A List in Three Versions

Tarras examines the transmission process in the study of lists through a definition list in the Arabic philosophical tradition, a well-known text commonly attributed to the “philosopher of the Arabs” al-Kindī (d. after 252/866). The study of this list, thought to stand at the beginning of the career of this literary format in that tradition, promises to offer insights into the way in which Arabic philosophy emerged in the early ʿAbbāsid caliphate. However, the manuscripts that transmit it witness three divergent versions. Further, each version testifies not to a well-ordered text, but to a more or less loose assemblage of technical terms harvested from philosophy and related fields. This raises a number of questions as to the structure, function, and use of this text. This study attempts to show that these questions can be addressed fruitfully once we attend to the stratified compositional process from which the three versions of this text must have emerged. Its manuscript witnesses represent the latest stage in this process. After a brief survey of previous scholarship, the study begins with a review of the manuscript evidence in order to make observations as to the text’s codicological settings and paratextual features. It proceeds with an analysis of its different structural levels. The conclusion that can be drawn from this inquiry is that this definition list has not reached us as one unified literary entity, but in the form of three distinct historical artifacts, which owe themselves to the sum of the intentions of their users/producers.