Okay, wow, I found a place where the #medieval #Syriac author Ishaq #Shbadnaya misinterpreted the dictionary of Bar Bahlul.

Shbadnaya uses the term Peutah (ܦܘܛܗ), which he glosses as "Matthew the Evangelist." The relationship between the two was opaque even after I looked up the entry in Bar Bahlul's dictionary (pictured).

In the 1860s Robert Payne-Smith published an early Syriac lexicon, based in part on Bar Bahlul's dictionary. Payne-Smith helpfully identified Greek words for as many of Bar Bahlul's entries as he could. Payne-Smith's entry is pictured as well.

So Bar Bahlul included the Greek word πότε in his dictionary, defined correctly as "when?" But Shbadnaya incorrectly interpreted the question "when?" as the name Matthew (one letter off in #Syriac, the exact same letters in #Arabic), and specified that he meant Matthew the Evangelist...

A misunderstanding over five hundred years ago.

In a fifteenth-century #Syriac poem by Ishaq #Shbadnaya, in a section naming many musical instruments, there is the unusual word ܛܪܝܢܐܘܣ (TRYN'WS, with uncertain vowels), which is glossed in Syriac as "It is made with 24 strings," and in #Arabic with الشبقان (apparently nonsense).

What's going on here?

As usual, I turned to the tenth-century dictionary of Bar Bahlul, where I found an entry with some of the exact same words: "that which is made with 24 strings, and in Arabic is it named الشلياق." This makes clear again that Bar Bahlul is Shbadnaya's source, but the Arabic ya' was misread as ba' (dropping a dot) and the end of the word got mangled.

What is al-Shalyaq? It is the Arabic name of the constellation Lyra, "the lyre."

The only remaining question is where ܛܪܝܢܐܘܣ came from. I would guess a #Greek prefix tri-, but there doesn't seem to be a Greek word "trinaos." I'm open to suggestions!

It feels like a major breakthrough when one finally understands a line of #medieval #poetry.

I'm editing a #Syriac poem by Isaac #Shbadnaya and one line was stumping me. It addresses opponents of Jesus, referring to his resurrection:
ܐܢ ܨܒܝܬܘܢ ܘܐܠܐ ܩܡ ܠܗ ܘܐܢܬܘܢ ܡܟܐܪܝܢ

I initially translated this "If you want, and if he did not arise, and you are reproached."
But that doesn't make much sense, because there is an "if" clause, an "and if" clause, and then an "and," with no apparent apodosis ("then" clause).

So I thought I'd have to set it down and come back to it.

And then it occurred to me: ܘܐܠܐ could be "and if not," and the apodosis could begin with ܩܡ ܠܗ. Indeed, ܐܢ... ܘܐܢ means "whether... or..." So this line means "Whether you want it or not, he arose and you are reproached." That makes perfect sense in the context (which is similarly aggressive).