A first critical edition of the Kitab at-Talkhis by Marwan ibn Ganah, with English translation, commentary and analysis of the Ibero-Romance lexicon

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In the early 5th (A.H.)/11th (A.D.) century, the eminent Jewish scholar and philologist Abu l-Walid Marwan ibn Ganah (Rabbi Jonah) wrote a glossary with the title Kitab at-Talkhis, listing the Arabic and foreign-language names of the simple drugs. Until recently, that glossary was considered lost. Even the discovery of a manuscript of the original text by Sezgin (GAS 7: 390 et pass.) was ignored by most scholars, although the importance of this glossary for the subsequent synonym literature of the Arabs has become more and more clear since the studies realised by Meyerhofer. Today, it is possible to prove that most of the ensuing compilations of the Arabs on synonyms for the simple drugs are directly or indirectly reliant on the Talkhis. Some of the works that are based on Ibn Ganah¿s were rendered into Latin and Hebrew, making the Talkhis also significant outside the sphere of Arabic studies. In particular, the Hebrew translation of az-Zahrawi's Tasrif realised by Shem Tov Ben Isaak of Tortosa is worth mentioning, the synonym list contained therein having recently been edited by the applicants. The current state of research leads us to assume, among others, that numerous Old Ibero-Romance plant names, found in the Arabic literature, have first been recorded by Ibn Ganah. The Talkhis is also significant from a cultural point of view as it shows how deeply the Jews living in al-Andalus were rooted in the Arabic culture.The primary goal of the research project is to edit this fundamental work, extant in the manuscript Ayasofya 3603, Istanbul, thus making it available to the scientific public. This goal also encompasses an English translation of the work. The edition and translation will be accompanied by an extensive commentary, whose purpose will be, firstly, to outline both the sources and the scholarly reception of the Talkhis. Secondly, the commentary envisages identifying the names of the simple drugs contained in this work, also including the Ibero-Romance names.