GABRIELI, GIUSEPPE. - Arabist and librarian of the Accademia dei Lincei, born at Melendugno (Lecce) on 4 April 1872, died in Rome on 7 April 1942. From his youth he devoted himself to Oriental studies at the Universities of Naples and Florence; at the latter he graduated with a dissertation on the Bedouin poetess al-Hansà. He was headmaster-director at the equal-status Capece Institute in Maglie (1900–1902), from which he went to Rome as librarian of the Lincei, a post he held from 1903 until his death.
In his new office he had the opportunity to collaborate in the chronological and historical work of Leone Caetani, whose “Foundation,” established through the prince’s donation of his books and scholarly papers, he organized within the Academy; in 1915 he obtained the libera docenza, and in 1917 the appointment to teach Arabic language and literature, but, owing to persistent opposition, he was unable to obtain a university chair.
Among the 250 publications listed in his bibliography, the following should be mentioned: Oriental studies: I tempi, la vita ed il canzoniere della poetessa araba al-Hansà, Florence 1899, 2nd ed. Rome 1944; Il nome proprio arabo-musulmano, Rome 1916; Dante e l'Oriente, Bologna 1920; cultural history: Il carteggio Lincea della vecchia accademia di F. Cesi, raccolto e pubblicato, 3 parts, in volumes, Rome 1938–42, an almost twenty-year undertaking carried out with methodological rigor and historical insight; religious works: Il Vangelo dei piccoli, Rome 1913, 2nd ed. Turin 1924; Le parabole, Turin 1925; I Fioretti di s. Francesco, Turin 1927; writings in which he revealed his profoundly Christian religious spirit and his ability as an educator.