Semitica iberica: translations from Hebrew and Arabic into the medieval Romance vernaculars of the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

My purpose is very straightforward: to examine, as a group, the texts translated from Hebrew or Arabic into one of the medieval Romance vernaculars of the Iberian Peninsula, Castilian, Catalan, or Portuguese, and to seek to identify their commonalities and differences. Why these texts? What subject areas do they represent? When were they translated? Were they translated directly from the original language into the target language, or via one or more intermediate languages? How often are Hebrew and Arabic used as intermediating languages? What conclusions, if any, can be drawn for our understanding of cultural and intellectual relations among the three peoples of the book in medieval Spain? * This is a slightly revised version of a paper given at the conference on Wine, Women and

The Jewish Contribution to the Transmission of the Classical Legacy

“…Latin, however, was not the only medieval Christian language that was used as a scientific and religious language. For instance, translations exist into different Romance languages such as Spanish, Catalan and French from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries 10 . Another language also sought legitimacy as a scientific language – Hebrew, the lingua franca for European Jewish communities.…”