A number of transcriptions of Hebrew words into Arabic script are found in medieval Muslim Arabic sources. These are mainly, but not exclusively, proper names. The Hebrew words occur in works relating to Jewish history, chronology, and scripture (usually in polemical contexts). The authors referred to in this entry are al-Yaʿqūbī (d. 897/8), al-Kirmānī (d. 1021), al-Bīrūnī (d. 1048), Saʿīd ibn Ḥasan (an Egyptian Jew who converted to Islam in 1298) and Ibn Khaldūn (d. 1406).

Some transcriptions of proper names that are found in the sources appear to be based closely on t…