Moamyn (or Moamin) was the name given in

medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

to an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

author of a five-chapter treatise on

falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...

, important for early Europeans, which was most popular as translated by Theodore of Antioch under the title ''De Scientia Venandi per Aves'' in 1240 to 1241. It also contained a chapter on hunting with dogs and chapters on other related subjects such as diseases of birds. There are about 27 Latin manuscript versions of Moamyn's work with two of them being illustrated throughout, with a well-known copy held in Vienna.

Identity

The true identity of Moamyn is a mystery. The name by which he was known in the medieval west is most likely the result of a corruption or simplification of the true pronunciation of the Arabic name. Based on this, among other reasons, François Viré has suggested that he is in fact

Hunayn ibn Ishaq Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi (808–873; also Hunain or Hunein; ; ; known in Latin as Johannitius) was an influential Arab Nestorian Christian translator, scholar, physician, and scientist. During the apex of the Islamic Abbasid era, he worked w ...

(809–873), physician of the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

. Thus, Moamyn would be the deformation of the original Arabic ''Hunayn''. However, there are other theories.

Origins

The ''Kitāb al-mutawakkilī'' of the mid-ninth century was thought to be Moamyn's treatise on falconry in the original Arabic, but was discovered not to be in the 1980s. It was translated into Castilian in 1252 under the title ''Libro de los animales que caçan''. Moamyn's work is largely based on the ''Kitāb al-ṭuyūr'' (كتاب الطيور), the Book of Birds (also known as the ''Kitāb dawari at-tayr'', the Book of flight cycles(patterns) of Birds), a more extensive work by al-Ghiṭrīf ibn Qudāmah al-Ghassānī from the early ninth century.

Translations

A Franco-Italian translation from the Latin was by Daniel Deloc da Cremona (1249–1272), a Tuscan translation by Moroello (early 14th century) and a Neapolitan translation by (1482–1489). A modern Italian translation was by Sebastiano Antonio de Marinis in the 16th century.

References

External links

Book of the Week
{{Authority control Falconry 9th-century Arabic-language writers 9th-century Arab people