The Earliest Syriac Translation of Aristotle's Categories: Text, Translation and Commentary (Aristoteles Semitico-latinus, 21)

Aristotle's logic first became known in the Middle East through the medium of the Syriac language at a time prior to the rise of classical Arabic philosophy. The present volume makes available for the first time the earliest Syriac translation (sixth century AD) of the Categories, which is here edited together with an English translation, analytical commentary, glossaries and indices. The availability of such an important early work will enable the beginnings of the Semitic Aristotelian tradition to be studied more comprehensively. This will open the way to a better understanding of both the study of Aristotelian logic in Syriac and also of the significance of the Syriac tradition for the genesis and rise of Arabic logic. The Earliest Syriac Translation of Aristotle鈥檚 Categories 2 CONTENTS 7 PREFACE 9 INTRODUCTION 11 CHAPTER ONE ARISTOTLE IN THE SYRIAC WORLD 11 CHAPTER TWO THE CATEGORIES IN SYRIAC 28 CHAPTER THREE THE TRANSLATION TECHNIQUESOF THE VERSIONS 49 CHAPTER FOUR THE ORIGINS OF THE VERSIONSAND THEIR INTERRELATIONSHIPS 90 CHAPTER FIVE THE TEXT-CRITICAL VALUEOF THE VERSIONS 96 TEXT AND TRANSLATION 104 Principles of the Present Edition 104 NOTES 180 COMMENTARY ON THE ANONYMOUSVERSION OF THE CATEGORIES 180 TEXTUAL NOTES 267 THE MANUSCRIPT TRADITION OF JACOB OF EDESSA鈥橲 VERSION 293 BIBLIOGRAPHY 307 GLOSSARIES 315 Syriac-Greek glossary of terms in the Anonymous Version 315 Greek-Syriac glossary of terms in the three versions 324 Loan Words in the Anonymous Version 335 Index of Lemmata 336 Aristotle s logic first became known in the Middle East through the medium of the Syriac language at a time prior to the rise of classical Arabic philosophy. The present volume makes available for the first time the earliest Syriac translation (sixth century AD) of the Categories, which is here edited together with an English translation, analytical commentary, glossaries and indices. The availability of such an important early work will enable the beginnings of the Semitic Aristotelian tradition to be studied more comprehensively. This will open the way to a better understanding of both the study of Aristotelian logic in Syriac and also of the significance of the Syriac tradition for the genesis and rise of Arabic logic. The present volume makes available for the first time the earliest translation of Aristotle into a Semitic language. It will open the way to a fuller understanding of the transformation of Greek logic in Syriac and Arabic.