Arabic translations of Aristotle

Here you can discuss all things Ancient Greek. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Greek, and more.
Post Reply
User avatar
Constantinus Philo
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1403
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:04 pm

Arabic translations of Aristotle

Post by Constantinus Philo »

I have recently read a late 9th c. Arabic translation of Aristotle's De Interpretatione comparing it with the original Greek and was astounded at seeing how accurate it was apart from a few technical terms that have been taken literally in their Byzantine Greek meaning. So how could they achieve this with no LS Smyth or Kuhner to help? The translator, by the way was an ethnic Arab though fluent in the Greek of his time since he was a nestorian Christian. So could it be inferred based on this that the late 9 c. Greek was much closer to classical Greek as is usually supposed?
Semper Fidelis

RandyGibbons
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 465
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:10 pm

Re: Arabic translations of Aristotle

Post by RandyGibbons »

So could it be inferred based on this that the late 9 c. Greek was much closer to classical Greek [than] is usually supposed?
Constantinus - I would guess no, but that's purely a guess, and not an educated one. If you can read the Arabic, maybe you can teach me/us something (what is your nationality, if you don't mind my asking?). Here is part of the W1kipedia article on Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq just to get the conversation started.
Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive translator of Greek medical and scientific treatises in his day. He studied Greek and became known among the Arabs as the "Sheikh of the translators". He is the father of Arab translations. He mastered four languages: Arabic, Syriac, Greek and Persian. His translations did not require corrections; Hunayn’s method was widely followed by later translators. He was originally from al-Hira, the capital of a pre-Islamic cultured Arab kingdom, but he spent his working life in Baghdad, the center of the great ninth-century Greek-into-Arabic/Syriac translation movement. His fame went far beyond his own community.

User avatar
Fletcher
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:35 pm

Re: Arabic translations of Aristotle

Post by Fletcher »

Constantinus Philo wrote: Thu May 23, 2019 5:59 pm I have recently read a late 9th c. Arabic translation of Aristotle's De Interpretatione...
Is it a PDF? If so, can you share it here? Or if you can recommend any good print editions of Arabic translations of Aristotle I'd like that even more :D
"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

Post Reply