Sibawaihi

Related Category: Language and Linguistics: Biographies

(sēbäwīhē), c.760–793, Persian grammarian, considered the most important Arabic grammarian. His book al-Kitah fi'l nahwi is the first complete Arabic grammar, upon which all other Arabic grammars are based. It classified words according to function and established rules for vowel endings. The work is filled with quotations from poetry, prose, proverbs, and the Qur'an.