Humbert (Geneve, 1824). Ar- j abic grammars are by the following : Erpenius (Leyd. 1613, and often since, abridged, etc., by Schultens, j Michaelis, and others), Lakemacher (Helmst. 1718), ' Hirt (Jen. 1770), Yriemoet (Franeq. 1783), Hezel (Jen. 1 1776, etc.), id. (Lpz. 1784), Wahl (Halle, 1789), Paulus (Jen. 1790), Hasse (Jen. 1793), Tyschen (Rost. 1792), Jahn (Wien. 1796), Sylvestre'de Sacy (Par. 1810 and since), Von Lumsden (Calc. 1813), Roorda (2d ed. Leyd. 1858-9, 8vo), Yon Oberleitner (Vien. 1822), Iiosenmuller (Lips. 1818), Tychsen (Gott. 1823), Ewald (Lips. 1831, etc.), Vullers (Bonne, 1832), Petermann (Berol. 1840), Caspari (Leipz. 1848, 1859, an excellent manual), Glaire (Paris, 1861), Beaumont (Lond. 1861), Winckler (Lpz. 1862), Forbes (Lond. 1863), Gtischel (Vien. 1864), Wright (Grammar of the Arabian Lan- guage, from Caspari, with additions, 2 vols. 8vo, Lond. ! 1859-62, the best for English readers); on the new or ! vulgar Arabic, by Herberi (Par. 1803), Caussin de Per- j ceval (2d ed. Paris, 1833), Savary (Paris, 1813), Bella- mare (1850), Florian-Pharaon and E. L. Bertherand i (Par. 1859), Wahrmund (Lpz. 1860 sq.). Native lex- icons are those of the historian Fakr ed-Daulah (947- 993) ; Elias bar-Sina el-Jaubari (d. post 1200), El-Si- hah, in Turkish, by Van Kuli (Const. 1728), and Per- sic (Calc. 1812); Firuzabadi's Kamiis (Scutari, 1815 sq.) : by Europeans, those of Giggejus (Mediol. 1632), Golius (Lugd. Bat. :653), Mesquien Mcninski (Vien. 1780-1801), Schied (Lugd. B. 1769, etc.), Willmet (Kot- erd. 1784), Freytag (Hal. 1830-1836, abridged, ib. 1838), Kazimiroti (1848), Catafago (Arabic and English Diet. Lond. 1858, 8vo, a convenient manual), Lane (Arabic Lexicon, Lond. 1863, sq. 4to, the best in English); for the vulgar Arabic, the lexicons of Canes (1781), De Perceval (Paris, 1828, 2 vols.), De la Grange (Paris, 1828), De Passo (Alg. 1846). Chrestcmathies are by Jahn (1802), De Sacy (Par. 1806, 1826, 3 vols.), Kose- garten (Lpz. 1824, 1828), Rosenmuller (Lpz. 1814), Von Humbert (Par. 1834), Freytag (Bonn, 1834), Ar- nold (Lond. 1856, the most convenient for English) ; but Tauchnitz's splendid ed. of the Koran (Lips. 1841, 2d ster. ed., small 4to) furnishes a sufficient reading- book : for the modern dialect is the work of Bres nier (Alg. 1845). Beginners in English may make use of Arabic Beading-Lessons by Davis and Davidson (pub- lished by Bagster, Lond. 12mo).
Arabic Versions. The following is a conspectus of those hitherto published (also the treatise, De rer- sionibas Arabicis, in Walton's Poli/glott, i, 93 sq. ; Po- cocke, Var. Led. Arab. V. T., ib. vi): BiUia Arabica V. d K T., in Walton's roh/ghtt ,• Bib. Ar., ed. Risius (3 vols, fol., Rom. 1671, said by Michaelis to be alter- ed from the Latin); Arabic Bible, ed. Carl vie (New- castle, 1811 and 1816, 4to); Bible (Lond. 1831, 8vo) ; Bible, a new version for the "Society for promoting Chr. Knowledge" (Lond. 1857 sq., 8vo) ; Bible, a new version for the "Am. Bible Soc," ed. Dr. Vandyke (now [1865] stereotyping at N. Y. in various forms); V. T. Arab. interpr.*Tuki (unfinished, Rom. 1752 sq.); Pentateuch by Saadias Gaon (in Walton's Polyglot?) ; N. T. Arabice, ed. Erpenius (Leyd. 1616, 4to; altered to suit the Greek, Lond. 1727, 4to) ; New Test, by Sa- bat (Calcutta, 1816, 8vo; London, 1825, 8vo; revised, Calcutta, 1826, 8vo; Lond. 1850, 8vo; in Syriac char- acters, Paris, 1822, 8vo); Quatuor Evangelia, ed. Ray- mund (Rom. 1590, fol.).
Early I '< rsions. — Inasmuch as Christianity never attained any extensive or permanent influence among the Arabs as a nation, no entire nor publicly sane-
ARABIC VERSIONS
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ARABIC VERSIONS
tioned Arabic version of the Bible has been discovered. But, as political events at length made the Arabic lan- guage the common vehicle of instruction in the East, and that to Jews, Samaritans, and Christians, inde- pendent versions of single books were often under- taken, according to the zeal of private persons, or the interests of small communities. The following is a classified list of only the most important among them. (See the Einleitungen of Eichhorn, Bertholdt, and De AVette.)
I. Arabic versions formed immediately on the orig- inal texts.
a. Rabbi Saadyah Haggaon (usually called Saa- dias), a native of Fayum, and rector of the academy at Sora, who died A.D. 942, is the author of a version of some portions of the Old Testament. Erpenius and Pococke, indeed, affirm that he translated the whole (Walton's Prolegomena, ed. Wrangham, ii, 546) ; but subsequent inquirers have not hitherto been able, with any certainty, to assign to him more than a version of the Pentateuch, of Isaiah, of Job, and of a portion of Hosea.