The Scala Magna of Shams al-riʾāsah Abū al-Barakāt
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The Scala Magna of Shams al-riʾāsah Abū al-Barakāt
（Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, v. 684-685 . Scriptores Arabici ; t. 55-56）
In Aedibus Peeters, 2020
- v. 1
- v. 2
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Note
v. 1. Introduction, text, translation and notes -- v. 2. Apparatus of variant readings, indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Among the different kinds of "ladders", there was the classified
vocabulary, of which several anonymous examples have survived in the
manuscripts. These "ladders" group together Bohairic words relating to,
for example, geographical features, meteorological phenomena, birds,
beasts, creeping things, palm trees, fruits, vegetables and so on. Within
each section the words were listed without special order. These "ladders",
too, follow examples set by Arabic lexicographers. The "ladder" edited
here is an example of this category. It alone is ascribed in the
manuscripts to a named author, Shams al-Ri'asah Abu al-Barakat Ibn Kabar
(died 10 May, 1324 A.D.). He is presumably identical with the priest of
the church called al-Mu'allaqah in Old Cairo, al-Shams Ibn Kabar, who also
bore the name Barsauma, who is mentioned in the colophon of Berlin Arabic
10173. He served as secretary to the Mamluk official Baybars al-Mansuri.
Besides this "ladder", he composed an ecclesiastical encyclopedia, "The
Lamp (that Illuminates) the Darkness and the Elucidation of the Liturgy",
and a collection of sermons for feasts and special occasions. His "ladder"
is commonly called the Great Ladder, presumably because it is the most
complete example of the classified vocabulary. In addition, it attempts to
organize the different classifications in a more logical order than is
usual for the anonymous classified vocabularies. It is divided into ten
books.
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