Critical Edition of a Fragment of Ramon Llull's Centum Formae in the Introductorium Magnae Artis Generalis

Abstract

Critical Edition of a Fragment of Ramon Llull's Centum Formae in the Introductorium Magnae Artis Generalis Ilil Baum This appendix accompanies the essay by Ilil Baum, "Jewish Lullism around the Expulsion A Spanish-Catalan Fragment in Hebrew Characters from Ramon Llull's Introductorium Magnae Artis Generalis," JQR 110.3 (2020): 553–573. The following critical edition presents a late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century fragment from the Vatican Library (MS Vat. ebr. 375, ff. 50r–51r), written in Catalanized Castilian in Hebrew script. It contains seventeen philosophical definitions that I identify as part of Ramon Llull's lists of centum formae (hundred forms) in his Introductorium magnae artis generalis (Introduction to the great general art; also known as Liber de universalibus, The book of universals). The edition is meant to make this material accessible to researchers interested in the study of Jewish-Christian intellectual relations in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly with regard to the reception of the work of Ramon Llull. It includes a reproduction of the Hebrew text, a transcription and critical edition with comparison to the known Latin manuscripts in the footnotes, and an English translation. Editorial Criteria I have interfered with the texts as little as possible. I have also tried to represent the visual appearance of the manuscript as closely as possible. Hence, I have tried to maintain the spaces between the rows and parts of the sentences. I have marked the definitions in bold, as these are highlighted in the original fragment by a stretched line between two arrows ←→ above each definition (except that of infinity). In order to facilitate [End Page A1] the reading of the translation, I have preferred a consecutive form of translation, wherein the rows of the original fragment are separated by a sign. The English translation is quite literal in order to maintain the original language as much as possible.1 The purpose of the transcription into Latin characters is to reflect the rendition of the Hebrew text as closely as possible, without making it unreadable. Some evident mistakes by the copyist that could confuse the reader are corrected in the edition, followed by an explanatory footnote. In other cases, I have preferred to maintain the original "errors," while commenting on them in the footnotes. Graphic signs used in the edition of the text: • [abcd] Square brackets mark doubtful readings. When the reading is even less clear a question mark is also added abcd[?]. • (abcd) Parentheses include some interpretative proposals lacking in the text, including the elaboration of abbreviations. In the English translation, these are used for additions that improve the sense of the text. • Additions in the manuscript above the line are inserted as \bcd/. • Hebrew elements are marked with italics. • Forms that are exceptional for medieval Catalan and medieval Castilian or that might cause reading confusions are indicated in the footnotes. Among these are the forms with initial h-. No accents are added. Capital letters are added according to modern Spanish. All punctuation signs are my own additions, as the Hebrew text generally lacks any punctuation marks. The Hebrew manuscripts, like other medieval Catalan and Castilian manuscripts, in many cases agglutinate words or else misdivide them. The agglutinated words are separated by the interpunct sign (·). Some concrete remarks regarding the transcription of the consonants are due: Since the matrix language seems to be Castilian rather than Catalan, [qwa] and [qwo] are transcribed as cua, cuo (for example, cual, cuando etc.), and not as qua, quo as in Catalan texts. The sound [g] is transcribed as g before a, o, u, and gu before e and i. Since the use of the apostrophe (or rafe) with gimel and peh is not systematic, I have interpreted it either as g, p or rather j, f, according to the context. Bet and consonantal vav are transcribed as b and v, respectively. Samekh is transcribed as c (before e, i) and ç (before a, o, u). Tsade is attested only in a couple of occurrences at the end of the word. These are also transcribed by ç. Shin is generally transcribed by s (equivalent to s [End Page A2] and intervocalic -ss-in medieval Castilian and medieval Catalan). The text supplies many...