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The Picture of the World inal-Bīrūnī’s ‘Pharmacognosy’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2008

Gotthard Strohmaier
Gotthard Strohmaier*
Affiliation:
Wisbyer Str. 8, 10439 Berlin, Germany
*
E-mail:[email protected]
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Abstract

In his huge ‘Pharmacognosy’ the universal scholaral-Bīrūnī (973–1048) equates, in1116 paragraphs, about 4500 names of medicinal plants, and also foodstuffs, in27 languages. Before the introduction of an internationally recognised botanicalnomenclature this kind of literature served a practical need.Al-Bīrūnī’s work is now a mine ofinformation for the linguist and also for world history. It testifies, forexample, to the fact that the spoken Greek vernacular of the time had becomealready quite different from the classical language. Thus, the Byzantineemperors in their efforts to defend their state helped to conserve a cultivationof the humanities, which would have disappeared under Muslim rule. In thearticle on ‘capers’,al-Bīrūnī also offers a rare insight into aseemingly relaxed bit of small talk between Constantinus VII and an Arabambassador.

Type
Focus: Pharmacy in Islam
Information
European Review , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , May 2008 , pp. 241 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2008

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