Al-Mi‘yār fī wazn al-aš‘ār

Al-Mi‘yār fī Wazn al-Aš‘ār certainly represents one of the most important classical works in the domain of Arab metrics. Its author, Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. ‘Abd al-Malik b. Muḥammad, better known as Ibn al-Sarrāğ al-Šantarīnī, was one of the most famous Andalusian specialists of the Arabic language and its related sciences. Born in Šantarīn, west of Cordova, he lived in different Arab countries during his lifetime, among them Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. He died between 1154 and 1155 A.D. The study and the philological work carried out by Professor Akeel Almarai on al-Miʻyār have led to the production of the first critical edition of this text, which is based on the application of a rigorous scientific method. This edition is the result of the comparison of the only two existing manuscript copies of al-Miʻyār: the first one (manuscript A) is conserved in the Ambrosiana Library of Milan and has been selected as the base text of the present edition since dated back to an earlier period (14th century). The second one (manuscript B) is more recent (15th century) and is located in the National Library of Cairo (Dār al-Kutub). Through the comparison of these two manuscripts the editor has been able to amend the text, filling the existing gaps in both of them and registering in the footnotes all the textual variants exhibited by the more recent manuscript. In the critical apparatus, the editor explained also all the references contained in the text and attributed them, where possible, to their authors. In addition, he illustrated the nature and the meaning of the main technical terms concerning Arab metrics, as well as Al-Šantarīnī’s theories compared to those of some famous philologists.

Al-Mi‘yār fī wazn al-aš‘ār è senz'altro una delle opere più impor-tanti nell’ambito della metrica araba. L’autore, Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. ‘Abd al-Malik b. Muḥammad, meglio conosciuto come Ibn al-Sarrāğ al-Šantarīnī, fu uno dei maggiori esperti di lingua araba dell’Andalusia. Originario di Šantarīn, ad ovest di Cordova, dimorò dapprima a Siviglia e dopo viaggi in Egitto e in Yemen raggiunse suc-cessivamente la Mecca, dove soggiornò per un certo periodo di tempo. La data della sua morte viene collocata tra il 549 h. (1154 d.C.) e il 550 h. (1155 d.C.).