's contemporary, Abu Obaida, was an able grammarian and an
accomplished scholar. He was born A.D. 728, and died at Busra A.D.
824, leaving nearly two hundred treatises, of which the names of many
have been given by Ibn Khallikan, and most of them are of a purely
philological character. There are many anecdotes about him, and many
sayings of clever men regarding him. Abu Nuwas took lessons from Abu
Obaida, praised him highly, and decried Al-Asmai, whom he detested.
When asked what he thought of Al-Asmai, he replied, 'A nightingale in
a cage,' meaning probably that a nightingale in a cage is pleasing to
hear, but there is nothing else good about it. Abu Obaida he described
as 'a bundle of science packed up in a skin.'

Abu Zaid al-Ansari was a philologist and grammarian, and a
contemporary of the two persons just described. He held the first rank
among the literary men of that time, and devoted his attention
principally to the study of the philology of the Arabic language, its
singular terms and rare expressions. Of him Al-Mubarrad said: 'Abu
Zaid was an abler grammarian than Al-Asmai and Abu Obaida, but these
two came next to him, and were near to each other. Abu Obaida was the
most accomplished scholar of the day.' Abu Zaid composed a number of
useful philological works, and titles of thirty-one of them are given
in the 'Fihrist.' He died A.D. 830, over ninety years of age.

Abu Othman Bakr bin Muhammad bin Habib al-Mayini, briefly called Abu
Othman, was celebrated as a philologer and grammarian, as also for his
knowledge in general literature. He learned philology from Abu Zaid,
Abu Obaida, Al-Asmai, and others, and had for pupil Al-Mubarrad, who
learned much from his master, and handed down many pieces of
traditional literature obtained from him. Abu Othman, once being asked
his opinion about various men of science, curtly summarized them as
follows: 'The Koran-readers are deceitful administrators, the
traditionists are satisfied with superfluities, poets are too
superficial, grammarians much too heavy, narrators deal only in neat
expressions, and the only real science is jurisprudence,' He died A.D.
863.

Abul Aina was a philologist, but also a great joker, anecdote-teller,
and poet. His memory was equal to his eloquence, and, being
quick-witted, he was never in want of a repartee when the occasion
required it; indeed, he ranked among the most brilliant wits of the
age. To a vizier, who said that everything curren