—it is the town of Farab—was the compiler of the lexicon al-Ṣiḥāḥ ⦗1⦘ and one of those held up as a proverb for precision in the Arabic language and in the proportioned script. He is counted alongside Ibn Muqla ⦗2⦘, Ibn al-Bawwab ⦗3⦘, Muhallal, and al-Baridi.
He was fond of journeys and living abroad. In quest of the Arabs’ speech he entered the territories of Rabīʿah and Muḍar ⦗4⦘, and he travelled through Syria and Iraq. He then returned to Khurasan, settled in Nishapur, and there he taught, authored works, instructed students in penmanship, and copied Quran codices ⦗5⦘.
The scholars of Egypt alone related al-Ṣiḥāḥ from Ibn al-Qaṭṭāʿ; it is said that they pieced together a chain of transmission for him ⦗6⦘.
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ contains some errors, upon which marginal glosses have been written ⦗7⦘.
Melancholy so overwhelmed Abū Naṣr that he had two boards strapped to him like wings, and he said:
(1) Scholars disagree on how to vocalise the title al-Sihah: should the initial s be read with kasra or with fatha? Al-Suyuti’s Al-Muzhir, quoting Abu Zakariya al-Khatib al-Tabrizi, says that the form with kasra is the better-known usage; in that case it is the plural of sahih, just as zarif/ziraf. Others allow the fatha, treating it as a singular adjective like sahih. Classical Arabic also permits the pattern fi‘al (with open faʾ) in place of fa‘il, e.g. sahih/sihah, shahiḥ/shiḥaḥ, bariʾ/baraʾ.
(2) i.e. Muhammad b. Ali b. Hasan b. Muqla, the vizier and poet whose superb calligraphy became proverbial; his biography appeared in vol. 15.
(3) i.e. Ali b. Hilal, known as Ibn al-Bawwab; his notice will appear in the present volume under no. 192.
(4) Al-Jawhari himself mentions this point in the introduction to al-Sihah.
(5) See Inbaʾ al-Ruwat, 1/194, and Yaqut’s Muʿjam, 6/153.
(6) See Inbaʾ al-Ruwat, 1/197.
(7) For the marginalia and commentaries written on al-Sihah, consult Kashf al-Zunun, 2/1072-1073; also the extensive introduction by Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Attar to the Cairo edition published by Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, and Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, 2/260-263.