Collaborative Translation as Conceptual Model in Alfonso X’s Scriptorium
Keywords:
Collaborative Translation, Multilingual Translation, Middle Age, Alfonso X of Castile, The Learned, The Book of the Eighth Sphere (1276)Abstract
The astronomical and astrological treatise known as The Book of the Eighth Sphere (1276) is the product of the joint work of translators and experts who served Alfonso X of Castile, the Learned. Basically, the work consists in a translation of previous Arabic and Latin translations of the star catalog that Ptolemy included in his Almagest. Although there are few specific studies of its text, the treatise is frequently cited as an emblem for the project of linguistic unification in the Iberian Peninsula, since its prologue states that the Learned King corrected the phrases that were not written in "straight Castilian." Surprisingly, as the present analysis shows, the text itself is actually a combination of several languages (including Castilian, Latin, Arabic, and Greek). Through a reading focused on the treatise’s linguistic and cultural richness, I search to re-evaluate its place in the history of Spanish Literature. I believe that this reading can offer some keys for the study of intellectual collaboration and cultural contact in the Middle Ages, as well as for the study of some of the different conceptual models underlying textual production in Alfonso X’s scriptorium.
References
CANO AGUILAR, Rafael, "Castellano ¿drecho?". En: Verba 12 (1985), 287-306.
D’ALVERNY, Marie Thérèse, "Deux traductions latines du Coran au Moyen-Age". En: Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Age 16 (1947–1948), 69–131.
D’ALVERNY, Marie Thérèse,"Translations and Translators", En: BENSON, Robert Louis; CONSTABLE, Giles y LANHAM, Carol Dana (eds). Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth century. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991, 421-462.
FOZ, Clara, Le Traducteur, l’Église et le roi: Espagne, XIIe et XIIIe siècles. Otawa: Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa, 1998.
Libros del saber de astronomía [Libro del saber de astrología]. Ms. Complutense. Toledo, escritorio alfonsí, c. 1276. Biblioteca Histórica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, BH MSS 156. Biblioteca Digital Complutense, http://dioscorides.ucm.es/ proyecto_ digitalizacion/index.php? 5320288124
Libros del saber de astronomía del rey D. Alfonso X de Castilla, copilados, anotados y comentados por Don Manuel Rico y Sinobas, 5 vols. Madrid: E. Aguado, 1863-1867.
MÁRQUEZ VILLANUEVA, Francisco, El concepto cultural Alfonsí. Madrid: MAPFRE, 1994.
MENÉNDEZ PIDAL, Ramón, "La Primera Crónica General de España". En: Primera Crónica General de España que mandó componer Alfonso el Sabio y se continuaba bajo Sancho IV en 1289, vol. 1. Madrid: Gredos, 1955.
MILLÁS VALLICROSA, José M., "La corriente de las traducciones científicas de origen oriental hasta fines del siglo XIII". En: Cahiers d’Histoire Mondiale /Journal of World History /Cuadernos de Historia Mundial 2, 2 (1954). 395–428.
PROCTER, Evelyn S., "The Scientific Works of the Court of Alfonso X of Castile: The King and his Collaborators". En: The Modern Language Review 40. 1 (1945), 12-29.
SOLALINDE, Antonio G., "Intervención de Alfonso X en la redacción de sus obras". En: Revista de Filología Española 2 (1915), 283-288.
TALLGREN, Oiva. J., "Sur l’Astronomie espagnole d’Alphonse X et son modèle arabe". En: Studia Orientalia. 1 (1925), 342-346.
THORNDIKE, Lynn, "John of Seville". En: Speculum 34. 1 (1959), 20-38.
WELLESZ, Emmy, "An Early Al-Ṣūfī Manuscript in de Bodleian Library in Oxford: A Study in Islamic Constellation images". En: Ars Orientalis 3 (1959), 1-26.
