Some Linguistic and Stylistic Observations on a Yemeni Late Judaeo-Arabic Text – Ḥabšūš's Nineteenth-Century Ru’yā al-Yaman1

Abstract In 1870, a Ṣan‘ānī coppersmith by the name Ḥabšūš acted as the guide for the French orientalist Joseph Halévy during his expedition in the Jawf, the north-eastern Zaydī tribal area of the Yemen, Najrān and Mārib in order to collect and copy pre-Islamic inscriptions. In 1893, Ḥabšūš was persuaded by the Austrian scholar Eduard Glaser, whose guide he had also been, to put into writing an account of his journeyings with Halévy 23 years before. Ḥabšūš began his narrative in Hebrew, but was later prevaled upon by Glaser to finish the text in Arabic. The result is this fascinating Literary Mixed Arabic text which, although translated into Hebrew, Italian and French, has been as yet the subject of no in-depth linguistic study. Such a study is now under way which includes also by way of comparison a contemporary Muslim text written in Literary Mixed Arabic. This article highlights in thirteen passages some of the interesting linguistic and stylistic features of Ḥabšūš's text which will eventually form part of the ongoing study referred to above.