Avicenna’s Isagoge, Chap. I, 12, De Universalibus: Some Observations on the Latin Translation

What is it about?

The Latin translation of Avicenna’s Madkhal, preserved in thirteen miscellaneous codices and in the edition printed in Venice in 1508, still needs a critical edition. Ideally, this kind of editorial work requires a stemmatic reconstruction of the relations existing between the manuscripts. As a contribution towards this goal, in the first part of this article a provisional classification of the testimonia is offered, although not based on a complete collation of the codices, as a preliminary step towards a future stemmatic arrangement of the entire manuscript tradition. The prospected critical edition will have to provide an accurate explanation of those phenomena characterizing the translation process, some examples of which are shown in the second part of this article.

Featured Image

Photo by Boudewijn Huysmans on Unsplash

Photo by Boudewijn Huysmans on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The study of the manuscripts of the Latin translations of Arabic philosophical and scientific texts is crucial to deepen our knowledge of how the Toledan team of translators worked in twelfth-century Spain to make the Arabic scientific and philosophical heritage available in Latin.