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Case file

Yunus ibn Habib

Wikipedia's first sentence called it “reputable 8th-century arab linguist”. Today it says “reputable 8th-century persian linguist of the arabic language”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “8th-century Iranian poet and linguist”. It now reads “8th-century AD Iranian poet and linguist”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in October 6, 2023

Yunus ibn Habib ( ; died after 183 AH/798 CE) was a reputable 8th-century Arab linguist.1 An early literary critic and expert on poetry, Ibn Habib's criticisms of poetry were known, along with those of contemporaries such as Al-Asma'i , as a litmus test for measuring later writers' eloquence. Ibn Habib's exact tribal last name, date of birth and age at death have been an issue of contention. Medieval historian Ibn Khallikan mentions three possible tribes that he belonged to, two possible dates of birth and two possible ages at the time of his death. He never married nor did he ever take a mistress, having devoted all of his life to either studying or teaching. His notable teachers include: Hammad ibn Salamah from whom he took knowledge in Arabic grammar , Al-Akhfash al-Akbar and Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala' . His students include Sibawayh , Al-Kisa'i , Yaḥyá ibn Ziyād al-Farrāʼ and Abu ʿUbaidah . Abu Ubaida once remarked that he attended the lessons of Ibn Habib every day for forty years, and every day he left with pages of notes copied from what Ibn Habib dictated from memory. Sibawayhi, considered the father of Arabic grammar despite being Persian, quoted Ibn Habib 217 times in his famous Kitab , Ibn Habib is one of two figures (the other being Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi ) regarded as Sibawayhi's formative teachers. The encyclopaedia of Islam (New ed.).2 He is presented as a mawla of several Arab tribes. Ibn Khallikan, Deaths , vol. 4, pg. 587. Sībawayh, ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān (1988), Hārūn, ʻAbd al-Salām Muḥammad (ed.), Al-Kitāb Kitāb Sībawayh Abī Bishr ʻAmr ibn ʻUthmān ibn Qanbar , vol. Part of the Makers of Islamic Civilization series. Volume 3 of Oriental translation fund. Volume 19 of Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics.

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1167027658.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “reputable 8th-century arab linguist”. Today it says “reputable 8th-century persian linguist of the arabic language”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “8th-century Iranian poet and linguist”. It now reads “8th-century AD Iranian poet and linguist”. Read the current article and compare.
20152020Oct '232025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.

What Wikipedia says this is

Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.

Then

reputable 8th-century arab linguist

Now

reputable 8th-century persian linguist of the arabic language

Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.

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