Samuel Ibn Tibbon
Samuel ibn Tibbon ( Hebrew : in Arabic: ), is a rabbi , physician and philosopher of Jewish Provencal twelfth and thirteenth centuries ( Lunel , 1150 - Marseille , 1230).
He is best known for his translations of works of rabbinic literature from Arabic to Hebrew, in particular the Guide for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides , who made the most illustrious of Tibbonides.
Summary |
Biography
His father, Judah ibn Tibbon , gave him an education in Jewish rabbinic literature and other scholars of Lunel taught him medicine, Arab and secular knowledge of his time. Thereafter he lived in several cities in southern France (in 1199 in Bziers in 1204 in Arles) and he traveled to Barcelona, Toledo and even Alexandria (1210-1213). Eventually he moved to Marseille. After his death, his body was brought into the Kingdom of Jerusalem and is buried in Tiberias.
Original Writings
In 1213, when he went to Alexandria, he wrote on board Biura Meha-Millot ha-Zarot, a philosophical explanation of the terms of the Guide of the Perplexed of Maimonides.
Then he finished his Hebrew translation of the Guide (originally written in Arabic), he wrote an alphabetical glossary of foreign terms he used in his translation. In the introduction to the glossary he divides them into five classes:
- The words taken mostly from Arabic;
- Rare words found in the Mishnah and the Gemara;
- The Hebrew verbs and adjectives from nouns by analogy with the Arabic;
- Homonyms, used with special meanings, and
- The words to which new meanings have been added by analogy with the Arabic.
It also gives a list of corrections that he wanted made in copies of his translation of the Guide. The glossary not only gives a brief explanation of each word and its origin, but also, in many cases, a scientific definition with examples.
Samuel wrote a commentary on the whole Bible, but only the following parts are known:
- Ma'amar Yikkawu ha-Mayim, a philosophical treatise in twenty-two chapters of Genesis. I. 9. It discusses the physical and metaphysical subjects, performing a philosophical and allegorical verses of the Bible cited by the author. At the end of the treaty said that the author was led to write by the diffusion of philosophy among the goyim and ignorance of his coreligionists in philosophical questions.
- A philosophical commentary of Ecclesiastes, quoted by Samuel in the previous work (p. 175) and that there are several manuscripts.
- A commentary on the Song of Songs. There are quotes from this work in his commentary on Ecclesiastes, in Neubauer, Cat. Bodle. Hebr. MSS. No. 1649, 2, fol. 21; and the commentary on the Song of Solomon due to his son. They prove that this work has actually existed but we do not know what it contained.
Fervent disciple of Maimonides and its allegorical interpretation of the Bible Samuel ibn Tibbon believed that many biblical stories should be considered simply as parables ("meshalim") and religious law as mere guides (hanhagot ") to conduct a deeper spiritual life. Such statements, unusual in his day, sparked outrage among supporters of a literal interpretation of the Bible, the party opposed to Maimonides (see Maimonides for details).
Translations
The reputation of Samuel does not rely so much on his original writings on his translations, especially that of the Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides in 1190 (the Hebrew translation is More Nevoukhim). His opponents to make fun of him changed the title ha-Nevoukhat Morim (the error of the Masters).
Before completing this hard work, Samuel corresponded several times with Maimonides about certain passages that were problematic. Responses of Maimonides, some of which were written in Arabic and translated into Hebrew, perhaps by Samuel himself, praise the ability of the translator and recognize his mastery of Arabic, a skill not widespread in France. After giving some general rules for translation from Arabic into Hebrew, Maimonides explains questionable passages, he makes in that language.
The translation by Samuel ibn Tibbon is preceded by an introduction. As reason for his company, he said that it was the scholars of Lunel who requested a translation of Moreh. About what helped him in his work, he says the Hebrew translation made by his father (whom he calls "the Father of Translators), work on the Arabic language, written in Arabic and its own library. Samuel also wrote an index of biblical verses cited in the Moreh.
Characteristics of his work
What characterizes the translation of Samuel is his accuracy and his faithfulness to the original. Whether we approve or disapprove of the introduction in Hebrew from a number of Arabic words and the fact that, by analogy with the Arabic, it gives some Hebrew words meanings different from those received by the use, it is impossible to deny the breadth of his work.
We particularly admired the skill with which he reproduced in Hebrew abstract ideas of Maimonides, in what is essentially the language of a people is expressed in concrete ideas.
When came the struggle between anti-and Maimone Maimone, Samuel did not escape the reproach of having disseminated the ideas of Maimonides, his principal accuser is Judah al-Fakhkhar.
Samuel also translated the works of Maimonides following:
1. A Treatise on the Resurrection, as the Hebrew or Iggeret Ma'amar Tehhiyath metim ha-2. A commentary on Pirkei Avot the Mishnah, comprising introducing psychological, entitled Shemonah Perakim (eight chapters), 3. The Thirteen Articles of Faith of Maimonides (who were originally part of his commentary on the Mishnah Sanhedrin of the Treaty, 10th chapter) 4. A letter to his pupil Joseph ibn Aknin,
Samuel also translated the works according to other Arab authors:
Reference Translation
- (In) This article is partially or entirely from the article in English entitled " Samuel ibn Tibbon "(see the list of authors )
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