Sibawayh: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

All Topics

Sibawayh

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

	Sibawayh
	Home Discussion
	Topics Sibawayh Topic Home Sibawayh (Sibuyeh in PersianPersian language Persian is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran , Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armeni... , ?????? Sîbawayh in ArabicArabic language The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language fami... , ??????) was a linguistLinguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language.... of Persian origin born ca. 760760s Centuries: 7th century - 8th century - 9th century... in the town of BayzaBayza Bayza or Bayda is the name of an Iranian city located in the Fars province in the south of Iran.... (ancient NesayakNesayak Nesayak or Nesa was the ancient name of the Iranian city of Bayza in the Fars province of Iran.... ) in the Fars province of IranIran 'Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia.... , died in ShirazShiraz, Iran Shiraz is a city in southwest Iran .... , also in the Fars, around . His full name is: ?Amr ibn ?Uthman ibn Qanbar - al-mulaqqab bi-"Sibawayhi". That is: "?Amr ibn ?Uthman ibn Qanbar - a.k.a. Sibawayhi". He was one of the earliest and greatest grammarians of the Arabic languageArabic language The Arabic language , or simply Arabic , is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language fami... , and his phoneticPhonetics Phonetics is the study of sounds and the human voice.... description of Arabic is one of the most precise ever made, leading some to compare him with Panini. He greatly helped to spread the Arabic language in the Middle East. Sibawayh was the first non-Arab to write on Arabic grammar and therefore the first one to explain Arabic grammar from a non-Arab perspective. Much of the impetus for this work came from the desire for non-Arab MuslimMuslim A Muslim is an adherent of Islam.... s to understand the Qur'an properly and thoroughly; the Qur'an, which is composed in a poetic language that even native Arabic speakers must study with great care in order to comprehend thoroughly, is even more difficult for those who, like Sibawayh, did not grow up speaking Arabic. Additionally, because Arabic does not necessarily mark all pronounced vowelVowel In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by an open configuration of the vocal tract so tha... sounds, it is possible to misread a text aloud (See Short vowels in ArabicHarakat In the Arabic script, harakat are the diacritic marks used to represent vowel sounds.... ); such difficulty was particularly troublesome for Muslims, who regard the Qur'an as the literal word of God to man and as such should never be mispronounced or misread. Etymology There many theories that are currently maintained regarding the meaning of this name. One is that the name Sibawayh is derived from the Persian words ???-??-?? (Sib-bu-yeh) meaning "the one with an apple's scent". On the other hand, the following explanation contrudicts the above theory. There are words like "asal-wayh" (??? ???), "sar-wayh" (??????), and "shir-wayh" (??????) that are the combination of the name of an animal or something edible plus "wayh". "wayh" (it is pronounced "uyeh" in modern Persian) is an ascriptive postfix. In modern Persian these words are pronounced "asaluyeh", "saruyeh", and "shiruyeh"; respectively. "asal", "Sar", and "Shir" mean Honey, Starling, and Lion/Milk (both spelled the same, so there is no way to say what the appropriate meaning of Shir is in this particular application), respectively. So based on this comparison sibuyeh does not mean "smell of apple" or anything like that. Another word with the same structure that is still spelled with the old style (or probably middle Persian) is "babvayh" in "ebn babvayh" (??? ??????) that is the old cemetery of Tehran. But the first part of the word (bab) is not the name of neither something edible nor an animal. See also Arabic grammarArabic grammar Arabic is a Semitic language. See Arabic language for more information on the language in general.... External links Download the Kitab for free from contains the first and the last seven chapters of the Kitab from several printed editions and manuscripts. in Arabic at . The Kitab is also available at , though it requires registration.