Persian Physician's Book Was Translated, Taught and Cherished in Ireland Centuries Ago

May 2, 2019

Health and Science , Culture

Independent Aggregator of Iran-related News/Events, Kodoom.com: According to recent news posted on The Guardian, A 15th-century vellum manuscript of the writing of the revered Persian physician Ibn Sīna, or Avicenna, has been found being used to bind a later book, revealing for the first time that his seminal Canon of Medicine was translated into Irish. It can now be seen on the Irish Script on Screen website.

The rediscovered fragment of Ibn Sīna’s Canon of Medicine, folded into the binding of a later book. Photograph: University College Cork

Professor Aoibheann Nic Dhonnchadha of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, an expert on medieval Irish medicine, identified the text as a fragment of Ibn Sīna’s Canon of Medicine, a previously unknown Irish translation. Ibn Sīna lived between 980 and 1037 and was one of the Islamic golden age’s most influential scholars.

“While there are references to Avicenna scattered through other medical texts in Irish, we now know, for the first time, that the Canon was translated into Irish. This fragment must have come from a seriously big manuscript,” said Ó Macháin. “The use of parchment cut from old manuscripts as a binding for later books is not unusual in European tradition, but this is the first time that a case has come to light of such a clear example of the practice in a Gaelic context.”

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