Thomas Obicini

Thomas Obicini (Italian: Tomasso Obicini da Novara; 1585 – 7 November 1632). He was one of the first orientalists. He was a Franciscan Arabist.

Obicini was born in Novara, Italy. He was abbot in the convent of Aleppo. During his stay in the east he made himself master, in addition to Hebrew and Chaldee, of the Syriac, Arabic, and Coptic languages. In 1621, Obicini became the first lector in Arabic in the San Pietro in Montorio convent. He was a precursor of Athanasius Kircher. He wrote a Grammatica Arabica in 1631. His largest work was the 1636 Thesaurus Arabico-Syro-Latinus, a translation and expansion of Elijah of Nisibis's 11th-century glossary intended to assist Latin-speaking prelates in converting Syrians and other speakers of Arabic.