John of Seville
John of Seville (Latin: Johannes Hispalensis or Johannes Hispaniensis) (fl. 1133-53) was one of the main translators from Arabic into Castilian in partnership with Dominicus Gundissalinus during the early days of the Toledo School of Translators. John of Seville translated a litany of Arabic astrological works in addition to being credited with the production of several original works in Latin.[3][4]
Life and Context
John of Seville was a baptized Jew, whose Jewish name (now unknown) has been corrupted into "Avendeut", "Avendehut", "Avendar" or "Aven Daud". This evolved into the middle name "David", so that, as a native of Toledo, he is frequently referred to as Johannes (David) Toletanus.[5] However, Avendehut's translations typically translated Arabic text into Spanish vernacular. John of Seville was capable of translating Arabic directly into Latin, creating a distinction between himself and Avendehut.[3] Some historians argue that in fact there were two different persons with a similar name, one as Juan Hispano (Ibn Dawud) and other as Juan Hispalense, this last one perhaps working at Galician Limia (Ourense), for he signed himself as "Johannes Hispalensis atque Limiensis", during the Reconquista, the Christian campaign to regain the Iberian Peninsula. Though his precise birthdate and death date remain unknown, he is known to have flourished in his work from 1133 to 1153.[5] His date of death is sometimes placed around 1157, but this remains an uncertainty.[3]
Translated and Original works
Since John of Seville had gone by multiple names throughout his lifetime, it is often debated by historians as to which translations of this time period were actually his.[6] The topics of his translated works were mainly astrological, in addition to astronomical, philosophical and medical.[3][5] John of Seville's particular style of translation is recognized by scholars due to his proclivity to translate works, word for word, while continuing to maintain the original language's syntax and grammatical structure.[3]
Astrological and Astronomical
John of Seville translated
Medical and Alchemy
At least three of his translations, a short version of the Secretum Secretorum dedicated to a Queen Tarasia, a tract on gout offered to one of the Popes Gregory, and the original version of the 9th century Arabic philosopher Qusta ibn Luqa's De differentia spiritus et animae (The Difference Between the Spirit and the Soul), were medical translations intermixed with alchemy in the Hispano-Arabic tradition.[12] His partial translation of the Secretum Secretorum is considered to be his earliest known work. Unlike much of his later work, this translation utilizes a first-person perspective.[3] A lesser-known translation of his titled Speculum Elementorum, also referred to as Tractatus de perfecta et infallibili Medicina arte Akimie, was originally written by an unknown author.[13] Another notable work translated by John of Seville from arabic is the Emerald Tablet, an alchemical work of the Hermetic tradition that is originally credited to Hermes Trismegistus himself, it was said to contain many alchemical secrets.[14]
Philosophical
In his Book of Algorithms on Practical Arithmetic, John of Seville provides one of the earliest known descriptions of Indian positional notation, whose introduction to Europe is usually associated with the book Liber Abaci by Fibonacci:
- “A number is a collection of units, and because the collection is infinite (for multiplication can continue indefinitely), the Indians ingeniously enclosed this infinite multiplicity within certain rules and limits so that infinity could be scientifically defined; these strict rules enabled them to pin down this subtle concept.”
John of Seville is also credited with working in collaboration with Dominicus Gundissalinus and Jewish philosopher Abraham Ibn Daud to translate the De anima of Avicenna, a philosophical commentary on Aristotle's writings.[15][3] Avicenna had many other of his works translated such as a philosophical encyclopedia titled Kitab al-Shifa’ (The Book of Healing) and a short script on metaphysics titled Liber de Causis (Book of Causes). John even retranslated an original Avicenna translation of Aristotle’s On the Heavens.[16][17] It is speculated that the written work of Zael, titled Liber temporum, may have been translated by John of Seville. However, the name of the translator was never mentioned in the manuscript so it remains uncertain. A work by Jewish philosopher Avencebrol is believed to be translated by both John of Seville and Dominicus Gundissalinus titled Fons Vitae (Source of Life).[6] Another one of John of Seville's philosophical translation includes the work by philosopher Al-Ghazali titled Maqasid al-falasifa (The Aims of the Philosophers), a book regarding basic philosophical concepts such as judgement, concept and logic.[18]
Original
In addition to his many translations John of Seville is credited with a work of his own titled, Epitome artis astrologiae, written in 1142 which is a summary of astrology as a whole.[6]
Copying Errors
The work of John of Seville was later preserved by medieval scholars through the copying of his translations. These copies occasionally deviate from John's original text, producing errors that further perpetuate the issue of John's identity. When the name of a translator was improperly copied into a manuscript, further copies of this manuscript would carry this error, initiating a mutation of names and dates over the span of multiple copies. Carelessness further complicated the matter. Abbreviations such as "Ioh Hisp" (Iohannes Hispalensis was yet another possible identity for John) were used, such as in a manuscript from 1503.[6]
Fortunately, a number of factors have aided in determining whether certain translations belong to John of Seville. He would often sign his translations "Cum laude Dei et eius adiutorio," making otherwise error-ridden manuscripts easily attributable to John.[6]
See also
- New Christian: converso & marrano
- Toledo School of Translators
- Latin translations of the 12th century
References
- ^ Macnab, Angus (Spring 1968). "The Moslem Saint in Toledo Cathedral". Studies in Comparative Religion. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
- ^ "The Toledo school of translators". History of International Relations. 2021-02-28. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
- ^ S2CID 5467168.
- ^ OCLC 156874785.
- ^ a b c Jewish Encyclopedia. "Johannes Hispalensis". Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- ^ .
- ^ Astronomy, astrology, observatories and calendars, A. Akmedov, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. 4, Part 2 ed. Clifford Edmund Bosworth, M.S.Asimov, (Motilal Banarsidass, 2000), 198.
- ^ Houtsma, p.875
- ^ "Flowers of Abu Ma'shar". World Digital Library. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
- ^ S2CID 213946380.
- ^ Ibn al-Farrukhân al-Tabarî, Umar (c. 1100s). Kitâb al-Mawâlid ('Book of Nativities') (PDF). Wartburg: John of Seville.
- ^ Goulding, Robert. Speculum, vol. 82, no. 2, 2007, pp. 494–495. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20464144.
- ISBN 978-1-108-03434-0.
- )
- ^ Gutas, Dimitri (2016), "Ibn Sina [Avicenna]", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2019-10-04
- ^ "Kitāb al-shifāʾ | work by Avicenna". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ^ "Liber de causis - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy". www.rep.routledge.com. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ^ "The Aims of the Philosophers", Wikipedia, 2019-08-18, retrieved 2019-11-07
External links
- M. Robinson, "The History and Myths surrounding Johannes Hispalensis," in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies October 2003, vol. 80, no. 4, pp. 443-470 abstract
- Robinson, Maureen. The Heritage of Medieval Errors in the Latin Manuscripts of Johannes Hispalensis (John of Seville). Al-Qantara. Volume 28, Num. 1 (2007). ISSN 0211-3589. Pages 41 to 71. (in English)