Ignazio Lomellini (born c. 1560 in Genoa, died 20 May 1645 in Rome) was a Genoese Jesuit priest. He was a member of the illustrious Lomellini noble family in Genoa.

Ignazio Lomellini
Bornc. 1560
Died20 May 1645
OccupationJesuit priest
Known forTranslating the Quran into Latin
ReligionChristianity
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
WritingsAnimadversiones, Notae ac Disputationes in Pestilentem Alcoranum (MS A-IV-4) (1622)

Lomellini is known as the author of the little-known Animadversiones, Notae ac Disputationes in Pestilentem Alcoranum (MS A-IV-4), a 1622 manuscript that is the oldest surviving example of a European translation of the Quran which also includes the complete original Arabic text.[1] The manuscript, written in Latin, was previously owned by Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy and has been held at the University of Genoa library since 1846. Its rediscovery was noted by Giorgio Levi Della Vida in a 1947 article.[2][3]

The manuscript's marginalia contain detailed verse-by-verse commentaries of the original Arabic text. At the time, the Latin translation, though not without problems, was the most accurate translation ever written in a European language. The manuscript was dedicated to Cardinal Alessandro Orsini.[4]

Lomellini died on 20 May 1645 in Rome.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Shore, Paul (2023). A Baroque Jesuit's Encounter with the Qur'an. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-12044-9.
  2. ^ Giorgio Levi della Vida, “Il Padre Ludovico Marracci e le opere sue negli studi islamici,” Atti dell’ Accademia Lucchese di Scienze Lettere ed Arti n. s. 37 (1947): 105-25; at 124, note 33.
  3. ^ a b Shore, Paul (2017). "An Early Jesuit Encounter with the Qur'an: Ignazio Lomellini's Animadversiones, Notae ac Disputationes in Pestilentem Alcoranum". American Journal of Islam and Society. 34 (1): 1–22. doi:10.35632/ajis.v34i1.272. ISSN 2690-3741.
  4. ^ Shore, Paul (2024). "A Solitary Jesuit Scholar and the Qur'an: The Translation and Commentary of Ignazio Lomellini". The Qur’an in Rome. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-109692-6.