{{Short description|Italian Oriental scholar and professor of Arabic}} [[Image:Marracci.jpg|thumb|Ludovico Marracci]] {{For|the Italian Roman Catholic prelate (1945–2023)|Luigi Marrucci}} '''Ludovico Marracci''' (6 October 1612 – 5 February 1700), also known by '''Luigi Marracci''',<ref>[[Sir Edward Denison Ross]], after 1877, Introduction to [[Sale's translation]]. The name is sometimes anglicized ''Louis'' or ''Lewis''.</ref> was an [[Italians|Italian]] [[Oriental studies|Oriental]] scholar and professor of [[Arabic]] in the [[Sapienza University of Rome|College of Wisdom]] at [[Rome]].<ref name="R1">{{cite book |last= Aikin |first= John |author2=Thomas Morgan |author3=William Johnston |author4=William Enfield |author5=Mr. Nicholson |title= General biography:or, Lives, critical and historical, of the most eminent persons of all ages, countries, conditions, and professions, arranged according to alphabetical order, Volume 6 (Google eBook)|publisher= T.Davison, White-friars |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XEUDAAAAYAAJ&q=Maracci+Lewis&pg=PA533|year= 1807 }}</ref><ref name="R2">{{cite book |last= Gorton |first= John |title= A general biographical dictionary:containing a summary account of the lives of eminent persons of all nations, Volume 2, Part 1 (Google eBook)|publisher= Hunt & Clarke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jm89AAAAYAAJ&q=Maracci+Lewis&pg=PA416 |year= 1828}}</ref><ref name="R3">{{cite book |author=Thomas Joseph Pettigrew |author2=Augustus Frederick |title= Bibliotheca Sussexiana |publisher= Longman & Co |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NFlWAAAAYAAJ&q=Maracci+Lewis&pg=PA58|year= 1839 }}</ref><ref name="R4">{{cite book |last=Mills|first=Charles |title= On history on Muhammedanism|publisher= Kingsbury |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BJNMAAAAcAAJ&q=Lewis+Maracci&pg=PA286|year= 1818 }}</ref>
He is chiefly known as the publisher and editor of [[Quran]] of [[Muhammad]] in Arabic. He is also well known for translating Quran in [[Latin]], editing an Arabic [[Bible]] translation, and numerous other works.<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R2"/><ref name="R3"/><ref>{{cite book |last= Hyamson |first= Albert M. |title= A Dictionary of Universal Biography |publisher= Genealogical Publishing Com |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9y8LrtmeJwcC&q=Maracci+Lewis&pg=PA406|year= 1995|isbn= 9780806345468 }} </ref>
==Biography== He was born at [[Lucca]] in 1612. He had become a member of the [[Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca]] and learnt with reputed success in the study of non-European languages, especially [[Arabic]]. He was the [[Confessor]] of [[Pope Innocent XI]]. The Pope appointed him professor of Arabic at [[Sapienza University of Rome]] due to his proficiency in that language. In 1665 he was part of the team that debunked the [[lead tablets of Granada]].<ref>Alexander Bevilacqua THE QURAN TRANSLATIONS OF MARRACCI AND SALE</ref>
He later declined the promotion of being appointed to the rank of [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] of the Catholic Church. He died at an age of 88 in 1700.<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R2"/>
He authored ''The Life of Father [[John Leonardi|Leonardi]]'', the founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca, and many more.<ref name="R1"/>
In 2012, a collection of his manuscripts were discovered at the Order of Clerics Regular of the Mother of God in Rome. The collection consists of almost 10,000 pages. The manuscripts include his work material, notes and significant information on his approach to translating the Qurʻan, as well as different versions of his translation. Based on the study of these manuscripts, a new examination of his life, influence, and methods has been published.<ref>Glei, Reinhold F. and Roberto Tottoli Ludovico Marracci at work. 2016. ''The evolution of his Latin translation of the Qurʻan in the light of his newly discovered manuscripts.'' ISD Books.</ref>
== Arabic Bible== He has considerable share in editing the Roman edition of the ''Arabic Bible'', published in 1671 in three volumes. For this, the [[Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples]] appointed [[Abraham Ecchellensis]] and Ludovico Marracci to undertake the revision of the edition to make it exactly correspond with the [[Vulgate]]. Marracci wrote a new preface and made a list of errors of the former copy in 1668.<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R2"/><ref name="R3"/><ref>{{cite book |title= The Methodist Review, Volume 5; Volume 16 |publisher= B. Waugh and T.Mason |url=https://archive.org/details/methodistreview19unkngoog|page= [https://archive.org/details/methodistreview19unkngoog/page/n281 261] |year= 1834 |quote=An edition of Arabic Bible - superintended by Abram Ecchellensis and Lewis Maracci|access-date = February 8, 2012 }}</ref>
==Vatican Quran== {{Main|Marracci edition}} Ludovico Marracci acquired much fame in editing and publishing the [[Quran|Qurʻan]] in Arabic with his translation into Latin. ''Alcorani Textus Universus Arabicè et Latinè'', was published in [[Padua]] in 1698 in two volumes. His version of the Qurʻan included a life of [[Muhammad]], with notes, and refutations of [[Islam|Muslim doctrines]].<ref name="R1"/><ref name="R2"/><ref>{{cite book |last= Lodovico |first= Marracci |author2=Muhammad |title= Alcorani Textus Universus |publisher= Typographia Seminarii |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xLJEAAAAcAAJ|year= 1698 |access-date = February 8, 2012 }}</ref> It was the result of forty years of labour and toilsome research of the [[Benedictines]].<ref name="R4"/> He also published in 1691, in Latin, a refutation of the Quran titled ''Prodromus Ad Refutationem Alcoran''.<ref>{{cite book |last= Lodovico |first= Marracci |title= Prodromvs Ad Refvtationem Alcoran |url= http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/ssg/content/pageview/1146111 | year=1691 }}</ref>
Marracci's Islamic texts included [[Ibn Abī Zamanīn]], [[Tafsir al-Tha'labi|Al-Tha'alibi]], [[Zamakhsharī]], [[Baydִāwī]] and [[Suyūtִī]].<ref>Alexander Bevilacqua THE QURAN TRANSLATIONS OF MARRACCI AND SALE</ref>
''Alcorani'''s ‘Introduction’ (''Prodromus'') had been published seven years earlier in 1691.<ref>Alastair Hamilton, ''After Marracci: The Reception of Ludovico Marracci’s Edition of The Qur’an in Northern Europe from the Late 17thC to the Early 19thC'', [[The Warburg Institute]]</ref>
[[George Sale]]'s English translation of the Qurʻan, ''The Alcoran of Mohammed'', in 1736, was done based on Marracci's 1698 Latin translation.<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7440/pg7440-images.html George Sales translation (1891 version)]</ref><ref>[http://www.riley-smith.com/hamish/document_view.php?cat=1&doc=106&catname=Rare%20Books George Sale (1697-1736) was much influenced by Ludovico Marracci's edition in Arabic and Latin printed in Padua in 1698]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Sale |first= George |title=The Koran:commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed|publisher= Scarcherd an Letterman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLPUAAAAMAAJ|year= 1821 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cairchicago.org/doc/thomas_jefferson_quran.pdf |title=Thomas Jefferson purchased a copy of the Qurʻan, specifically, George Sale's English translation, The Koran, Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mohammed |access-date=2012-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111215232752/http://www.cairchicago.org/doc/thomas_jefferson_quran.pdf |archive-date=2011-12-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20121222095607/https://exhibitions.cul.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/quran/qurans/item/6131 The Quran in East and West: Manuscripts and Printed Books] * [http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=100806 Alcorani Textus Universus] * [http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1928&chapter=119404layout=html&Itemid=27 SALE’S PREFACE TO THE PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE AND TRANSLATION. - Mohammed, The Quran, vol. 1 - 1896 - Father Lewis Marracci, who had been confessor to Pope InnocentXI] * [http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/polyglots/maracci.html Ludovico Maracci] * [https://archive.org/details/historyofarabia01cric/page/276 <!-- quote=Lewis Maracci. --> The history of Arabia - by Andrew Crichton - p.277-278]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marracci, Ludovico}} [[Category:17th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests]] [[Category:Translators of the Quran into Latin]] [[Category:1612 births]] [[Category:1700 deaths]] [[Category:17th-century Italian translators]] [[Category:Catholicism and Islam]]