al-Amthal - Abu Ubayd
- Author died
- 224 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Maʾmūn lil-Turāth
Kitab al-Amthal (The Book of Proverbs), also known as al-Amthal al-Sa'irah, is a foundational compendium of Arab proverbs compiled by the philologist and jurist Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224 AH / 838 CE) .
Purpose and Methodology
Abu Ubayd described proverbs as "the wisdom of the Arabs in the Jahiliyya and Islam," observing that they used proverbs to convey meaning through allusion rather than explicit expression, thereby uniting three qualities: conciseness of phrasing, accuracy of meaning, and excellence of analogy .
In organizing the work, Abu Ubayd arranged the proverbs thematically according to their respective situational contexts (manazil), classified their various categories, detailed the circumstances and occasions in which each proverb is uttered, cited their chains of transmission back to leading philological authorities, and supported their meanings with rare poetic attestations (nawadir al-shi'r) . Along with al-Gharib al-Musannaf, the work represents one of Abu Ubayd's two principal compendia in the field of Arabic lexicography and philology .
Transmission and Additions
The primary transmission of the book traces back to Abu Ubayd's student and scribe, Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Baghawi, who transcribed the text directly from Abu Ubayd's autograph manuscript and collated it letter by letter . Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz subsequently read the text before the Kufan grammarian Salama ibn Asim, adding the latter's supplementary notes to the margins, and before al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, the judge of Mecca, incorporating his additions as well . The text circulated extensively across Islamic lands, including al-Andalus, where scholars preserved continuous transmission chains back to Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz and Abu Ubayd .
Commentaries and Editions
The book served as the basis for several scholarly commentaries and continuations:
- Fasl al-Maqal fi Sharh Kitab al-Amthal by the Andalusian scholar Abu Ubayd al-Bakri (d. 487 AH / 1094 CE), who set out to elucidate obscure phrases and supply proverbs omitted in the original work .
- A commentary by Abu al-Muzaffar Muhammad ibn Adham al-Harawi (d. 414 AH / 1023 CE) .
The text of Kitab al-Amthal was edited by Abd al-Majid Qatamish and published in Damascus in 1980 .
Answer updated