al-Ājrūmīya (Arabic:
الْآجُرُّومِيَّةِ) is a
well-known and useful compendium of Arabic Syntax,
that can be regarded as a standard educational work. al-Ājrūmiyyah in full al-Muqoddimah al-Ajurrūmiyyah
fī Mabādi’ Ilm al-‘Arobiyyah (Arabic: المقدمة الآجُرُّومية في مبادئ علم
العربية) is a
13th-century book of Arabic grammar (naḥw ‘arabī, Arabic: نحو عربي). Written in verse for easy memorization,
it formed the foundation of a beginner's education in Classical Arabic learning
in Arab societies of the time. It was one of the first books to be memorized
after al-Qur'ān along with the Alfiyyah ibn Mālik.
al-Ājrūmiyyah written by Abū ‘Abd Allōh Muḥammad
ibn Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd al-Ṣonhājī (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله بن
داود الصنهاجي)
as known as Ibn Ājurrūm or (Arabic: ابن آجُرُّوم). Ibn Ājurrūm was born at Fez in 1273 (or 1283).
He was of Berber origin from the sanhaja tribe. His relatives were from the
neighborhood of Ṣofrū. ‘Ājurrūm’ is a Berber word meaning ‘religious man’ and ‘poor
ṣūfī’ (ascetic). His grandfather, Dāwūd, is said to have been the first to bear
the name. He died on Sunday March 1, 1323. He was buried the next day within
the town in the Andalusian quarter near the Bāb al-Ḏjīzyin (wrongly Bāb al-Ḥadīd)
which now bears his name.
al-Ājrūmiyyah, a short treatise of a few pages
that bears the author's name, sets out the system of the i’rōb (Arabic: اعراب;
English: grammatical desinential inflection). This treatise summarizes the
complex rules of Arabic syntax into a concise, clear and intelligible format,
that is easy to memorize. For its brevity and utility it has maintained a wide
popularity among Arabic language teachers and students across Arabophone
countries and over 60 commentaries by later grammarians have been produced, e.g.
aaa by Aḥmad Zaynī Daḥlān (Arabic: أحمد زَيْني دَحْلان).
Known
in Europe from the 16th century, al-Ājrūmiyyah was one of the first
treatises available to European Arabists for the study of the Arabic
grammatical system. Translations have been regularly and widely published in most
European languages. It was published in twelve different European versions and
editions. A Latin translation of al-Ājrūmiyyah was made by the Italian
Franciscan friar, Thomas Obicini of Novara, who had lived for a time as an
abbot in Aleppo, and published in Italy in 1621 with the title Grammatica
Arabica.
Jalāl
al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī analyzed on Ibn Ājurrūm use of the genitive term “khafḍ”
(Arabic: خفض), the desinentially inflective imperative “mu’rob”
(Arabic: معرب), and the “kayfamā” (Arabic: كيفما) particle “ḥarf” (Arabic: حرف), to govern the apocopate form “jazm”
(Arabic: جزم). Based on this analysis, he places his stylistically
in the Kūfah School of grammar.
References
أحمد زینی دحلان. (2020). شرح مختصر جدا للاجرومية.
قدوس: مكتبة العذراد.
جلال الدين عبد الرحمن بن أبي بكر السيوطي.
(1964). بغية الوعاة في طبقات اللغويين والنحاة. لبنان: المكتبة العصرية.
Obicini, T. (1631). Grammatica Arabica.
Agrumia appellata. Cum versione Latina, ac dilucida expositione. Rome:
Congregatio de Propag.
Sarton, G. A. (1947). Introduction to
the History of Science (Vol. 3). Washington: Carnegie Institution of
Washington.