Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Weipert, Reinhard
Leiden
Brill
(823 words)
Abū Zayd Saʿīd b. Aws b. Thābit al-Anṣārī (122-215/739-830) was a famous Arab lexicographer and grammarian of the Basran school, who belonged to the Medina tribe of the Banū l-Khazraj. Facts about his life are scarce. We know that he was introduced to the science of language by Abū ʿAmr Ibn al-ʿAlāʾ (d. c.154-6/770-2) and that he transmitted from, among others, ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAwn (d. c. 151/768), Sulaymān al-Taymī (d. 143/760-1), and Ruʾba b. al-ʿAjjāj (