that it may have had Andalusi origins instead. According to Meninski in his Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalum (1680), Solfège syllables may have been derived from the syllables of an Arabic (Moorish) solmization system Durar Mufaṣṣalāt ("Separated Pearls"). However, there is no documentary evidence for this theory, and no Arabian musical manuscripts employing sequences from the Arabic alphabet are known to exist. Henry George Farmer believes that there is no firm evidence on the origins of the notation, and therefore the Arabian origin theory and the hymnal origin theories are equally credible. Although the philosopher al-Kindī (d. 259/874) and the author Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (d. 355/967) both mention music writing systems, they were descriptive and based on lute fingerings, and thus complicated to use. No practical, indigenous system of music writing existed in the Islamic world before the colonial era. Some scholars have speculated that the troubadour tradition was brought to France from al-Andalus by the first recorded troubadour, William IX of Aquitaine (d. 1126), whose father had fought in the siege and sack of Barbastro in 1064 and brought back at least one female slave singer. It is likely that young William's taste in music and poetry was thus influenced by al-Andalus. George T. Beech observes that while the sources of William's inspirations are uncertain, he did have Spanish individuals within his extended family, and he may have been friendly with some Europeans who could speak Arabic. Regardless of William's involvement in the tradition's creation, Magda Bogin states that Andalusi poetry was likely one of several influences on European "courtly love poetry". J. B. Trend has also asserted that the poetry of troubadours was connected to Andalusi poetry. See also Malhun Andalusi nubah Mohammed al-Haik Abdessadeq Cheqara Mohamed Bajeddoub Music of Algeria Music of Morocco Music of Tunisia Music of Libya References Sources Further reading Benmoussa, Abdelfattah (2003) al-Mūsīqā l-andalusiyya "al-Āla": al-maṣādir wa al-madāris. Maṭbaʿat al-Afaq. Ciantar, Philip (2012) The Ma'luf in Contemporary Libya: An Arab-Andalusian Musical Tradition. Routledge. Cortés-García, Manuela (1993) Pasado y presente de la música andalusí. Fundación El Monte. Davis, Ruth (2004) Ma'lūf: Reflections on the Arab-Andalusian Music of Tunisia. Scarecrow. Glasser, Jonathan (2016) The Lost Paradise: Andalusi Music in Urban North Africa. University of Chicago Press. Ibn ʿAbd al-Jalīl, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (2000) Madkhal ilā tārīkh al-mūsīqā l-maghribiyya. Maṭbaʿa al-Najāh al-Jadīd. Reynolds, Dwight (2000) "Music" in Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: The Literature of al-Andalus, edited by Raymond