Kohan-tarin Farhangname-ye Farsi-ye Danesh-e Estifa

• Persian Title: کهن‌ترین فرهنگ‌نامه فارسی دانش استیفا
• Transliterated Title: Kuhan-tarīn Farhang-nāma-yi Fārsī-yi Dānish-i Istīfā
• English Title: The Oldest Persian Glossary of the Science of Istīfā
• Author: —
• Editors: Nafīsa Īrānī; ʿAlī Ṣafarī Āq-Qalʿa
• Language: Persian
• ISBN: 978-600-203-114-3
• Publication Year: 2016
• Pages: 220
• Format: PDFCategory: Textual Studies
• Miras Maktoob Collection Code: 289

【Summary】

One of the most reliable ways to understand the precise meanings of istīfā (fiscal-administrative) terminology is to examine how such terms were defined and employed by the mustawfīs themselves in administrative manuals. The work al-Murshid fī al-Ḥisāb, authored by Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī in 691 A.H., was composed in Persian and is divided into two main sections: mathematics and istīfā.

The second section, devoted to the science of istīfā, represents the earliest known Persian instructional text in this field. Within it appears a chapter that sequentially defines a series of istīfā terms, effectively constituting the oldest Persian glossary of fiscal-administrative concepts.
The present study offers a critical edition of this section of al-Murshid fī al-Ḥisāb, together with detailed explanations of the terminology employed, thereby providing an essential resource for research into Persian administrative language and medieval bureaucratic culture.