Abraham Abigdor (also rendered as Abraham Avigdor), born 1350, was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

physician,

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, kabbalist, and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

. He should not be confused with

Maestro Abraham Abigdor Maestro (; from the Italian ''maestro'' , meaning "master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqui ...

, who in 1386 was the proprietor of a house at Arles (''" Monatsschrift,"'' 1880, pp. 410, 411). Abraham Abigdor was born in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, probably at

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...

. He devoted his early life to the study of medicine and philosophy. At the age of 17 (1367) he wrote ''"Sefer Segullat Melakim"'' (Royal Treasure), a work on logic in rimed prose, in the main a Hebrew imitation of the ''"Tendencies of the Philosophers,"'' by Gazzali, but of independent value in the more purely logical portions of the book. Afterward he went to

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

to study medicine and to be instructed, as he himself writes, by Christian scholars and mystics.

Work

Abigdor translated the following Latin works into Hebrew: * Under the title, ''"Mebo bi-Melakah"'' (Introduction to the Practise of Medicine), the treatise on materia medica of the chancellor or dean of the faculty, Bernard Alberti, which treatise is based on book iv. of the ''"Canon of Avicenna"''. According to

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (30 March 1816, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – 24 January 1907, Berlin) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider ( 1782; ...

(''"Hebr. Uebers."'' p. 777), the original Latin has been printed under the title ''"Gentilis de Fulgineo"''. * The ''"Medicationis Parabolæ"'' of

Arnau de Vilanova Arnaldus de Villa Nova (also called Arnau de Vilanova in Catalan, his language, Arnaldus Villanovanus, Arnaud de Ville-Neuve or Arnaldo de Villanueva, c. 1240–1311) was a physician and a religious reformer. He was also thought to be an alchem ...

(1378). * Under the title, ''"Sefer Mebo ha Ne'arim"'' (Introduction for the Young), the elementary treatise on fevers, by Gerard de Solo (1379). * ''"Megillah,"'' the treatise of Arnau de Vilanova on ''"Digestive and Purgative Medicines"'' (1381). * ''" Almanzuri,"'' the abridged commentary of Gerard de Solo on the ninth book of Razi's ''" Ad Almansorem."'' The translation is greatly abbreviated, but remarks of his own, derived from personal experience, are added. * ''" Tratato"'' or ''" Higgayon,"'' from the ''" Tractatus Summularum,"'' a treatise on logic, by Pierre d'Espagne. * Explanations of the middle commentary of

Averroes Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psycholog ...

(Ibn Roshd) on the first three parts of the ''"

Organon The ''Organon'' ( grc, Ὄργανον, meaning "instrument, tool, organ") is the standard collection of Aristotle's six works on logical analysis and dialectic. The name ''Organon'' was given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics. The si ...

"'': the ''"

Isagoge The ''Isagoge'' ( el, Εἰσαγωγή, ''Eisagōgḗ''; ) or "Introduction" to Aristotle's "Categories", written by Porphyry in Greek and translated into Latin by Boethius, was the standard textbook on logic for at least a millennium after his ...

"'', the ''"

Categories Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being *Categories (Aristotle), ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) ...

"'', and ''"

De Interpretatione ''De Interpretatione'' or ''On Interpretation'' (Greek: Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας, ''Peri Hermeneias'') is the second text from Aristotle's ''Organon'' and is among the earliest surviving philosophical works in the Western tradition to deal ...

"''. This is derived not only from Arabic but also from Latin sources. In 1399 Abigdor assisted his son Solomon Abigdor, then only 15 years of age, in the translation of the Latin treatise, ''"De Judiciis Astronomiæ,"'' or ''"Capitula Astrologiæ,"'' of Arnau de Vilanova into Hebrew, under the title ''"Panim ba-Mishpaṭ"''.

References

*'' Les Écrivains Juifs Français'', pp. 717–721; *

Henri Gross Heinrich Gross, writing also as Henri Gross (born Szenicz, Hungarian Kingdom, now Senica, Slovakia, 6 November 1835; died 1910), was a German rabbi. He was a pupil in rabbinical literature of Judah Aszod. After graduating from the Breslau semin ...

, ''Gallia Judaica'', pp. 333, 334.

External links

Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abigdor, Abraham Provençal Jews French translators 1350 births Year of death unknown Jewish philosophers French logicians French male non-fiction writers