Names From the Diary of Ibn al-Bannāʼ, as
Translated by George Makdisi
collected and arranged by Basil Dragonstrike
In early-to-mid 11th century CE, there lived in Baghdād a historian
and jurisprudent named Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd Allāh
ibn al-Bannā’ al-Baghdādī al-Ḥanbalī, usually called simply Ibn
al-Bannā’. He kept a diary, of which a portion covering covering 14
lunar months is extant. This was translated by George Makdisi in
1956 and 1957, and printed as five articles in the Bulletin of
the School of Oriental and African Studies, later reprinted in
1990 by Variorum Press in a book titled History and Politics in
Eleventh-Century Baghdad.
This article contains all the personal names mentioned in that work,
save a few that are post-medieval, and a few I cannot verify as
being medieval.
At the time of Ibn al-Bannāʼ most of the people in and around
Baghdād had Arabic names, but some people of note had names that
were Turkish, Persian, Arabized Turkish, or Arabized Persian (there
may even be names from other languages). I don't have the background
to make positive identification of non-Arab names, I have included
all names from Ibn al-Bannāʼ diary. Thus, these lists should be
considered "Names from an Arabic/Islamic context in 11th century CE
Baghdād."
Regarding transliteration; Makdisi uses, throughout, mostly what I
believe to be the LOC/ALA transliteration scheme. The only
exceptions worth noting are in footnotes, where Makdisi sometimes
has copied a name that was transliterated by a different scheme. In
one case, the name appears, frequently, in LOC/ALA form, so I have
dropped that other transliteration. In another case, the name is
given in the Encyclopaedia of Islam transliteration, and is the only
example of that name. I have therefore changed the given "Ḳuss Ibn
Sā‘ida" to "Quss ibn Sā‘ida" in compiling these lists. Also note
that "(?)" is an indication by the translator that he is not
sure of the spelling of a word, "(???)" means a number of
consecutive words are uncertain.
There are two particular ways Makdisi does not follow the LOC/ALA
scheme. First, he changes the "l" of "al-" to the following letter
when that letter is a "sun letter". That is, where spoken Arabic
pronounces, for example, "al-Samarqandī" as "as-Samarqandī", Makdisi
spells it to conform with pronunciation. Second, he transliterates
the diphthongs as "au" instead of the LOC "aw" and "ai" instead of
"ay".
Makdisi has the unfortunate habit, in footnotes, of "cutting down"
names where someone is usually called by a byname; that is, where
someone is usually called "al-XYZ" or "ibn XYZ", Makdisi will call
him "XYZ". More about this will be found in the head notes of the
list "Multiple Names".
A note on the form of this article: I have arranged the names I
found into a number of different lists, and put each list on its own
page. There is one page for one for isms,
one for laqabs/nisbas, and one for al-Dīn-style titulars; as well, there is
a page listing all examples of where a
single person is referred to under different names. Finally,
there is a page showing the various name
formations in the Diary. Some of these pages have more than
one list, and further information is provided on each page.
Return to "Collected Names"