Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, Volume 3

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
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Publications & Services> Advanced Search> Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, Volume 3

Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, Volume 3

General Editor: Kees Versteegh Associate Editors: Mushira Eid, Alaa Elgibali, Manfred Woidich, Andrzej Zaborski

Encyclopedic Work

Available
Publication year: 2007


Series:	Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, 3
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 14475 0
ISBN-10:	90 04 14475 7

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	viii, 742 pp.

List price:	€ 198.00 / US$ 267.00

Table of contents

Latin America
Latin Loanwords
Leveling
Lexical Variation: Modern Standard Arabic
Lexicography: Bilingual Dictionaries
Lexicography: Classical Arabic
Lexicography: Monolingual Dictionaries
Lexicon: Matrix and Etymon Model
Libya
Lingua Franca
Linguistics and Arabic
Lisān
Literacy
Locatives
Luġa
Māḍī/Muḍāriʿ
Mafʿūl
Mafʿūl Fīhi
Maġrebī
Mahmūl
Majāz
Majhūra/Mahmūsa
Malegasy
Malayalam
Mali
Malta
Maltese
Maʿnā
Maṣdar
Mauritania
Mawḍūʿ
Meccan Arabic
Mechanisms of Linguistic Change
Media
Media Arabic
Metathesis
Meter
Middle Arabic
Middle Verbs
Mimation
Minimalism
Modal Verbs
Modern Standard Arabic
Mood (Arabic Dialects)
Mood (Standard Arabic)
Moroccan Arabic
Morocco
Morphology
Muḥaqqaq
Multilingualism
Muštarak
Mutarādif
Najdi Arabic
Nasalization
Nastaʿlīq
Nasx
Nationalism and Language
Nawāsix
Negation
Negev Arabic
Neo-Aramaic
Nigeria
Nisba
Nominal Clauses
Nominalization
North America
Northwest Arabian Arabic
Northwest Semitic Languages
Noun
Noun Phrase
Nubian
Number
Numerals
Nunation
Object, Absolute
Obligatory Contour Principle
Old Arabic (Epigraphic)
Omani Arabic
Optimality Theory
Orality
Ottoman Empire
Pakistan
Palaeography
Palatalization
Palestinian Arabic
Paronomasia
Participle
Parts of Speech
Passive
Passive (Syntax)
Pausal Forms
Performatives
Persian
Persian Loanwords
Personal Pronoun (Arabic Dialects)
Personal Pronoun (Standard Arabic)
Phonetics
Phonological Merger
Phonological Split
Phonology
Phonology: metrical
Phonotactics
Phraseology
Pidgin Arabic: Bongor Arabic
Pidginization
Poetic Koine
Poetic License
Polarity
Politeness
Political Discourse and Language
Possession
Pragmatics
Predicate
Pre-Islamic Arabic
Prepositions
Presentatives
Pro-drop
Pronominalization
Proper Names
Prosody
Prothetic Vowel
Proverb
Pseudodual
Pseudoverb
Punctuation

Brill is delighted to announce the third volume of the Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. A unique collaboration of over hundreds of scholars from around the world, the Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics covers all relevant aspects of the study of Arabic and deals with all levels of the language (pre-Classical Arabic, Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic vernaculars, mixed varieties of Arabic).

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