Ibn Jinni

Ibn Jinni (Abu al-Fath Uthman ibn Jinni) was one of the most original thinkers on the Arabic language. He was born in Mosul, in northern Iraq, around 932 CE (the date is disputed; some reference works place his birth c. 941/2 CE), and died in Baghdad in 1002 CE (392 AH). On his father's side he is reported to have been of Byzantine Greek (Rumi) descent: the early biographical tradition holds that a forebear was a freed Greek slave in the service of a notable household, though the sources differ on whether this was his father or his grandfather and the surrounding genealogical details are not securely established.

He is best remembered as a grammarian and as an early theorist of how Arabic words are built (morphology, sarf) and pronounced (phonology). His major book, al-Khasais ("The Distinctive Features"), reflects philosophically on the origins and inner logic of language. He also wrote one of the first commentaries on the celebrated poet al-Mutanabbi, with whom he was personally acquainted.

His formation is firmly tied to the leading grammarian Abu Ali al-Farisi (died 987 CE), under whom he studied for many years; after al-Farisi's death Ibn Jinni was regarded as a foremost authority of his generation, active in the Iraqi scholarly milieu of the Buyid dynasty.

Some later accounts associate him with Mutazili theology (a rationalist school of kalam); this is reported rather than certain, and is a matter of attribution. The fine details of his travels between Mosul and Baghdad are not precisely documented.