![]() Ḥunayn replied with the Epistle, 5 which contains precious bibliographical information about previous translations, prosopographical details about translators and patrons, and technical information concerning translation practices ( III.1–4). This comes in the form of a letter addressed to one of his sponsors, the courtier ʿAlī ibn Yaḥyā al-Munaǧǧim (d. 275/888–889), 4 who had asked Ḥunayn for a bibliographical inventory of Syriac and Arabic translations of Galen. 3 He was also the only active participant in the translation movement who wrote a detailed account of his own translation activities and that of his associates. Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq was the most important and prolific translator in Islamic history. Two of them stand out because they do not just offer a wealth of information but became essential sources for all later writers who grappled with the subject: Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq’s so-called Epistle ( al-Risālah) and the Catalogue ( Kitāb al-fihrist) by Ibn al-Nadīm (d. 385/995 or 388/998). The most informative sources for an understanding of the translation movement are contemporary bibliographical works. We hope they will be a representative selection from what is a much larger body of material. It is this second category of material from which the sample texts below are drawn. In addition to basic information about specific translations-who translated what, for whom, and when-these works offer a substantial amount of detail on the biographies of individual translators, the activities of sponsors, and the translation history of specific texts or entire genres of texts alternatively, they can criticise translations and translators and sometimes even question the value of translation itself. The second category of Arabic material about translation comes from classical Arabic literature, which in our case means mainly contemporary bibliographical and biographical compilations, but can also mean other writings, for example historical, philosophical or religious works. Rather, they offer a window into the practice of translation and the mindset of a translator who confidently reconstructed the text, added missing material, and sometimes even contradicted the original author. ![]() None of these notes tells us how Ḥunayn would have explained why he translated. He also frequently explained his procedure, remarked on philological problems, and added material to fill gaps in the text or aid comprehension. 2 Ḥunayn annotated the translations he produced with explanatory notes, glosses, and clarifications. Almost all such notes in Arabic translations are from the pen of one man, the physician and master translator Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. 260/873). Translation notes in the body of translated texts constitute a related source. In some cases however, we also learn who paid for the translation and why it was undertaken. ![]() With few exceptions, their notes tell us little beyond what was translated, when, and by whom. ![]() Translators and scribes often recorded information about these at the beginnings, the ends, or in the margins of the texts. The first are the translations themselves. I Types of Material on Translation in the Arabic Literary TraditionĮxtant sources that provide information about translation, translators, sponsors, and other relevant subjects fall into two categories. ![]()
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