Abstract
Technical terminology and Decknamen represent key hallmarks of the alchemical literature in different traditions. The opacity of this vocabulary makes the reading of alchemical texts difficult and, in order to cope with similar challenges, Byzantine, Syriac and Arabic scholars soon started compiling technical vocabularies. In my paper I shall investigate two (partially overlapping) lexica, which open the BL Syriac alchemical MSS Egerton 709 and Oriental 1593. On the one hand, I will explore the variety of sources used by the anonymous compiler(s) to assemble these useful tools (Byzantine alchemists as well as the Greek medical tradition; Syro-Arabic lexicography). On the other, particular attention will be given to the structure and mise en page of the two lexica, which will be compared with analogous alchemical dictionaries in the Byzantine (e.g. MS Marcianus gr. 299) and Arabic (e.g. MS Gotha 1261) traditions.
Funding source: H2020 European Research Council
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Research Funding: This publication is part of the research project Alchemy in the Making: From Ancient Babylonia via Graeco-Roman Egypt into the Byzantine, Syriac, and Arabic Traditions, acronym AlchemEast. The AlchemEast project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (G.A. 724914).
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: alchemy in the Islamicate world
- The alchemical work of Khālid b. Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya (d. c. 85/704)
- In code we trust: the concept of rumūz in Andalusī alchemical literature and related texts
- The tongues of stones: diversity of interlocutions in Arabic alchemical writings
- Alchemical lexica in Syriac: planetary signs, code names and medicines
- Alchemy in the Cairo Genizah: the Nachlass of an untidy Jewish alchemist
- Alchemy in an age of disclosure: the case of an Arabic Pseudo-Aristotelian treatise and its Syriac Christian “translator”
- The Alchemist’s work: Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs and the reception of his collection of alchemical poems Shudhūr al-dhahab
- Alchemical stanzaic poetry (muwashshaḥ) by Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs (fl. twelfth century)
- Classical poetic motifs as alchemical metaphors in the Shudhūr al-dhahab and its commentaries
- The alchemical symbols in the manuscripts of “The Mirror of Wonders” (Mirʾāt al-ʿajāʾib)
- “Take dragon’s blood and crush it to a fine powder”: recipes in the alchemical composite manuscript MS Gotha orient A. 1162
- Buchbesprechungen – Comptes Rendus – Book Reviews
- Ahmet Turan Türk: Erken Dönem Tatar Türkçesine Ait Çok Lehçeli Bir Metin: Tefsīr-i Noʿmānī
- Ahmed El Shamsy: Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: alchemy in the Islamicate world
- The alchemical work of Khālid b. Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya (d. c. 85/704)
- In code we trust: the concept of rumūz in Andalusī alchemical literature and related texts
- The tongues of stones: diversity of interlocutions in Arabic alchemical writings
- Alchemical lexica in Syriac: planetary signs, code names and medicines
- Alchemy in the Cairo Genizah: the Nachlass of an untidy Jewish alchemist
- Alchemy in an age of disclosure: the case of an Arabic Pseudo-Aristotelian treatise and its Syriac Christian “translator”
- The Alchemist’s work: Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs and the reception of his collection of alchemical poems Shudhūr al-dhahab
- Alchemical stanzaic poetry (muwashshaḥ) by Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs (fl. twelfth century)
- Classical poetic motifs as alchemical metaphors in the Shudhūr al-dhahab and its commentaries
- The alchemical symbols in the manuscripts of “The Mirror of Wonders” (Mirʾāt al-ʿajāʾib)
- “Take dragon’s blood and crush it to a fine powder”: recipes in the alchemical composite manuscript MS Gotha orient A. 1162
- Buchbesprechungen – Comptes Rendus – Book Reviews
- Ahmet Turan Türk: Erken Dönem Tatar Türkçesine Ait Çok Lehçeli Bir Metin: Tefsīr-i Noʿmānī
- Ahmed El Shamsy: Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition