The Name Picatrix: Transcription or Translation?

Author(s): J. Thomann
Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 53 (1990), pp. 289-296
Published by: The Warburg Institute
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THE
THE NAME PICATRIX
TRANSCRIPTION OR TRANSLATION?*

NAME

PICATRIX

289

ner only this assumption could explain why

the entire book finally received the name

Picatrix.5 But Pingree has shown that the

Latin translation is based on the Spanish

version, which must therefore have had at

I

least the same range as the Latin version, i.e.

it must have included all four books of the

T HE FAMOUS Arabic handbook of magic

GhMyat al-hakim, the Goal of the Wise of

Pseudo-Maslama al-Majriti and its Latin ver-

sion diffused under the name Picatrix need

Ghdya.6

How then did the name shift from the

middle of the text to the beginning? Most

recently it was stated that this will remain

the translator's secret for ever.7 There is no

indication
in the Arabic text which could
no introduction here.' The following
notes
concern the origin of the name 'Picatrix'.
lead to the assumption that Buqratis i
The most widely accepted explanation is
author of the Ghdya. On the contrary
based on the fact that in the Arabic text a

read:

certain Buqratis is mentioned five

times in
After we have explained this, I will now begin

Bk ii, ch. 10.2 In the first two caseswith

the the
name
'forms of the planets' according to what

'Picatrix' appears in the Latin text,3

thus
itfrom the 'book of the use of
we have
taken
seems very likely that this name is a disstones' of cUtarid, the Scribe, the book of t
torted transcription of the Arabic Buqratis sage Apollonios ( -b-/-w-s = cAbulfis'?) and fr
the 'Book of the explanation of sTiritual tal
(or Biqratis as it may also be read). The
mans' in the translation by Buqratis.
question-until now unsolved-was how
Picatrix became attached to the translation
As usual the author speaks about himself
of Ghdyat al-hakim as the supposedthe
author's
first person and the Latin translator
name.4 Martin Plessner suggested that
the
reproduced
this faithfully:
first translation, prepared for Alfonso
X, figure planetarum quemadmodum tra
He sunt
King of Castile, included only the passage
latas invenimus in Lapidario Mercurii et in li
about engraving on stones and metals
where
Beylus
et in libro spirituum et ymaginum qu
Buqratis is mentioned. According to
Pless- sapiens Picatrix.9
transtulit
Without doubt, the translator was conscious

that Buqrattis meant a person other than the

author. But in complete contradiction, we

read
in the prologue of the Latin transgraphical assistance and for revising my English; also to
lation:
Professor M. Ullmann for valuable lexicographical
* My thanks to Dr Charles Burnett for his biblio-

references and critical remarks. This note was com-

Sapiens enim philosophus, nobilis et honoratus

pleted during my term as a Dame Frances Yates Fellow

Picatrix, hunc librum ex CC libris et pluribus
at the Warburg Institute, whose support I gratefully

philosophie compilavit, quem suo nomine nom-

acknowledge.

inavitlo
1 cf. D. Pingree, 'Some of the sources of the
Ghayat

al-hakim', this Journal, xliii, 1980, pp. 1-15, and

'Between the Ghaya and the Picatrix', this Journal, xliv,

1981, pp. 27-56.

2 Pseudo-Magritf. Das Ziel des Weisen, ed. H. Ritter,

Leipzig 1933, pp. 107, line 10; 108, line 2; 112, line 7;
5 'Jedenfalls
scheint mir, dass die Theorie von dem
116, line 10; 118, line 9 ('Picatrix'. Das Ziel des Weisen
von
Ps. Magrtti transl. H. Ritter and M. Plessner,
London
Auswahlcharakter
der spanischen Ubersetzung d
1963, index, p. 429). cf. H. Ritter, Picatrix, eineinzige
arabisches
ist, die die Bezeichnung des Ganzen mit de
Handbuch hellenistischer Magie, Vortraige derNamen
Biliothek
Picatrix erklirt.' M. Plessner, 'Die Stellung d
Warburg 1921-22, p. 96. A different explanation
Picatrix innerhalb der spanischen Kultur', in Actes

(Picatrix < Abui 1-Qasim) is given by F. Sezgin,IXe

Geschichte
Congres International d'Histoire des Sciences, Barcelon
des arabischen Schrifttums, iv, Leiden 1971, 1959,
p. 295.
p. For
319.
earlier suggestions cf. M. Steinschneider, Die6europaiPingree 1980 (as in n. 1), p. 30.
schen Ubersetzungen aus dem Arabischen, Vienna
19047 G. Strohmaier, review of Pingree 1986 (as in n. 3
1905, repr. Graz 1960, no. 97, p. 61.
Zeitschrift fiur Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wiss
3 Picatrix, The Latin version of the Ghdyat Al-Hakim,
ed.
schaft, v,
1989, p. 267.

D. Pingree, London 1986, pp. 65, line 21; 66, line

30.
8 Ritter
1933 (as in n. 2), p. 107, lines 7-10; Ritt
4 Ritter (1921-22, as in n. 2, p. 96) wrote:
'... Plessner
Aus
and
(as in n. 2), pp. 114, line 16, 115, line 2.
welchen Grfinden er (i.e. the translator) den 9
inPingree
seiner 1986 (as in n. 3), p. 65, lines 19-21.
Vorlage genannten Bukratis-Pseudo-Hippokrates
wfihl10 Pingree 1986 (as in n. 3), p. 1, lines 8ff. For t
te, lasst sich wohl schwer feststellen'.
question of the title see below, n. 81.
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Instztutes, Volume 53, 1990

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290

NOTES

AND

DOCUMENTS

If

there was a deliberate

attempt
to of
mystif
sutor is the
not the translation
Abfi 'AlC
why then was thebut
former
passage
left
of al-Khayyat (khayydt,
'tailor'),
anotheru
changed?
name of the same author. One part of the
The solution suggested here starts from
name may be given in transcription and
the meaning of 'Picatrix'. Read as a Latin
another in translation;'7 or only a part of a
word picatrix would be the feminine of picname may be translated: 'Filius Abdala

ator derived from the verb picare: this

acquired in Medieval Latin-parallel to the
Romance equivalents-the meaning 'to

Regis'
(=Ibn origin
'Abd al-Malik,
malik,
'king').18
The
Arabic
is sometimes
obvious
to

translation of the first name or ism of the

Servi Dei' is none other than Maimonides

the reader as in the first examples, or it may

prick'." I suggest that 'Picatrix' is simply a be more or less eclipsed: 'Cordubensis filius

supposed Arabic author Maslama al-Majriti.

(Milsa b. Maymfin b. cAbdallah al-Qurtub

'Maslama' is derived from the Arabic root s-

cabd Alldh 'Servant of God', Qurtubi 'from

1-m of which one of the meanings givenCordova').19

by
In some cases authors have
Arabic lexica is ladagha = 'to sting'.'2 Morebeen called by a name translated from
over 'Maslama' has the Arabic feminine
Arabic: Senior (=Shaykh, lit. 'elderly man')
termination a just as Picatrix is feminine
in
for Ibn Umayl
at-Tamimi and Princep s

form. If this is true, the prologue

would
(=Ra -s
lit. 'one at the head') for Ibn Sina.J
indeed be referring to the famous mathemaAll these examples show that it was the
surname
that
was translated rather than the
tician Maslama al-Majriti and in the passage

of Bk ii the incomprehensible first

'Buqratis'
name, as we presume in the case of

Maslama. But
might have been confused with 'Picatrix'
inon one occasion we find the

the scribal tradition.

translation of the ism, the individual name.

In order to judge the likelihood of this

The geomantic work of 'Abdallah b. CAbdexplanation, three questions should be
allah b. cAli b. al-Munajjim, known as Ibn al-

asked:

Mahfiif,21 has the incipit:

Dixit famulus Abdalla filius Aly filii Mahsuph filii

1. Were Arabic personal names translated into

astrologi: Quoniam ... 22
their Latin equivalents?
Famulus is the translation of CAbdalldh, which

Arabic names seem to have been translated

is rendered in another codex as servus dei.23

into their Latin equivalents only sporadically
The variants of Ibn Mahffif's text in the

in the Middle Ages; but the examples are

both significant and varied. Some give both

transcription and translation: 'Abdilaziz, id
17 'Albugabeth ben Felix' (?) Thorndike and Kibre (as
est servus gloriosi sive dei' (=cAbd al-cAziz,
n. 15),
'Servant of the Mighty'); '(ophadalaa,inid
estcols 447, 987 (=Abu Thabit b. Sacid?). Sezgin
gladius regni' (=Sayf ad-dawla, 'Sword proposed
of theAbii Sahl b. Naubakht and Abli Rabi' b.
Sa'id. The meaning of naubakht in Persian is 'lucky',

empire');13 'Ibne Zizar, id est filius

thatcarof sacid in Arabic the same, cf. Sezgin (as in n. 2),

vii, p. 47. For another solution cf. D. Pingree, 'The

neficis' (=Ibn al-Jazzatr, jazzdr, 'butcher');14
diffusion of Arabic magical texts in Western Europe', in
or the translation may stand alone: 'Filius
La diffusione delle scienze islamiche nel medio evo europeo.

Macellaris' (=Ibn al-Jazzfir) ;15 or a mistake

Convegno internazionale, Rome 1984, p. 75: 'ibn Feliz' as
an abbreviation of 'ibn Faylastif'.
can produce 'Abuali, i.e. Sutor'16 although
18 Steinschneider (as in n. 2), ii, p. 40.
19 Thorndike and Kibre (as in n. 15), col. 750.

20 Steinschneider (as in n. 2), ii, pp. 51-54, 22ff.

11 R. D. Latham, Revised Medieval Latin Word-List,

21 C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur,

Leiden 1937-48, suppl. ii, p. 367.

12 W~irterbuch der klassischen arabischen Sprache, ed.
22M.
Thorndike and Kibre (as in n. 15), p. 452, acUllmann, 2 vols, Wiesbaden 1970-83, ii, 1, p. 445b,
line to MS Erfurt, Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek,
cording
23.
Amplon. F. 389, fols 56-99 (W. Schum, Beschreibendes
London 1965, p. 350.

13 j. M. Millis Vallicrosa, Las traducciones orientales en

los manuscritos de la Biblioteca Catedral de Toledo, Madrid

1942, p. 156.
14 Steinschneider (as in n. 2), i, p. 78.
15 L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, A catalogue of incipits of
scientific writings in Latin, rev. edn, London 1963, col.

246.

16 F. J. Carmody, Arabic astronomical and astrological

sciences in Latin translation, Berkeley 1956, p. 49.

Verzeichniss der Amplonianischen Handschriften-Sammlung

zuErfurt, Berlin 1887, p. 274).

23 Erfurt, Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek, MS Amplon.

Q. 380, fol. 1: 'Dixit famulus Abdalla servus Dei filius

Aly filii Mahsuph ' (Schum, as in n. 22, p. 638) and MS

Vatican, Urb. lat. 262, fol. 2: 'Dixit famulus abdalla idest

servus dei filius aly, filius masuph, filii astrologi ...' (C.

Stornajolo, Codices Urbinates Latines, i, Rome 1902, pp.

245ff.)

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THE

NAME

PICATRIX

291

and a Jewish translator

would
hardly have
different manuscripts
give
support
t
used an Arabic-Latin
one. There is more
assumption that scribal
changes
might
evidence
that
monolingual
dictionaries
w
produced the form
of
name
which
w

find in the extant western version of the

in use. Todros Todrosi (first half of the

fourteenth century), who translated works

of Averroes into Hebrew, praised the Kitdb
None of these examples is taken from an
Alfonsine text. The translation of the Ghdya
al-cAin as 'an honourable work, which
contains every Arabic word together with a
into Spanish seems to have been the work of
Yehilda ben Moshe, who also translated the
precise elucidation' and said that it was the
Kitdb al-Bdric of 'Ali ibn abi r-Rijal.24 Thiswork, 'for which the great translator Samuel
text opens with the following words: 'Dixo
Tibbon had been striving so hard to find,

Picatrix.

Alyh fiio de Aben Ragel, el cano e el

until he got it from the lands of the West.'29

notario'.25 These are equivalent to theThe article on the root s-i-m in the Kitdb
Arabic: 'qala 1-waziru 1-kattibu Abi [sic] al-CAin begins with as-salmu; the first

1-Hasani 'Aliyu bnu abi r-Rijali sh-Shay-meaning given is 'long pot with a single
handle', the second 'snake-bite'; after that
baniyu'.26 'Ash-Shaybani' in this context

means: 'a member of the family (or tribe) the derivative forms masluim and salim are
Shayban'. Yehfida has translated it as cano,given, both with the meaning 'bitten'. Only

'white-haired'.27 He explained the wordlater does the more common meaning

from its etymology, since it derives from 'welfare' or 'peace' occur.30 It is possible
shdba 'become white-haired' or ashyab
that someone searching for the basic sig'white-haired' all of the same root sh-y-b.
nificance of the root s-i-m would take the
first definition in the lexicon, and not the

most current meaning. The Kitdb al-cAin is

not the only lexicon giving this explanation;
al-Azhari wrote in his Tahdhib al-lugha: 'Laith
If we look up salama in Kazimirski's dictionhas said: as-salmu is the bite of a snake; and
ary, we find that he gives as the first of its
the bitten is masluim and salim' and later
two meanings 'piquer quelqu'un'; similarly
'The saying of Layth, that as-salmu should be
for salim he gives 'pique par un serpent' and
the bite, that is due to the proud flesh of
the same translation is given for maslim.2s

2. Would 'Picatrix' be a possible translation of

'Maslama' in the thirteenth century?

Kazimirski has given the same RomanceLayth; nobody else has said it.'31 Never-

equivalent as appears-according to our hy-theless we also find the equation salm =

pothesis-in the formation of 'Picatrix' (Fr.ladhgh (bite, sting) in the Sihah, the Kamiis,
piquer, Sp. picar). Is it possible that thethe Lisatn al-'Arab and the Taj al-'Artiz.32
The Spanish lexicographer Ibn Sida (d.
thirteenth-century translator found this
458/1066) in his Kitdb al-Muhkam also gave
meaning too when he looked up the etythe supplementary meaning as 'wounded',
mology of maslama? Did he use a dictionary?
derived from 'pierced (by lances)'.Y3 This
Only short and specialized Arabic-Spanish
word lists are known from the Middle Ages,
24 cf. Pingree 1981 (as in n. 1), p. 28: '... this ..

29 M. Steinschneider, 'Der Kitaib al-'ain', Zeitschrift der

Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vi, 1852, pp.

makes Yehuda a prime candidate for consideration
414ff;as
cf. S. Wild, Das Kitdb al- Ain, Wiesbaden 1965, p.
58.
the author of the Spanish version of the Ghaya'.
b. Ahmad, Kitdb al- Ain, ed. al-Makhziimi,
25 Aly Aben Ragel, El Libro conplido en los iudizioss0
deal-Khalil
las
estrellas, ed. G. Hilty, Madrid 1954, p. 5a, line 34: vii,
'Alyh,
Baghdad 1984, p. 265.

31 ed. A. S. Haruin, Cairo 1964-67, xii, p. 450a3-15.

son
of Aben
Ragel,
the white-haired
notary says Kultur... 32 al-Jawhari, K. Tdj al-lugha wa-sihdh al-Sarablya, Cairo
26 MS
Berlin,
Bibliothek
Stiftung Preussischer
besitz, cod. Lbg. 69, fol. 10r, line 3 (microfilm:
1865, ii, p. 298, lines 23ff; al-Firfizabaidi, al-Kdmuis, Cairo
Orientalisches Seminar, Universitfit Zfirich): 'the Wazir,1911, iv, p. 129, line 14; Ibn Mukarram, Lisdn al-~arab,

the Secretary Abii 1-Hasan 'Ali b. a. Rijal ash-ShaibaniBeirut 1955-56, xii, p. 292, line 22; Murtada az-Zabidi,

said ...'

line 9.
27 cf. E. W. Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, London337,
1872,

al-caruin
z, CairoMS
1888-89,
repr. Beirut 1966, vii, p.
iv, pp. 1627ff; cf. A. R. Nykl, 'Libro complidoTdj
en
los Library,
British
Or. 4186, fols 216v, lines 12ff:
Juizios de las Estrellas', Speculum, xxix, 1954, p. 'wa-qad
85-99, yusta'aru s-salimu li-l-jarihi. Anshada bnu-land G. Hilty, 'El libro complido en los ludiziosA'rabiyi:
de las 'wa-tiri bi-mikhraqin (?) ashamma ka-annahu
Estrellas', al-Andalus, xx, 1955, pp. 1-74.
salimu rimahin'. Quoted also in Ibn Mukarram, Lisdn
28 A. de Kazimirski-Biberstein, Dictionnaire arabeal-carab, Beirut 1955-56, xii, p. 292; cf. Lane (as in n.
francais, Paris 1860, i, p. 1129.
27), p. 1416.

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292 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS

A'sha39
and the entire
poem is incorporated
is not far from the
oldest
meaning
of pic
'herir con instrumente punzante'.3 Ibn
in Ibn Hisham's biography of Muhammad.40
Sida quoted in his article the name 'Masla- Apart from that special meaning, salim was
ma' as a masculine name, but without anyused for a man wounded by a stroke of a
lance.41
explanation.35
The word salim is also discussed in other Two famous Hispano-Arabic poets used
works of medieval Arabic philologists. BeHazm in his Ring of the Dove.
cause of its double meaning 'bitten, stung' salim: Ibn
Like the vipers: only their bod can cure
and 'healthy', it is classed among the addad,
the sting of one who is bitten42
i.e. the words with contrary significations,
and Ibn Zaydfin:
and it occurs in the specialised works on this
I am met at night, grief does not forget
My meeting as a sting-pierced one is

topic. 36

In poetry salim, 'bitten (by a snake)' is

stung43

quoted already in old Arabic poetry. The

famous poem in praise of the prophet

and the same in another poem:

My memory of time with you is like

Muhammad by A'sha starts with the line:

Did your sore eyes not close the night
you lay sleepless as though a snake had
bitten you?7

pricking

It went at night and tired with a sting44

These references are taken from Islamic

sources. Can we assume that a Judaeo-Arabi

The image of the lover being sleepless like
scholar knew any of these works? In fact
the salim had already become a topos in
we have records of lexicographical studies
Arabic poetry at that time, since Nitbigha,
written by Jews which include Arabic poetry
one of the six ancient poets, used it.38 There
At least one witness to the actual use of the
are many commentaries to this verse of
term is found in the title of an ethical work

written by Josef ibn Aknin (died c. 1226):

of the suffering (alima) souls and

Medicine
34 J. Corominas, Diccionario critico etimol6gico
de la

treatment of the wounded (salima) hearts.45 Thi

lengua castellana, Bern 1954, v, pp. 766ff. s.v. 'picar'.
5 British Library, MS Or. 4186, fol. 218v, lines
11ff:
translation

as proposed by Plessner46 seems

'wa-Maslama ... wa rubbama summiya biha to

r-rajulu'
be more appropriate than the earlier one
('... and Maslama ... and with most of them men are

of Steinschneider, who interpreted al-qultib

named').

36 Ibn Duraid, Kitdb al-Ishtiqdq, ed. F. Wuestenfeld,

G6ttingen 1854, p. 23, line 10; for more references cf.
Ullmann (as in n. 12), ii, pp. 450b-451a, s.v. 'ladigun'

cf. Geyer (as

in n. 37), pp. 93ff.
and 'maldagun'. See further Qutrub, Kitdb39
al-Adddd,
ed.
Ibn Hisham,
H. Korfler, Islamica, v, 1932, p. 248, lines 40
4ff.
no. 8; Sira,
Ibn ed. G. Wuestenfeld, repr. Frankfurt 1961,
i, 1, pp.
al-Anbari, Kitdb al-adddd, ed. Ibrahim, Kuwait
1960,
p. 255; cf. G. Weil, Das Leben
105, no. 60; al-Asma'i, as-Sijistani and Mohammads,
a Dhail, ed.
Stuttgart
A.
1864, i, pp. 190ff. and Guillaume
(as in
n. 37), Beirut
p. 724.
Haffner, Drei arabische Quellenwerke iTber die
Adddd,
41no.
cf. T.
Noeldeke,
1912, pp. 38, lines 7ff; 99, lines 9ff; 114,
167;
127, 'W6rter mit Gegensinn', in Neue
Beitrdgeb.
zur'Ali
semitischen
Sprachwissenschaft, Strassburg
line 5; 192, line 4; 233 no. 507; 'Abdalwahid
al1910, p. 88.
Lughawi, K.al-Adddd, ed. 'I. Hasan, Damascus 1963, i,
42 ed.
D. K. Petrof,
Leiden 1914, p. 87, line 19.
pp. 351ff; cf. M. Redslob, Die arabischen
Worter
mit

4 ed.p.
A. 15,
'Abdalaziz,
1957, pp. 449: The Diwan of Ibm
entgegengestzter Bedeutung, G6ttingen 1873,
and T.
Zaidun,
transl. A. Wormhoud,
Oskaloosa, Iowa 1973, p.
N6ldeke, 'W6rter mit Gegensinn', Neue
Beitrdge
zur

47, no. 39,

semitischen Sprachwissenschaft, Strassburg 1910,
p. line
88.8.

44 1928,
'Abdalazizp.
(as101
in n. 43), p. 202: Wormhoud (as in
37 A'sha, Diwdn, ed. R. Geyer, London
n. 43), p.laylata
41, no. 33, line 8.
[Arabic section]: 'a-lam taghtami <aynaka
45 MS Oxford, Bodl. Hunt. 518 (Hebrew 1273) fols
armada wa-' adaka ma 'ada s-salima 1-musahhada',

1-158 (A. Neubauer,

Catalogue of the Hebrew manuscrips,
transl. A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad,
Oxford

Oxford 1886-1906, i, cols 450ff): 'Maqala fi tibb an-

1955, p. 724.

al-alima
wa-mu'alaja al-quliib as-salima.'
38 W. Ahlward, The Divans of the Six nufuis
Ancient
Poets,
46 poets
Medizin referder schmerzvollen Seelen und Behandlung der
London 1870, p. 19 no. 17, line 12. Other
verwundeten
Herzen, in Encyclopaedia Judaica, iii, Berlin
ring to salim in the same sense are: Bishr
b. a. Khazim,
1929, no.
col. 80;
Plessner
Diwdn, ed. 'I. Hasan, Damascus 1960, p. 361
44,
line wrote 'ilaj instead of mu'alaja. A.
S. Crakow
Alkin in his1950,
article in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, ii,
2; Ka'b b. Zuhair, Diwdn, ed. I. Kowalski,
Jerusalem
1971,
col. 502 gave another title: 'Tibb anp. 134, no. 26, line 3; Abui Dhu'aib, Diwdn,
ed. J.
Hell,
nufuis as-salima
an-nuffis al-alima' and the
Hanover 1926, p. 33 no. 28, line 2; Mufaddaliydt,
ed.wa-mu'alaja
C.

translation
'The 12;
Hygiene of Healthy Souls and the
J. Lyall, Oxford 1921-24, i, p. 506, no.
57, line
Therapy
ofLeiden
Ailing Souls'. Cf. Alkin's article in the
Naqd'id of Jarir and al-Farazdak, ed. A. A.
Bevan,

1905-07, i, p. 111, line 11. I owe this reference

toAmerican Academy for Jewish Research, xiv,
Proceedings of the

Professor Manfred Ullmann.

1944, p. 27 n. 2.

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THE

NAME

PICATRIX

293

as-salim as 'pure hearts'.47

This derivation may appear
It a little
occurs
convolin
uted. However,
in another
case mankaha
sense in the Qur'an,48
but
the
expressio
has been
translated by meretrix
and there
a
qalb (sing. of quhib)
as-salim
is used
als
the sense of 'smitten heart' in other Arabic
mafcala- word indeed corresponds to a formation
literature.49 Salim is a rhyme to alim
andwith
the -trix.55

second half of the title is parallel in

ThemeanSpanish picar, as we have seen, is
ing to the first half, therefore we
attested
expect
in thea twelfth century with the
meaning similar to 'suffering'.
meaning 'herir con instrumente punzante'.
We have to go on to consider whether
However, it
the
subsequently acquired a wider
sense; in the lexicon of Nebrija the derived
supposed word-formation 'Picatrix' may
have been created in imitation of 'Maslama'.
form picada is rendered by 'picadura de ave,
We presume that our translator regarded
insecto 0 reptil'.56
maslama as the feminine of maslam. This

3. Can
we presume that the translator knew the
morphem-type (mafcal) is used in
classical

Arabic for the nomen loci;5o in Middle

GhayaArabic
under the name of Maslama al-Majrih?

the nomen instrumenti (type mif~al)

was
The translation-hypothesis
is based on the

vocalized occasionally the same way (i.e.

supposition that the translator found the

name 'Maslama' in his text or knew this
maf~al).51 On the other hand, the ending

-dor in Spanish acquired a wider signification than -tor in classical Latin, which

attribution from another source. In the

secondary sources the statements conc

denotes the nomen agentis. In Spanishing
wethe author in the Arabic version are
find several nomina instrumenti and even
inconsistent, ranging from 'the Arabic
nomina loci ending in -dor.52 So it seems
version not
is anonymous'57 to 'all the manuimpossible for an Arabic word of the maf~al
scripts
of
both works (sc. Rutba and Ghaya)
type to have been rendered by a Spanish
agree in naming as author the celebrated
word with the ending -dor. The feminine of astronomer and mathematician Abu 1-Qfisim
-dor is -triz which is analogous to the Latin Maslama b. Ahmad al-Majriti'.58 No solution
-trix. In fact in the Spanish fra ments of
to this question is given in Ritter's edition,59
Picatrix we find the form picatriz. That the but in his unpublished introduction60 he
translator into Latin took this not as a

transcription of an Arabic word but as a

Spanish feminine form is shown by the fact
that he rendered the ending -triz as -trix.54 sanabr,

in the Arabic text we always find khardal (Ritter

1933, as in n. 2, pp. 228, line 13; 344, line 2; 371, line

10) and sinap, being of Greek origin, occurs in

different spellings in medieval Latin texts).

55 Vocabulista in Arabico, ed. C. Schiapparelli, Florence
Frankfurt 1902, p. 231: 'Abhandlung der leidenden 1871, s.v. 'meretrix'.
Seele und die Heilung der aufrichtigen Herzen'. In his 56 cf. J. Corominas. Diccionario critico etimol6gico de la
article for Ersch and Gruber's encyclopaedia (repr. lengua castellana, Bern 1954, v, pp. 766ff, s.v. 'picar'.
47 M. Steinschneider, Die arabische Literatur der Juden,

Gesammelte Schriften, Berlin 1925, p. 50) he put a 7 H. Kahane et al. 'Picatrix and the talismans',

question mark '... Arznei der gesunden (?) Herzen'.

48 Sfira 26, verse 89, and 37, verse 82.

9 Noeldeke (as in n. 41), p. 88.

Romance Philology, xix, 1966, p. 575.

58 E. J. Holmyard, 'Maslama al-Majriti and the Rutba

l-Hakim', Isis, vi, 1924, p. 294.

5o W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, 3rd 59 In his lecture (quoted above, n. 2) he said: 'Es liegt
edn, 1896-98, repr. Cambridge 1982, i, pp. 124ff, line also vielleicht ein Versuch des Ubersetzers vor, dem
gefaihrlichen, ihm anonym vorliegenden Buche einen
51 In medieval Latin transcription this is reflected: al- Verfasser zuzuweisen.'
mihwar ('axis') became almahuar, and al-mintaqa ('belt') 6o I found this introduction, a typescript of 24 pp.,

221.

became almantaca, cf. P. Kunitzsch, Glossar der arabischen among the papers of Aby Warburg at the Warburg

Fachausdriicke in der mittelalterlichen europaischen Astrolab- Institute (File 132 ii), and thank Professor J. B. Trapp

literatur, G6ttingen 1982, pp. 533 and 535 respectively.

52 e.g.comedor, 'dining-room'.

53 Pingree 1980 (as in n. 1), p. 55, lines 61-62.

54 The comparision of the Arabic names in the

for allowing me to consult it. The text was obviously

prepared for the printer, since it contains an 'Anmerk-

ung fiir den Drucker'. In this introduction the MSS

used in the edition are described and their critical

value is discussed at length. At the end, Ritter includ

Spanish fragments and the related Latin passages of the

Picatrix shows that z is always rendered as z, e.g.

a full stemma. Most of this information cannot be

'Azerut', 'Azeruch', 'Azieland' etc. and that x in the

Latin version is used in order to transcribe Arabic sh,
but never Arabic s (not even in the case of xenab,

found elsewhere in any published work on the Ghaya

Plessner quoted from Ritter's Einleitung in 1931 (M
Plessner, 'Beitrhige zur islamischen Literaturgeschichte
'mustard' (Pingree 1986, as in n. 3, pp. 137, line Islamica,
24;
iv, 1931, p. 548), but no reference to it is mad
in the introduction to the German translation of 1956.
201, line 15; 211, line 17) related in the index to Arabic

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294 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS

states that three MSS

give
the
10. Istanbul,
Ragip
Papa Halkname
Kuituiphan- (Ci, C2
963, fol.
39r. This
MS, dated
A.D.
S) and three do not esi,
(L,
V,
K).
From
the
1457, includes
a life of
Maslama
althirty MSS of the Ghaiya
which
are
listed
by
Sezgin and Ullmann,61Majriti.67
I was able to find th

following information:

11. Istanbul, Sfileymaniye Kfitiiphanesi,

1. [E=] London, British
Or.
AyasofyaLibrary,
2443 [A.D. 1613]: 'ImamMS
al-

9577 [A.D. 1776]: 'al-Majriti al-

Andalhisi' (autopsy).

2. [Ci=] Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS

Marsh. 155 [A.D. 1370]: 'al-Majriti'
(autopsy).

Majriti'.68

12. Istanbul, Nuruosmaniye Halk Kuitti-

phanesi, 2794/1 [s. xviii]: 'Abu 1Qaisim Maslama b. Ahmad al-Maj-

riti'.69

3. [C2=] Leiden, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, Or. 496: 'al-Majriti'

13. Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Mfizezi, MS

4. [L=] Leiden, Bibliotheek der Rijks-

14. Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, Ar.

3133 Es. xiv]: 'Abu 1-Qasim Maslama

(microfiche, Warburg Institute).

universiteit, Or. 571 ['recentius']: has

neither the name 'Ghayat al-hakim'

nor any indication of the author

(microfiche, Warburg Institute).

5. El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, Ar. 947/

3 (Cas. 942) Es. xiv]: '[Abhi 1-Qaisim

7462 (R=1748): 'Abu 1-Qaisim Mas-

lama b. Ahmad al-Majriti' 70

b. Ahmad AL-MAJRiTi'.11

15. Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, 731 tabi'iat, fols

325v-27v [fragm]: al-Majriti.72
16. Teheran, Kitabkhana-i Milli-i Malik,

1433
xiii]: 'Maslama b. Ahmad alMASLAMA b. Ahmad al-Qurturbi] Qur~tubi
AL- [s.al-Majri~ti'.73

MAJRITi' .62

Unfortunately some catalogues make no

6. [S=] Hamburg, Seminar fur Geclear distinction between what is found in

schichte und Kultur des Vorderen the MS and what had been added by the
Orients [A.D. 1904].63
editor (nos 11-16). However we can definitely say that seven of the first ten codices
in this list contain the name, including the
ionalbibliothek, Mxt. 414 (Flfigel
oldest dated MS (Ci), and the fourteenth1491).64

7. [V=] Vienna, Osterreichische Nat-

8. [K=] Istanbul, Siileymaniye Kitfiphanesi, Hamidiye 852 ['relatively

young']: 'Abui 1-Qaisim b. Ahmad alQurtubi' 65

9. Rabat, al-Khizaina al-'amma, 2590

(=D 687),' [Abhi I-Qfisim] Maslama b.

Ahmad al-Majriti [al-Qurtubi]'.66

century Escorial MS (no. 5). If the cata-

logues can be trusted, the thirteenth-century Teheran MS (no. 16) gives the full form
with the ism as in the Rabat MS (no. 9),
perhaps in the fourteenth-century Dublin
MS (no. 14) and in one Istanbul MS (no.
12).

The one Leiden copy (no. 4) which does

not mention the author has no title either,

which would suggest the loss or omission

The reason for its omission from the edition published
in 1933 was obviously the recent acquisition of a further
MS of the Ghaya by the Preussische Staatsbibliothek.
67 See Plessner (as in n. 5), p. 548.
This is mentioned in the printed preface.
61 F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrzfftums, iv, 68 Defter (as in n. 65), p. 146.

Leiden 1971, p. 297; M. Ullmann, Die Natur- und

69 Defter (as in n. 65), p. 159.

7o F. E. Karatay, Topkapz Sarayz kuitiuphanesi arapfa

Geheimwissenschaften in Islam, Leiden 1972, p. 385.
yazmalar katalogu, iii, Istanbul 1966, p. 894.
62 H. Derenbourg, Le manuscrits arabes de l'Escurial, viii,
71 A. J. Arberry, Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, ii,
3, Paris 1941, p. 78.
63 Has the author's name, according to Ritter.
64 Has no name, according to Ritter.
65 Defter, Istanbul 1883, p. 46, but not in the MS ac-

cording to Ritter.

Dublin 1956, p. 30.

72 F. Saiyid, Fihris al-makhtutdt al-musawwara, iii, 4,

Cairo 1963, p. 191.

7 S. al-Munajjid, 'Nawadir al-makhtfitait fi Maktabat
Malik bi-Tihran', Majallat Machad al-Makhtutat al-

66 I. S. Allouche and A. Degragiii, Catalogue"Arabiya,

des

manuscrits arabes de Rabat, ii, Rabat 1958, p. 316.

vi, 1960, p. 70.

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THE

NAME

PICATRIX

295

by our
suggestion is given in the
of the title-page required
in a
preceding
MS r
than an early anonymous
translation
old lexica, especially in the
Kitdb al-CAin, and
other
philological
and poetical
works. Atrash
Ghdya. Therefore
it
would
seem
least one Judaeo-Arabic scholar uses the
an argument for the absence of an attribution in the early tradition on this MS as
root s-i-m in this sense; (3) the Ghdya is
Ritter does.
ascribed to al-Majriti in most of the manuOne Hebrew version which exists in a
scripts and in the earliest Arabic works
whichgives
refer to
the work; this attribution is
fifteenth and sixteenth-century MS
the

from writers of the fourteenth

author's name as 'Abui 'l-Qasim known
Maslama
ibn
Ahmad al-Marita [or Mariti]'.74tury,
According
but seems to be older.
to the stemma established by Ritter, this
version is an independent derivative of the
II

cen-

same ancestor [U] as that from which both

we to try to decide between the two

the Latin version [Pic] and the ancestor Were
[X]
hypotheses, that of the transcription of
'Buqrgtis' to 'Picatrix' or the translation of

of all the Arabic copies examined (except

the Berlin MS) derive. Since this Hebrew
version, the Picatrix and all these Arabic

'Maslama' to 'Picatrix', we have to consider

copies derive from U independently from

whether it is more likely that (1) an incomeach other, I see no reason to reject a stemprehensible name, which is mentioned in

matic derivation of the name of the author.

the text a few times, was chosen as the

Ritter's statement that whether a manuscript
author's name in a distorted transcription,

contains a name or not, is not related to its

and that it is only coincidental that this

stemmatic position, was influenced by his

name also looks like a Spanish translation of
the
desire to explain why the Arabic copy [c] name of the author of the Ghdya as
found in the Arabic tradition; or that (2) the
used by the Spanish translator was-according to his hypothesis-anonymous.
Arabic name of the author of the Ghdya was
The Ghdya is quoted by Ibn Khaldun
translated and because of its similarity
(1322-1406) as a work of Maslama al-

became confused with a name transcribed

are also later and no earlier mention of the

not be surprising if one name could be

the text.
Majriti, but this attribution is moreinthan
a
century after the Spanish translation.75
The considering the great number of
When
transcribed
quotations by al-Jildaki (d. 1342 or later)
76 names in the Latin text, it would

Ghdya seems to be known. But the distance

made to resemble a recognisable Latin word
in time is not long enough to make by
valid
an
a process
of metathesis and different

argument e silentio. Ibn Khaldfinvocalisation.

and al- But no other transcribed name
Jildaki seem to go back independently
to text actually became a comprehen
in the
earlier sources.
sible Latin word. Taken by itself 'Picatrix'
In conclusion we can say: (1) the method
has not the mien of a transcription; on the
of translating rather than transcribing
contrary it smacks of translation. In the case
Arabic names has been used by other medi-of the star name 'Bellatrix', which occurs in
eval translators, and in particular by the the Latin version of the Alfonsine Tables,
translator of the Ghdya from the Arabic into the Arabic name is not known, but nobody

Spanish; (2) the meaning of maslama

doubts that it is a translation, and indeed

the masculine form 'Bellator' also occurs.77

In the case of 'Picatrix', an appropriate root
in the necessary feminine form has been
74 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Hebr. 214. Cf.

found-and it is hard to believe that this

M.
Steinschneider,
Die hebraischen
Handschrzften
der by
K.
Hofund Staatsbibliothek
in Miinchen,
2nd happened
edn, Munich
1895, p. 95. British Library, MS Or. 9861, fol. A
Ir further
and on
the colophon, fol. 38v, has the variant 'al-Mariti'. I am

chance.
point is this: pseudepigraphy
has its own laws. When the Ghdya was
grateful to B. S. Hill, Curator of Hebrew Manuscripts
diffused under the name of the famous

and Printed Books in the British Library, for his help in

reading.
75 Ibn Khaldfin, Muqaddima, ed. E. Quatrembre,
Prolegomenes, iii, Paris 1858, p. 125; The Muqaddimah,
transl. F. Rosenthal, New York 1958, iii, p. 157.

76 E. J. Holmyard, 'Maslama al-Majriti and the Rutba 77 P. Kunitzsch, Die arabischen Sternnamen in Europa,
Wiesbaden 1959, pp. 148ff.

'l-Hakim', Isis, vi, 1924, p. 298.

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296 NOTES AND DOCUMENTS

PORTRAIT
al-Majriti, it followed FILARETE'S
the common
patter
of promoting the sale
and ON
circulation
of
SIGNATURE
THE BRONZE
book through a false but
name.78
DOORS glorious
OF ST PETER'S
No such motive is discernible
in the Latin
AND THE DANCE OF BATHYKLES
version if we adopt the hypothesis of tran
AND HIS ASSISTANTS*

scription, for in that case a well-known name

had been replaced by an unknown one.

we suppose a translation, the intention
the translator is comprehensible:
wishe
IN ROME between 1433 he
and 1445
the
to hispanize the name
of
the
putative
entine bronze sculptor Antonio Aver
author: this is made
clear
by completed
the fact
tha
called
il Filarete,
a highly
repeatedly Picatrix is called Hispaniensis.7
syncratic portrait signature on the b
This intention fits well with the gener
doors of St Peter's in Rome.1 This tak
endeavour to appropriate
Arabic
scienc
form of a bronze relief
123 cm x 22 cm
for Castilian speakers
in the circle of th
applied to the very base of the back of th

court of Alfonso X. But with this serious

left-hand leaf of the doors which Eugeniu

intent could have been mixed some jesting
IV had commissioned from Filarete (P1. 39a
malice, like that of the Egyptian printer
who
b). On
the front of the leaves Filarete made

rendered the name of August Muller

asof
a series

reliefs which celebrate the

'Imra'alqays b. at-Tahhan' ('miller').80

If this
martyrdoms
of Peter and Paul, and the uni
were true, we would now at last beofseeing
the diverse branches of the churches of
the point of a joke made some seven
the Gentiles, along with a copious border of
centuries ago.8'
acanthus enclosing tiny reliefs of mythologiJ. THOMANN cal and historical scenes, as well as profiles

UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH

relating to ancient coins.2 Filarete's bronze

signature on the verso takes the extraordinary form of a narrative showing himself
and his assistants linking hands in a dance
and holding their chiselling and sculpting
tools. The sculptors issue from a gate on the
left, upon which is chiselled the artist's
signature: 'Antonius Petri de Florentia fecit

die ultimo iulii MCCCCXLV'.3 The last man

78 Sezgin (as in n. 2), iv, pp. 294ff. suggested that the

ghdya was written by an author Abii Maslama al-Majriti

* My thanks to Jennifer Montagu, who suggested I
being different from the famous mathematician. This

hypothesis has been rejected by Pingree 1986 (as in n. look at Pausanias and thrones. This paper really
belongs to her. My thanks also to the Princeton Index
of Christian Art whose files made it possible to pursue
the
material referred to in nn. 6-7.
80 Ibn a.Usaibi'a, Kitdb 'Uy2in al-anbd' fi tabaqdt al1 M. Lazzaroni and A. Mufioz, Filarete scultore e
attibd, ed. A. Miller, Cairo-Koenigsberg 1882-84; cf. J.

3), p. xv.
Pingree 1986 (as in n. 3), pp. xxv, xxviii, xxxvii.

Fuick,
Studien
in Europa,
Leipzigopen
1955,
p. 237.
81 In Arabische
both cases,
the question
remains
what
kind

of introduction in the Spanish version could have been

the basis for the Latin prologue. Is the statement that

the Arabic author gave his own name to the book a

secondary mistake of the Latin translator? Or does it
reflect a comment by the Spanish translator on the

author's name and the title found in the Arabic text?

architetto del secolo XV, Rome 1907, ch. 2; J. R. Seymour,

'Filarete's Bronze Doors at Saint Peter's; a cooperative

project with complications of chronology and technique', in Collaboration in Renaissance Art, eds W. S.
Sheard and J. T. Paoletti, New Haven and London
1978, pp. 33-45.

2 H. Roeder, 'The Borders of Filarete's Bronze Doors

to St Peter's', this Journal, x, 1948, pp. 151-54; B. Sauer,

Randreliefe an Filarete's Bronzethfir von St.

When I presented my hypothesis in a colloquium'Die
held
Peter', Repertorium fiur Kunstwissenschaft, xx, 1897, pp.
at Zuirich University in 1988, Thomas Isler suggested
1-22;
that picatrix could be also a translation of ghaya. Taken C. Lord, 'Solar Imagery in Filarete's doors to St

Gazette des Beaux-Arts, lxxxviii, 1976, pp.

by itself this seems in my opinion rather unlikely,Peter's',
but
P. Cannata, 'Le placchette del Filarete', Studies
the fact that ghdya can mean the shot of an arrow143-50;
and
in the History of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
the possibility of understanding picador as the instruxx, 1989, pp. 35-53.
ment or place for the action of picar, deserved further
3 Lazzaroni and Mufioz (as in n. 1), p. 86; the 1962
consideration. One might guess that the Latin prologue
cleaning revealed the additional date of 31 July:
reflects laconically the explanations of both words,

Maslama and Ghdya, in the Spanish version.

Seymour (as in n. 1), p. 34.

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Instztutes, Volume 53, 1990

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