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First etymological dictionary of Portuguese words derived from Arabic, bound together with the texts of letters written to the Portuguese court in Arabic by kings and diplomats between 1503 and 1528

SOUSA, João de and José de Santo Antonio MOURA.
Vestigios da lingoa Arabica em Portugal ou lexicon etymologico das palavras e nomes Portuguezes, que tem origem Arabica.
Lisbon, Typografia da Mesma Academia [= Academia Real das Sciencias], 1830. 2 works in 1 volume. 4to. With the academy's woodcut device on the title-page, incorporating the crowned Portuguese coat-of-arms, Athena's owl and Hermes's staff. With: (2) SOUSA, João de. Documentos Arabicos para a historia Portugueza.Lisbon, Academia Real das Sciencias, 1790. With the academy's woodcut device on the title-page (also incorporating the Portuguese coat-of-arms, Athenas owl and Hermess staff, but not identical to the device on the title page of the Vestigios). Set in Arabic, roman and italic types.
19th-century half calf, marbled paper sides, titles in gold on spine, blue sprinkled edges. [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], XVI, 204; [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [4], 190, [2] pp.
€ 4,500
Second edition of an etymological dictionary of Portuguese words deriving from Arabic. Each Portuguese word is followed by the Arabic word from which it derives, the transliteration of the Arabic, and a Portuguese definition. The lexicon emphasises the impact that nearly six hundred years of Moorish rule over the Iberian Peninsula had on the Portuguese language and culture.
It is the first etymological dictionary to record Portuguese words derived from Arabic itself, or through Arabic from Hebrew, Greek, Persian or Turkish, first published in 1789 by the Academia Real das Sciencias. Included is a short list of English words derived from the Persian with Portuguese equivalents showing here common Indo-Aryan roots, rather than Semitic, from Arabic. Sousas aim was to clarify the roots of Portuguese literature. Notable among the many loan words are the names of flowers, vegetables, spices, nuts, trees, pharmaceutical plants, the names of towns and villages and words used in architecture or decoration, including jasmin, senna, elixir, azulejo, alarife, aldea, and Madrid - meaning a place with running water.
This lexicon is bound with the first and only edition of a collection of letters written in Arabic during the reigns of Kings Manuel I and João III of Portugal from the official Portuguese state correspondence, with the original Arabic and a parallel Portuguese translation. The letters came from North Africa, the Gulf, East Africa, India and the East Indies. They are numbered 1-58 in chronological order and dated from 1503 to 1528. The writers include kings, princes, governors, wazirs, sheikhs and other noblemen, including Kings "Mahomed Xáh" and "Mir Abanasar" of Ormus, King "Azarkam" of Barus in Sumatra, and Kings of Fez, Malindi and Calicut/Kozhikode. They are especially important for the light they shed on Portugal's East Indian trade, but also provide a rare primary source of information about Islamic leaders for and about whom little documentation has survived.
Both works were compiled by João de Sousa (1734-1812), who was born in Damascus and brought up by Syrian Capuchin friars. He was encouraged to leave for Europe and reached Portugal in 1750, where he was admitted as a member of the Portuguese Royal Academy of Sciences and appointed as the first professor of Arabic at the University of Lisbon. He also played a diplomatic role as Arabic interpreter to the Portuguese King Joseph I and his ambassadors in delegations to the King of Morocco. The present second edition of the Vestigios (ad 1) includes additions and annotations by another member of the Academia Real das Sciencias, José de Santo Antonio Moura (1770-1840). He studied Arabic, became an interpreter and, according to the title-page, even worked for the Portuguese State Secretary for foreign affairs.
Small inscription on the verso of the first flyleaf: "4471". Binding shows slight signs of wear, mainly around the spine, inner hinges slightly worn. Ad 1 very slightly browned, ad 2 internally very clean. Otherwise in very good condition. Ad 1: Aboussouan 850; Inocêncio IV, 241; Palau 320778; Porbase (7 copies). cf. Schnurrer, Bibl. Arabicae IV, p. 34 (no. 124, 1st ed. 1789). Ad 2: Inocêncio IV, 42; Macro 2098; Palau 320779; Porbase (10 copies); Schnurrer, Bibl. Arabicae I, p. 39. Neither in Atabey; Blackmer; Gay.
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