The Script and text of Ibn Quzmān’s Dīwān: some giveaway secrets

Abstract

Depending wholly on internal evidence, this study sets out to show that the unique manuscript of Ibn Quzmān's Dīwān, published in facsimile by David de Gunzburg in 1896, is a dictated copy. It tries to show also that the copyist, who has often been blamed for corrections or classicizing emendations of the popular Andalusian text, was not qualified for such a "role". While he seems to have been a first class calligrapher, evidence is provided here that his knowledge of Arabic was not at all on a level with the standard of his calligraphy. He is shown to be responsible for the wide range of textual problems which have puzzled successive editors of the Dīwān. In sharp contrast with all this, Ibn Quzmān is shown to be an unrivalled master of Arabic and classical Arabic lore. He also seems to have had a remarkable "acculturation" in the Romance language. Apart from citing the evidence for these findings, this paper amounts to an illustration of how they can help towards a better reading and understanding of Ibn Quzmān's Dīwān.