Irish astronomical tract
- Early Modern Irish
- prose
- Irish texts, Irish scientific texts
Early Modern Irish adaptation based on a Latin translation (Liber de orbe) of a lost astronomical tract written in Arabic by Masha’allah (Māshā’allāh) ibn Athari, a Persian Jewish scholar (fl. early 9th c.). The Irish text appears to be based on a longer, 40-chapter version of the Latin text as opposed to the shorter (27-chapter) and better known version which was first printed in the 16th century and has been attributed to Gerard of Cremona.
- Maura Power argued that the extant manuscripts are all copies at one remove or another so that the former existence of an original manuscript must be assumed.
- Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS B ii 1 (1216) [s. xiv-xv ?]pp. 3–22
- Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 F 13 (1217) [s. xiv-xv (?)]
- Early Modern Irish
- Secondary language(s): Latin language
Power points to the mention of spechlai ‘spectacles’. Under the assumption that it required no introduction for the readership of the text, she takes it as an indicator of a date by which time their use had gained some currency in Ireland, after c.1325.
- (Possible) sources:
- Liber de orbe of Masha'allah (longer Latin translation)
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
Secondary sources (select)
page name: Irish astronomical tract
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