I’RAB AL-AJARRUMIYAH FI’L-NAHU: A GRAMMATICAL COMMENTARY ON IBN AJARRUM'S AJURRUMIYYA
COPIED BY AL-KHURI (PRIEST) TOUMA NAJM AL-DIN MUHAMMAD IBN AHMAD IBN ‘ALI AL-GHAYTI (D. 984 AH / 1576 AD)
Ottoman Syria, dated 1119 AH (1707 AD)

Arabic manuscript on lined paper, composed of 83 leaves and 2 flyleaves (one in the middle). 13 lines to the page written in clear naskh script in black ink, with headings, verse markers and significant sentences and words picked out in red ink throughout, inner margins ruled in red (jadwal) with double fillet, catchwords in wide outer margins. Last page is dated 1119 AH (1707 AD). Final page at the back has later added note dated 1211 AH and 1780 AD. Original brown leather binding with impressed central medallions incorporating stylized cloud ribbons. Doublures of painted marbled paper. The al-Ajarrumiyah, a celebrated work on Arabic grammar was composed by Abu ‘Abdallah Muhammad ibn Dawud al-Sinhaji better known as ibn Ajarrum (d. 723 AH / 1323 AD) and considered the classical primer in Arabic grammar.

Ibn Ajurrum (d. 1323 AD) was a Moroccan Arab grammarian, best known for his work al-Muqaddimah al-Ajurrumiyah, a concise manual of Arabic grammar (syntax and morphology) considered one of the fundamental texts for learning classical Arabic grammar. The manual was used as a basic textbook for centuries in Qur’anic schools and madrasas throughout the Arab world. Copies and commentaries also spread extensively. It was introduced to the West in a Latin translation in 1592.

20.5cm x 14.5cm (folio)

For further reference on the subjec seet: Carter, Ibn Ajurrum lemma, in Starkey and Meisani, Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Routledge London and New York, 1998, p. 308.

Condition: Foxing and smudges, evidence of water damage, especially at the beginning, the paper a little brittle around the borders.

Provenance: From the Georges Antaki Collection.