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D.N. Hasse 1

Twelfth-Century Latin Translations of Arabic Philosophical Texts on the

Iberian Peninsula Dag Nikolaus Hasse, Villa Vigoni, 27 June 2013

In a paper published in 2010, I have studied the anonymous Latin translations of

Averroes of the thirteenth century. Among the 17 Averroes translations, twelve

were anonymous. The idea was not to examine the technical vocabulary, but the

translator’s usage of particles and short phrases. The statistical analysis of

particle usage showed that six anonymous translations, and probably a seventh,

were by Michael Scot, three by William of Luna, one by Hermannus Alemannus

and one by an unknown fourth translator. In the present paper, I should like to

try something similar for the twelfth century as well: for the great Arabic-Latin

translation movement in Spain. Here too we have many anonymous translations.

But the textual situation is much more complicated: the translation movement

in Spain is much larger, and the number of anonymous translations is much

higher. Also, there are many Arabic authors involved, not only Averroes. Some

anonymous translations, for instance of texts by al-Kindī, are very short. To

keep the size manageable and the corpus coherent, I decided to concentrate on

philosophical texts, as you can see on the table below – thus excluding other

discipines 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-al-Fārābī, Flos (þUyÚn al-masÁÿil)

10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of the 5th Book of Euclid

11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum

12-I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, In artem logicae demonstrationis

13- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, Cosmographia

14- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, Liber de quatuor confectionibus

15-Isaac Israeli, De definitionibus

16-Avicenna, Isagoge, selections from I and II

17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III

18-Avicenna, De diluviis (Meteora II.6)

19-al-³azÁlÍ, prologue to MaqÁÈid

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

ed. M.A. Alonso

ed. D. Salman

D.N. Hasse 2

John of Seville 20-Ps.-Aristotle, Secretum secretorum

21-QusÔÁ ibn LÚqÁ, De differentia spiritus et animae

22-AbÚ Maþšar, 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-BiÔrÍq, 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


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-³azÁlÍ, Summa (MaqÁÈid)

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 al-ŠifÁÿ)

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, plus 30 translations by translators

known to us. Number 22 (AbÚ Maþšar) is not a philosophical text in the stricter

sense; I have added it in order to have enough statistical material for John of

Seville, since texts 20 and 21 are rather short. Albumasar’s text leads us to

another problem for anyone who studies twelfth-century translations: revision.

John of Seville’s version of the Great Introduction was revise, perhaps by

Gerard of Cremona, as some have suggested. Other texts, such as al-Fārābī’s

Enumeration of the Sciences (De scientiis) was translated twice, by Gerard of

Cremona and Gundisalvi (texts 36 and 45). There is no consensus on which

translation was first; I believe (as Charles Burnett does) that Gundisalvi revised

Gerard’s translation. Isaac’s De definitionibus was also translated twice, by an

anonymous translator and by Gerard (texts 15 and 37). The same is true of al-

Kindī’s On the Intellect (texts 4 and 35). In all three cases, the 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 any attempt to identify anonymous

translators. The troubling question is whether the stylistic signal of the author

(i.e. al-Kindī or al-Fārābī or Avicenna) will be stronger than the translator signal

D.N. Hasse 3

– whether, for instance, Fārābī-translations will group together in Latin, even if

they are by different translators. And I have to say there was a moment in April

of this year when I almost despaired and I thought that I won’t have anything to

present in the Villa Vigoni. I will show you why. Fortunately, the story took a

different direction.

What is the status quaestionis? As I see it, there were two major steps in

research on this issue. First, Manuel Alonso’s analysis of Dominicus

Gundisalvi’s translation style in two papers of the 1940s and 1950s, on the basis

of which Alonso ascribed several anonymous translations to Gundisalvi (or the

tandem Gundisalvi / Johannes Hispanus). Second, Charles Burnett’s research on

the translators in Spain. To turn to Alonso’s results first: In a magisterial 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. 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

Coincidencias verbales típicas en las obras y traducciones

de Gundisalvo, in: Al-Andalus 20 (1955), 129-152, 345-379

01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn, fragm.







08-al-Fārābī, Liber exercitationis ad viam felicitatis


10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of the 5th Book of Euclid


12-I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, In artem logicae demonstrationis

D.N. Hasse 4


14- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, Liber de quatuor confectionibus


16-Avicenna, Isagoge, selections from I and II




––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The evidence collected by Alonso is impressive. 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, is used by

Gundisalvi, but also by Gerard of Cremona and Hugo of Santalla, as the

following table shows:

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– parifica- ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................0 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................2 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI-II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................3 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsAppolDeSecretis:................1 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI-III:...............0 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................1 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............1 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................0 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............0 ''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................2

D.N. Hasse 5

''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:...........1 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:................0 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................13 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........1 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......0 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............0 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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:

diuersificare is a term which regularly appears in Gerard’s translations.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– diuersifica- ANON_01ArisMetAlpha:.....................0 ''''_02AlexDeIntell:.....................0 ''''_03Turba:............................0 ''''_04KindiDeIntell:....................0 ''''_05KindiDeMutatTemp:.................0 ''''_06KindiDeRadiis:....................1 ''''_07FarabiDeIntell:...................0 ''''_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis:..........0 ''''_09FarabiFlos:.......................0 ''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI-II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:........................25 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsAppolDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................7 ''''''_29ArisMeteoraI-III:...............5 ''''''_30PsArisDeCausis:.................7 ''''''_31AlexanderDeMotu:................0 ''''''_32ThemistiusPostAn:...............9 ''''''_33KindiDeQuinqueEssentiis:........0 ''''''_34KindiDeSomno:...................2 ''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_36FarabiDeScientiis:..............2

D.N. Hasse 6

''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............1 Gundisalvi_40AvicDeAnima:................2 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............0 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:..........24 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:................3 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:....................4 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........0 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......0 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............1 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

What these tables show, is that Alonso has successfully unearthed terms

preferred by Gundisalvi, but not necessarily terms typical of Gundisalvi. Hence,

Alonso’s studies were 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,

on the other hand, the collaborator of Gundisalvi on two translations, John of

Spain (Iohannes Hispanus, d. 1215), who possibly was the successor of

Gundisalvi as archdeacon of Cuéllar. The older research, including Alonso’s, is

still full of confusion about these Johns. The starting-point for my inquiry was

Burnett’s list of Arabic-Latin philosophical translations, which was published in

2005.1 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-al-Fārābī, Flos (þUyÚn al-masÁÿil) anonymous

10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of the 5th Book of Euclid Gundisalvi (?)

11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu scientiarum Gundisalvi (?)

12-I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, In artem logicae demonstrationis anonymous

1 Charles Burnett, ‘Arabic into Latin: the Reception of Arabic Philosophy into Western

Europe’, in P. Adamson, R. Taylor, eds, Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy

(Cambridge, 2005) 370-404, here 391-400.

D.N. Hasse 7

13- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, Cosmographia anonymous

14- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, 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-³azÁlÍ, prologue to MaqÁÈid anonymous

Burnett follows Alonso’s suggestions on texts 2,4,7,8,12 and 15, but adds a

cautious question mark.

Who were the translators of these treatises? Who was responsible for

transporting al-Kindī’s, al-Fārābī’s and Avicenna’s work to the Latin West?

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 as a

centre for Arabic-Latin translations also depends upon whether we can solve the

issue of anonymous translations.

I – Computational Stylistics

What I tried to do in the past two years, was to find a solution to the attribution

problem by approaching it from two sides: from a philological side and from a

computational side. That is, I tried to apply the philological method I had used

for the Averroes translations: studying non-technical, non-disciplinary

vocabulary, particles and short phrases, everyday words. On the other hand, I

tried to study the corpus of translations with the help of the computer. In the fall

of 2011, my colleague in digital humanities at Würzburg University, Fotis

Jannidis, directed my attention to the most advanced computational stylistics

programme available at the moment: the script “Stylo”, which was written with

the statistics software “R” by two Polish scholars of the University of Krakow:

Maciej Eder and Jan Rybicki. The script was published 2011 in a Stanford paper

and is since freely available on the net.2

The script written by Eder and Rybicki is designed to make author attributions

on the basis of the analysis of the most frequent words of the text. In this

analysis of texts of British Fiction, which you can see here, the script has

compared the 100 most frequent words of the 27 individual texts, then the 200

most frequent words, then the 300 most frequent words and so forth until 5000.

2 Eder, M. and Rybicki, J. (2011). Stylometry with R. Digital Humanities 2011: Conference

Abstracts. Stanford University, Stanford, pp. 308-11.

D.N. Hasse 8

It then performs distance calculations to produce graphs of distances between

the texts.

As you will see at the end of my paper, the Stylo script is extremely helpful, but

at some crucial point, it had to strike the flag. I had to return to the method

which I had used for analysing the Averroes translations. The conclusive

evidence for the twelfth-century translations, as you will see, will come from the

philological judgement about the evidence provided by particles and short

phrases.

I did not do this alone. I was assisted by Andreas Büttner, a student in

philosophy and musicology, whom I had hired for working on the Arabic-Latin

Glossary, but who turned out to be gifted programmer as well. Andreas Büttner

has worked long on creating a digitalized and fully searchable corpus of these 49

texts. He has invested much effort in standardizing the Latin as far as possible.

To extinguish scanning mistakes, he has sent the texts time and again to a server

in Berlin, where the texts were checked against the Perseus Latin dictionary (by

D.N. Hasse 9

Gregory Crane), to which he added his own list of non-classical words of the

translation literature. In the end, the two dictionaries 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_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf.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% 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%

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

D.N. Hasse 10

In a next step, Andreas Büttner created a surface to improve the workflow of

analysing the text corpus with Stylo. One of the two authors of Stylo, Jan

Rybicki, had tried to identify English-Polish, French-Polish and French-English

and English-French translators with the Stylo script.3 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.

When we met Maciej Eder and Jan Rybicki last year at a conference, they

were surprised when we showed them the following consensus tree, which

contains all texts with known Arabic-Latin translators (with the exception of

Avendauth):

3 Rybicki, J. (2012). The great mystery of the (almost) invisible translator: stylometry in

translation. In M. Oakley and M. Ji (eds.), Quantitative Methods in Corpus-Based Translation

Studies. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 231-248

D.N. Hasse 11

In principle, the Stylo script is able to differentiate between Gundisalvi, Gerard,

John of Seville, Hugo and Alfred. One problem is al-Fārābī’s De scientiis. But

this is explainable, since one of the two translations is a revision of the other.

Note that Alfred’s translation of the section On Stones and Minerals of

Avicenna’s aš-ŠifÁÿ does not group together with the many other texts from aš-

ŠifÁÿ translated by Gundisalvi. The author signal in this case is not stronger than

the translator signal. A second problem is John of Seville’s translation of the

Secretum secretorum. Why does it not group with the other translations by John

of Seville but with Hugo of Santalla? I believe this is the case because Hugo of

Santalla’s translations, and in particular his translation of Pseudo-Apollonius

(Bâlînûs) On the Secrets of Nature, are too close in topic and language to the

Secretum secretorum. A third problem is Avendauth’s translation of the

prologue to aš-ŠifÁÿ, which is too short to be relevant for statistical analyis.

D.N. Hasse 12

When we leave out Avendauth and the two versions of al-Fārābī’s De scientiis

translations, we arrive at the following beautiful consensus tree, which served as

our standard for analysis of the anonymous texts:

Standard Consensus Tree

Let me briefly comment on the statistical parameters which produce this tree. 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 (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 most frequent word-

lists of the individual texts. “Consensus 0.5” means that the consensus tree

D.N. Hasse 13

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. I shall begin with an

example for a case in which the computer is completely at a loss.

19 Chaotic Consensus Tree: al-³azÁlÍ, MaqÁÈid

This is the Standard Consensus Tree plus one anonymous text: the very brief

introduction by al-³azÁlÍ to the MaqÁÈid. The Gundisalvi branch remains intact,

as do the John, Alfred and Hugo branches, but the Gerard branch has been

turned into chaos. Why one small text has such an effect on the rest of the tree,

is difficult to tell. It is a reminder that all results proposed by the Stylo script are

in need of philological counter-checking.

D.N. Hasse 14

But there are also very convincing results, which I now present to you in

numerical sequence. I leave out text number one, which is too short. I proceed to

Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu:

02 Consensus tree: Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu

I also pass by consensus trees for the texts 3,4,5 and 6, because here again the

position in the tree is ambiguous.

D.N. Hasse 15

07 Consensus tree: al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto

Text 8 creates a chaotic tree. But case 9 is indicative:

D.N. Hasse 16

09 Consensus tree: al-Fārābī, þUyÚn al-masÁÿil, Flos / Fontes questionum

D.N. Hasse 17

10 Consensus tree: al-Fārābī, Explanation of the 5th book of Euclid

Text 11 again has an ambigous position in the tree.

D.N. Hasse 18

12 Consensus tree: al-Fārābī, In artem logicae demonstrationis

Texts 13, 14, 15 again are placed ambiguously between authors.

D.N. Hasse 19

16 Consensus tree: Avicenna, Isagoge of aš-ŠifÁÿ

D.N. Hasse 20

17 Consensus tree: Avicenna, Physics of aš-ŠifÁÿ

18 is again ambiguously placed. 19 (al-³azÁlÍ, MaqÁÈid) – as we have seen –

results in a chaotic tree.

Hence, in 7 of the 19 cases, we receive an unambiguous result, when

analysing the texts with the Stylo script. The results can be summarized as

follows:

anonymous translation Alonso Stylo

01-Aristotle, Metaphysics, Alpha Meizôn

02-Alexander of Aphrodisias, De intellectu Gundisalvi Gundisalvi


04-al-Kindī, De intellectu Gundisalvi



07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellecto Gundisalvi Gundisalvi

08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad viam felicitatis Gundisalvi

09-al-Fārābī, Flos (þUyÚn al-masÁÿil) Gundisalvi Gerard of Cremona

D.N. Hasse 21

10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid Gundisalvi


12-I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, In artem logicae demon. Gundisalvi Gundisalvi


14- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, De 4 confectionibus

15-Isaac Israeli, De definitionibus Gundisalvi

16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II Gundisalvi Gundisalvi

17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III Gundisalvi Gundisalvi



Stylo supports several suggestions by Alonso, with the exception of al-Fārābī’s

Flos (þUyÚn al-masÁÿil), which Stylo groups with the translations of Gerard of

Cremona, and not with those of Gundisalvi. Moreover, Stylo furnishes evidence

that al-Fārābī’s commentary on the fifth book of Euclid (text 10) was a

translation by Gundisalvi.

II – Philological Analysis

At this point, it was clear that philological confirmation was needed to arrive at

more definite results. As remarked above, Alonso’s philological studies had

unearthed terms which were preferred by one translator (Gundisalvi), but not

necessarily typical of that translator. Hence, I now began to search or terms or

phrases that are not only preferred by, but exclusively used by individual

translators. From my reading of the texts, I had noticed that Gundisalvi preferred

the phrase quantum ad. Using a search tool written by Andreas Büttner, I then

checked my corpus for this phrase. This is the result:

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– quantum ad (translating: bi-l-qiyÁs ilÁ)

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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................0 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI-II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:........................40 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0

D.N. Hasse 22

''''_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 ''''''''''_41AvicDeMedCord:..............1 ''''''''''_42GabirolFonsVitae:..........14 ''''''''''_43GazaliSumma:...............36 ''''''''''_44AvicMet:...................52 ''''''''''_45FarabiDeScientiis:..........0 ''''''''''_46AvicConvenientiaScien:......1 ''''''''''_47PsAvicLiberCeli:............2 Alfred_48NicolausDePlantis:..............0 ''''''_49AvicLapid:......................0

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

You can see immediately that the intuition was correct: Gundisalvi has a liking

for the phrase. It appears in a good number of anonymous translations too. But

unfortunately it also appears in translations by John of Seville and Hugo of

Santalla – even if very rarely.

In a next step, I asked Andreas Büttner to write a programme which makes

the computer search only in the texts firmly attributed to the six translators and

make lists with the terms that only appear in one translator. We then arrived at

six lists with words appearing only in Avendauth, Hugo, Alfred, Gerard, John or

Gundisalvi. I wanted to know the following: How many such words that appear

singularly with one translator are shared by the each of the 19 anonymous

translations? We prepared a table which gives the number of such exclusive

words shared by the anonymous translators. I had hoped that we would now see

immediately which translation was produced by which translator – but that was

not the case:

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– –– How many words used only by a single translator

are shared by the anonymous translations?

Avendauth Hugo Alfred Gerard John Gundisalvi ANON_01ArisMetAlpha: 0 4 2 17 19 55 ANON_02AlexDeIntell: 0 25 1 58 47 442 ANON_03Turba: 0 115 16 137 148 592 ANON_04KindiDeIntell: 0 6 0 40 22 110 ANON_05KindiDeMutatTemp: 0 87 3 117 364 304 ANON_06KindiDeRadiis: 0 90 7 102 143 546 ANON_07FarabiDeIntell: 0 24 0 62 56 574 ANON_08FarabiAdViamFelicitatis: 0 43 7 89 82 389 ANON_09FarabiFlos: 0 9 0 60 22 87

D.N. Hasse 23

ANON_10FarabiEuclid: 0 37 2 51 50 224 ANON_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien: 0 26 4 52 46 255 ANON_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae: 0 36 7 139 94 629 ANON_13IkhwanCosmo: 0 26 3 57 114 158 ANON_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf: 0 12 2 33 59 81 ANON_15IsaacDeDefin: 0 29 4 212 66 380 ANON_16AvicIsagogeI-II_QUOTES: 0 15 0 26 21 154 ANON_17AvicPhys: 0 152 31 436 289 4308 ANON_18AvicDeDiluviis: 0 7 1 28 35 89 ANON_19GazaliProlMaqasid: 0 8 0 10 20 35

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Unfortunately, the anonymous translations share exclusive words with almost all

translators – safe for Avendauth, whose text is too short to be of any statistical

relevance. This table is therefore very disappointing. It does not say anything.

The high numbers of Gundisalvi may simply reflect that his translations are

rather long compared with others (Avicenna’s Metaphysics, Avicenna’s De

anima, Fons vitae etc).

At this point, I thought it may turn out that the task is impossible and that it

will not be possible to identify the anonymous translators of twelfth-century

Spain – in contrast to the translators of Averroes, which formed a corpus much

more coherent in length and content. But a few days later I looked again at the

lists with characteristic words of single translators. Here is an example of such a

list:

––––––––––––––––––––––– Phrases used only by Gundisalvi

ullo modo, (178x) sustinet praedicamenta, (177x) substantia composita, (127x) et deinde, (109x) sic ut, (106x) forma intelligentiae, (93x) substantiae simplicis, (88x) facit debere, (86x) debere esse, (81x) uel est, (80x) hoc m, (76x) debet ut, (75x) substantia simplici, (66x) omnes formae, (64x) a forma, (64x) praedictum est, (62x) habeat esse, (60x) essentia substantiae, (60x) factor primus, (54x) quia forma, (53x) inter se, (51x) formae sunt, (51x) omnes formas, (50x) cum forma, (50x) substantia intelligentiae, (49x) m si, (48x) autem dixerit, (48x)

D.N. Hasse 24

substantiarum simplicium, (47x) potest autem, (47x) substantiam quae, (46x) forma uniuersalis, (45x) in imaginatione, (44x) d quid, (44x) haec substantia, (44x) formae sensibiles, (43x) materia quae, (42x) quod intelligitur, (41x) alio a, (41x) formae uniuersalis, (41x) materia prima, (41x) ut forma, (41x) sustinentur in, (41x) est m, (40x) suae essentiae, (40x) quod quicquid, (40x)

–––––––––––––––––

Some of the words in the list are content words, such as substantia composita,

which are typical of a topic or a discipline, but others are stylistic, such as et

deinde. The computer 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. Such as et deinde:

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– et deinde (translating: Ýumma)

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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................4 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI-II_QUOTES:...........1 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................6 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0 ''''_21QustaDeDifferentia:...............0 ''''_22AlbumasarIntroductorium:..........0 Hugo_23PsApollDeSecretis:................0 ''''_24LiberAristotilis:.................0 Gerard_25ArisPostAn:.....................0

D.N. Hasse 25

''''''_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 not. et deinde never appears in the

philosophical translations of John, Hugo, Gerard, Avendauth and Alfred. But et

deinde appears in the anonymous translations 2, 7, 12, 13, 15,16, 17. This is a

first hint to a large group of anonymous translations deriving from Gundisalvi.

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-iªÁ)

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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............0 ''''_15IsaacDeDefin:.....................1 ''''_16AvicIsagogeI-II_QUOTES:...........0 ''''_17AvicPhys:.........................4 ''''_18AvicDeDiluviis:...................0 ''''_19GazaliProlMaqasid:................0 John_20PsArisSecretum:...................0

D.N. Hasse 26

''''_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: baþḍ li-baþḍ)

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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............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

D.N. Hasse 27

''''''_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 ½ayÝu or min ºihÁ mÁ or bi-mÁ) 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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............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

D.N. Hasse 28

''''''_35KindiDeRatione:.................0 ''''''_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-ªÁlika)

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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............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

D.N. Hasse 29

''''''_38IsaacDeDefin:...................0 Avendauth_39AvicProlIsagogeI:............0 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. I

now saw the exciting prospect of tracking the whole range of Gundisalvi’s

philosophical translations.

Instead of showing you more tables for single phrases exclusive of

Gundisalvi, I now choose a different way of presenting the evidence. I will give

you a conspectus of all stylistic words I have tracked in Gundisalvi, noting

which of these words appear in which anonymous translations. This is it:

D.N. Hasse 30

anonymous translation words and phrases shared with Gundisalvi


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


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-I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, 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- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, Cosmographia et deinde, et etiam quia


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

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-³azÁlÍ, prologue to MaqÁÈid inter se, hoc est scilicet, non est autem

This is clearly the most indicative table of the entire paper. The words and

phrases in recte never appear in any text 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 I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ,

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-³azÁlÍ, prologue to the

MaqÁÈid).

D.N. Hasse 31

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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............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 ''''''_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

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

D.N. Hasse 32

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)







07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellect

08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad viam felicitatis

09-al-Fārābī, Flos (þUyÚn al-masÁÿil) secundum semitam, per sermonem, demonstratio

super, et scientia quidem, neque est, secundum duos

modos

10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid


12-I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, In artem logicae demon.




16-Avicenna, Isagoge, I-II

17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III praeter quod



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 that text 14 (Fārābī, þUyÚn al-masÁÿil) – which

contained none of the words typical of Gundisalvi – was translated by Gerard.

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

D.N. Hasse 33

''''_10FarabiEuclid:.....................0 ''''_11PsFarabiDeOrtuScien:..............0 ''''_12IkhwanInArtemLogicae:.............0 ''''_13IkhwanCosmo:......................0 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............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, Albumasar’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 and Latin

Glossary and searching for quoque ac among the quotations cited in this

lexicon. Even here, in this much larger group of translators from the eleventh to

the thirteenth century, quoque ac always 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)


D.N. Hasse 34






07-al-Fārābī, De intellectu et intellect

08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad viam felicitates


10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid




14- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, De 4 confectionibus quoque ac, cumque fuerint, cumque volueris






Among the few stylistic words and phrases which I could isolate for John of

Seville, three appear in text number 14, I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, De quatuor

confectionibus. This is the final letter of The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, a

magical letter on, among other things, how to catch animals without hunting.

This is a topic which 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)










10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid pariter





D.N. Hasse 35



17-Avicenna, Physics, I-III pariter



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 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)



03-Turba philosophorum ceterum







10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of Euclid aliquotiens



13- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, Cosmographia ut plurimum







Alfred of Shareshill 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

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. The only stylistic feature shared with other

translators, as far as I can see at the moment, is causa huius est:

D.N. Hasse 36

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 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 ''''_14IkhwanDeQuattuorConf:.............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 overall result:

D.N. Hasse 37

anonymous translation Alonso Stylo my analysis of partical

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


08-al-Fārābī, Liber exerc. ad

viam felicitatis

Gundisalvi probably

Gundisalvi

09-al-Fārābī, Flos (þUyÚn al-

masÁÿil)

Gundisalvi Gerard of

Cremona Gerard of Cremona

10-al-Fārābī, Explanation ... of

Euclid

Gundisalvi Gundisalvi

11-Ps.-al-Fārābī, De ortu

scientiarum

Gundisalvi

12-I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, In artem

logicae demon.


13- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ,

Cosmographia

probably Gundisalvi

14- I¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ, 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


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 al-Fārābī’s þUyÚn al-masÁÿil,

comes from Gerard of Cremona. One translation – that of the final letter by the

¿wÁn aÈ-ÆafÁÿ – comes from John of Seville. Note that the computational

evidence provided by the Stylo script supports these attributions – even the

attribution of text 9 to Gerard. Manuel Alonso’s analysis of Gundisalvi’s

vocabulary underlines most findings. But since Alsonso did not compare the

vocabulary of Gerard of Cremona (or of any other translator), he could not

detect Gerard’s hand in text 9.

D.N. Hasse 38

III – Conclusion

Dominicus Gundisalvi emerges from this study as one of the major Arabic-Latin

translators of the Middle Ages – alongside the other great names Gerard of

Cremona, John of Seville and Michael Scot. Gundisalvi is the key figure for the

transport of al-Fārābī and Avicenna into Latin; and he also contributed much to

the Latin version of al-Kindī – one half of Alkindus Latinus comes from him,

the other half from Gerard of Cremona. We know that, for some translations,

Gundisalvi worked together with Arabic-speaking scholars, such as Avendauth

and the Mozarab Johannes Hispanus. This may also have been the case for the

many anonymous translations that come from him. 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, I would surmise that he did a good number of

these translations by himself.

Dominicus Gundisalvi signs several charters (Latin and Mozarabic charters)

between 1162 and 1190. He is archdeacon of Cuellar north of Segovia, but was

resident in Toledo, where he was a canon of the cathedral – where Gerard of

Cremona was canon 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 70 texts from Arabic,

among them Avicenna’s Canon medicinae and Ptolemy’s Almagest, 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 recipient at the same time. And in contrast

to Gerard, Gundisalvi, when translating, was not interested in Greek authors

transmitted in Arabic, but in Arabic philosophy proper. In this particular respect,

he was immensely important for the history of philosophy of the Latin West.

Without him, I could not have done much of my research – I could not have

written my dissertation, for instance. But, of course, that was not Gundisalvi’s

concern.

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