This work brings to completion Zonta's studies on Arabic philosophical terminology started over twenty years ago with the publication of Un dizionario filosofico ebraico del XIII secolo. L'introduzione al «Sefer De'ot ha-Filosofim» di Shem Tob ibn Falaquera (Quaderni di Henoch. Turin: Zamorani, 1992). The two aims of the book are stated in the preface (pp. 9–10). First, it documents in detail, especially on comparative grounds, the well-known and thoroughly researched thesis according to which the relationship between Arabic and Greek philosophy depended upon the mediation of the Syriac philosophical and religious literature and translations from Greek into Syriac carried out by Christians. Second, it introduces an intriguing and hitherto rather neglected thesis: that of the possible influence on philosophical Arabic terminology of the languages which convey the culture not only of the Near East, a heavily Hellenized area, but also of the Middle East and Asia. The Islamic world had cultural relationships with these eastern regions beginning in the eighth century. An essay on the status quaestionis of these two issues opens the volume.
Zonta refers in his analysis of the philosophical Arabic terminology to: Greek, Syriac, Classical and Medieval Latin, Classical Armenian, Classical Georgian, Mandaean, Coptic, Ancient Nubian, Geʿez or Classical Ethiopic, pre-Islamic South Arabian, Akkadian, Biblical Hebrew, Ancient Persian, Middle Persian, Parthian, Pahlavi, Sogdian, Chorasmian language, Saka language, Tocharian, Sanskrit, Turkish languages, Classical Tibetan, Classical Mongolian and Medieval Chinese. At the end of the introductory essay he provides a brief bibliography of all the dictionaries and the lexicons he consulted (pp. 21–33). A more extensive bibliography, relating not only to linguistics but also to the history of philosophy, features in the footnotes of the pages which are dedicated to each term examined.
In the lexicon Zonta presents a sample of thirty-seven terms on which he conducts his comparative, historical-linguistic study: Accident (συμβεβηχός, accidens, ʿaraḍ), Affection (πάσχειν, pati, infiʿāl), Soul (ψυχή, anima, nafs), Act (ἐνέργεια, actus, fiʿl), Action (ποιεῖν, facere, fiʿl), Cause (αἰτία, causa, ʿilla/sabab), Body (σῶμα, corpus, badan/ğism/ğirm), Definition (ὁρισμός, definitio, ḥadd), Difference (διαφορά, differentia, faṣl), Demonstration (ἀπόδειξις, demonstratio, burhān), Disposition (διάθεσις, dispositio, ḥāl/waḍ), Division (διαίρεσις, divisio, qisma), Element (στοιχεῖον, elementum, usṭuqas/ʿunṣur), Existence (οὐσία/ὕπαρξις, exsistentia, wuğūd), Essence (τὸ τι ἦν εἶναι, essentia, huwīya/ḏāt), Aim (τέλος, finis, ġāya), Form (μορφή/εἰδος, forma, ṣūra), Genre (γένος, genus, ğins), Intellect (νοῦς, intellectus, ʿaql), Limit (πέρας, terminus, nihāya), Matter (ὕλη, materia, ṭīna/ʿunṣur/madda/hayūlā), Motion (κίνησις, motus, ḥaraka), Nature (φύσις, natura, ṭabīʿa), Necessity (ἀνάγκη, necessitas, ḍarūra), Having (ἕξις, habitus, malaka), Power (δύναμις, potentia, qūwa), Principle (ἀρχή, principium, mabdaʾ), Privation (στέρησις, privatio, ʿadam), Property (ἴδιον, proprium, ḫāṣṣa), Quality (ποιότης, qualitas, kayfīya), Quantity (ποσότης, quantitas, kammīya), Quiddity (τὸ τί ἐστιν, quidditas, māhīya), Relation (πρός τι, relatio, iḍāfa), Sensation (αἴσθησις, sensus, ḥass), Syllogism (συλλογισμός, syllogismus, qiyās), Substance (οὐσία, substantia, ğawhar), Species (εἶδος, species, nawʿ).
Zonta presents his conclusions in “La terminologia filosofica araba medievale: un ponte tra Oriente e Occidente” (pp. 289–97). He claims that the Arabic philosophical terminology was not the result of a simple and direct transmission of Greek terminology, but presents many differences and discontinuities with respect to Greek. Second, he maintains that the Arabic philosophical terminology was deeply influenced not only by the Syriac philosophical terminology of the fifth–seventh centuries, but also by the no less significant terminology of the Iranian languages and, directly or indirectly, by Sanskrit. On the line of this argument, Zonta observes that in his sample of thirty-seven terms there are four or five cases of evident loans from Greek, but there are also five, perhaps seven, words which are literally taken according to the meaning and in a more or less adapted phonetic-morphological form from languages such as Middle Persian or from apparently even more geographically distant languages such as Tocharian and Sanskrit (p. 291). Even taking into account the limited sample of terms, I do not think that a small number of loanwords from Greek allows one to minimize the influence of the Greek language on the formation of the Arabic technical lexicon for philosophy. The effort of translators into Arabic was to render the concepts of the Greek philosophical texts that they went on to translate. The translators' aim was to translate the words insofar as they convey a philosophical meaning and a philosophical doctrine. They had recourse to loanwords, especially at the beginning of the translation movement, only when they could not extend analogically Arabic terms, or terms of different Eastern origin that the Arabic language had incorporated. The model for this approach in the study of Arabic philosophical terminology remains Gerhard Endress and Dimitri Gutas' Greek and Arabic Lexicon. In masterfully investigating the assimilation of the concepts of Greek philosophy in its translation into Arabic, Endress and Gutas' lexicon, in its printed and online forms, displays for every Arabic word the various correspondences in Greek, according to the different occurrences in the available texts. Thus, Zonta's criticism (pp. 289–90) seems unfair.
This notwithstanding, Zonta's book opens new perspectives for further study: it is very interesting to investigate the debts of the Arabic language with respect to the other Eastern languages in order to appreciate the efforts of translators from ‘Abbāsid Baghdad in assimilating Greek philosophy.
In the last pages of his volume, Zonta mentions the role of the four major pre-Islamic religions of the Middle East and Asia – Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Christianity – in creating cultural contamination and linguistic connections. Zonta's study ends with a comprehensive index of terms organized according to all the different languages he considers, an index of ancient sources, and an index of ancient, medieval and modern authors.
