e Early Islamic Grammatical Tradition Edited by Ramzi Baalbaki. (= e Formation of the Classical Islamic World, 36). London: Ashgate Variorum, 2007. Pp L, 365. ISBN: 978-0-86078-718-1, GBP 80 / USD 154 (HB). Reviewed by Kinga Dévényi (Corvinus University of Budapest) e volume under review is part of the reference series e Formation of the Classical Islamic World which may give a very important impetus to Islamic stud- ies. is has been proven by its earlier volumes which all satisfied a long felt need. e present volume intends to give an overall picture of European research con- ducted in the last decades in the field of the so-called Arab ‘national grammar’ (Nationalgrammatik). Its publication has been long awaited with great expecta- tions, since, although there are some excellent brief summaries of the history of Arabic grammar by Kees Versteegh (1987) and Michael G. Carter (1990), a great need was felt for a more detailed presentation. First, I should like to make some general remarks concerning the principles and practice followed in the selection of the 16 articles in the volume under review. Most of the papers selected by the editor, Ramzi Baalbaki, are distinguished and significant contributions to their chosen field of study. is notwithstanding, the choice of chapters was perhaps not as judicious as it could have been. Although the general editor’s Preface acknowledges that some articles have been chosen in each volume only to illustrate the development of the scholarly studies in a given field, as a reader I incline to question this editing policy in a volume of only 365 pages which is intended to encompass such a large field as the development of Arabic grammar till the middle of the tenth century. One cannot help thinking that studies of only historical importance occupy the place of more relevant and important articles. is assumption seems especially valid in the case of otherwise interesting articles which were received with scepticism even at the time of their first appearance. In the present volume at least three articles belong to this category, those speculating about the origin of the Arabic grammar, namely, Chapters 4, 5 and 6. Of the three only Talmon’s seems to me to merit to be repub- lished here. e articles dealing with the supposed but never proven Greek and In- dian influence on Arabic grammar seem to be dispensable. Chap. 4: “On the Greek Influence on Arabic Grammar” by Frithiof Rundgren deals with a hypothesis that has been closed for some time. As for the Sanskrit influence, it is questioned even by the author herself in Chap. 6: “Indian Influence on Early Arab Phonetics — or Coincidence?” by Vivien Law. However, it must be admitted that the main target of the editing policy was clearly focused more on the history of research in the last decades than on Mediaeval Arab grammar itself: “e articles which make up this Historiographia Linguistica xxxiv:2/3 (2007), 410–417. issn 0302–5160 / e-issn 1569–9781 © John Benjamins Publishing Company pennsylvaniapa/1 IP: 165.123.34.86 On: Tue, 26 Jun 2018 06:05:26