Al-Anisan
Al-Anīsān is an Indigenous Arabian asterism. Name variants are Al-Ayibsan and Al-Baysan.
Etymology and History
Spelling Variants
Based on classical Arabic sources,[1] the name Al-Aybisan, meaning "the two joints (bones) of Aries", has also been recorded for the Alpha and Beta stars of Triangulum, while "Al-Anisan" may be a variant or alternative spelling of this name:
- al-Ayibsān.
- Bodleian Library, Marsh 144 – A manuscript of Ṣuwar al-Kawākib by al-Ṣūfī, dated ca. 400 AH, contains the name
- Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul – Lala Mustafa Pasha Collection 2698 – A copy of Ibn al-Ṣūfī’s Urjūza, dated 718 AH (copied from an earlier version dated 519 AH).
- al-Baysān, which could be a textual or phonetic variant of the same root:
- Ibn Sīda, al-Mukhaṣṣaṣ, vol. 9 – Printed in Bulaq, Egypt (1319 AH);
A more detailed discussion of these names appears in Dr. Khalid al-ʿAjjājī’s commentary on Urjūzat al-Kawākib.
Identifications & Maps
Al-Anīsān in Adams (2018),[2]
Al-Anīsān per Khalid AlAjaji
Al-Anīsān in Laffitte (2012[3], 2025[4]).
| αβ Tri | al-Anīsān | the Two Friends | Qutayba |
| al-Ḫiṣaṣ | the Notables | Ḏ. man. |
Discussion
IAU Working Group Star Names
Weblinks
Reference
Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdallah b. Muslim. 1956. Kitāb al-anwāʾ (fī mawāsim al-ʿArab). Hyderabad: Maṭbaʿat Majlis Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyya.
Kunitzsch, Paul. 1961. Untersuchungen zur Sternnomenklatur der Araber. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
al-Ṣūfī, Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUmar. 1981. Kitāb ṣuwar al-kawākib al-thamāniya wa al-arbaʿīn. Beirut: Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīda.
- ↑ Bodleian Library, Marsh 144 – A manuscript of Ṣuwar al-Kawākib by al-Ṣūfī, dated ca. 400 AH
- ↑ Danielle Adams, Rain Stars Set, Lunar Stations Rise, 2018
- ↑ Roland Laffitte, Le ciel des Arabes, 2012
- ↑ Roland Laffitte, Nommer les étoile: 500 noms hérités des Arabes - Apport de l'uranographie arabe, Orient des Mots, 2025 (online)
