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Notes on the Identity of the Latin Translator of Avicenna’s
Physics and on Further Anonymous Translations in Twelfth-Century
Spain Dag Nikolaus Hasse and Andreas Büttner1 The Physics part of
Avicenna’s aš-Šifāʾ was translated from Arabic into Latin in two
steps. The first two books and the beginning of the third book were
translated in the twelfth century by an unkown translator. About a
century later, in the 1270s, the remainder of book three and book
four were translated by Juan Gonzalves de Burgos and a companion
translator named Salomon. The present paper makes a fresh attempt
to lift the anonymity of the earlier translation of the Physics. It
also provides evidence for the identification of anonymous
translators of further 18 Latin translations of Arabic
philosophical texts in twelfth-century Spain.
In an earlier study, I have studied a different group of
translations: Averroes translations of the thirteenth century. In
that case, the key to differentiating between the various
translators was their usage of non-technical, non-disciplinary
vocabulary, everyday words, particles and short phrases. The
stylistic analysis resulted in the attribution of twelve anonymous
translations to four different translators, among them Michael
Scot.2 The great translation movement in Spain in the twelfth
century is a more difficult target for such an analysis. Here too
we have many anonymous translations. But the textual situation is
more complicated. The translation movement in Spain is much larger,
and there is a greater number of anonymous translations. Also,
texts by many different authors are involved, not only by one. Some
anonymous translations, for instance those of al-Kindī, are very
short. In order to keep the size manageable and the corpus
coherent, I decided to concentrate on philosophical texts, as
exhibited on the table below, and to exclude, for the purpose of
the present study, other disciplines such as medicine, astrology,
or astronomy.
Twelfth-Century Latin Translations of Arabic Philosophical
Texts
on the Iberian Peninsula
anonymous 01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn, fragm.
02-Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu 03-Turba philosophorum
04-al-Kindī, De intellectu 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum
06-al-Kindī, De radiis 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto
08-al-Fārābī, Liber exercitationis ad viam felicitatis
09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn al-masāʾil) 10-al-Fārābī, Explanation
... of the 5th Book of Euclid 11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum
12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae demonstrationis 13-Iḫwān
aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia 14-Anonymous, Liber de quatuor
confectionibus 15-Isaac Israeli, De definitionibus 16-Avicenna,
Isagoge, selections from I and II 17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III
ed. C. Martini ed. J. Ruska ed. G. Théry ed. A. Nagy ed. G. Bos
/ C. Burnett ed. M.-T. d’Alverny / F. Hudry ed. E. Gilson ed. D.
Salman ed. M. Cruz Hernandez ed. C. Burnett ed. C. Baeumker ed. A.
Nagy ed. P. Gautier-Dalché ed. A. Sannino ed. J.T. Muckle ed. 1508
ed. S. van Riet
1 The paper was written by Dag Nikolaus Hasse. Andreas Büttner
contributed significantly by creating a digitalized and fully
searchable corpus of the translations, by developing a surface to
improve the workflow of the computational analysis with Stylo, and
by programming a search tool for analyzing the corpus manually. We
are grateful for having received very helpful advice for this
paper, especially from Fotis Jannidis and Christof Schöch. Research
for this paper was funded by the German Bundesministerium für
Bildung und Forschung as part of the Kallimachos research grant. 2
Hasse, Latin Averroes Translations.
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2
18-Avicenna, De diluviis (Meteora II.6) 19-al-Ġazālī, prologue
to Maqāṣid
ed. M.A. Alonso ed. D. Salman
John of Seville 20-Ps.-Aristotle, Secretum secretorum
21-Qusṭā ibn Lūqā, De differentia spiritus et animae 22-Abū
Maʿšar, Great Introduction
ed. H. Suchier ed. J. Wilcox ed. R. Lemay
Hugo of Santalla 23-Ps.-Apollonius, De secretis 24-Liber
Aristotilis de 255 Indorum voluminibus
ed. F. Hudry ed. C. Burnett / D. Pingree
Gerard of Cremona 25-Aristole, Posterior Analytics 26-Aristotle,
Physics 27-Aristotle, De caelo 28-Aristotle, De gen. et corr.
29-Aristotle / Ibn al-Biṭrīq, Meteora I-III 30-Ps.-Aristotle,
Liber de causis 31-Alexander of Aphrodisias, On Sense ...
32-Themistius, Comm. Post. Anal. 33-al-Kindī, De quinque essentiis
34-al-Kindī, De somno 35-al-Kindī, De ratione 36-al-Fārābī, De
scientiis
37-Isaac Israeli, De elementis 38-Isaac Israeli, De
definitionibus
ed. L. Minio-Paluello mss. mss. mss.
ed. P. Schoonheim ed. A. Pattin ed. G. Théry ed. J.R. O’Donnell
ed. A. Nagy ed. A. Nagy ed. A. Nagy ed. F. Schupp
ed. 1515 ed. J.T. Muckle
Avendauth and ? 39-Avicenna, prologue / Isagoge ed. A.
Birkenmajer Gundisalvi and Avendauth
40-Avicenna, De anima 41-Avicenna, De medicinis cordialibus
ed. S. van Riet ed. S. van Riet
Gundisalvi and Johannes Hispanus
42-Ibn Gabirol, Fons vitae 43- al-Ġazālī, Summa (Maqāṣid)
ed. C. Baeumker ed. C. Lohr / ed. J.T. Muckle
Gundisalvi 44-Avicenna, Philosophia prima 45- al-Fārābī, De
scientiis 46-Avicenna, De convenientia ... scientiarum (from
Post. Anal. of aš-Šifāʾ) 47-Ps.-Avicenna, Liber celi et
mundi
ed. S. van Riet ed. M.A. Alonso, repr. Schneider ed. L. Baur ed.
O. Gutman
Alfred of Shareshill
48-Nicolaus Damascenus, De plantis 49-Avicenna, De congelatione
... lapidum
ed. H. Drossaart / E. Poortman ed. E. Holmyard / D.
Mandeville
The table lists 19 anonymous translations and 30 translations by
translators known to us. At present state of knowledge, this is the
complete corpus of philosophical texts translated from Arabic into
Latin in twelfth-century Spain. Note that for numbers 26-28 and 37
I did not have access to a digitally searchable text. Number 22,
Abū Maʿšar’s Great Introduction, is not a philosophical text
proper. It was added sin order to increase the statistical material
for John of Seville, since texts 20 and 21 are rather short. Abū
Maʿšar’s text leads to another problem for anyone who studies
twelfth-century translations: revision. John of Seville’s version
of the Great Introduction was revised, perhaps by Gerard of
Cremona, as some have suggested. A related problem is double
translation: Al-Fārābī’s Enumeration of the Sciences (De
scientiis), texts 36 and 45, was translated both by Gerard of
Cremona and Dominicus Gundisalvi. Isaac Israeli’s De
definitionibus, texts 15 and 37, was also translated twice, by an
anonymous translator and by Gerard. The same is true of al-Kindī’s
On the Intellect, texts 4 and 35. In all three cases, verbal
parallels between the translations make it likely that one
translation in fact is a revision of the other. Even if we stay
away from these double translations and focus on the others, there
remain enough problems for stylistic analysis. The most troubling
question is whether the stylistic signal of the author, i.e. of
al-Kindī or al-Fārābī or Avicenna, may turn out to be stronger than
the translator signal – whether, for instance, Fārābī translations
will group together in Latin, even if the Latin versions stem from
different translators. A stylistic identification of the translator
would then be impossible.
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The status quaestionis on anonymous translations in Toledo owes
much to Manuel Alonso, who has analysed Dominicus Gundisalvi’s
translation style in several papers. In an impressive article of
1955, Alonso compared, on 59 densely written pages, the
“coincidencias verbales tipicas” in the works and translations by
Gundisalvi, comparing the Arabic and the Latin.3 This article is
full of interesting material. For the present purpose it is most
relevant that Alonso bases his ascriptions on 34 typical words and
phrases:
multivocum, astrologia / astronomia, parificare, minus commune,
credulitas / credere, solet, in sensibilibus, habens, designare /
designatus / designatio, concomitari, maneria, fortassis,
materiare, enim, caelatura, si ... aut, intellectus, intentio,
vicissitudinantur, quadrivialia, dapsilis, aequidistantia,
mediante, anitas, diversificare, appendiciae, propalare, numerus
surdus, assolare, hylearis, elongatio, transumere / transumptive,
imaginatio, et omnino
On this basis, Alonso ascribes nine anonymous translations to
Gundisalvi. The other anonymous translations in my list are not
discussed by Alonso:
Manuel Alonso Alonso: anonymous translations ascribed to
Gundisalvi
anonymous translation Alonso 01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha
Meizôn, fragm. 02-Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu
Gundisalvi 03-Turba philosophorum 04-al-Kindī, De intellectu
Gundisalvi 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum 06-al-Kindī, De
radiis 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto Gundisalvi
08-al-Fārābī, Liber exercitationis ad viam felicitatis Gundisalvi
09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn al-masāʾil) Gundisalvi 10-al-Fārābī,
Explanation ... of the 5th Book of Euclid 11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu
scientiarum 12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae demonstrationis
Gundisalvi 13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia 14-Anonymous, Liber de
quatuor confectionibus 15-Isaac Israeli, De definitionibus
Gundisalvi 16-Avicenna, Isagoge, selections from I and II
Gundisalvi 17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III Gundisalvi 18-Avicenna, De
diluviis (Meteora II.6)
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid The evidence collected by
Alonso is substantial. Whether we are convinced by it, depends on
the standards we demand from stylistic analysis. One drawback of
Alonso’s studies is that he does not compare Gundisalvi’s style
with that of any other translator on the Iberian peninsula. Once
you start comparing, the result is disillusioning. The rare Latin
term parificare, for instance, one of the words picked out by
Alonso, is used by Gundisalvi, but also by Gerard of Cremona and
Hugo of Santalla, as the following table shows (which lists only
those texts of the corpus in which the word appears):
3 Alonso, Coincidencias verbales típicas, pp. 129–152,
345–379.
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–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– parifica-
ANON_10FarabiEuclid:.....................2 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................3 Hugo_23PsAppolDeSecretis:................1 Gerard_30PsArisDeCausis:.................1 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............1 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................2 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........1 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................13 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........1 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
To give further examples: credulitas appears five times in Gerard’s
translation of the Posterior Analytics. designare and its cognates
is absent in Gerard, but used by John of Seville and Hugo of
Santalla. fortassis appears in John, Hugo and Alfred. aequidistare
is used by Gerard in his Themistius translation. mediante appears
in John, Hugo and Gerard. elongatio is used by Alfred and Gerard.
imaginatio is used in various writings by Gerard. et omnino – which
is a wonderfully stylistic term, that appears often in Gundisalvi’s
writings – unfortunately is used also by John and Gerard. And, a
final example, which is exhibited in the table below: diuersificare
is a term which regularly appears in Gerard’s translations.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– diuersifica-
ANON_06KindiDeRadiis:....................1 ''''_17AvicPhys:........................25 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................7 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............5 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................7 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............9 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................2 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............2 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............1 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................2 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:..........24 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:................3 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:....................4 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............1 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
What these tables show, is that Alonso has successfully unearthed
terms preferred by Gundisalvi, but not necessarily terms typical of
Gundisalvi. Hence, Alonso made a great advance, because he was able
to offer many indications buttressing his hypothesis that
Gundisalvi was in fact responsible for a greater set of
translations than we knew before. But these indications are of
limited validity. Alonso’s evidence for author attribution is not
conclusive.
From Charles Burnett we have many important studies on the
translation movement in Spain: on the various translators, on the
coherence of the translation programme, and on the differentiation
between the two “Johns” involved: between John of Seville (Iohannes
Hispalensis), the translator of at least 14 works mainly of
astrology and astronomy in the 1120s and 1130s, and John of Spain
(Iohannes Hispanus, d. 1215), the collaborator of Dominicus
Gundisalvi on two translations, who possibly was the successor of
Gundisalvi as archdeacon of
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Cuéllar.4 The starting-point for my inquiry was Burnett’s list
of Arabic-Latin philosophical translations, which was published in
2005.5 These are his careful comments on the presumed
translators:
anonymous translation Burnett’s comments 01-Aristotle,
Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn, fragm. perhaps the same translator as 06
02-Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu Gundisalvi (?) 03-Turba
philosophorum anonymous 04-al-Kindī, De intellectu Gundisalvi (?)
05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum anonymous 06-al-Kindī, De radiis
perhaps the same translator as 01 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et
intellecto Gundisalvi (?) 08-al-Fārābī, Liber exercitationis ad
viam felicitatis Gundisalvi (?) 09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn
al-masāʾil) anonymous 10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of the 5th Book
of Euclid Gundisalvi (?) 11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum
Gundisalvi (?) 12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae demonstrationis
anonymous 13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia anonymous 14-Anonymous,
Liber de quatuor confectionibus anonymous 15-Isaac Israeli, De
definitionibus Gundisalvi (?) 16-Avicenna, Isagoge, selections from
I and II unknown, not Gundisalvi 17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III
unknown, Toledan (?) 18-Avicenna, De diluviis (Meteora II.6) Alfred
of Shareshill (?)
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid anonymous Burnett follows
Alonso’s suggestions on texts 2,4,7,8,12 and 15, but adds cautious
question marks.
Who were the translators of these nineteen treatises? By some
coincidence, mosts texts in question are pieces of Arabic
philosophy proper, that is, they are mainly written by Arabic
philosophers, such as al-Kindī, al-Fārābī and Avicenna, rather than
by ancient Greek philosophers transmitted in Arabic. Hence, the
identification of the translators is important also for the
determining who transported Arabic philosophy into Europe.
Moreover, the anonymity of the translations prevents us from
knowing more about the historical circumstances of the translation
movement on the Iberian peninsula.6 John of Seville was mainly
active in the region of the Limia valley in northern Portugal. Hugo
of Santalla, in all likelihood, was a canon of the cathedral of
Tarazona. Gerard of Cremona and Dominicus Gundisalvi were canons of
the cathedral of Toledo, and Alfred of Shareshill was probably
active in Toledo towards the end of the twelfth century. Hence, the
importance of Toledo, and possibly other Iberian cities, as a
centre for Arabic-Latin translations depends upon whether we can
make advances in identifying anonymous translators.
I shall approach this task in two steps: first by providing
philological evidence, based on a stylistic analysis of the usage
of particles and short phrases, and second by demonstrating
that
4 Burnett, John of Seville, pp. 59–78; Burnett, Arabic into
Latin. 5 Burnett, Arabic into Latin: the Reception of Arabic
Philosophy, pp. 391–400. 6 On this translation movement see
Burnett, The Coherence, pp. 249–288; Hasse, The Social Conditions,
pp. 68–86; specifically on Avicenna translations Bertolacci, A
Community of Translators, pp. 37–54; Hasse, Die Überlieferung
arabischer Philosophie, pp. 377–400.
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a good part of the results receives confirmation through a
computational analysis of the most frequent words statistics of the
texts.
I – Philological Analysis The first hurdle to take was to create
a digital corpus of texts which allowed for the comparison of
stylistic features. We therefore had to scan the texts and
standardize the Latin spelling in a way that would not seriously
distort the stylistic preferences of the translators. In order to
extinguish mistakes of the optical character recognition (OCR) and
to standardize the Latin spelling, the texts were checked
automatically against the Archimedes Project Morphology Service,
which is based on a Latin dataset by the Perseus Project,7 and
against our own list of Latin words specific of the translation
literature. After many of such checking routines, the two datasets
together recognized a high percentage of the text as correct Latin,
as this table shows:
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– quality and length of the
scanned Latin texts
DATEI LAENGE FEHLER QUAL 01_ANON_01ArisMetAlpha.txt 499 16 97% 02_ANON_02AlexDeIntell.txt 3345 19 99% 03_ANON_03Turba.txt 18682 392 98% 04_ANON_04KindiDeIntell.txt 806 7 99% 05_ANON_05KindiDeMutatTemp.txt 10241 290 97% 06_ANON_06KindiDeRadiis.txt 9150 171 98% 07_ANON_07FarabiDeIntell.txt 4075 65 98% 08_ANON_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis.txt 6567 92 99% 09_ANON_09PsFarabiFlos.txt 822 2 100% 10_ANON_10FarabiEuclid.txt 2277 68 97% 11_ANON_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien.txt 2207 24 99% 12_ANON_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae.txt 6008 42 99% 13_ANON_13IkhwanCosmo.txt 4720 372 92% 14_ANON_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf.txt 1891 112 94% 15_ANON_15IsaacDeDefin.txt 4452 49 99% 16_ANON_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES.txt 966 10 99% 17_ANON_17AvicPhys.txt 59724 339 99% 18_ANON_18AvicDeDiluviis.txt 838 16 98% 19_ANON_19GazaliProlMaqasid.txt 414 12 97% 20_John_20PsArisSecretum.txt 1557 40 97% 21_John_21QustaDeDifferentia.txt 4481 47 99% 22_John_22AlbumasarIntroductorium.txt 109251 1530 99% 23_Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis.txt 47085 693 99% 24_Hugo_24LiberAristotilis.txt 39133 952 98% 25_Gerard_25ArisPostAn.txt 31879 187 99% 29_Gerard_29ArisMeteoraI‐III.txt 15955 311 98% 30_Gerard_30PsArisDeCausis.txt 7194 78 99% 31_Gerard_31AlexanderDeMotu.txt 4484 32 99% 32_Gerard_32ThemistiusPostAn.txt 34126 216 99% 33_Gerard_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis.txt 2291 14 99% 34_Gerard_34KindiDeSomno.txt 3081 57 98% 35_Gerard_35KindiDeRatione.txt 733 7 99% 36_Gerard_36FarabiDeScientiis.txt 15106 280 98% 38_Gerard_38IsaacDeDefin.txt 7124 96 99% 39_Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI.txt 1702 87 95% 40_Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima.txt 65109 468 99%
7
http://archimedes.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/arch/doc/xml-rpc.html
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41_Gundisalvi_41AvicDeMedCord.txt 3467 44 99% 42_Gundisalvi_42GabirolFonsVitae.txt 71182 378 99% 43_Gundisalvi_43GazaliSumma.txt 57578 753 99% 44_Gundisalvi_44AvicMet.txt 109383 494 100% 45_Gundisalvi_45FarabiDeScientiis.txt 6900 54 99% 46_Gundisalvi_46AvicConvenientiaScien.txt 2192 12 99% 47_Gundisalvi_47PsAvicLiberCeli.txt 12317 45 100% 48_Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis.txt 10175 182 98% 49_Alfred_49AvicLapid.txt 1666 61 96% SUMME 802835 9216 99% –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
With the help of a search programme written for the purpose, I
could now start to analyse the Latin style of these texts. From
previous studies it is known that the analysis of small words and
phrases is a promising way towards identifying the translators.
From my reading of the texts, I was aware of certain stylistic
preferences of one of the Toledan translators, Dominicus
Gundisalvi: for instance, that he has a liking for the phrase
quantum ad as translating the Arabic bi-l-qiyās ilā. A search of
the corpus reveals that this observation is correct:
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– quantum ad (translating:
bi-l-qiyās ilā)
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................1 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................2 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................1 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............1 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............1 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:........................40 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........1 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................2 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............0 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:...............11
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''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............1 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:..........14 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:...............36 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................52 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........0 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......1 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............2 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Note that the phrase quantum ad appears regularly in Gundisalvi’s
translations, and also in some anonymous translations, notably 40
times in the Latin version of Avicenna’s Physics – which is a first
indication that Gundisalvi was the translator of that and other
texts. The phrase is not used by Gerard of Cremona and Alfred of
Shareshill, but, unfortunately, once by John of Seville and twice
by Hugo of Santalla. Hence, the evidence of the term quantum ad is
good, but not striking.
Andreas Büttner then improved the search tool in such a way that
it would give us lists with words or phrases that appear only in
one of the known translators. We then arrived at five lists with
words that appear only in Hugo, Alfred, Gerard, John or Gundisalvi
respectively (We took out Avendauth because his text is too short
to be of any statistical relevance). At first, this identification
of exclusive words proved a dead end. For we found that each of the
19 anonymous texts on the list shares some exclusive words with any
of the five translators. This was a disappointing result, but it
became explainable when I studied the lists with characteristic
expressions of the five translators. Many of them consist of
content words, such as substantia composita, which are typical of a
topic or a discipline, whereas others are stylistic words, such as
et deinde. The automatic search function cannot differentiate
between content words and purely stylistic words. Content words
have a tendency to travel from one author to the other, but
stylistic words are much more stable. Some of them are highly
characteristic of one person writing. I therefore shifted my focus
again on small words and phrases that do not contain any content
words. One of them is et deinde: ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
et deinde (translating: ṯumma)
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................1 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................0 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................5 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............2 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:.....................10 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................4 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........1 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................6 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0
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''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............0 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:...............25 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........3 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:...............23 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................54 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........1 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......1 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............2 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
This phrase appears in many Gundisalvi translations (except for the
very short De medicinis cordialibus) – regardless, in fact, whether
Gundisalvi was translating with another person or all by himself.
et deinde never appears in the philosophical translations by John,
Hugo, Gerard, Avendauth and Alfred. But et deinde appears in the
anonymous translations 2, 7, 12, 13, 15,16, 17. This kind of
evidence is very indicative.
There are other stylistic phrases typical of Gundisalvi, which
are never used by the other six translators, but shared by a larger
group of anonymous translations. One such phrase is postquam autem:
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– postquam autem (translating:
fa-iḏā)
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................0 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................1 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............1 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................1 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................4 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0
-
10
''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............0 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............1 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................4 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........0 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:...............18 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................41 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........0 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......2 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............9 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
postquam autem is shared by the anonymous translations 7, 12, 15,
17. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– inter se (translating: baʿḍ
li-baʿḍ)
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................2 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................1 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................2 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............4 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............2 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................9 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................1 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0
-
11
''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............0 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................8 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:..........13 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:...............14 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................10 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........3 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......1 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............2 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
inter se is shared by the anonymous translations 3, 5, 6, 11, 12,
17, 19. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– secundum hoc quod
(translating: min ḥayṯu or min ǧihā mā or bi-mā)
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:................ .....0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................3 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................1 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................0 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09PsFarabiFlos:.....................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................2 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........3 ''''_17AvicPhys:........................25 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............1 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0
-
12
''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:...............22 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............3 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:..........12 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:................5 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................43 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........1 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......0 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............0 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
secundum hoc quod is shared by the anonymous translations 2, 5, 10,
16, 17 – but also once by Gerard.
So far I have discussed only two-word- or three-word-phrases,
but there is also a particle which is very distinctive of
Gundisalvi: idcirco. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– idcirco
(translating li-ḏālika)
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................2 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........2 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................4 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............1 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................3 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:........................10 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............0 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0
-
13
Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................6 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........9 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:...............22 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:....................5 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........3 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......1 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............6 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
idcirco is shared by the anonymous translations 6, 8,10, 11, 15 and
17. From these tables, it is clear that the stylistic phrases et
deinde, postquam autem, inter se, secundum hoc quod and idcirco are
highly characteristic of Gundisalvi.
Insteading of presenting the tables for all relevant terms and
phrases in this article, I now choose a different way of presenting
the evidence. The table below gives a conspectus of the stylistic
words tracked in Gundisalvi and indicates which of these words
appear in which anonymous translations:
anonymous translation words and phrases shared with DOMINICUS
GUNDISALVI (et deinde, postquam autem, inter se, idcirco, in tantum
quod, cur non, ullo modo, uel est, hoc est scilicet, probatum, sic
ut, opus fuit, tunc esset, est hoc quod, non est necesse, id cuius,
potest autem, dictio de, si quis autem, et etiam quia, praedictum
est, habet esse, nullo modo, est eo quod, secundum hoc quod, non
est autem, sine dubio, in actu, opus est, id in quo)
01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn 02-Alexander of
Aphrodisias, De intellectu et deinde, uel est, sic ut, opus fuit,
est hoc quod, potest
autem, et etiam quia, est eo quod, secundum hoc quod, non est
autem, in actu, id in quo
03-Turba philosophorum inter se, cur non, habet esse, nullo
modo, est eo quod, opus est
04-al-Kindī, De intellectu uel est, non est autem, in actu
05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum inter se, in tantum quod,
secundum hoc quod, in actu 06-al-Kindī, De radiis inter se,
idcirco, probatum, sic ut, praedictum est, non
est autem 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto et deinde,
postquam autem, uel est, opus fuit, id cuius,
nullo modo, non est autem 08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad viam
felicitates idcirco, probatum 09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn
al-masāʾil) 10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid idcirco, ullo
modo, uel est, tunc esset, praedictum est,
secundum hoc quod, in actu 11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum
inter se, opus fuit, dictio de 12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae
demon. et deinde, postquam autem, inter se, idcirco, uel est,
hoc
est scilicet, sic ut, est hoc quod, non est necesse, non est
autem, sine dubio, opus est, id in quo
13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia et deinde, et etiam quia
14-Anonymous, De 4 confectionibus 15-Isaac Israeli, De
definitionibus et deinde, postquam autem, idcirco, in tantum quod,
si
quis autem, habet esse, sine dubio 16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II et
deinde, secundum hoc quod, non est autem, in actu
-
14
17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III et deinde, postquam autem, inter se,
idcirco, in tantum quod, cur non, ullo modo, hoc est scilicet,
probatum, sic ut, opus fuit, tunc esset, est hoc quod, non est
necesse, id cuius, potest autem, dictio de, si quis autem, et etiam
quia, habet esse, nullo modo, secundum hoc quod, non est autem,
sine dubio, in actu, opus est, id in quo
18-Avicenna, De diluviis (Meteora II.6) in tantum quod, tunc
esset, est hoc quod, id cuius 19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid
inter se, hoc est scilicet, non est autem
This is the most indicative table of the present study. The
words and phrases in recte never appear in any philosophical
translation by the other five translators. The words in italics
appear once in another translator – but only once, not even twice.
Hence, the words in italics are not as exclusively Gundisalvian as
are the words in recte. But together they pile up much evidence –
evidence that Dominicus Gundisalvi in fact was responsible for a
very large number of Arabic-Latin translations. In two cases, the
evidence is scant, namely for texts 8 and 13: al-Fārābī, Liber
exercitationis ad viam felicitatis, and Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ,
Cosmographia. These two texts share only two phrases with
Gundisalvi, even though they are not particularly short. But with
respect to the other texts, the evidence for Gundisalvi is strong,
even in case of the brief texts 4 (al-Kindī’s On the intellect), 18
(Avicenna, De diluviis) and 19 (al-Ġazālī, prologue to the
Maqāṣid).
It is remarkable that three texts do not contain any stylistic
words or phrases typical of Gundisalvi: texts 1, 9 and 14. There is
an answer to this. Let us turn to the evidence of stylistic words
for other translators: Gerard of Cremona, John of Seville, Hugo of
Santalla and Alfred of Shareshill. Here comes a phrase typical of
Gerard of Cremona: –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– secundum
semitam
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................0 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................2 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................0 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:....................31 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0
-
15
''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:..............25 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................1 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................0 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........0 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:................0 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:....................0 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........0 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......0 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............0 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
At the beginning, it proved difficult to find small words and
phrases that are typical of Gerard’s translations and used only by
him, because Gerard’s style is much smoother and less idiosyncratic
than Gundisalvi’s. Gerard shares many stylistic words with one or
the other fellow translator. But further searching led to the
following phrases:
anonymous translation words and phrases shared with GERARD OF
CREMONA (propterea quia, praeter quod, secundum semitam, et neque,
et propter illud, per sermonem, demonstratio super, et nos quidem,
quoniam quando, nisi quoniam, et illud quidem, et scientia quidem,
quod est quia, neque est, secundum duos modos)
01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn 02-Alexander of
Aphrodisias, De intellectu 03-Turba philosophorum 04-al-Kindī, De
intellectu 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum 06-al-Kindī, De
radiis 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellect 08-al-Fārābī, Liber
exerc. ad viam felicitatis 09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn
al-masāʾil) secundum semitam, per sermonem, demonstratio super,
et scientia quidem, neque est, secundum duos modos 10-al-Fārābī,
Explanation ... of Euclid 11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum
12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae demon. 13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ,
Cosmographia 14-Anonymous, De 4 confectionibus 15-Isaac Israeli, De
definitionibus 16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II 17-Avicenna, Physics,
I-III praeter quod 18-Avicenna, De diluviis (Meteora II.6)
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid Note that the negative
evidence in this table for Gerard’s translations supports the
positive evidence of Gundisalvi’s table, which we have seen before.
This strongly supports the finding
-
16
that text 14 (Ps.-al-Fārābī, ʿUyūn al-masāʾil), which contained
none of the words typical of Gundisalvi, was translated by Gerard
of Cremona.
Let us turn to John of Seville: ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
quoque ac (translating: wa) (in lists)
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................0 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............1 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................0 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............2 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:.........46 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............0 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................0 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........0 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:................0 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:....................0 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........0 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......0 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............0 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
As I said at the beginning, Abū Maʿšar’s Great Introduction was
added to our group of sources, in spite of its mainly astrological
content, because we needed to increase the textual basis for John
of Seville in our corpus. quoque ac is not used by any other
Arabic-Latin translator of philosophical texts in the twelfth
century. At this point, it is worth consulting the online
Arabic
-
17
and Latin Glossary and searching for quoque ac among the
quotations cited in this lexicon. Even here, in this much larger
group of translations from the eleventh to the thirteenth century,
quoque ac leads us to translations known to derive from John of
Seville – which confirms the evidence of the present method. This
is the table with words and phrases used exclusively by John of
Seville:
anonymous translation words and phrases shared with JOHN OF
SEVILLE(quoque ac, cumque fuerint, cumque volueris, dicamusque, et
patefecimus)
01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn 02-Alexander of
Aphrodisias, De intellectu 03-Turba philosophorum 04-al-Kindī, De
intellectu 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum 06-al-Kindī, De
radiis 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellect 08-al-Fārābī, Liber
exerc. ad viam felicitates 09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn
al-masāʾil) 10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid
11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum 12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem
logicae demon. 13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia 14-Anonymous, De 4
confectionibus quoque ac, cumque fuerint, cumque volueris 15-Isaac
Israeli, De definitionibus 16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II 17-Avicenna,
Physics, I-III 18-Avicenna, De diluviis (Meteora II.6)
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid Among the few stylistic words
and phrases which I was able to isolate for John of Seville, three
appear in text number 14, De quatuor confectionibus, a treatise on
magic and natural philosophy by an anonymous Arabic author on,
among other things, how to catch animals without hunting. It served
as a source for the final letter of The Epistles of the Brethren of
Purity. The magical topic could have interested Hugo of Santalla,
who is known as the translator of about seven texts in astrology,
astronomy and the divinatory sciences. Hugo would have been a good
candidate for the translation of text 14. But the translator,
evidently, was John of Seville, not Hugo of Santalla, as the
following table underlines:
anonymous translation words and phrases shared with HUGO OF
SANTALLA (potissimum, pariter, aut saltem, deinceps quoque,
tandemque, denuo, itidem, ut uidelicet, dum uidelicet, hunc quoque,
siue potius, plerumque etiam, rursum in, atque huiusmodi, eo
item)
01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn 02-Alexander of
Aphrodisias, De intellectu 03-Turba philosophorum 04-al-Kindī, De
intellectu 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum 06-al-Kindī, De
radiis
-
18
07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto 08-al-Fārābī, Liber
exerc. ad viam felicitatis 09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn
al-masāʾil) 10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid pariter
11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum 12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem
logicae demon. 13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia 14-Anonymous, De 4
confectionibus 15-Isaac Israeli, De definitionibus 16-Avicenna,
Isagoge, I-II 17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III pariter 18-Avicenna, De
diluviis (Meteora II.6)
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid Hugo of Santalla has long been
known as an idiosyncratic stylist. This is confirmed by the
analysis of stylistic particles and phrases. There are many of
them. In fact, Hugo’s list of favourite particles not shared by his
fellow translators could have even be longer, if I had continued
searching. He has many stylistic preferences, which are not shared
by any of the anonymous texts discussed here. As a result, we may
safely attribute text 14 to the translator John of Seville.
Now comes our last translator, Alfred of Shareshill:
anonymous translation words and phrases shared with ALFRED OF
SHARESHILL (ut plurimum, huius signum, fietque, ceterum, simulque,
aliquotiens, ut multum, per multa)
01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn 02-Alexander of
Aphrodisias, De intellectu 03-Turba philosophorum ceterum
04-al-Kindī, De intellectu 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione temporum
06-al-Kindī, De radiis 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto
08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad viam felicitatis 09-Ps.-al-Fārābī,
Flos (ʿUyūn al-masāʾil) 10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid
aliquotiens 11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum 12-Iḫwān
aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae demon. 13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia
ut plurimum 14-Anonymous, De 4 confectionibus 15-Isaac Israeli, De
definitionibus 16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II 17-Avicenna, Physics,
I-III 18-Avicenna, De diluviis (Meteora II.6)
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid From what we know of Alfred of
Shareshill’s other translations and writings, he is a likely
candidate for the translation of texts with meteorological,
mineralogical or botanical content. But texts 5 and 18 (al-Kindī,
De mutatione temporum and Avicenna, De diluviis), which fall into
this category, do not contain any stylistic words typical of
Alfred. Again, this table underlines the above finding that
Dominicus Gundisalvi translated also these two treatises.
I am quite clueless as to text 1. Here we may have a translator
at work whom we do not know. Or, it may be that the text is simply
too short for the kind of evidence I have been using.
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19
The only stylistic feature shared with other translators, as far
as I can see at the moment, is causa huius est:
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– causa huius est
ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................2 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................0 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................3 ''''_14AnonymDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI‐II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................1 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................1 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI‐III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................0 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............0 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................1 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........0 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:................1 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:....................2 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........0 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......0 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............0 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Given that we know by now that Gundisalvi was the translator also
of texts 13 and 17, the usage of the phrase causa huius est points
to Gundisalvi as translator of text 1 as well.
This leaves us with the following result:
anonymous translation Alonso analysis of particle usage
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20
01-Aristotle, Metaphysics,
Alpha Meizôn perhaps Gundisalvi?
02-Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
03-Turba philosophorum Gundisalvi 04-al-Kindī, De intellectu
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione
temporum Gundisalvi
06-al-Kindī, De radiis Gundisalvi 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu
et
intellect Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad viam felicitatis
Gundisalvi probably Gundisalvi
09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn al-masāʾil)
Gundisalvi Gerard of Cremona
10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid
Gundisalvi
11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum
Gundisalvi
12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae demon.
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia
probably Gundisalvi
14-Anonymous, De quattuor confectionibus
John of Seville
15-Isaac Israeli, De definitionibus
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II Gundisalvi Gundisalvi 17-Avicenna,
Physics, I-III Gundisalvi Gundisalvi 18-Avicenna, De diluviis
(Meteora II.6) Gundisalvi
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid
Gundisalvi
Upon the evidence of particle usage, Dominicus Gundisalvi was
the translator of 14 anonymous translations, probably of 16. If we
add text 1, Gundisalvi was the translator of 17 texts. One
translation – that of Pseudo-al-Fārābī’s ʿUyūn al-masāʾil, comes
from Gerard of Cremona. One translation – that of De quattuor
confectionibus – comes from John of Seville. Note that Manuel
Alonso’s analysis of Gundisalvi’s vocabulary underlines many
findings. But since Alonso did not compare the vocabulary of Gerard
of Cremona (or of any other translator), he could not detect
Gerard’s hand in text 9.
II – Computational Stylistics The above results can be confirmed
to a significant degree by a computational analysis of the
authorship of our texts. Our analysis follows, in principle, the
idea of John Burrows that authorship can be determined
computationally by comparing the frequencies of the most frequent
words of individual texts.8 To this end, we have used the script
“Stylo”, which was
8 Burrows, ‘Delta’: a Measure of Stylistic Difference, pp.
267-287.
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21
written in “R”, a programming language for statistical
computing, by Maciej Eder and Jan Rybicki.9 Stylo provides only a
very basic graphical user interface, which is why Andreas Büttner
added a number of tools to improve the workflow of testing the
various options of the script for the whole set or for subsets of
our texts. When we began to analyse the text corpus
computationally, we were not entirely optimistic that we would
achieve results, because it was unclear whether the author signal
would not trump the translator signal. In an earlier study, Rybicki
had tried to identify English-Polish, French-Polish and
French-English and English-French translators with the Stylo
script.10 But his disappointing conclusion was that translators are
condemned to stylometric invisibility. Multivariate analysis of
most frequent words cannot tell translator from translator, because
the texts usually cluster around the author rather than the
translator.
Fortunately, however, this does not seem to be true for
translations from Arabic into Latin – perhaps because the
linguistic differences between the Semitic language and the
Indoeuropean language block author signals. In a first step, we
made Stylo script analyse only that part of our corpus for which
the translators are known, that is, for texts 20 to 49. The
computer was not able to differentiate the translators as long as
texts 39, 36 and 45 remained in the corpus. Text 39, Avendauth’s
translation of the prologue to aš-Šifāʾ, apparently is too short
for computational analysis. Texts 36 and 45 are two translations of
the same text: Gerard of Cremona’s and Gundisalvi’s translations of
al-Fārābī’s De scientiis. Gundisalvi’s translation probably is a
revision of Gerard’s. As soon as we took out these three texts, the
analysis delivered the following satisfactory consensus tree, which
is a graphic expression of the grouping of the remaining texts in
the corpus according to the distance measures between them:
9 The script was published 2011 in a Stanford paper and is since
freely available on the net. See Eder and Rybicki, Stylometry with
R, pp. 308–311. I am very grateful to Fotis Jannidis for directing
my attention to Stylo and for introducing me to computational
stylistics in general. 10 Rybicki, The great mystery, pp.
231–248.
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22
Standard Consensus Tree
In principle, the Stylo script is able to differentiate between
Gundisalvi, Gerard, John of Seville, Hugo and Alfred. Note that
Alfred’s translation of the section On Stones and Minerals of
Avicenna’s aš-Šifāʾ does not group together with the many other
texts from Avicenna’s aš-Šifāʾ translated by Gundisalvi. The author
signal in this case is not stronger than the translator signal. A
problem is John of Seville’s translation of the Secretum
secretorum. It does not group unambiguously with the other
translations by John of Seville, but is located in the middle
between the translations by John and by Hugo of Santalla. This is
probably because Hugo of Santalla’s translations, and in particular
his translation of Pseudo-Apollonius (Bālīnūs) On the Secrets of
Nature, are too close in topic and language to the Secretum
secretorum.
Some brief comments on the statistical parameters which produce
this tree are at place. At the bottom of the tree, you see the
parameters we chose in the end, after trying out many others. The
translator attribution rests on an analysis of the most frequent 50
words, then 100 words, 150 and so forth words until 1000 words, and
on combining these results. “Culled @ 20-80%” means: The most
frequent words considered are only those shared by at least 20% of
all texts
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23
(again moving upwards until 80% and combining the results) –
thus excluding words that appear only in certain disciplines of
philosophy. “Eder Delta” is a distance function (metric) used to
measure the distance between the word frequency vectors of the
individual texts. “Consensus 0.5” means that the consensus tree
makes a direct linkage between two texts if that linkage appears in
at least 50% of the analyses.
We chose this consensus tree as our calibrated standard. Once we
had this standard, we could add anonymous translations. For some
anonymous translations, the results are clear, for others they are
not. Text 19, the Latin translation of al-Ġazālī’s brief
introduction to the Maqāṣid, is an example for a case in which the
computer is completely at a loss. The analysis results are
represented in a consensus tree, in which the Gundisalvi branch
remains intact, as do the John, Alfred and Hugo branches, but the
Gerard branch has been turned into chaos. A similarly chaotic
consensus tree is produced when text 8, al-Fārābī’s Liber
exercitationis, is added to the corpus. Likewise, texts 1, 3-7, 11,
13-15 and 18 are placed ambiguously between known authors.
But there are also very indicative results, which are presented
in the following graphs:
02 Consensus tree: Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu
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07 Consensus tree: al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto
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25
09 Consensus tree: Ps.-al-Fārābī, ʿUyūn al-masāʾil, Flos /
Fontes questionum
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26
10 Consensus tree: al-Fārābī, Explanation of the 5th book of
Euclid
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27
12 Consensus tree: al-Fārābī, In artem logicae
demonstrationis
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16 Consensus tree: Avicenna, Isagoge of aš-Šifāʾ
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17 Consensus tree: Avicenna, Physics of aš-Šifāʾ
Hence, in 7 of the 19 cases, we arrive at unambiguous results
when analysing the texts with the Stylo script. The computer
analysis of the distance measures between the most frequent word
lists results in the ascription of six anonymous translations to
Dominicus Gundisalvi (texts 2, 7, 10, 12, 16 and 17), among them
Avicenna’s Physics (text 17), and of one anonymous translation to
Gerard of Cremona: text 9, Ps.-al-Fārābī’s Flos (ʿUyūn al-masāʾil).
This last ascription is particularly noteworthy since it agrees,
against Alonso’s intuition, with the results of the philological
analysis above. It is a surprise also becaue we did not expect that
Gerard of Cremona translated more texts than those listed by his
socii in the famous list of translations which they drew up after
his death in 1178 AD.11 In sum, it is very good sign that, whenever
Stylo script groups a text unambiguously with one translator, the
result agrees with my philological analysis above. 11 Burnett, The
Coherence, pp. 249–288
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30
III – Conclusion The overall result of the present study can be
summarized in the following table:
anonymous translation Alonso Stylo my analysis of particle
usage
01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn
perhaps Gundisalvi?
02-Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
03-Turba philosophorum Gundisalvi 04-al-Kindī, De intellectu
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi 05-al-Kindī, De mutatione
temporum Gundisalvi
06-al-Kindī, De radiis Gundisalvi 07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu
et
intellect Gundisalvi Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad viam felicitatis
Gundisalvi probably Gundisalvi
09-Ps.-al-Fārābī, Flos (ʿUyūn al-masāʾil)
Gundisalvi Gerard of Cremona
Gerard of Cremona
10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum
Gundisalvi
12-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, In artem logicae demon.
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
13-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, Cosmographia
probably Gundisalvi
14-Iḫwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ, De 4 confectionibus
John of Seville
15-Isaac Israeli, De definitionibus
Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II Gundisalvi Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III Gundisalvi Gundisalvi Gundisalvi
18-Avicenna, De diluviis
(Meteora II.6) Gundisalvi
19-al-Ġazālī, prologue to Maqāṣid
Gundisalvi
The right hand column contains the translator ascriptions
proposed in this paper. The evidence for these attributions is
clearly much stronger than Alonso’s evidence had been. Some of the
evidence, such as for Gundisalvi as the translator of Avicenna’s
Physics, is so overwhelming that we may safely call it conclusive.
But it is not without reason that this study is called “Notes”. It
is impossible to provide full documentation of all the statistical
material relevant for these attributions in one paper. Also, we
believe that there is room for improvement both with the
philological and the computational analysis. Currently we are
working on extending our analysis to all Arabic-Latin translations
on the Iberian peninsula in the twelfth century.
The results are interesting in many historical and philological
respects. Dominicus Gundisalvi emerges from this study as one of
the major Arabic-Latin translators of the Middle
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31
Ages, alongside other great names such as Gerard of Cremona,
John of Seville and Michael Scot. Gundisalvi is the key figure for
the transport of al-Fārābī and Avicenna into Latin. He also
contributed much to the Latin version of al-Kindī – one half of
Alkindus Latinus comes from Gundisalvi, the other half from Gerard
of Cremona. We know that, for some translations, Gundisalvi worked
together with Arabic-speaking scholars, the Jew Avendauth and the
Mozarab Johannes Hispanus. This may also have been the case for the
many anonymous translations that are attributed to Gundisalvi in
this paper. But in view of the great experience he must have
collected over the years and in view of the fact that his Latin
style remains recognizable, one may surmise that he did a good
number of these translations by himself.
Dominicus Gundisalvi signs several Latin and Mozarabic charters
between 1162 and 1190. He was archdeacon of Cuellar north of
Segovia, but was resident in Toledo, where he was a canon of the
cathedral. Gerard of Cremona was canon of this cathedral too, in
the very same decades. The attribution of 14 (and possibly 17)
anonymous translations to Gundisalvi adds to the importance of
Toledo, and in particular: of the cathedral of Toledo, in the
translation movement. Gerard of Cremona, of course, the translator
of at least 70 texts from Arabic, among them great works of Greek
and Arabic astronomy and medicine, remains the towering figure. But
his fellow canon Gundisalvi also translated almost 30 texts. In
contrast to Gerard, Gundisalvi was a philosophical and theological
author of his own. He was translator and first reader of the
translations at the same time. And in contrast to Gerard,
Gundisalvi, when translating, was not only interested in Greek
authors transmitted in Arabic, but also and predominantly in Arabic
philosophy proper. In this particular respect, he was immensely
important for the history of philosophy of the Latin West.
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32
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