The History of al-Tabari Volume XL: Index

Guide to the Index

• Guide t to t the I Index • 1. General 2. Transliteration and orthography 3. Alphabetization 4. Personal Names 4.1 Order of elements 4.2 Exceptions 4.3 Ambiguous cases 5. Toponyms 6. Glosses 6.1 General principles 6.2 List of Arabic terms 7. Subject entries 7.1 Scope 7.2 English versus Arabic 8. Errors 9. Uncertainty about proper vocalization or identity 1. General The cumulative index to The History of al-ÓTabarı includes both proper names and subjects. For the former, and to a very limited extent the latter , it is based on the existing indices to the individual volumes. However , numerous revisions and adjustments have been required, mostly in order to achieve consistency across volumes, so that this cumulative index should be considered as superseding the individual ones. Translators ’ footnotes are not indexed directly, but much of their content is made accessible through relevant subject entries keyed to al-ÓTabarı’s text. The intent has been to make this an index specifically to al-ÓTabarı’s History, so that names mentioned only in the footnotes, for example, do not appear. A list of Qur¡¯anic quotations and allusions (based on individual translators ’ footnotes) is provided in a separate section. 2. Transliteration and orthography T¯a¡ marb¯uÒtah preceded by alif has been standardized as -¯ah for common nouns, -¯at for proper names, e.g., mu¡¯akh¯ah (brotherhood bond) but Ban¯u ¿ Abd Man¯at. Pairs of letters that might be mistaken for digraphs are separated by a ' sign, e.g., Ab¯u Mus'hir, Ad'ham, Fak'hah. Dual and sound masculine plural forms are cited in the nominative, e.g., al-ÓHaram¯an, al-Khall¯al¯un (vinegar-sellers’ quarter, in al-BaÓsrah), excluding the traditional exceptions, e.g., al-BaÓhrayn. Compound personal names with All¯ah as their second element are spelled as one word, e.g., ¿ Abdall¯ah, ¿ØA¡idhall¯ah, Hibatall¯ah, etc. D¯a¡¯ud has been standardized as D¯aw¯ud. Khuw¯arizm/Khw¯arizm has been standardized as Khw¯arazm. 3. Alphabetization The alphabetization is word-by-word, with occasional adjustments mentioned below. When otherwise identical, common nouns and toponyms appear before personal names. Non-sorting elements: alAb ¯u (Abı) Ban¯u (Banı) Bint (bt.) xvi Guide to the Index Ibn (b.) (except when followed by a common noun, e.g., ibn al-sabıl) Umm (except when followed by a common noun, e.g., umm walad, Umm Abıha, Umm al-Banın) When several non-sorting elements follow each other they appear alphabetically. Letters without diacritics precede those with diacritics. The few unvocalized (or partially vocalized) readings are sorted as is, e.g., B.n.j.r (?, ethnic group) appears after Bl- and before Bo-. Dhı preceded by non-sorting elements is sorted with Dh¯u, so that their common identity is not broken, e.g., Ibn Dhı al-Burdayn al-Hil¯alı is sorted among entries beginning with Dh¯u. 4. Personal names 4.1. Order of elements The normal ordering of name elements is as follows: ism + (b. ism) + (nisbah) (kunyah) (laqab), where the elements in parenthesis are optional , e.g., ¿Amr (mawl¯a of Ab¯u Bakr); ¿Abd al-ÓHamıd b. Rib¿ı al-ÓT¯a¡ı, Ab¯u Gh¯anim. 4.2. Exceptions However, when a person is traditionally best known by his kunyah, nisbah, or laqab (or when al-ÓTabarı does not provide an ism), the ordering changes accordingly, e.g., Ab¯u Ma¿bad al-Khuz¯a¿ı; al-Farazdaq (Hamm¯am b. Gh¯alib b. ÓSa¿Ósa¿ah); M¯a¡ al-Sam¯a¡ (M¯ariyah bt. ¿Awf b. Jusham). In such cases the necessary cross-references are provided. 4.3. Ambiguous cases On occasion it is uncertain whether persons mentioned by al-ÓTabarı with different name forms represent one individual or two, either due to variation in the components of the name cited or because of possible textual corruption. In such cases, the index records both variants separately, but adds a see also cross-reference to each entry to indicate their possible identity. Guide to the Index xvii 5. Toponyms For the most part entries for toponyms are provided with identifying glosses, e.g., al-Kall¯a¡ (port and market, in al-BaÓsrah). When further identification was not feasible the gloss is reduced to a generic “toponym ”, e.g., al-Ab¯ariq (toponym...