Al-Aybasan

al-Aybasān (الأيبسان) is an Indigenous Arabian asterism. Name variants are Al-Anīsān (الأنيسان) and Al-Baysan.

Etymology and History

A page from the manuscript related to the constellation Triangulum from Ṣuwar al-Kawākib by al-Ṣūfī, belonging to the Marsh 144 manuscript at the Bodleian Library, where the names of Alpha and Beta Trianguli are mentioned as "al-Ayibasān".

Spelling Variants

Based on classical Arabic sources, 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 الأيبسان.
  • 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.

Transformation

		Al-Anīsān (الأنيسان)	al-Ayibsān (الأيبسان)	Al-Ubaysān (no meaning)	Al-Unṯayān (no meaning)
	Ibn Qutayba(al-Anwāʾ fī Mawāsim al-ʿarab)	x
	Ibn Sīda (al-Muḫaṣṣaṣ, 9th book)			x
	Al-Marzūqī (al-Azmina wa al-Amkina)				x
~1010	Bodleian Library MS. Marsh 144		x
1318	Urjuzat ibn al-Ṣūfī's Poem of the Stars,		x
1319	ibn Sīda			x
	al-Marzūqī	x			x
~1270	Libros del saber (1262-1279)	x
1834/5	Sédillo (1834/5)	x
1959	Kunitzsch (1959: 37, No 12)	x

Identifications & Maps

al-Aybasān per Khalid AlAjaji

The Arabian Ram (al-Hamal), CC BY Khalid Al-Ajaji (2025)

I believe that “Al-Anīsān” - Arabic (الأنيسان) is a scribal error that went undetected for a very very long time. The correct name for the two stars α,β Tri is “al-Aybasān” - Arabic (الأيبسان).

For Ibn Qutayba, the editors said in a footnote that the word in the manuscript was without dots (n, i, or b letters all have the same shape but n has a dot over, the letter ya (i) has two dots under and b has one dot under). I inspected the manuscript myself and found the word without dots. The editors of Ibn Qutayba manuscript said that correcting the word to be “Al-Anīsān” is according to the edition of al-Ṣūfī book. This edition of al-Ṣūfī book was based mainly on the manuscript of Ulug Beg MS 5036 of BNF, where the name was without dots.

For ibn Sīda, the name “Al-Ubaysān” – Arabic (الأبيسان) has no meaning. The two letters يـ (ya) and   بـ(b) have been switched and the dots were confused. The original should be “al-Aybasān” - Arabic (الأيبسان).

For al-Marzūqī printed book (Dār al-Maʿārif al-ʿuṯmāniya), the whole edition is full of errors and is not reliable, so we cannot trust that “ Al-Unṯayān” is a good reading of what was in the manuscript.

Another edition of al-Marzūqī (al-Azmina wa al-Amkina) by Dr. Moḥammad Nayef al-Dulaymī is based on the edition of Dār al-Maʿārif al-ʿuṯmāniya. Dr. al-Dulaymī tried to correct the errors on the first edition by comparing the text with other references and lexicons. He corrected “Al-Unṯayān” to be “Al-Anīsān”. His source was Dozy, Reinhart, Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes. We find there : الأنيسان : deux étoiles du Triangle, Sédillot 132, Alf. Astr. I, 55. Dozy is referring to Sédillo (1834/5):

• La boréale des Anisaine, ou boréale de la base du Triangle.
• L'australe des Anisaine, ou australe de la base du Triangle.

And to the Libros del saber de astronomía del Rey Alfonso X de Castilla, Tomo I, 55:

• “et en aráuiguo almucalec. et a en esta figura cuatro estrellas. et es la primera en la cabeça del triángulo. et dízenle en aráuiguo raçalmucelet. que quier dezir la cabeça del triángulo. La segunda es la delantrera de las tres que son en ell fondon. et llaman á estas dos estrellas en aráuiguo alanicen.”

These two resources are dated ~ 1262-1279 AD and indicate that the printed material mentioning Al-Anīsān does not come from early sources.

The name "al-Aybasān" (Arabic: الأيبسان) appears in two key manuscripts from earlier periods. The first is Bodleian Library MS. Marsh 144, where it is written alongside the image of the Triangulum constellation. The second is Urjuzat ibn al-Ṣūfī's Poem of the Stars, found in the Laleli collection at Süleymaniye Library, MS 2698.

MS. Marsh 144 dated 400 H, (~ 1010 AD), was written by the son of al-Ṣūfī.

MS 2698, dated 718H (1318 AD), was copied from a manuscript dated 519H (1125 AD). It traces back to a manuscript written by the son of al-Ṣūfī, who authored the poem around 380H (990 AD).

One argument supporting “al-Aybasān” is its compatibility with the image of the Arabic Lamb. Al-Aybasān refers to the two thin bones in the shins of the legs. The positioning of the stars aligns with the placement of the Lamb's front legs. Additionally, the name appears in the poem fitting the poem's metre, unlike “Al-Anīsān”.

Conclusion

• The name of the two stars α,β Tri is “al-Aybasān” - Arabic (الأيبسان).
• “Al-Anīsān” - Arabic (الأنيسان) should not have an independent entry and should be noted as a scribal error.
• The name “al-Ayibsān” mentioned by Mr. Laffitte and Mr. Sadegh is a wrong transliteration of Arabic (الأَيْبَسان).
• The two names: al-Baysān and al-Ayibsān mentioned in the ASE: Al-Anīsān entry as spelling variants cannot be as such, and there is no clear meaning of these two words.

Al-Anīsān, The Two Friends, in Laffitte (2012); map and drawing.

Al-Anīsān الأنيسان in Laffitte (2012, 2025).

αβ Tri	al-Anīsān	the Two Friends	Qutayba
	al-Ḫiṣaṣ	the Notables	Ḏ. man.

Transfer and Transformation

• 

  Al-Anisan, Friends (Laffitte 2012).

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.