Al-Farabi’s Long Commentary on Aristotle’s Categoriae in Hebrew and Arabic: a critical edition and English translation of the newly-found extant fragments

Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870-950), one of the greatest philosophers of the medieval Arab-Islamic, wrote a "long comment", quite detailed, to the Categories of Aristotle, the original Arabic text of the work, unfortunately, has been lost, with the exception of a few brief passages, published in 1965. It was not yet known whether there are other steps work, much larger and more numerous, and transmitted from a Hebrew translation of the only preserved medieval manuscript in Oxford, Christ Church College Library, n. 201. In this article, after an extensive historical introduction, are published all the remaining fragments of the work, both in Hebrew and in Arabic, followed by an annotated English translation. Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870-950), one of the main Medieval Arab-Islamic philosophers, wrote a detailed "long commentary" on the text of Aristotle's Categories. The original Arabic text is lost, apart from some short passages of it, first published in 1965. However, the existence of other wider and more Numerous passages of the work in Medieval Hebrew version, as found in the unique manuscript of Oxford, Christ Church College Library, n. 201, was unknown to till now. In this article, after a wide historical introduction, all the extant Hebrew and Arabic fragments are published, together with an annotated version Inglese.

Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870-950), uno dei massimi filosofi arabo-islamici medievali, scrisse un “commento lungo”, assai dettagliato, alle Categorie di Aristotele; il testo originale arabo dell’opera, purtroppo, è andato perduto, con l’eccezione di pochi brevi passi, pubblicati nel 1965. Non era finora conosciuta l’esistenza di altri passi dell’opera, assai più ampi e numerosi, e trasmessi da una traduzione ebraica medievale conservata dal solo manoscritto di Oxford, Christ Church College Library, n. 201. In questo articolo, dopo un’ampia introduzione storica, vengono pubblicati tutti i restanti frammenti dell’opera, sia in ebraico sia in arabo, seguiti da una traduzione inglese annotata. Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870-950), one of the main Medieval Arab-Islamic philosophers, wrote a detailed “long commentary” on the text of Aristotle’s Categories. The original Arabic text is lost, apart from some short passages of it, first published in 1965. However, the existence of other wider and more numerous passages of the work in a Medieval Hebrew version, as found in the unique manuscript of Oxford, Christ Church College Library, n. 201, was unknown till to now. In this article, after a wide historical introduction, all the extant Hebrew and Arabic fragments are published, together with an annotated English version.