GERMANUS, Domenicus.

by Domenicus Germanus

£2,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

First edition of the first Arabic-Italian grammar and phrasebook, produced by the Propaganda Fide press in Rome formerly in the library of the Franciscan mission in Egypt. In 1630, Friar Paolo da Lodi was nominated the first prefectus missionis Aegypti. He [...] took up residence in the Venetian embassy and succeeded in setting up residence for the friars in a house just outside the diplomatic compound. [...] The friary of Cairo became the seat of the prefect, and at the end of the century, an institute for the study of Oriental languages was opened there. In 1632 the Congregation de Propaganda Fide established a Franciscan prefecture in Ethiopia [...]. Upon their arrival in Egypt, they approached the Coptic patriarchate and visited the monasteries of St Antony and St Macarius to perfect their knowledge of Arabic' (Van Zeelst). The Polish Franciscan Domenicus Germanus (1588-1670) was a missionary and teacher of Arabic in Rome, at the Monastery of San Pietro in Montorio. Fabrica was intended as an introduction to colloquial Arabic in relation to Italian, for Germanus own students and future missionaries in the Middle East. He begins by stating that those who wish to learn a foreign language must needs become children again ; in particular, for Arabic, it is important to pronounce it correctly, due to the numerous difficult letters. The work begins from the basics letter forms, pronunciation, diacritics followed by the Holy Father, the Commandments, Salve Regina, the Confession

• Binding: Hardcover

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