DOZY

dozy, reinhart pieter anne (1820-1883), dutch arabic scholar of french (huguenot) origin, was born at leiden in february 1820. the dozys, like so many other contemporary french families, emigrated to the low countries after the revocation of the edict of nantes, but some of the former appear to have settled in holland as early as 1647. dozy studied at the university of leiden, obtained the degree of doctor in 1844, was appointed an extraordinary professor of history in 1850, and professor in 1857. the first results of his extensive studies in oriental literature, arabic language and history, manifested themselves in 1847, when he published al-marrakushi's _history of the almohades_ (leiden, 2nd ed., 1881), which, together with his _scriptorum arabum loci de abbaditis_ (leiden, 1846-1863, 3 vols.), his editions of ibn-adhari's _history of africa and spain_ (leiden, 1848-1852, 3 vols.), of ibn-badrun's _historical commentary on the poem of ibn-abdun_ (leiden, 1848), and his _dictionnaire detaille des noms des vetements chez les arabes_ (amsterdam, 1845)--a work crowned by the dutch institute--stamped dozy as one of the most learned and critical arabic scholars of his day. but his real fame as a historian mainly rests on his great work, _histoire des mussulmans d'espagne, jusqu'a la conquete de l'andalousie par les almoravides, 711-1110_ (leiden, 1861; 2nd ed., ibid., 1881); a graphically written account of moorish dominion in spain, which shed new light on many obscure points, and has remained the standard work on the subject. dozy's _recherches sur l'histoire et la litterature de l'espagne pendant le moyen age_ (leiden, 2 vols., 1849; 2nd and 3rd ed., completely recast, 1860 and 1881) form a needful and wonderfully trenchant supplement to his _histoire des mussulmans_, in which he mercilessly exposes the many tricks and falsehoods of the monks in their chronicles, and effectively demolishes a good part of the cid legends. as an arabic scholar dozy stands well-nigh unsurpassed in his _supplement aux dictionnaires arabes_ (leiden, 1877-1881, 2 vols.), a work full of research and learning, a storehouse of arabic lore. to the same class belongs his _glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais, derives de l'arabe_, edited with dr w. h. engelmann of leipzig (leiden, 1866; 2nd ed., 1868), and a similar list of dutch words derived from the arabic. dozy also edited al makkari's _analectes sur l'histoire et la litterature des arabes d'espagne_ (leiden, 1855-1861, 2 vols.), and, in conjunction with his friend and worthy successor, professor de goeje, at leiden, idrisi's _description de l'afrique et de l'espagne_ (1866), also the _calendrier de cordoue de l'annee 961; texte arabe et ancienne traduction latine_ (leiden, 1874). _het islamisme_ (_islamism_; haarlem, 1863, 2nd ed., 1880; french translation) is a popular exposition of mahommedanism, of a more controversial character; and _de israelieten te mekka_ ("the israelites at mecca," haarlem, 1864) became the subject of a rather heated discussion in jewish circles. dozy died at leiden in may 1883. (h. ti.)