بطرس البستاني

Butrus ibn Bulus ibn Abd Allah al-Bustani, a Lebanese scholar and writer, author of "Da'irat al-Ma'arif" and "Muhit al-Muhit". He died in 1883 CE in Beirut. ²

He was born in one of the villages of Lebanon, and went to Beirut as a child, where he studied Greek, Hebrew, English and the principles of the sciences. The data give his birth as 1819 CE by common report, though the printed text says around 1830 CE. ²

He wrote "Muhit al-Muhit", a dictionary of the language in two volumes, and abridged it under the name "Qutr al-Muhit". He also has "Kashf al-Hijab" on arithmetic and "Miftah al-Misbah" on grammar. ²

With the help of his eldest son Salim he founded four newspapers: "Nafir Suriyya", "al-Jinan", "al-Jinna" and "al-Jinayna". His greatest work is "Da'irat al-Ma'arif", of which he completed seven volumes; his sons completed four volumes after him, but it was not finished. ²