Abstract
In Timurid times Persian littérateurs devised a new kind of logogriph (muʿammā) that differed considerably from the muʿammā as was known in the Arabic tradition. The most salient feature of the new, Persianate muʿammā, which is normally a couplet, is that it has two levels of meaning: an obvious or surface meaning (‘the poetic meaning’), and an encoded ‘riddle meaning’, which gives the clues to the solution of the riddle. Since the 16th century the new, Persianate muʿammā became very popular with Ottoman Turkish and Arabic littérateurs as well. In fact, to judge by the available evidence, it appears that the new muʿammā gradually became the most popular kind of literary riddle in Arabic. The present paper presents Quṭbaddīn an-Nahrawālī’s (917-990/1511-1582) Treasure of Names, the most influential Arabic treatise on the new muʿammā, which is modelled on earlier Persian treatises. It discusses the growth of the new muʿammā in Arabic, describes the rules applying to it as presented in an-Nahrawālī’s treatise, analyses several Arabic muʿammayāt cited in that treatise and concludes by mentioning some additional Ottoman-era Arabic treatises on the riddle that testify to the great popularity of the new muʿammā in Arabic until the late 19th century.
Highlights
The rise of the riddle as a literary form in Arabic started in the Buyid era—apparently as a result of the growth of descriptive poetry and especially allusive and enigmatic descriptions that typically made extensive use of figures of speech
In the course of time all three Arabic words initially used to denote a ‘riddle’ in general, to wit luġz, muammā and uḥjiyya, have acquired specific meanings and have come to signify particular kinds of riddles, even though not all premodern Arab authors were aware of the specific meanings of these words nor applied them accurately
In what follows I shall present the new, Persianate muammā in Arabic and the rules applying to it as given in Quṭbaddīn an-Nahrawālī’s (917-990/1511-1582) Treasure of Names, the most influential Arabic treatise on this art, and conclude by mentioning some additional Ottoman-era Arabic treatises on the riddle that testify to its great popularity throughout the Ottoman period
Summary
The rise of the riddle as a literary form in Arabic started in the Buyid era—apparently as a result of the growth of descriptive poetry and especially allusive and enigmatic descriptions that typically made extensive use of figures of speech. In what follows I shall present the new, Persianate muammā in Arabic and the rules applying to it as given in Quṭbaddīn an-Nahrawālī’s (917-990/1511-1582) Treasure of Names, the most influential Arabic treatise on this art, and conclude by mentioning some additional Ottoman-era Arabic treatises on the riddle that testify to its great popularity throughout the Ottoman period.
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