al-Ma'ani al-Kabir fi Abyat al-Ma'ani
- Author died
- 276 AH
- Editions
- Matba'at Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyyah
al-Ma'ani al-Kabir fi Abyat al-Ma'ani (The Great Book of Meanings in Verses of Complex Meaning) is a classical Arabic philological and literary work by Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276 AH / 889 CE) dedicated to elucidating difficult, intricate, or enigmatic poetic verses (abyat al-ma'ani) arranged according to specific thematic subjects .
Subject and Structure
The genre of abyat al-ma'ani addresses poetic verses characterized by subtle, hidden, or ambiguous meanings and constructions that require specialized philological and semantic explanation . Ibn Qutaybah references the work in his Uyun al-Akhbar (Sources of Information), noting that he explained certain verses in his book composed on abyat al-ma'ani concerning the physical description of horses .
In early bibliographies, such as the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim, the work is listed as Kitab Ma'ani al-Shi'r al-Kabir and recorded as comprising twelve thematic constituent books :
- Kitab al-Faras (Horses)
- Kitab al-Ibil (Camels)
- Kitab al-Harb (War)
- Kitab al-Qudur (also recorded as al-Urur)
- Kitab al-Diyar (Abodes and Encampments)
- Kitab al-Riyah (Winds)
- Kitab al-Siba' wa-al-Wuhush (Predators and Wild Beasts)
- Kitab al-Hawamm (Creeping Creatures and Insects)
- Kitab al-Ayman wa-al-Dawahy (Oaths and Calamities)
- Kitab al-Nisa' wa-al-Ghazal (Women and Erotic Poetry)
- Kitab al-Shayb wa-al-Kibar (Gray Hair and Old Age; variants mention al-Nasab wa-al-Laban)
- Kitab Tashif al-'Ulama' (Scholarly Misreadings)
Reception and Manuscript Tradition
Later scholars and lexicographers relied heavily on the text. In al-Muzhir, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti praised Ibn Qutaybah for producing a fine volume in this discipline, and Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi utilized it as a major reference in his Khizanat al-Adab (Treasury of Literature), where he described it as Abyat al-Ma'ani in two large volumes .
Biographical sources confirm that Ibn Qutaybah authored only one comprehensive work in this field; scholars such as Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani noted that the addition of al-Kabir ("the Great") was likely to indicate its substantial size in comparison with other contemporary compilations of abyat al-ma'ani . The surviving manuscript material was preserved across two primary repositories: the first part (covering horses, wild beasts, food, and hospitality) in the Ayasofya collection in Istanbul (MS 4050), and the second part in the India Office collection in London (MS 1155 / Loth 1137), though some sections listed in early catalogs remain missing .
Printed Edition
The book was initially edited from the defective manuscript copies by the orientalist Fritz Krenkow (Salim Krenkow), who then submitted his transcription to Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyyah in Hyderabad, Deccan . The manuscript was subsequently assigned to Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani, who revised the text, corrected errors, added critical linguistic marginalia, and authored a comprehensive 33-page introductory study on classical Arabic poetry, the genre of abyat al-ma'ani, and Ibn Qutaybah's scholarly standing . It was published by Da'irat al-Ma'arif in three volumes in 1368 AH (1949 CE) .
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