The Origin of the Astrolabe According to the

Annals of Science Medieval Islamic Sources

Edited by G. L'E.-Tur_ner
. ched in 1936.to accommodate the grow•
Annals of Sc1enc~~as laun n the history of science. Although
ing tide of specialist papers o th rs the journal continues to
the emphasis has changed over e yeacts'of the history of science
I DAVID A. KING*

publish important research on allt~:P\ncluding previously unpub-

and technology_since t~\ 13~~c~~los~phical questions and rela~i~n-
lished ~anuscnpts, soc1a : hdu ht. There is a section descnbmg
ships with o~her areas o .t gf the history of science and a T HE MEDIEVAL ARABIC
derived from the Greek
asturlab or asturlab
acrrp6Xo:~o~ ( or
for astrolabe
aa-rpoXci~ov 6'pya:vov), name
was

innovations m the ftebach;g vfews are featured in each issue. of several astronomical instruments serving various purposes, including
substantial number o oo re . . the demonstration and graphical solution of many problems of spherical
Published bi-monthly. the journal is_available on subscnpt1on at astronomy. 1 As Otto Neugebauer has shown in a section on the early history
$220.00. which includes airfreight delivery. of the astrolabe published in his monumental History of Ancient Mathematical
Astronomy, the underlying theory of stereographic projection was known
in the time of Hipparchus (ea. 150 B.C.) and the astrolabe as it was known
Historyand Philosophy in medieval times was probably first described byTheon (ea. 375 A.D.). 2
The purpose of this study is to draw attention to a series of statements
in the medieval Islamic sources about the etymology of the Arabic word
of Logic as/urlab or a;/urliib and about the invention of the instrument. These statements
Edited by Dr I. Grattan-Guinness .
. I Lo ic is primarily concerned "'.'1th • Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literature&, New York Univereity, New York,
History a~d Phl~osophy ? . g lo ic-existential and ontolog1~al NY 10003, USA.
general ph1losop~1calque:ons :: c1!ssical and non-classical logics A.clcnowkdgements
aspects, the rel~tton~hip. twe ment. The journal also deals The research on medieval Islamic •cience conducted at the American Research Center in Egypt during
-including their h1stoncal devel~p nd otber fields of knowledge.
1972-79 was •ponsored mainly by the Smithsonian wtitution and National Science FoUlldation,
with the relations~ips behtw_een l~!tis~phy--ot science, epistemology. Washington, D.C. (1972-79), and by the Ford FoUJ1dation (1976-79). This support is gratefully ack-
such as mathematics, p ys1csiP I f
nowledged.
linguistics. psychology and, l~tterly. ~ompu in:·Philosophy of Logic It is a pleasure to record my gratitude to the Egyptian National Libary, where most of the manu•cripts
lb addition to publishing articles, H~!~~~t a:ollectioµs. projects in
contains special feature~ on ransubstantial book review section.
1 used in this •tudy are preserved, and also to the Municipal Library in Alexandria, the Suleymaniye
Library in Istanbul, the Universiteitsbibliotheek in Leiden, the British Library in London, Columbia
progress, notes and queries, an a . . University Library in New York, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Prof. Franz Ro•enthal of
the journal is available on subscnptwn at Yale University and Dr. Michael Carter of the University of Sydney kindly read this paper in its
Published twice a year.
penultimate form, and their valuahle comments on certain linguistic and stylistic matters have been
$63.00. · d incorporated in the present version. Further comments of a more technical nature by Prof. Paul
. h. • rnals may be obta1ne
Further details on these and other istory JOU Kunitzsch of the University of Munich have also been included. Any shortcomings are of course
from the publisher. my own responsibility.
The passage on the invention of the astrolabe in the Taymiir bikma manwcript was noticed by my
friend Dr. Dimitri Gutas in the Egyptian National Library one bitterly cold day in the winter of 1975.

~Taylor,<P~ The other passages recorded in these pages were collected on more lonely occasions since then. This
paper is dedicated to the memory of the happy times •pent with Dr. Gutas in Cairo.

\~ ~ Francis
Ltd 1. In general, a1/urlab is prefered in early treati•es, even in late copies thereof, and a•/urlab is stan-
dard in late treatises. On the Greek name for the astrolahe see also Segonds, pp. 18-25.
4 John Street, London WClN 2ET, UK 2. See Neugebarur 2, II, pp. 868-879, and also Neugebauer I. Here and elsewhere references by
author or short title are to the bibliography at the end of the paper.
44 DAVID A. KING
THE ORJOJN OF THE ASTROLABE
45
are discussed in chronological order, as far a~o:s ibl
The
paperoriginal
t~ A few Arabic
of the
and Persian texts are presented in the appen o w· d • (1909) J F explanations of the curious term kursi (whence English "throne") for the
• d • ly by E 1e emann , · part of the astrolabe which projects outward from the main body of the ins-
statements ihave •been _discusse 4 :r;~~er 1968)°.6E. S. Kennedy (1976),1
( G ~ (i 927 ) has(surveyed the references to the
196 trument to.hear the ring and cord by which the astrolabe can he held or susp-
Rosenthal (_1950), S;AlsPmes 0 5•
and F. Sezgm (1978). an z_ . . e• ended. The kursi of the astrolabe perhaps derives from the handle of a hand-
mirror. 11
astrolabe and its terminology in mediheval J ehwishliterttaribt~ut. ed to Masha'allah
l Ar h • t xts sue as t e one a The popular medieval Islamic attribution of the invention of the astrolabe
In• some
?) dear Y a ic e ' b
ymous one ( y a 1- arqa z-IIu ?)
. ' we find the statement
to an individual named Lab, a son of Idris ( = Enoch), is pure fiction. This
(spurious. - an an a;;:;h al-kawakib, literally ''taking the stars". This corresp- attribution occurs in the writings of Abu Na~r al-Qum.m.i, and is criticized
thatd as!urlab •means a .
terpretation o f t h e Gree k , assuming that the second element • already by his late contemporary Abu •Ahd Allah al-Khwarizmi. There are
on s to an m
Aot~ovcomes from t e ver
h h ' ii,
"otµt-'avtLv,
"to take" '
past stem Aot~. In Persian
d . - ·b the other stories about Idris in Islamic folklore, which credit him with the invent-
khdh al-kawiikib can he conveniently rendere sitara ya : ion of geomancy, the art of writing, and the craft of making garments. 12
the phras~ a • - anin "star" and yab being from the verb yaftan, The association with Lab was popular because it provided a purely Arabic
Indo-Iranian
meaning "to find" or "to t e ,, .. H amza al-Isfahani
sitara me akg . states that as!urliib is an
etymology of the name asfurliib. The first element as/ur is the plural of safr,
Arahicization of this Persian phrase. . -- l shams "balance of the "line", so that as!urliib means "lines of Lah". In the later Arabic sources on
Kushyar explains as/urliib as mearung ~~zan a - s ~ attested in early asfurliib Lah becomes a son of Hermes. 13 W. H. Morley, in the introduction
sun". This is curious not least heca_use m~an afl-shadi~alio Ah- 'Ahd Allah to a monograph published in 1856 which remains one of the most valuable
• Arab" f • to a special variety o sun . u studies on Islamic astrolabes, wrote rather unkindly: "the fables of (the)
scientific ic as re err:n_g - I . asturliib as meaning mir'iit al-shams,
al-Khwarizmi and al-Biruni exp am • " • ,, which is not the invention (of the astrolabe) by Abraham, Solomon, Enoch, or by a certain
''mirror of the sun", asserting that Aot~ov ~eans ~or 'is interestin not person named Lab, are unworthy of notice. " 14
0 The anecdote recorded hy Ibn Khallikan ah out the invention of the astro-
~ea::~ ~:::::h:}e::~ :::e~~=:\:~,::/trtia:f~ :hr :f an :::~a~t:i! labe hy Ptolemy is also fiction. Ptolemy is said to have been riding on some
a hand-mirror. In this connection I have not oun any me animal carrying a celestial sphere in his hand; he dropped the sphere, the
beast trod on it and squashed it, and the result was the astrolabe. The anecdote,
3. E. Wiedemann records the etymologies • of al-B·mm• i • Abu •Abd al-Khwarizmi Mafatilz 41-•ulum), which I find as charming as the story of Newton and the apple, is not new
551 11 45
and I;Iajji Khalifa(Wiedemonn ~, I, P· , and :~· ~-H"bat Allah al-.A5turl:ibi published in 1950, to the modem literature, because it occurs in the published text and translation
4. F. Rosenthal, in an article on al-Samaw d
mentioned the derivation of os1urltibfrom os1ur an
;,"-b
a sugg
I ested by Abu •Abd •AU:ih al-Khw:irizmi of Ibn Khallikan's biographical dictionary, hut it has hitherto been overlooked
by historians of science. I have no information on the origin of this anecdote.
and Ibn Khallik:in (Rosenthal, P· 555). ., d" trology" according to al-Birii.ni, dis•
5 S Pines in a study of the terms "astronomy ~ as Of greater historical interest is the statement attributed to Thahit ibn
• • • • fa!Kh - • ·andal-Biriini(Pmes,pp.346-347). . Qurra that the astrolabe was invented by Hipparchus. This is the first instance
cussed the etymologies o • waru:m1 . M r E t cited and reproduced the text of the der1va-
6. ~- Maher, in ~:/o~k ol:~: n~1;:a1tst:'1the ~o~ymous treatise in 15 'ails, and in the fifth
in the Arabic sources of a reference to Hipparchus in this connection. I have
tions 1n the marg':° ia Y •••• Maher, . 255-256 and 386-387). . attempted to trace Thahit's source for this information to a Greek treatise
moqala of the treatise by MunaJ]lmak ( ppf al B· . - . the Shad=, in hie recently-published on the astrolabe which has hitherto been overlooked in discussions of the early
7 E S Kennedy discussed the statements o • iruni in )
• • • 1 B· • - 2 te t p 69 trans p. 111, comm.,p. 53 • history of the astrolabe. But the statement about Hipparchus attributed to
commentary thereon (a· ,run, • x .' •. .' ·: surve of early Islamic literature discusses
8. F. Sezgin in his monumentaHl ~10-bib~1og~ap!~c~eatise:1-Migyas al-murajjalz which is falsely Thahit also includes a reference to Lah, which would hardly occur in a Greek
the attribution of the astrolabe to ipparc us 1Il source. A Persian text discovered after this paper was completed associates
7
attributed to al-Biruni (Sugin, VI, P· B). . f M· h 'allah Hajji Khalifa, and Lane. The the invention of the astrolabe with Aristotle, which is again fiction.
9 G d: contains references to the etymologies o as a • . Ah - •Abd
• anto an etymo 1ogy bY •AU b • •Isa (p. 475) is in fact a reference to the etymology of
reference u

Allah al-Khwarizmi. h c"fic

1 medieval context is mentioned. See, however, E. S. 11. This connection was first noted by Prof. Derek de Solla Price of Yale University.
10. er. Dozy, II, P· 809, w ere no spe ;"•trument for reckoning time of day 12. CJ.the article "/dri," by G. Vajda in EI •
• d tary of a passage on an ~ 1
Kennedy's
called mizantran~lati~ndan
which 1s escribcodmmb
e Ye:_B·runi
1 in his book on shadows (al-Biriini 2, I, pp. 153-156, and 13. CJ. the article "Hirmi," by M. Plessner in EI •
2
II, PP· 82-83), and alw the remarks in King 2, pp. 49-50. 14. Morley, p. 5. On the astrolabe in Jewish Bible exegesis and in the Talmud and Halakhah see
Gand::,pp. 480-482.
46 DAVID A. ICING

I make no claim to have exhausted the available Islamic sources on the

origin of the astrolabe and the etymology of its name. I have not ventured
further than the standard lexicographical sources, although since as!urlab
1 11
THE

Abu Na~ ihn Zarir

Shara£ al-Din al-Tusi
ORIGIN

Kamal al-Din ibn Yunns

al-J aghmini
Na~ir al-Din al-Tusi
OF THE 'ASTR.OLABE

See no. 12
See no. 12
See no. 10
See no. 24
47

is not an Arabic word it is not listed in the most famous medieval Arabic dict- Ibn al-Qif\i • See no. 4
ionaries such as the Lisiin al-cArab and the Taj al-cariis. However, I have 12 Ihn Khallikan See also no. 31
checked all the medieval Islamic tratises on the astrolabe currently available 13 Anonymous (Maghribi or Andalusian)
to me. 15 Most medieval Muslim writers on the astrolabe do not broach the 14 Musa ihu Ibrahim
15 lbn Jama•a
subject of the origin of as!urlab. The following are the exceptions.
16 Abu •Ali al-Farisi
71 al-Nuwayri See also no. 26
15. The only list of mcdival Islamic works on the astrolabe is Awwad, but it is severely incomplete
18 al-Mizzi See also no. 19
and needs to be supplemented with various additional works listed in Suter, Brockelmann, Krause, Shams al-Din al-Khalili See no. 20
Renaud, Storey, Sezgin, and King 1. Kunitzsch 2, based on some three dozen texts in Greek, Syriac, 19 Anonymous (TuVa1 al-/ullab) See also no. 18
Arabic, and Latin, deals with the Arabic technical terminology of the component parts of the astrolabe • 20 Shara£ al-Din al-Khalili
21 Anonymous (spherical astrolabe treatise)
but not the term as/urliib itself. Geoffrey Chaucer See no. I
22 al-Damiri
23 al-Firiizabiidi See also no. 10
24 al-Birjandi See also nos. 10. 28, 29
Table of Contents 25 al-Suyu\i
26 al-Khafiji See also no. 17
The following is a list of the ancient and medieval authorities cited in the main part of this paper. 27 I:Iajji Khalifa
I have numbered those for whom direct quotes. are available concerning the etymology of a,Jurlab
and the invention of the instrument. The corresponding Arabic and Persian texts presented in the
appendix aere similarly numbered.

Ah
See no. 31
See nos. 24, 28
'I
I 28
29
30
31
32
Munajjimak
Is}_taqal-Zakiili ( ?)
al-Fasi
Mul:iammad Bannani
Miscellaneous
See also no. 24
See also no. 24
See also no. 31
See also nos. 12, 22, 30

Hermes 33 Al:imad Basha Mukhtar

See nos. 2, 16, 24, 31, 34 34 Ibrahim Faruqi
Idris
Seenos.2,3,8,10,15,16,19,23,24,28,34
Lab
Alexander ( = Iskandar) See no. 34 1. M asha' allah
Aristotle See no. 34
Hipparchus See nos. 4, 8 The treatise on astrolabe construction •
See nos. 4, 8, 9, 12, 14, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33 ninth-century Baghdad astrologer M·sh ·~~~eu~ed to the late eighth-/early
Ptolemy
See nos. 4, 7, 8 hut the Latin translation2 b . . a al ab.a is no longer extant in Arabic,
Abywn . egins • astro a ium nomen g • •
See nos. 4, 27 pretatio est acceptio stellarum th t . " l . recum est cuius inter-
al-Fazari
Masha'allah
. · ···, a is, astro abe 1s a Greek d h
See nos. 4, 7, 8
mg 1s taking the stars" Thi l . wor w ose mean-
Thahit ihn Qurra kawakib which . al • s ast expression corresponds to Arabic akhdh al
See also nos. 10, 24, 28 ' is so attested in various 1 t A b" •
2 Abu Na~r al-Qummi
See also no. 27 version of Masha'allah's t . h a er ra ic sources. The Latin
3 Abu •Abd Allah al-Khwarizmi reat1se on t e use of the t 1b hi h •
4 Ibn al-Nadim
See also nos. 1,4, 7 Ionger extant in Arab1'c, has a diff erent me . . as ro a e, w c is also no
't J L 'k •
See also nos. 10, 11, 24, 25, 27 offered by Geoffrey Chauce . h' . ipi • I ewise, no etymology is
5 Kushyar
I:Iamza al-I~fahiini
See also nos. 7, 10, 24 l r m 1s treatise on th f I
6 See also nos. 4, 5, 6, 10, 24, 27 c osely related to that of Masha'allah.4 e use o astro abe, which is
7 al-Biruni
8 Anonymous (al-Miqyli• al-murajja~) 1• On Mii5 h-'allah
a see D Pingree'• art· 1 • DS
See also no. 1 102·108. His treatise dealing.with both the ,c e ,n . B, and Sezgin, VI, PP· 127-129, and VII, pp.
9 al-Zarqallu al-Nadim, p. 273. conStrnct,on and use of the astrolabe is mentioned in Jbn
al-l:Iariri and commentators See also nos. 2, 5, 6, 7, 24, 34
10
See nos. 1, 19 2. CJ. S1eimchneider, P· 18~cited in Gand=,PP· 475-476. See also Carmody, pp. 23-25 and Skeal
Ihn al-$affar p. nv..
Maslama al-Majri\i See no. 1
· • CJ. Skeat, p. 88. 4· · C'I'
~ • SL
...,a,, pp. 1-14. . ,
Hihat Allah al-Astnrlahi See nos. 11, 12
 THE ORIGIN OF THE ASTROLABE 49
DA VlD A, KING
48
A_ =
kha!! b"line, stressing
. . that the word is Greek and th a t i·t s derivation from
Note added after the completion of this paper: an ,....a ic root indicates stupidity and folly.
Prof. Paul Kunitzsch informs me that the Latin treatises on the astrolabe 1. I have used the Cairo edition of his treatise: see al-Khwari·mi in the h "bi"
to be based on the •dition of van Vloten, as the .. En"lish" titl • • • '. ,ography. This appears
ascribed to Messahalla appear to be based on Western Islamic compilations article "al-Khuwarizmi" by J. Vernet in DSB. " e page ,s ,n Latm. On the author see the
based on treatise by Maslama al-Majriti or some of his disciples such as Ibn
al-Saffar. In the Latin texts there seems to be a confusion between Mezleme,
etc.'for Maslama and Messahalla for Masha'allah. Thus the Latin phrase accep- 4. Ibn al-Nadim
tio stellarum and the equivalent akhdh al-kawakib used by al-Zarqallu seems The tenth-century
d" k scholar . lbn . al-Nadim ' author of th e b'bli
i ograp h"1ca1
to derive from a western Arabic tradition. See further Kunitzsch 3. c~mpen mm nown as al-Fihnst,1 states that Ptolemy was the first to make
( amal)
i: hithe astrolabe,
l h and
• adds that it is said that i't m ay h ave b een ma d e
b e,ore h m a t ough this cannot be k nown w1t • h certamty.2
• He goes on to
2. Abu Nair al-Qummi
Abu Na~r al-I:Jasan ibn <Afi al-Qummi was an astronomer of the late tenth ~ay t at the °:1'stperson to make an astrolabe plane (sa/!aM was Abywn ( = A •
century. 1 His major work was an extensive treatise entitled al-Mudkhal ila ion) ~he P~triarch, whom he lists elsewhere as the author of a treatise on tte
cilm a~kam al-nujilm, dealing mainly with astrology but also containing plamspheric
Isla r astrolabe
l ft ,,and states that he lived "a little be,:,ore (th e a d vent of)
sections on theoretical astronomy. In the second fail of the third maqala m or a itt e a er. 3 Elsewhere he says that the mid-eighth-cent B h-
al-Qummi wrote about the astrolabe and presented an etymology of as!urlab d ad astronome
1b r al -F azan - - was t h e first person in Islam to make (<amal)
ury agan
which was quoted by several later writers (see no. 10). No doubt the fact :tro a e. Ibn al-Nadim also notes that astrolabes were made in the city of
that al-Qummi was an astronomer gave authority to his derivation of as!urlab, . arran_ and that they spread from there throughout the Abbasid Em ire
which was that the instrument was invented by Lab, a son of Idris, and that m t~~t1~ of~he Caliph al-Ma'mun, that is, in the early ninth century. p
when his father asked who had drawn the lines on it (man sa!arahu ?) he was e i entity of Abywn al-Batriq is by no means certain ' althou h it
told that Lab had drawn the lines on it (hiidha asturu Lab or satarahu Lab), s::ms ~r~ba;le that he was a Coptic patriarch, since the name Abywn isgwell
whence the name as!urlab. There is no lexical evidence for the IVth form a este m_ op~ic. 6. Th~ only other reference to Abywn known to me in the
(af'ala) of the root s-\-r, which occurs in one version of the text consulted. later Ar~ic s?ientific literature, apart from a remark by the thirteenth-
In one of the copies of al-Qummi's treatise that I have used there is the icentury
· h historian
• of. science lbn al-Qifti• •7 which i's bas ed on lb n al -N a d-1m
additional fiction that as!ur is Greek for mczan ( = balance) and lab for the s m t e mtrod~ctl~n of a treatise on the use of the astrolabe b the ele:
sun, whence as!urlab, meaning mczan al-shams ( = balance of the sun). This venth-century
Birun·' h scientist al-Biruni (see no • 7) • This tr ea t·ise diff ers yfrom al •
I s ot er two treatises on the astrolabe the lsti<ab and Ikh - • - fr
etymology also occurs in later sources (see nos. 10 and 22).
1. On al-Qummi see Suter, no. 174; Krau••• no. 174; Brockelmann, I, p. 253, and SI, pp. 388 and
::~~t ~l-s°s~~lab ila_l-ficl, and is extant in a ~nique copy in MS Pa:~ ;aN'.
. • 8, • e text is corrupt and indeed the name Abywn al-Batri misco •
398; and Sezgin, VII, pp. 174-175. ied. 9 1However,
I have used MSS Cairo Dar al-Kutub Tal<at miqtit 222,2 (fols. 60r-177r, 619H) and Istanbul Fatih b (" . al-Birilni . states that he h a d seen Ah ywn ,s treatise
•• q on thep
3427 ,1 (fols. 1v-l 13v, 708H} of al-Qummi's treatise, in which the texts of the passage are rather diffe• aSt;o : e .m its Arabic translation), and notes that it contained 15 7 chapters
rent. In a third copy consulted, MS Cairo Dar a!-Kutuh Mu~\afii Fac;lil miqat 208 (91 fols., ca.1150H},
::an~a:;/t ;;a t~~s1ated by Thii.bit ihn_ Qurra, the celebrated scholar and
this section has been left out: in the introduction to the third maqala (fol. 34v} it is stated that the g a at the end the mnth century.10 Al- B·r- - f th
0
section has been omitted because it could be done without(lurika li-1-istighnti' <anhu).
hobserves
d . that the . te xt use d f or the translat10n . was corrupt andI uni ur er
that Thabit
a improved it wh~re possible and that the chapters in the book did not
3. Abu cAbd Allah al-Khwarizmi correspond to those listed in the table of contents Abyw h • l b
overlooked in studies of the earl hi • n as previous y een
Various etymologies of asturlab are given by the tenth-century encyclop· al-Birun - ( 7) I h • y . story of the astrolabe. In the section on
aedist al-Khwarizmi (not to be confused with the ninth-century astronomer) the astro~a:;~o Hi;p:~::;~ent eV1dence that Abywn ascribed the invention
in his Mafatr~ al-culilm. He first states that the word means miqyas al-nujiim,
"instrument for measuring the stars," and derives the Greek asturlabon from
1. On lbn al-Nadim see the article in EI 2 by J. W. Filck.
astar=naim=star and liibon=mir'a=mirror, drawing a parallel in the Greek
2. lbn al-Nadim, p. 284.
word astronomia for astronomy. He then speaks contemptuously of those 3· Ibn al-Nadim, pp. 270 and 284.
who claim that Lab is the name of a man and that as!iir is the plural of saJr <==
50 DA YID A, KING
4. Ibn al-Nadim, p. 273.
5. See Sezgin, VI, p. 103. The orthography Abywn seems acceptable. Fliigel's critical apparatus
r'
indicates variant readings from two manuscripts: Aynwn and Abnwn in the first instance (p. 24) and
Abnwn and Ax x wn (where each x indicates a letter which can be read as a b, n, y, etc.) in the second
(p. 26). I assume that Abywu is found in the other two manuscripts used by Fliigel for this section
(on which seep. 3). Fliigel suggested on original A 7dwv (p. 24).
J. Lippert, in his edition of Ibn al-Qif\i's Ta'rikh al-bukamd' (p. 71) gave the name as 'nbwn and
listed no variants. The unique copy of al-Biriini's treatise on different types of astrolabes, MS Paris
B. N. ar. 2498,1 gives the name as ahwn al-/ryq (fol. lr).
Dodge, pp. 670-671, translates Ibn al-Nadim's remark thus: "The first [Muslim) to make a plane
astrolabe was Abiyun al-Ba~iq", despite the fact that elsewhere (p. 644) he translates; "Abiyun al-
Ba\riq: I believe that he lived a little before or a little after the advent of Islam", and elsewhere (p.
649); "al-Fazdri ... was the first person in Islam to make the astrolabe ... " Dodge's own notes on Abiyiin
(p. 943) are a mess: "He was the first person in Islam to make an astrolabe of the planisphaerum or
flat type. The name may be confused with that of Abu Yahya al-Ba/riq, who may have helped a].
Fazdri to introduce the astrolabe. The name may be for Apion''.
6. Private communication from my freind W. J. Fulco, S. J. I had previously wondered whether
Abywn might be identical with Abron al-Qiss "the priest", who wrote on medicine in Syriac about
the time of the birth of Islam (cf. Sezgin, III. pp. 166-168) and who is also mentioned by Ibn al-Nadim
(p. 297). Although the names Abywn and Ahon could conceivably be confused in unpointed Arabic,
this identification seems highly improbable.
7. See note 5 above.
8. Both Suter, p. 99, and Boilot, no. 47, suggest that this work is the same as that found in MS
Berlin Ahlwardt 5794, which is not the case.
9. See note 5 above.
10. On Thiibit see the article in DSB by A. B. Rosenfeld and A. T. Grigorian, and Sezgin, V. pp.
264-272, and VI, pp. 163-170, especially p. 169, no. 22. Dr. Richard Loroch has drawn my attention
to the coincidence that al-l;,iifi's treatise on the sphere also contained 157 chapters.
5. Kiishyiir ibn Labbiin
Kushyar was an astronomer and mathematician of some distinction who
lived in Iran ea. 1000 A. D. In the introduction to his treatise on the use of the
astrolabe Kushyar says that as/urliib is a Greek word and that the most com•
mon explanation of its meaning is miziin al-shams, "balance of the sun".
I. On Kushyiir see Sezgin, V, pp. 343-345, and VI, pp. 246-249, and VII, pp. 182-183. I have used
MS Paris B.N. ar. 2487 (copied 679H) of his treatise on the use of the astrolabe.
6. lfamza al-I1fahiini
Al-Biriini (no. 7) informs us that the literary scholar J:Iamza al-l~fahani
(893 - ea. 970) 1 discussed the etymology of the word as/urliib, and also the word
awj ( = apogee). 2 Al-Biriini specifically cites al-l~fahani's work al-Muwiizana
as the source for his information. The full title of al-lsfahani's treatise is al-
Kha1ii'i1 wa'l-muwiizana bayn al-carabiya wa'l-fiirisiya, and unfortunately the
only known copy thereof 3 is incomplete and there is no reference in the
surviving text of either of the terms as/urliib or awj. According to al-Biriini,
THE ORIGIN OF THE ASTROLABE 51
J:Iamza stated that as/urliib is an Arabicization of the Persian, sitiira yab,
"taker of the stars".
1. On J:Iamza al-I~fahiini see Brockelmann I, p. 152, and SI, p. 221; Sezgin l, pp. 336-337; and
also the article in EI 2 by F. Rosenthal.
2. Al-Biriini cites al-I~fahiini's etymology of awj in his treatise On Transits (1, text, p. 17, trans.,
pp. 20-21).
3. Namely, MS Cairo Dar al-Kutub lugha 90 (49 fols., ea. 700H).
7. al- Biriint
The great eleventh - century scientist Allu'l - Ray]:ian al - Biriini mentioned
the etymology of the word as/urliib at least twice in his writings. 1 In the first
instance that has come to my attention, namely, in his treatise on astrology
entitled al-Tafhim Ji siniicat al-tanj;m, he states that the astrolabe was a
Greek instrument called as/urliibon meaning "mirror of the stars", which was
why J:Iamza al-l~fahani (see no. 6) had explained it as being from Persian
sitiira yab. Al-Biriini was not happy about this explanation, as we learn from
his book on shadows entitled Ifriid al-maqal fi amr al - ?,iliil. Here he states
that 1:Iamza in his book al-Miiwazana had stated that asfiirlab is an Arabicized
Persian word, the origin being sitiira yiib, "taker of the stars". Al-Biruni adds
that this Persian name may very well have been derived from the special
fuction of the instrument or may have been adapted (carraba here does not
mean "to render into Arabic "but rather "to borrow a word into any language")
from the Greek, in the same way that l:Iamza maintains that the .Arabic word
is an adaptation of the Persian. Al - Biriini indicates his knowledge that
the Greek name is as/urlabon and that astur means "star" in Greek, as in the
Greek words astronomia and astrolojia. 2 He adds that he has found ancient
books on its construction and operation by the Greeks but not by other peoples,
and that the people of the east (the Indians) do not known about the astrolabe
and use only shadows.
As noted in the section on lbn al-Nadim (no. 4), al-Biriini was familiar
with the treatise of Abywn in the translation of Thabit. See also the next
section.
1. On al-Biruni see the article in DSB by E. S. Kennedy, and Sezgin, V, pp. 375-383, VI, pp. 261-
276, and VII, pp. 188-192.
2. See further Pine,.
8. Anonymous (al-Miqyas al-murajjaM
MS Cairo Talcat miqat 155 is a very unusual compendium of Arabic works
on the astrolabe and quadrant, some of which merit detailed study. The
manuscript was copied in Egypt about 1650 A. D. and several of the treatises
are of Maghribi origin. The first treatise (fols. lr-15v) is entitled Kitab al-
Miqyas al-murajja~ fi'l-camal bi'l-asfurliib al-musa!{a~ and is attributed to
52 DA YID A, KING THE ORIGIN OF THI:. ASTROLABE
53
Ahii'l-Ray}:ian, that is, al-Biriini, but this attribution is called into question
by the fact that al-Biriini is mentioned in the text. 1 The treatise is divided
into two maqalas, parts, the first of which contains six fu1iil, sections, hut
the Cairo manuscript breaks off in the first fasl of the second maqiila.
The anonymous author asserts in his discussion of the origin and meaning
of the word as/urlab that Ahu'l-l;lasan Thabit ihn Qurra (see no. 4) in a book
lI
on the use of the astrolabe had stated that Hipparchus before Ptolemy had
invented (wa<faca) the astrolabe and had made it plane (sa.tfa~a) in the same
way as Lab had done. The writer continues with a discussion of the reason
why Hipparchus had chosen a northern projection. Now the only work on the
astrolabe known to have been written by Thahit is a translation of the treatise
by Ahywn al-Baµ-iq (see no. 4), but it seems unlikely that a scholar of the
calibre of Thabit would himself have subscribed to the story of Lab, or have
mentioned it without critical comment. We may perhaps conclude that the
reference to Hipparchus was found already in the treatise of Ahywn, but how
could this Greek treatise have contained the nonsense about Lab?
1. On this treatise see already Se:gin, VI, pp. 78 and 169.

9. al-Zarqtillu
MS Istanbul Aya Sofia 2671,5, fols. 133v-15lv, copied in 1224, is a unique
copy of an anonymous treatise on the planispheric astrolabe, 1 whose author
can he identified as the eleventh-century Toledo astronomer al-Zarqallu
(Azarquiel). 2 At the beginning of the treatise al-Zarqallu states that as/urlab
is a Greek word which means akhdh al-kawakib, "taking the stars", because
by means of it the derived knowledge of the positions of the stars can be ob-
tained. Al-Zarqallu quotes Ptolemy as stating that the astrolabe is like the
celestial sphere made into a plane, with the visible pole made to be its centre.
al-Zarqallu is probably referring to the introduction of the Arabic version
of Ptolemy's Planisphaerium, a copy of which precedes his treatise in the Aya
Sofia manuscript. 3
1. This work, falsely attributed to Euclid on fol. lr of the manuscript, is listed in Krau•• p. 525,
no.15.
2. On al-Zarqiillu see the article by J. Vernet in DSB and the references there cited. It was not
previously known that al-Zarqallu wrote on the regular planispheric astrolabe. The author of the
treatise on the astrolabe presents a star catalog for the year 459H, which is precisely the date mentio-
ned by al-Zarqallu in one of his three treatises on the universal plate, extant in a unique copy in foll.
lr-75r of the same Aya Sofia manuscript (cf. fob. l0r and 148v). This particular treatise is arranged
in 80 bobs, as compared with his other two treatises of sixty and one hundred biibs: thus each of al· Plate 1 : Two sets of stories about the earl histo f th
e sstr01 ahe, one in Arabic and the other in
O
Zarqiillu's three treatise is now known to exist in the original Arabic. Persian, found in MS Cair0 Talc y . _ ry
. . at miqat 255, fol. 2v(see nos.10 and 30).
3. CJ. Krause, p. 443, and Se:gin, V, p. 170.
Reproduced with kmd permission of the Egyptian National Library.
10. al-/farrrt and Commentators
The Maqamat of the eleventh-century Ba~a litterateur al-l;lariri are a
54 DAVID A. KING
classic of Arabic belles-lettres. 1 In this work there is no mention of a~y asp~ct
of ast ron Omy . Ho wever , a note on the etymology of as!urlab and the _mvent10n
_,
of the instrument, stated to be taken from a commentary on al-J:Ianr~ s Ma~-
amat is found in MS Cail'o Dar al-Kutub Taymiir ~ikma 15, p. 137, 1mmedi-
atel; preceding a copy of the treatise Unmiidhaj al-culilm by Jalal al-_Din al-
Dawani.2 The author describes the instrument as "one for measurmg the
stars and the sun", stating that the first person to make it was Lab, _a~d
then adding an alternative derivation from Persian (due to J:Iamza ".1-l~:~h~m),
in which, however, the Arabic paraphrase in based on the meaning nnrr~r
of the stars", not on the correct meaning of the Persian. The same not~ 1s
found in MS Cairo Dar al-Kutub Mustafa FaQil hay'a 1, fol. lr, preceding
cAli Birjandi's marginalia to Qaqi Zade's commen~ary on al-J aghmini's al-
Mulakhkhas fi'l-hay'a, copied about the year 1610 lil A~u~, Iran. The note
on asturlab from an unspecified commentary on the lYfoqamat occurs together
with ·another stated to be taken from the Qiimils (of al-Firazabadi (see no.
23)). M - -
Another note stated to be taken from the commentary on the aqamat
by al-Mutarrizi (fl. Khwarizm and Baghdad, d. 1213) 3 occur~ in Cairo J?ar
al-Kutub Talcat miqat 255, fol. 2v, amidst various notes precedmg a collect10n
of treatise~ on instruments and timekeeping-see Plate 1. Al-Mutarrizi quotes
successively Abu'l-J:Iasan (Kushyar), Abu Rayhan (al-Biriini), I:Jamza al-
I~fahani, and Abu Na~r (al-Qummi).
1. On al-Hariri see the article in EI 2 by S. S. Margoliouth and Cb. Pellat.
2. On al-Dawiini see the article in EJ 2 by A. K. S. Lambton, and on his treatise see Brockelmann,
II, p. 282.
3. On al-Mu\arrizi see Brockelmann, I, pp. 350-352, and also p. 327. I have been unable to locate
this passage in the Cairo manuscripts of al-Mu\arrizi's commentary listed by Brockelmann.
11. Abii Nair A~mad b. Zarir (?)
MS Leiden Or. 591 (pp. 32-46, copied 630 H) contains a treatise on the
astrolabe with a crab-shaped rete (musar!an) by an individual named Abii
Nasr Ahmad b. Zarir ( ?)1 Since the author mentions the celebrated astrolabist
Hibat Allah al-Asturlabi (JI. Baghdad, ea. ll00) we may presume that he lived
in the twelfth century. Abu Na~r states at the beginning of his treatise that
asturlab is a Greek word, and that the astrolabe is a fine instrument and the
"balance of the sun" (mizan al-shams).
1. Abu Na~ and bis treatise are mentioned in Suter, no. 484.
12. Ibn Khallikiin
The celebrated thirteenth - century Syrian historian and literary scholar
lbn Khallikanl discussed the origin of as!urliib in his biographical dictionary
Wafayat al-acyan. In his entry on Abii'l-Qasim Hibat Allah al-Asturlabi,
THE ORIGIN OF THE ASTROLABE 55
I a famous instrument-maker oflate-eleventh- / early-twelfth-century Baghdad,
Ibn Khallikan cites first the etymology of Kiishyar (no. 5), and then presents
an anecdote about the invention of the astrolabe by Ptolemy, introduced with
the word qila, "it is said that ... ". The story is that Ptolemy was taking a ride
with an armillary sphere in his hand; inevitably, he dropped it and the animal
on which he was riding trod on it and squashed it: the result was an astrolabe.
Ibn Khallikan goes on to relate that neither Ptolemy nor any of the ancients
realized that the sphere could also be represented on a line and that Sharaf
al-Din al-Tiisi was the first to develop a linear astrolabe, later to be improved
by his student Kamal al-Din ibn Yiinus. Ibn Khallikan concludes this section
with a discussion about the futility of trying to represent the sphere at a point!
Indeed Sharaf al-Din al-Tiisi2 did devise a linear astrolabe, called ca/al-
Tilsi, "al-Tiisi's stick", which was modified by his student lbn Yii.nus, 3 also
a scholar of distinction. It is of interest that Ibn Khallikan early in his career
met Kamal al-Din ibn Yiinus in Mosul, but it seems unlikely that he would
have picked up the anecdote about Ptolemy from such a serious scholar. The
only reference to the anecdote known to me in later Arabic literature is in
the writings of the eighteenth-century Moroccan author Mul:iammad Bannani
(no. 32).
I. On lbn Kballikan see the article in Efi by J. W. Fuck. The passage is found in Ibn Khallikan,
II, pp. 184-185, translated in de Slane, III, pp. 581-582.
2. On Sbaraf al-Din al-TO.si see the article in DJB by R. Rashed. For a brief discussion of bis linear
astrolabe see Michel 2, pp. 115-123.
3. On Kamal al-Din ibn Yunns see Suter, no. 354, and Brockelmann, SI, p. 859.
13. Anonymous (Maghribi or Andalusian)
Another etymology occurs in an anonymous Maghribi or Andalusian
treatise on the astrolabe preserved in MS Cairo Dar al-Kutub miqiit 1169,6
(fols. 45r-57r, 1158H). This treatise begins with the statement that as/urliib
is a Greek word which was originally as/urlabul [read as/urlabiin!], 1 meaning
dhat al-nujiim, "possessing stars" and that the letters after the b were removed
"to make (the word) lighter", that is, "to make it easier to pronounce".
1. There is a possibility that a Spanish influence is operating here to provide an ending -ol.
14. Miisa ibn Ibrahim
Yet another etymology is contained in a treatise on the astrolabe attributed
to Musa ibn Ibrahim, on whom I have no further information. The treatise is
contained in MS New York Columbia 285,1 (fols lv-8r, of ea. lO00H?), and
begins: "'st/rl'b [sic!] in Greek means taking the altitude of a star because
's/r is star in that language and taking is lab. 1 Some people say that it means
balance of the stars. It is attributed to Ptolemy".
1. The manuscript has /al rather than lab, which is probably en error of the copysist rather than
the author.
 THE OIUGU( OF THE ASTROLABE 57
DAVID A. KING
56
19. Anonymous
15. Ibn Jamtica The author of a treatise on the astrolabe in 14 babs entitled Tubfat al-!ullab
I d.
-ea was a scholar of Hama in the late thirteenth century an ~
!~: i:s~:hapter of his work on the use of the astrolabe he states t~at:s1url~~
is a forei n word meaning "measurer of the stars" or "balance o e su~ , ,!
fc'/.<amal bi'-l-as/urlab, which is probably a fourteenth-or fifteenth-century
Egyptian or Syrian compilation, discussed the etymology of as!urliib in the
introduction to his treatise.- 1 He states that the name as/urliib is Greek and
~ h . • asturlaqiin "mirror of the stars , takmg means "balance of the sun", and also that Lab was a wise man who drew the
or according to anot er opm1on, . . . d d. h
,. d 1· - "mi·rror" Here perhaps lafiin is mten e • see t e lines (as!ur), so that the instrument was called as!ur-Lab. This passage is
astur as "star an aqun as • . . f
• k H· ... Khal"fa (no 27) lbn J ama<a adds that the derivation rom related to the parallel passage in the treatise of al-Mizzi (see no. 18 above).
remar s on a]Jl 1 • •
astur and Lab is not to be relied upon. 1. I have examined llfS Istanbul Fatih 5397,24 (fols. 190r-195v, cop. 1113H) of this work. Awwad
• d SII 80.51 • and Awwad, no. 179; and on listed several manuscript• of what he thought to be copies of a work with this title and attributed the
1 0 lbn Jama<a see BrockJmann, II, PP· 89-90, an 'PP· ' . MSC •
• n . . c ., . EI b K S Salibi I have used the unique copy airo treatise to the Andalusion astronomer Ahii'l-Qasim Ah.mad b. cAbd Allah b. llfuh.ammad al-~affar,
his family see the article "lbn Diama a in 2 Y • • . d• H) of his work on the astrolabe.
Dar al-Ku tub Mu~tafa Fa<,lil miqiit 1urlci6,l (fob, lv- 20r, cop1e ea. 1150 but the listings and attribution are confused (ef. Au-v:ad, nos. 28 and 29). 1115Princeton Garrett 1024
appears be to a copy of the same work as contained in the Fatih manuscript, and is likewise anonymous.
The other manuscripts listed by Awwad are copies of a different treati•e by Ibn al-~affar which has
16. Abu <Ale al-Farisr been published (see the article "lbn al-~affar" by B. R. Goldstein in EI 2).
d b Abu CAJi al-Farisi (fl. Ham·a,
Two etymologies for as/urlab are propose y - "d dh ·~1 lb ·b i
ea 1300) in his treatise on the astrolabe entitled Maqa$t awdi -a a (••h•• 20. Shara( al-D1n al-Khalili
• · d Greek wor , ustur t e
AI-Farisi first states that the name 1s a compoun ,. din Shara{ al-Din al-Khalili, the nephew of the celebrated astronomer of mid-
. " ,, d l •b meaning "balance , or, accor g fourteenth-century Damascus Shams al-Din al-Khalili, wrote treatises on
text is vowelled) measmg sun an a " h Ax b " say that astur is the
to others '"mirror", and then states that t e a s • the standard instruments of his time, including one of the use of the astrolabe. 1
plural of sa!r, "line", and that lab is the son of Idrrs. In the introduction to this he states that as!urlab is a foreign word meaning
. . b"o-biblio
1 aphic sources on Islamic science, except for "(instrument for) measuring the stars" or alternatively "balance" or "mirror
1. Al-Farisi is not listed 1n the modern . gr MS Cairo Qawala miqtit 2,1 (fols. lr-57v,
Awwad, no. 175. His treatise is extant in the unique copy of the stars".
copied ea. 800H). 1. On Shara£ al-Din al-Khalili see Suter, no. 427, and Brockelmann, II, p. 157, and SII. p, 158.
I have used llfS Istanbul Fatih 5397 (tols. 65v-7lr) ofthia treatise.
17. al-Nuwayrf
. ( d 1332 in Tripoli), I in his encyclopaedia entitled N~ha~at 21. Anonymous
Al. Nuwayn - • that asturlab, as well as the terms /ar1ahara
The anonymous author of a treatise in 25 babs on the spherical astrolabe
al-arab fi funun al-adab, stdates d l k were not .Axabic.2 This statement
and binkam for water- an san -c oc s, which was probably another fourteenth-century Syrian compilation, 1 states
is also recorded by al-Khafaji (no. 26). that as/urlab is a foreign word to be explained as "mirror of the stars" or as
/eel II 175 and SII pp.173-174. "the balance of the sun".
1. On al-Nuwayri see Broe mfann,h • P· ' tary o~ the Nihiiyal al-arab by llfol_iammad ibn al-
Q
2• uote ID d • Lane J p 58 rom t e commcn , 1. This treatise is extant in llfS Istanbul Hamidiye 1453, fols. 213v-219r), cop. 869H.
' • • ' 541 d 685 ?) I have been unable to locate any re,erence to
Tayyib al-Fasi, (Brockelmann, SI, PP· an ••
~s/urliib in the published text of the Nihtiyol ol-arob.
22. al-Damlr/
The late fourteenth-century Egyptian scholar al-Damiri is celebrated for
18. al-Mizzr
• D in the midfour- his encyclopaedia on zoology and folklore entitled lf ayat al-bayawiin. 1 In this
Sh ms al-Din al-Mizzi, a leading astronomer m amascus .
a h t
1
wrote a treatise on the use of the astrolabe. In the introduc• work al-Damiri states that as/urlab means "balance of the sun" because
:::\e c::a=~hat the word as!urlab is Greek and that it means "balance as/ur means "balance " and lab means "sun" in Greek. Al-Damiri was later
quoted by Mul;ammad Bannani (see no. 32).
of /for the sun".
/eel II PP 155-156, and Sll, pp. 156 and 1018 1. On al-Damiri see the article in EJi by L. Kopf. I have been unable to locate the reference
1 0 al-M"zzi see Suter no. 406; an d B roe mann, • • to as/ur/iib in the published text of his encyclopaedia.
i
(no. 5).nl hav; used MS Istanbul Fatih 5397, 25 of his treatise on the astrolabe.
58 D.A VID A. KING TH!: ORIGIN OF THE ASTROLABE
59
26. al-Khafiiji
2 3. al-Fm:zzabiidi
The celebrated philologist al-Firuzabadi (b. 1329 in Shiraz, d. 1415 in Zabid) The celebrated Egy~tian ph~ologist Shihah al-Din al-Khafaji (d. 1659) in hi
included an entry on his lab in his lexicon entitled al-Qiimils al-mu/:zi/.1 Al-Firuza- book on Loan-words m Arabic entitled Shi•ii' al-ghalil
z·b :J' •··,
g· · f . 5
1ves no m ormation
badistates that Lab was a man who drew lines and based calculations upon ~n affur a . other than that it, along with the terms far_iahiira and binkam
them and that the lines were called as/ur-Labin, "the lines of Lab". This IS not Arabic. He adds that the word is mentioned in the Nihiiyat al b '
work by al N -( 17) d. -ara , a
became a compound word and the annexation construction was dropped. . • uwayr1 no. , an m fact al-Khafaji's remark is actually tak
directly from al-Nuwayri. en
With the definite article the name became al-as{urliib, or al-a1{urliib with a
Jiid because of the /ii'. This etymology from the Qiimils is also found in an I. On al-Kha'.aji_ s~_eBrockelmann II, pp. 368-369, and SII, p.396. I have consulted MS Cairo Dar
astronomical manuscript copied in Amud about the year 1610 (see no. 10). ~-KCut_ubMuHafa _Fa9,l lugha 20, in which a1/urltib is mentioned on fol. 75v. Brockelmann lists only
e airo manuscript, which may have been the basis for the two printed editions that he mentions.
1. On al-Firuziibadi see the article by H. Fleisch in EI 2. I have examined MS Cairo Dar al-Kutuh
lugha 34 of this work, transcribed in 899H from the author's copy. The entry on as/urltib in Lane's 27. }Jiij;i Khalifa
Arabic-English Lexicon is based mainly partly on al-Firuziihadi.
The sevente~nth-century Turkish scholar I;Iajji Khalifal in his bibliographical
encyc~opaedia Kashf al-,?,unun records various interpretations of the name
24. al-Birjandi 2
as~urlab. He quo:es Kushyar and al-Biruni without mentioning their names
There is no reference to the origins of asfurlab in the treatise on the astrolabe and
h also the Mafatih: _al-culiim. When quoting al •B·r-
1 um• H····
. aJJ1 Khal"f1 a presents '
by the celebrated thirteenth-century Persian scholar N a~ir al-Din al-Tusi. t ~ name :s aJfurlafun, perhaps reflecting a contemporary Greek pronunci-
However, in the Persian commentary on this treatise by cAli al-Birjandi atwn of ~- He concludes the passage en the astrolabe with the statement
(fl. ea. 1500),1 there is a section in which the author quotes the opinions of that th~ first person to make an astrolabe was Ptolemy and that the first
Kushyar, al-Biruni, and through him al-I~fahani (not named), as well as the person m Islam to make one was Ibrahim ibn Habib al-Faza·r· d th
• ·t1 f hr - 1, an en
anonymous commentator on the Maqiimiit of al-I;Iariri and through him Abu cites ti es o t ee hooks on the astolahe, none of which is extant.
Na~r al-Qummi. 2 In this quotation the answer to the question asked by I. See the article "Kiitib Chelebi" in EI 2 by O S. Go··kyay.
Hermes - not Idris - is either due to Lab or Hermes himself: the Persian is 2. f:liijjiKhalifa,l,cols. l06-l07.
ambigous. al-Birjandi also mentioned that some people had said that as/ur 3. The 1892 Cairo edition of l:fajji Khalifa's work has as/urliiqun.
means taJnif, "a written work or compilation," and that Lab, a son of Hermes,
28. Mzmajjimak
had invented the instrument. Al-Birjandi was later quoted by Munajjimak
(no. 28) and Isl;taq al-Zakali (no. 29) . Mu}:iammad ihn ~]:imad Faz a 'i ( ?), known as Munajjim ak ( = the little ast-
ronomer),
. was
. chief asti·onomer in Istanbul about 1675 AD .. , an d w.,ote
- a
1. On al-Birjandi see Suter no. 456; and Storey, pp. 54 and 80-82.
2. The Persian text edited in the appendix was kindly prepared by Prof. E. S. Ke~edy. tieatise ?~mst,rument_s of which_ only fragments survive. The fifth maqiila
of MunaJJ1mak s treatise deals with regular planispheric astrolabes, universal
t
aS rol~-~es, a;1d quadrants, and begins with a discussion of th word asturlab
25. Jaliil al-Dm al-Suyil/i
lVIu~aJJ1maks rema~ks appear to he based on those of al-Birjandi (~o.24):
MS London B. M. Add. 9599, fol. 7r, contains a note on the Arabic words hut m the sto:"y ~ttribute~ to Abu Na§r al-Qummi it is no longer clear whether
al-Mijisfi and as/urliib stated to be taken from al-Nafl:za al-miskiya, a work Hermes or Lab 1s answermg the question who drew the lines. Having been
by the late-fifteenth-century Egyptian polymath Jalal al-Din al-Suyiiti. 1 translated from Arabic to Persian and back to Arabic, the anecdote is now
The author states that Ptolemy was the first person to make an astolahe. hopelessly confused .See also the next entry.
He adds that Kushyar had said that the term asturliib was Greek and meant
. Il:SS~u~ajj~~ak is not listed in the modern bibliographical sources. The text of the passa"e is found
"balance of the sun", and that some had said that Lab was the name of the Ill a,ro ar al-Kutub miqtit 735 and 70, which are two fragments of the fifth maqiila of his treatise.
sun in Greek.
29. Isl:zaqal-Zakiili(?)
1. On al-Suyu\i see Brockelmann, II, pp. 180-204, and SII, pp. 178-194. On the treatise al-Nafba
al-mi,kiya see II, p. 202 (no. 291) and SII, p. 197. In some marginalia to an anonymous Arabic treatise on the astrolabe in
fifteen fa1ls an individual named Is]:iaq al-Zakali ( ?),1 on whom I have no
 DAVID A. KING
60
further information, translated the remarks of al-Birjandi (no. 24), ~nd intro•
duced some minor modifications. For example, he said that the meamng of the
Greek asturliifiin (which is written as/urliiniin in each of the copies I have
consulted) was mir'iit al-kawiikib, "mirror of the stars" and that some had
said wiihid al-kawiikib, implying that the term meant "mirror of the star".
Here, h~wever, wiibid must result from a corruption of akhdh.
1. The treatise exists in numerous copies, many of which include the marginalia. I have used MSS
Cairo Tat<at miqoi 154,Zakiya 782,andK 3844.
30. cAbd al-Rabmiin al-Fiisi
The seventeenth-century Moroccan scholar cAhd al-Ra}:iman al-Fasi compiled
a lengthy poem called al-Uqniim on the different branches ~f knowled~e,
which included a section on the astrolabe.• In the margin of a Cairo
manuscript ofthis work is a note on the orthography of as/urliib and Ba/laymiis
( = Ptolemy), 2 as well as a remark that Ptolemy was the first person to ma~e
the astrolabe, and a reference to the existence of a curious story about_ his
invention of the instrument. 3 The details of this story are preserved m a
commentary on al-Fasi's section on the astrolabe: see the next section.
1. On al-Fasi see Renaud, no. 541; Brockelmann, 11. pp. 612 and 675, and SIi, pp. 694-695; and the
article "< Abd al-Ra}:lman al-Fasi" by E. Levi Proven~! in EI2,
2. Ptolemy's name in Arabic was more often written Batlamyus, but in late texts both forms
occur. CJ. the article "Batlamiyus" in EI2 by M. Plessner.
3. MS Cairo Dar al-Ku tub J3664 (287 fols., copied ea. 1250H), fol. 179v.
31. Mubammad Banniinl
Muhammad Bannani ihn cAhd al-Salam ihn }:iamdun, a scholar of Fez
wh~ died in 1163/1750, wrote an extensive commentary on al-Fasi's poem
(see no. 30) which is extant in MS Cairo Taymur riyii<fa113 (144 PP·•. 1327H).
In a discussion of the etymology of as/urliib, the author first mentions that
it is a foreign word meaning miqyiis al-nujiim, "instrument for measuring the
stars," or mfziin al-nujiim, "balance o f t h e stars " - H e a dd s th a t "·t1 1·s sa1.d
that" firstly Liib is the name of the celestial sphere in Gree~, and s~c?ndly
that Lab is the name of the inventor of the instrument and that it was ongmally
li-Ab, "to the Father", where Ab was the the name of "the Teacher", that
is, Idris. Since as/ur is the plural of sa/r, as/urliib are the "lines of the sphere"
(as/ur al-falak) and "lines of the philosopher" (~stur al-bakim). Mu}:iammad
Bannani concludes with a story about the invention of the astrolabe by Ptol-
emy, which was related by "a group of historians". This story is none o_th_~r
than the one related by Ihn Khallikan (no. 12), and Mubammad Bannalll s
treatise is the only medieval scientific work known to me which contains this
delightful story. 1 scripts, I noticed another relevant quote immediately below - see Plate 1. This
In a shorter commentary by Mu}:iammad Bannani on the same poem,
THE ORIGIN OF THE ASTROLABE 61
extant in MS Alexandria Baladiya 3504 J (copied 1186H}, the author quotes
the opinion of al-Damiri (no. 22) on as.turliib, and adds that "Ptolemy was the
first person to make an astrolabe and there is a strange story about his making
it which we have related in the (longer} commenta1y".
1. On Mul,ammad Bannani see Brockelmann, 11, p. 615 (where the Alexandria manuscript is men-
tioned), and Sil, p. 686 (elc.). He is not mentioned in Suter, or even in Renaud, which is essentially
a list of Maghribi scientists overlooked by Suter,
32. Miscellaneous
In 1941 Henri Michel published an account by a seventeenth-century
French traveller named Jean Chardin describing the methods used by Persian
astronomers to construct astrolabes. This little-known study is of considerable
interest for the history of Islamic instrumentation, and also contains an account
of the opinions of the Persian astronomers on the meaning of the word as/url-
iib.1 These include the notion that "asterleb" is a Persian word meaning "lips
of the stars", or that the word should he pronounced astir lab and means
"knowledge of the stars". These meanings have no counterpart in the Islamic
written sources. Chardin adds that the Persians call the instrument veza
koure (from Arabic wa<fc al-kura, meaning "placing the sphere") "in their
hooks and in their lessons". Again I know of no Islamic sources in which the
astrolabe is called by this name, although it was associated with Arabic sources
by medieval and renaissance astronomers in Europe.2
1. Michel 1, p. 485.
2. CJ. Hartner, p. 287 and Kunit.:,ch 1, pp. 20-21 ,ub vua=calcora.
33. Abmad Biishii Muhktar
In a text-hook on astronomy called Riyii<f al-Mukhtar and published in
both Turkish and Arabic in the 1880's, the author al-Ghazi Ahmad Basha
Mukhtar states that as,turliib is derived from two Latin words: as./ur meaning
"star or celestial body" and labiyiim meaning "plate" (law~a or ;afi~a).1 He
also states that the astrolabe was invented by Ptolemy.
1. Mukhtar, p. 238. I owe this reference to the kindness of Prof. Paul Kunitzsch.
34. Ibriihim Fiiriiqi
After this study was completed I came across a group of explanations of
the term asfurliib in Persian, some of which clearly represent quite different
traditions from those which I have documented in the Arabic sources. During
th~ course of preparing a photograph of the quote from al-Mu\arrizi in MS
Cairo Dar al-Kutuh Talcat miqiit 255, fol. 2v, for inclusion in my forthcoming
volume of photographic plates of extracts from the Cairo scientific manu-
62 DA YID A. JUNG

Persian text 1 contains legends about Alexander and is stated to be taken from
a work entitled Sharafniima by Ibrahim Fariiqi, and I have been unable to Appendix
identify the author, or the relation of the work to the medieval Islamic Arabic and Persian Texts
folklore on Alexander. 2
Noto: The texts are numbered according to th mh .
The text translates as follows: paper. e nu ers assigned to the authors in the main part of the
"A first story: Alexander commanded all the sages to construct something
so that it would remain in the world as a memorial to him. So Aristotle const-
ructed an astrolabe which elucidated the secrets of the spheres for all the
sages. It is the balance of the sun, which is called in Greece asfar-tarazii or (')
lab-i afiiib. Some said that Lah is the name of another sage who by the request
of Alexander constructed the astrolabe. Another opinion is that Lab is the
~'J):..-,'j~ ~/I ~\;;$" iY ~l:!
name of the son of Aristotle who is the astrolabe-constructor. According to the .oil $1.;, \.. JI '-'.-'J~I
fourth story Lah is the name of a son of Idris - blessings and praise be upon
him - who had the greatest skill in the knowledge of science, and he made the ( o¼-1fai) ~i)IJI -·11 . "--.>- -
. ,._,,...., if. ..r-4
astrolabe with the greatest excellence. But the first story is the most correct.
It is also called af/urliib and s/ruliib and f/urlab and [Ultib. Taken from the
Sharafniima of Ibrahim Fariiqi". ••• [ ~ly<JI .\>-I o~ JLl.:: r-'I '-:-'-Y~I] ...
I. I am grateful to Prof. E. S. Kennedy of the Institute for the History of Arabic Science in Aleppo
and to Prof. Peter Chelkowski of New York University for reading and translating this text.
2. On the Alexander legends in general see the article • •1,kandarniima'' in E1 2 by A. Abel. Ibrahim
Fariiqi is not mentioned in Storey, ond no such references to Aristotle and the astrolabe are contained
!n such basic works on the medieval Alexander legends as Southgate ond Cary. The astrolabe is men-
tioned in the Iskandarnameh of Ni~ami (c. 1175): in a decisive battle against the Russians Alexander
is guided by the calculations of an astrolabe (Chelkow,ki, p. 38).

Conclusion
The extent to which such popular etymologies gained acceptance in informed
Muslim circles is revealed in the entry for Lab in Steingass' Persian-English
Dictionary, published in 1892. 1 Steingass lists the following meanings for liib:
"the sun; request; supplication; name of the son of Idris; also of the
inventor of the astrolabe; or of the son of a Greek King of the name of !star(?)".
In the last meaning given Istar is probably a corruption of as{ur. With the
identification of Liib as the son of As/ur we should bring this survey of
medieval notions about the origin of the Arabic term asfurliib to an end.
I. Steingau, p. 1110. The article a!/urliib in Lane's Arabic-Engli,h Lexicon, published in 1863,
is ba,ed on the remarks of al-Nuwayri and al-Firiizabadi (no,. 17 and 23). CC.Lane, I, 58, cited in
Gunther, I, p. 111 and Gandz, p. 475.

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01 r.f.J.::-J_o":/ ~! )-;1 if JS'_;,:.I terme Persan, qui veut dire levres des Etoiles; parce que c'est par cet Instru•
ment que les Etoiles se font entendre. D'autres disent, qu'il faut prononcer
.?~if W ~ l,...~1~ I,._.; ':I_;:..~ r-,a.-
J§' ill .r.:;;.:JIr.fJ.,_ 01 ':/I 1.J.:ii'.:)1..1 ' Astir lab, c'est a dire, connaissance des Etoiles, & c'est comme les Persans
J ~ 01J ~ I t...;-->L.., 1..1".J~ 4A.J,J if J). I if ~ 4-
J JI 01 t:,_,.:. :.?->
J apellent d'ordinaire cet Instrument-la; mais dans leurs livres & dans leurs
Ie~ons ils l'apellent Veza Koure, mot abrege de Veza el Koure, qui signifie
\~ ~b t\~l..u..:.,. ~ ~IJ .Y'J ~ o.}J ~...,.,...:..ii$' 4-il ""-PJ position de la Sphere, parce que cet Instrument & la projection des cercles
de la Sphere est un plan. C'est sans doute de ce terme Veza el Koure qu'est
{"""'_;':IoJ__,,...JI
o~I,. 0\J 0J~ 4-p~)I '-:'4) ..:...i\S'J'-:'":/)i..,-":/1~.,. d' ~~ venu le terme bar bare de V alzagore, qui se trouve dans Regiomontanus,
~I t.) r .Jj 4-il ('"~ OJ__,,...JI
.!JI;~ J w; .!..I.Lill
011- ~
J--<.!. 1$.?r J 'y\ & dans les auteurs qui l'ont devance, pour signifier }'Astrolabe.

~I ..l;-:. t{ ~~)I ~ ~ ..,_.;,

.Ji iJjj J t!' ~o_}:!IJ..,.o\1. ..:.,. J..:.i
J
<'.."')
.:...~\\ .J+1,.~
J.• ...lll ..)'r • c;:- <.>
J• ._.":/ji..,-'il
..k.J.'.1 •
0-" .).J..a.ill ui~ "--.ii JI ~
J~ \.!o~~ ~ JWI v.P4J ~\;S" iY ~.bi
LS.as,~ .b.,:. o.1~1J '-:' 'j Ji..,.':II if i ~I t!' ~ ~.J! J.1 IJ....lllJl.f (::~ l?" _,1]1
Yr'A if , .J~ : _;..1....J.I
J'i lr:~J u..,.J~ J.I IJ....lllJl.f t_:-!-11
~li t:°1).1 ~ J ~,._...
.JJ 0\S'J
~ ,j' ~J' .6l '-:''i)i..,-":/I ~"6J (.f'J '-:'":/ji..,-'il J ~J\; o--½i
. . . l?"_,hll.1~ )'I
~ ..,, <I►} ~- J ~~ ~ )i..,-1 0:.:.;.;;":I
i J;l;'iJ ($JL...,.i ?- c_...,":/ILY"
Jw ~ IJJ-½ (""t~ l~IJ '-:':/):..-1 r'il _;l..,a;~l!ll .WSJI ~;.,.. JjJ

;~..., c_l_,ll~ "!JUI ;;_}JI~ c_.L d' ;;J½'- ?_ 'i lf .Y'J i.J:l: 'i)i..,-1
4!'}11o~ _}:~I ,j• J__,IJ"!,UI il.r-'::!4 ~kll 04W..1 ~l.r-1 l+=-6-,IY.~-
0 _;JI j
••• .))l).1 if ..,_;l!ll ~:;~ :/4 u~ls>($.ill 1..1"
.J~ .Y' lr; ~I J

J; t J, C.Y,•ot , ~~'ii~~~~# J~I

Bibliography of Published Material and Bibliographical
Abbreviations
Jy'il if fi' ~ .,.._.
JI lr; J...,
~ 411..:..L.all~I J.I Jt; '-:''i_,h..'ilJ ...
Awwad K. Awwad, "nl-Astw,lab wa-ma ullifa fibi min kutub wa-rasa>il fi>J.•u~iir al-Islamiyo",
1..1"~ ('""'J.~ 0\.:.,.,.t;,~ .._..1J .l,.:.L.'-:' )IJ J!)• '-:'JI J-"' ~I ":--~I Sumer, 13 (1957), 154-178.

01.J~.,l...l
ol:>- JJ 41'11o~I,. ~-1 r' J:iJ ~li.JJ4 ~I r' '-:'":/ J..iJ iP al-Biruni Abu'l-Ray}:tan al-Biruni, Tamhid al-mustaqarr li-ma•na 1-mamarr, No. 3 in Rasa'il al-
Biruini, Hyderabad: Da'irat al-Ma•arif aJ.•Uthmdniya, 1948. Translation by M. Saffouri and A.
0'i u-!-ll 01.r.' ol:.,.,. ,.lhJI~J ~I 0y(,,.J ;;_;.J.1~~ '-:''i_,h..1 ($.r.,o...lll
~~ lfram, and commentary by E. S. Kennedy, AI-Biruni on Transiu (Beirut: American Univenity
of Beirut Oriental Series No. 32, 1959).
1..1".J:-~ ""-PJ if JJIJ ~,&:ii 0li.JJI 0~ u-!-ll {"""'I '-:''iJ 01j;ll {"""'I _}a.-1 al-Biruni 2 Abu'I-Ray};ian al-Biruni, Ifrad al-Maqal Ji amr al-.;:ilal, No. 2 in Ra,a'il al-Biruni
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m J
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2
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•
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