Mordekhai Finzi's Translation of Maestro Dardi's Italian Algebra
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Latin-into-Hebrew: Texts and Studies Volume Two: Texts in Contexts Edited by Alexander Fidora Harvey J. Hames Yossef Schwartz LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-22932-7 CONTENTS LATIN-INTO-HEBREW: VOLUMES ONE AND TWO CONTENTS OF PRESENT VOLUME Latin-into-Hebrew: Introducing a Neglected Chapter in European Cultural History . 1 Alexander Fidora, Resianne Fontaine, Gad Freudenthal, Harvey J. Hames, and Yossef Schwartz Introduction to this Volume . 11 Alexander Fidora, Harvey J. Hames, and Yossef Schwartz part i textual analyses 1. The Medieval Hebrew Translations of Dominicus Gundissalinus. 19 Yossef Schwartz 2. Le Livre des causes du latin à l’hébreu: textes, problèmes, réception 47 Jean-Pierre Rothschild 3. Abraham Shalom’s Hebrew Translation of a Latin Treatise on Meteorology . 85 Resianne Fontaine 4. The Quaestio de unitate universalis Translated into Hebrew: Vincent Ferrer, Petrus Nigri and ʿEli Habillo—A Textual Comparison . 101 Alexander Fidora and Mauro Zonta 5. Ramon Llull’s Ars brevis Translated into Hebrew: Problems of Terminology and Methodology . 135 Harvey J. Hames 6. Latin into Hebrew (and Back): Flavius Mithridates and his Latin Translations from Judah Romano . 161 Saverio Campanini 7. Mordekhai Finzi’s Translation of Maestro Dardi’s Italian Algebra . 195 Roy Wagner © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-22932-7 vi contents part ii hebrew text editions 8. Dominicus Gundissalinus: Sefer ha-nefeš (Tractatus de anima) . 225 Yossef Schwartz (ed.) 9. Dominicus Gundissalinus (Wrongly Attributed to Boethius): Maamar ha-eḥad ve-ha-aḥdut (De unitate et uno) . 281 Yossef Schwartz (ed.) 10. Les traductions hébraïques du Livre des causes latin, édition synoptique . 289 Jean-Pierre Rothschild (ed.) 11. Judah Romano’s Hebrew Translation from Albert, De anima III . 369 Carsten L. Wilke (ed.) 12. Mordekhai Finzi’s Translation of Maestro Dardi’s Italian Algebra, a Partial Edition . 437 Roy Wagner (ed.) List of Contributors . 503 Index of Modern Names . 507 Index of Ancient and Medieval Names . 509 Index of Ancient and Medieval Works . 513 © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-22932-7 contents vii CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE: STUDIES ED. BY RESIANNE FONTAINE AND GAD FREUDENTHAL In Memoriam: Francesca Yardenit Albertini (1974–2011) . 1 Latin-into-Hebrew: Introducing a Neglected Chapter in European Cultural History . 9 Alexander Fidora, Resianne Fontaine, Gad Freudenthal, Harvey J. Hames, and Yossef Schwartz Introduction to this Volume . 19 Resianne Fontaine and Gad Freudenthal part i latin-into-hebrew: the linguistic conditions of its possibility 1. Latin into Hebrew—Twice Over! Presenting Latin Scholastic Medicine to a Jewish Audience . 31 Susan Einbinder and Michael McVaugh 2. Latin in Hebrew Letters: The Transliteration/Transcription/ Translation of a Compendium of Arnaldus de Villa Nova’s Speculum medicinae ................................................ 45 Cyril Aslanov 3. Latin-into-Hebrew in the Making: Bilingual Documents in Facing Columns and Their Possible Function . 59 Gad Freudenthal 4. From Latin into Hebrew through the Romance Vernaculars: The Creation of an Interlanguage Written in Hebrew Characters . 69 Cyril Aslanov 5. La pratique du latin chez les médecins juifs et néophytes de Provence médiévale (XIVe–XVIe siècles) . 85 Danièle Iancu-Agou © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-22932-7 viii contents part ii latin-into-hebrew: the medical connection 6. The Father of the Latin-into-Hebrew Translations: “Doeg the Edomite,” the Twelfth-Century Repentant Convert. 105 Gad Freudenthal 7. Transmitting Medicine across Religions: Jean of Avignon’s Hebrew Translation of the Lilium medicine..................................121 Naama Cohen-Hanegbi Appendix: Jean of Avignon’s Introduction to his Translation of Lilium medicine, an Annotated Critical Edition and Translation . 146 Naama Cohen-Hanegbi and Uri Melammed 8. The Three Magi and Other Christian Motifs in Medieval Hebrew Medical Incantations: A Study in the Limits of Faithful Translation . 161 Katelyn Mesler part iii latin-into-hebrew: the philosophical-scientific and literary-moral contexts 9. An Anonymous Hebrew Translation of a Latin Treatise on Meteorology . 221 Resianne Fontaine 10. Albert the Naturalist in Judah Romano’s Hebrew Translations . 245 Carsten L. Wilke 11. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae in Hebrew: A New Finding. 275 Tamás Visi 12. The Aragonese Circle of “Jewish Scholastics” and Its Possible Relationship to Local Christian Scholarship: An Overview of Historical Data and Some General Questions . 295 Mauro Zonta © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-22932-7 contents ix 13. “Would that My Words Were Inscribed”: Berechiah ha-Naqdan’s Mišlei šuʿalim and European Fable Traditions . 309 Tovi Bibring part iv latin-into-hebrew: the religious context 14. Latin into Hebrew and the Medieval Jewish-Christian Debate . 333 Daniel J. Lasker 15. Citations latines de la tradition chrétienne dans la littérature hébraïque de controverse avec le christianisme (XIIe–XVe s.). 349 Philippe Bobichon part v latin-into-hebrew: final reflections 16. Traductions refaites et traductions révisées . 391 Jean-Pierre Rothschild 17. Nation and Translation: Steinschneider’s Hebräische Übersetzungen and the End of Jewish Cultural Nationalism . 421 Irene E. Zwiep 18. Postface: Cultural Transfer between Latin and Hebrew in the Middle Ages . 447 Charles Burnett List of Contributors . 455 Index of Modern Names . 461 Index of Ancient and Medieval Names . 463 Index of Ancient and Medieval Works . 469 Index of Subjects and Places . 473 © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-22932-7 chapter seven MORDEKHAI FINZI’S TRANSLATION OF MAESTRO DARDI’S ITALIAN ALGEBRA Roy Wagner 1. The Manuscript: Finzi’s Autograph Translation The edition presented here includes the bulk of Mordekhai Finzi’s fifteenth- century translation of Maestro Dardi’s fourteenth-century Italian algebra.1 The text does not explicitly state that it is an autograph, but a comparison with the handwriting in Finzi’s other known autographs2 makes it evident that it is indeed in Finzi’s own hand. According to the date given in the manuscript, it was begun in Mantua in 1473, later than any other known Finzi autograph (with one possible undated exception), and close to his death in 1475. Not much is known about Finzi’s biography.3 Documents show that he was the owner of a 200 manuscript library (which was lost to creditors in the 1450s). A survey of his scientific work was made by Tzvi Langermann.4 Finzi was a prolific copyist of astronomical and other scientific works, and left behind some original contributions as well. According to Tony Lévy,5 the known Hebrew algebraic corpus predating the sixteenth century includes: two twelfth century works where geometric 1 The translation is analyzed in Tony Lévy,“L’algèbre arabe dans les textes hébraïques (II). Dans L’Italie des XVe et XVIe siècles, sources arabes et sources vernaculaires”, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 17 (2007): 81–107. 2 For a list of Mordekhai Finzi’s manuscripts see Giancarlo Lacerenza, “A Rediscovered Autograph Manuscript by Mordekay Finzi”, Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism 3 (2003): 301–325. 3 Scattered information is available in Shlomo Simonsohn, HistoryoftheJewsintheDuchy of Mantua (Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Kiryat Sefer, 1962) and in Vittore Colorni, “Genealogia della famiglia Finzi. Le prime generazioni”, in: Vittore Colorni, Judaica minora. Saggi sulla storia dell’ebraismo italiano dall’antichità all’età moderna (Milan: Giuffré, 1983), 329–341. 4 Y. Tzvi Langermann, “The Scientific Writings of Mordekhai Finzi”, Italia 7 (1988): 7–44. 5 Lévy,“L’algèbre arabe (II)”; Tony Lévy,“L’algèbre arabe dans les textes hébraïques (I). Un ouvrage inédit d’Isaac ben Salomon al-Aḥdab (XIVe siècle)”, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV ISBN 978-90-04-22932-7 196 roy wagner problems are solved by what may be reconstructed as implicit algebra (Abra- ham bar Ḥiyya’s treatise, translated into Latin as Liber Embadorum, and Sefer ha-Middot, attributed to Abraham ibn Ezra, which was also trans- lated into Latin); an undated algebra in the tradition of al-Khwārizmī that may have something to do with Abraham ibn Ezra; Moïse ibn Tibbon’s thirteenth-century translation of al-Ḥaṣṣār’s arithmetic; Isaac ben Salomon ben al-Aḥdab’s fourteenth-century translation of Ibn al-Banna’s arithmetic;6 Simon Moṭoṭ’s fifteenth-century algebra derived from an Italian mathemat- ical culture; Mordekhai Finzi’s fifteenth-century translations of the algebras of Abū Kāmil,7 Dardi and another Italian source which is yet to be analyzed (Mantua, Biblioteca comunale, Ms. Ebr. 17, fols. 128v–130v); and one more unanalyzed manuscript (Paris, BnF, Ms. Hébr. 1081, fols. 62v–67r). Most of our evidence concerning the interest in Hebrew algebra is ex silentio: there are hardly any references and few surviving copies. It is hard to guess whether this reflects scholarly access to Arabic/Latin/vernacular sources or more simply a lack of interest. I am also not aware of any evidence showing Hebrew algebra reflecting back on vernacular algebra. 2. The Contents of Dardi’s Algebra Dardi’s algebra opens with an elaborate treatise on the arithmetic of radi- cals. On top of the standard rules for multiplying, adding, subtracting and dividing monomials and binomials involving numbers and square roots, it also briefly deals with higher roots, and includes tour-de-force divisions of numbers by three- and four-term sums of roots (see Appendix A for a list of calculations). Next Dardi introduces the six basic equations of algebra and the rules for solving them: things8 equal numbers, squares equal numbers, squares equal things, squares and things equal numbers, squares and numbers equal things, and squares equal numbers and things. The fact that the fifth case may involve multiple solutions is discussed, but not the possibility of its hav- ing no solutions. The presentation fits squarely within the Arabic tradition 13 (2003): 269–301; Tony Lévy, “A Newly-Discovered Partial Hebrew Version of al-Khwarizmi’s Algebra”, Aleph 2 (2002): 225–234.