LATIN-ARABIC MEDICAL GLOSSARY
KIRAM, Zeki Hasmet.
Vocabularium anatomiae latine-arabice. [Qāmūs al-ta¬šrīḥ Lātīnī-‘Arabī].
Berlin, Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag, 1923.
8vo, pp. 84, [2], [10, advertisements]; text in Arabic and Latin throughout; some light uniform browning, but otherwise clean and fresh; in the original printed wrappers, ownership inscription to inside of front wrapper.
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Vocabularium anatomiae latine-arabice. [Qāmūs al-ta¬šrīḥ Lātīnī-‘Arabī].
First edition of an uncommon glossary of anatomical terms in Latin with corresponding translation in Arabic, intended for Arabic-speaking medical students studying in European universities, by army officer turned Berlin publicist, arms dealer, and Muslim activist Zeki Kiram (1886–1946).
This Latin-Arabic glossary, together with the Latin-Turkish one, were the first published works of the newly established Morgen- und Abendland-Verlag (an advertisement for which is to be found at the end of the volume, alongside advertisements for, among other things, Zeiss microscopes, and the manufacturers and retailers of various types of medical equipment), a publishing house and bookshop founded by Kiram in partnership with his wife Gertrud Neuendorff (1886–1983).
‘Zekî Hishmat-Bey Kirâm (1886–1946) was a former Syrian officer in the Turkish army. He was transferred to Berlin for medical treatment after being wounded during World War I. After his settlement in Germany, he established himself as a Muslim publicist and took a prominent position in Berlin (1920s–1940s). The Berlin of Kirâm’s time witnessed a lengthy history of Muslim émigré activism, boasting numerous Muslim publications and established Muslim institutions. Besides, Kirâm played a rather significant role as an agent in Germany’s arms deals with the Muslim world through his mediation with the authorities of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan’ (Umar Riyad, ‘From an Officer in the Ottoman Army to a Muslim Publicist and Armament Agent in Berlin’, Bibliotheca Orientalis 2006, p. 238).
Kiram studied dentistry at the Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität, and in addition to his medical and publishing interests, he was president of the Berlin branch of the General Islamic Congress, a prolific pamphleteer, and later, an agent dealing with arms exports to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan in the late 1930s. For a survey of Kiram’s life and activities, see Umar Riyad, ‘From an Officer in the Ottoman Army to a Muslim Publicist and Armament Agent in Berlin’, Bibliotheca Orientalis 2006, pp. 235-268.
OCLC finds four copies in the US, at Columbia, NYPL, NLM, Hebrew Union College, two in Germany, one in Sweden, and one in the Netherlands.
