KITĀB AL-’ADWIYA AL-MUFRADA

• Published in: Rivista degli studi orientali 2009-01, Vol.81, p.V-117
• Main Author: AL-ĠĀFIQĪ, ’ABŪ ĞA‘FAR ’AḤMAD B. MUḤAMMAD B. ’AḤMAD B. SAYYID
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0392-4866; 1724-1863

The aim of editing "The Book of Simple Drugs" by 'Abū Ǧa'far al-Ġāfiqī is to offer scholars of the history of science and philology, and in particular anyone with an interest in the development of pharmacopoeias, an illustrated example of a treatise on simple substances produced in a medieval Arab-Islamic setting. The text of al-Ġāfiqī's book, partially edited here for the first time, not only attests to the scientific progress made in al-'Andalus up to the 12th century, but also represents a fundamental premise for the diachronic analysis of the botanical terminology used by the Arabs, where, more so than in the technical terms used in other scientific disciplines, it is possible to observe the modes of adaptation and the use of foreign terms. Far from clarifying the mass of thorny etymological questions posed, the resolution of which has been impeded, in some cases, by the deterioration of the text of the two manuscripts on which the edition is based, this work also strives to be an invitation to reflect on the dynamics that, in the past, governed man's relationship with the surrounding environment.