K'ufices rcspeciing ISeiv Books, 357 



much critical skill, and a knowledge far from superficial of 

 the languages in which they are wriiten. 



Secondly, it is impossible to unite all lliese materials;—^ 

 the number of booksellers who possess them is not very 

 considerable, and but a small part of them falls to the lot 

 of each. Some even of the most essential documents do 

 not appear to have as yet arrived in Europe, or are alto- 

 gether unknown. 



Thirdly, the Orientalists having but a small number of 

 proper names, the same name, Abdallah, for example, or 

 Mahomed, Ali, Hassan, Hosain, &;c., is necessarily com- 

 mon to a very great number of men. In order to remedy 

 the- confusion which would result from this homonyRiy, 

 there is added to the name of each, 1st, a surname (conya) 

 taken from the name of his eldest son, as Abou-Mahomed, 

 Aboul-Hassan, (father of Mahomed, father of Hassan): 

 2d, the name of his father, and frequently that of liis 

 grandfather : 3d, >. surname taken fiom the place where he 

 was born, or where he lived, as Ispahan!, Baconi, Bagdadi, 

 &c, : 4th, an honorary title (lakab) — this is peculiar to the 

 cadis, or their assessors, llio imans, the sheiks, the doc- 

 tors, and monks — such as Boha-eddin, (trie splendour of re- 

 ligion,) Djelal-cddin, (the glory of religion,) Tadj eddin, 

 (the crown of religion.) In the order of these names and 

 surnames, the honorary title is generally lirsl ; then comes 

 the surname (conya) properly so Called, then the name fol- 

 lowed by that of the father and crandfathcr, and lastly, the 

 surname taken from the place of birth : soinciirnes the same 

 person bears several names of this last description. Thus, iu 

 order to designate completely the celebrated physician Abd- 

 allatif, the author of a great number of works, he is lh«s 

 described: Mo;iwaffik-eddin Abou-Mahomtd Abd-allatif 

 Ben Yousoft' Mauscli Bagdadi. Muuwaffik-eddin (the pro- 

 tector of religion) is his honorary title; Abou-Mahomed 

 (father of Maiinnu't) is his surname, taken from the name 

 of his eldest son ; Aixl-allatif is his own name; Ben Vousofi', 

 (son of YousotT.) the surnan)e taken from the name of his 

 father; Mauscli, from Mosul, Bagdadi, frrom Bagdad, are 



Z 3 surnames. 



