Daniel the Annotator: notes on Greek, Syriac and Arabic glosses in the manuscripts copied by Daniel of Mardin
Résumé
This paper examines the Greek and Arabic annotations in the manuscripts copied by the Syriac-Orthodox monk and scholar Daniel of Mardin (d. after 1382), aiming at sketching a pathway of language and writing lerning, between South-Eastern Turkey and Egypt in the Syriac-Orthodox milieu. The analysis shows how Daniel, native of Tur Abdin, acquired prorgessive proficiency both in Greek and Arabic writing in the course of a 17-year stay in Egypt, becoming one of the most famous Arabic annotators and commentators of grammatical, philosophical and theological works of his day. The Egyptian monastic communities hosting turabdinian students and correligionists turn out to have played a role in the development of multilingual skills of Syriac-Orthodox scribes in the second half of the 14th cent.