The Arabic Component in Maimonides' Hebrew (original) (raw)
Related papers
Maimonides in the Context of Andalusian Hebrew Lexicography
Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism 8, pp. 15-40, 2008
Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed begins with the lexicographical analysis of selected biblical terms that are applied anthropomorphically to God. Proceeding on the assumption that God is incorporeal, Maimonides seeks to explain in detail the various terms applied to God that seem to denote human accidents. He maintains that when the Bible ascribes to God actions that are described in terms usually appropriate to human actions, these terms must be understood as having an allegorical sense. To interpret a biblical account as an allegory, however, the metaphorical or figurative meaning of the terms employed—which is derived from its basic sense—must be determined. The first part of the Guide can therefore be construed as a work dealing with the meanings of words, i.e., a work of lexicography. The Guide is examined from the perspective of the Andalusian lexicographical tradition. Following a brief survey of Hebrew lexicography as it developed in the Iberian Peninsula, Maimonides’ comments on Hebrew verbs applied to God and the treatment of their meanings in the Guide are set in the context of this tradition.
THE MEDICAL WORKS OF MOSES MAIMONIDES New English Translations based on the Critical Editions of the Arabic Manuscripts, 2022
Preface I am very pleased to offer the current volume to the reader. The medical works composed by the famous Jewish physician and philosopher Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) have been consulted by physicians and interested laypeople throughout the ages. From the thirteenth century on, manuscripts of his medical writings, both original works in Arabic and translations into Hebrew and Latin, were copied and commented upon time and again. After the invention of the printing press in the second half of the fifteenth century, his works belonged to the earliest books to be printed. His REGIMEN OF HEALTH was printed in 1477 or 1481 and reprinted five times until 1535. The MEDICAL APHORISMS were printed in Bologna in 1489, followed by a new edition in Venice in 1497, which was reprinted again in Venice only a few years later in 1508. In spite of the interest in these works also in our times, reliable editions and translations have been a desideratum until recently. The first publication of his medical works in English translation, published by the Maimonides Research Institute, Haifa, in seven volumes as MAIMONIDES’ MEDICAL WRITINGS between 1984 and 1995, is unreliable as, for the most part, it is not based on the Arabic original texts but on uncritical editions of the Hebrew translations, replete with errors. These cannot be considered to reflect the original words of the author. This unfortunate situation has changed drastically with the publication of THE MEDICAL WORKS OF MOSES MAIMONIDES (MWMM) in seventeen volumes by Brigham Young University Press, Provo/UT (vols. 1–10), and Brill, Leiden (vols. 11–17) between 2002 and 2021. These volumes include critical editions of the original Arabic texts, the medieval translations into Hebrew and Latin, and modern translations into English, which can now be consulted in an online edition as well. The current volume is intended for a general public. It includes all English translations of Maimonides’ medical writings collected in the aforementioned MWMM series, with a minimum of explanations of specific technical terms. In order to make the consultation of these works easier—especially with regard to the use of certain plant medicines—an alphabetical index of medicinal ingredients has been added. Common English plant names as well as their Latin scientific nomenclature were harmonized and updated throughout according to Marwān ibn Janāḥ, ON THE NOMENCLATURE OF MEDICINAL DRUGS (KITĀB AL-TALKHĪṢ) (eds. and trans. Bos/Käs/Lübke/Mensching, Leiden 2020) and/or the accepted names in the ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System, https://www.itis.gov) database. Furthermore, this volume also features indexes of mentioned diseases and afflictions as well as quoted physicians, philosophers, and their works, which were at times added to the text following Maimonides example in his MEDICAL APHORISMS. Those additional references, as long as they were not explicitly or completely mentioned by Maimonides, are enclosed in square brackets. Thanks go to Felix Hedderich and Jessica Kley for their help in the completion of this volume and to Teddi Dols and Maurits van den Boogert at Brill Publishers for their enthusiastic support of its publication
The subject of Maimonides* philosophical sources has been frequently dis cussed, and we are all indebted to Shlomo Pines for his magisterial essay on this topic.' Much attention has been rightly paid to the influences upon Maimonides of Aristotle, Alfarabi, Avicenna and Ibn Bajja. Notwithstanding the significance for Maimonides of these philosophers, in this article I wish to consider other sources, looking at philosophical and religious writ ings which were common to Maimonides and his predecessors, both Muslim and Jewish. The material to be examined is significant, I believe, for the particular emphases it places on certain themes, the distinct perspectives it brings to issues. These are emphases and perspectives which are only partially adopted by Alfarabi and Avicenna-and indeed, only partially by Maimonides. My contention, however, is that Maimonides' full awareness of these themes, his appreciation of their distinctiveness, would have best come about through familiarity with the original sources themselves, rather than with the modified presentations found in the works of his acknowledged predeces sors. Maimonides' deviations from Alfarabi and Avicenna, moreover, indeed much of the style and substance of the Guide, may be seen as a response to, and a responsiveness toward, these primary sources. First, however, it is necessary to undertake a brief review of Maimonides'career and character, the better to appreciate his responsiveness to the literature to be jiiscussed. It will be helpful to recall that Maimonides at most was of bar milzvah age in 1148,^ the year that Cordova was captured by the Almohads, when it became no longer advisable to be Jewish publicly. Not advisable, at least, if one wanted to stay alive and to stay in Muslim Spain. Maimonides' father wanted to do both, and thus the family was obliged, presumably, to minim ize its Jewishness. The exact nature of their behavior has always been dis puted, but even if the Maimon family did not "officially" convert to Islam,'