Avicenna was a Persian polymath whose writings on a variety of topics were extremely learned and influenced academia in both the Muslim world and Christian Europe for hundreds of years.
Averroes was a Spanish Muslim philosopher and translator who transmitted a significant portion of the corpus of Classical literature to Christian Europe by his (Arabic) translations and commentaries on them, as Christian Europe had largely lost the texts.
Jabir (“Geber”) ibn Hayyan was a chemist, apparently.
But why would they have Arab names instead of names from their own language?
So peculiar.
Edit: on further thought maybe we’re ready for a lemmy ask history community. This could have been a great discussion if it started with a question about Latin naming instead of an assumption of cultureal erasure.
From the philosophical perspective the Arabic philosophers where instrumental for their commentaries on Aristotle. Early edieval philosophy in Europe was mainly rehashing Plato’s philosophy within the framework of catholicism.
Aristotle was all but forgotten in western philosophy until the Arabic translations and commentaries started to get translated into Latin again.
There was this window in the fourteenth century where there was this great interchange between Arabic and Christian philosophy. This was when these Arabic scholars got their Latin names, as they were seen as part of the same tradition. A lot of Arabic tems where incorporated in western like algebra and algorithm. (Maybe op wants is to revert those words too?)
Unfortunately in the late Middle Ages this exchange was severed as, like Galileo and Bruno the free thinking philosophers crashed with hard line religious figures. In the Islamic region the philosophical tradition was curtailed whilst in Europe it managed to survive and propagate the names of these important thinkers.
My point is that the latinization is not out of spite, but out of respect. It was never about polarization between culture but rather in celebration of the exchange of ideas. Furthermore in modern philosophy books since at least the eighties the Arabic names are mentioned.
Ibn Sina is probably one of the most influential philosophers in history, because he was the authority on Greek philosophy - in particular Aristotle - and his commentaries would become the authoritative version of Aristotlean philosophy.
I’ve never heard of any of those names, latinised or not, what did they do?
Avicenna was a Persian polymath whose writings on a variety of topics were extremely learned and influenced academia in both the Muslim world and Christian Europe for hundreds of years.
Averroes was a Spanish Muslim philosopher and translator who transmitted a significant portion of the corpus of Classical literature to Christian Europe by his (Arabic) translations and commentaries on them, as Christian Europe had largely lost the texts.
Jabir (“Geber”) ibn Hayyan was a chemist, apparently.
Are you saying these folks aren’t Arabs?
But why would they have Arab names instead of names from their own language?
So peculiar.
Edit: on further thought maybe we’re ready for a lemmy ask history community. This could have been a great discussion if it started with a question about Latin naming instead of an assumption of cultureal erasure.
I mean, they all wrote in Arabic, and Ibn Hayyan was an Arab.
Ya that’s kinda what I’m trying to get at. Like Latin, Arabic was useful and so it was used.
If such Latin erased them then arguably such Arabic equally erased them. Or maybe there was no erasure but instead pragmatism 🤷♀️
EDIT: Of COURSE I recommend the comm today…
Me: wow we already have that? can’t wait to be approved!
The comm:
Me: 🤮
Yeah, I picked a fantastic day to recommend the comm.
I guess we have a !askhistorians@piefed.social
From the philosophical perspective the Arabic philosophers where instrumental for their commentaries on Aristotle. Early edieval philosophy in Europe was mainly rehashing Plato’s philosophy within the framework of catholicism.
Aristotle was all but forgotten in western philosophy until the Arabic translations and commentaries started to get translated into Latin again.
There was this window in the fourteenth century where there was this great interchange between Arabic and Christian philosophy. This was when these Arabic scholars got their Latin names, as they were seen as part of the same tradition. A lot of Arabic tems where incorporated in western like algebra and algorithm. (Maybe op wants is to revert those words too?)
Unfortunately in the late Middle Ages this exchange was severed as, like Galileo and Bruno the free thinking philosophers crashed with hard line religious figures. In the Islamic region the philosophical tradition was curtailed whilst in Europe it managed to survive and propagate the names of these important thinkers.
My point is that the latinization is not out of spite, but out of respect. It was never about polarization between culture but rather in celebration of the exchange of ideas. Furthermore in modern philosophy books since at least the eighties the Arabic names are mentioned.
Ibn Sina is probably one of the most influential philosophers in history, because he was the authority on Greek philosophy - in particular Aristotle - and his commentaries would become the authoritative version of Aristotlean philosophy.
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=avicenna