On the Presence of the Andalusian Ḥayyūj’s Grammatical Theory in Abū al-Faraj Hārūn’s al-Kitāb al-Muštamil in the “East”

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of the present paper is to show that the prominent grammarian Abū al-Faraj Hārūn (AFH), head of the Karaite Majlis in Jerusalem (first half of the eleventh century CE) was acquainted with the grammatical theory of the important Andalusian grammarian Yehudah Ḥayyūj (d. c. 1010 CE in Cordoba), whose writings had reached the Arabic-speaking east at an early stage, not long after his death. AFH described the grammar of Biblical Hebrew according to the accepted Karaite method and the classical Arabic grammatical theory, but also mentioned Ḥayyūj explicitly by name, and mentioned the latter’s grammatical method in explanations of words in the Bible. In his al-Muštamil, especially in the chapters on the letters, AFH provided explanations using Ḥayyūj’s method; he did not copy Ḥayyūj’s words but described phonological and morphological phenomena in his own words, based on Ḥayyūj’s theory. In other words, we will show that AFH was the first in the Arabic-speaking east to have used Ḥayyūj’s grammatical terminology and concepts, examples and explanations.