É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.

HOPKINS, Simon: The Language Studies of Ignaz Goldziher

SIMON HOPKINS 547). In contrast to the marvellous, detailed book reviews he produced on other subjects, his reviews in these fields were generally rather brief and apparently afforded him little pleasure.'

3

4 As a rule, he was not particularly attracted by such subjects and did not contribute very much by way of independent observation. His independent contributions were devoted to less hackneyed topics, on which he could bring to bear in an original way the fruits of his colossal reading in Arabic sources and his unique familiarity with the highways and byways of Islamic civilisation. Hence we find him writing on such varied and original subjects as gestures and sign-language among the Arabs (nos. 119, 288 = GS II 155, V 84), the periphrasis of numerals (no. 185 = GS III 433), titular epithets of the form dü + dual noun (no. 217 = GS IV 195 with supplement in no. 378 = GS V 469), polemical nicknames for the early caliphs among the shiites (no. 231 = GS IV 295) and the onomastic practice of taking both heavenly and earthly names (no. 376 = GS V 463). Iiis interest in idioms and other types of formulaic expression produced a number of highly original studies, for example on the development of certain metaphors from concrete Arab custom (no. 94 = GS II 108) and on hyperbole in Arabic (nos. 156, 241 = GS 111 33, IV 396).

1" Within the wider field of phraseology, the study of oaths, cultic language, nomina barbara and magic formulae held a particular fascination for Goldziher. Among his studies in this area are articles on the ritual formula j ^ f*^

1 (no. 176 = GS III 342), on Arabic amen-locutions (no. 286 = GS V 73) and on various other Arabic formulae of asseveration and magic (nos. 238, 296, 313 = GS" IV 345, V 105, 202). It was with a study in the overlapping fields of magic and prayer that he chose to honour his friend Nöldeke on his seventieth birthday; Goldziher's contribution to the Orientalische Studien Theodor Nöldeke gewidmet (Giessen 1 906)

13

6 I 303-329 IS entitled 'Zauberelemente im islamischen Gebet' = GS V 32. The practice and vocabulary of magic were a constant interest of Goldziher's; valuable information on this topic sometimes turns up at unexpected places in his writings, for example in an illuminating footnote on darb al-mandal "fortune-telling" casually offered during the course of a review of Seybold's Geschichte von Sul und Schumul, ZDMG 57 (1903), 406 n.i. Goldziher also prepared, but never published, an edition of al-Najirami's 'Aymän al-'Arab fi al-Jähiliyya,

v l a composition to which he devoted most of his 13

4 Tagebuch 204. 13

5 Cf. the references to other works of Goldziher in H. Reckendorf, Arabische Syntax, Heidelberg 1921, 328 (on idioms of totality). 13

6 It may be noted in passing that Goldziher was the prime mover behind the organization of the Nöldeke Festschrift (Tagebuch 235, 250 and de Goeje's preface vii). He reviewed the book in DLZ17 (1906), 1050-1052. 13

7 Ungarische Jahrbücher 13(1933), 372 (Über Eid und Schwur): De Somogyi, JRAS 1935, 151; S. Löwinger in Actes du XXT congrés des orientalistes. Paris - 23-31 Juillet 1948, Paris 1949, 120 = Genizah Publications in Memory of Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann 1

. [N psnp TO], ed. S Löwinger & A. Scheiber, Budapest 1949, ix. [Goldziher's manuscript. 1 18