Arabic in Cards Arabic in the Sciences

Arabic in the Sciences

The Latin Books of "Mesue"

كتب «ابن ماسويه» اللاتينيّة

Latin drug books known in Europe under the name "Mesue" – Ibn Masawayh – printed from 1471 and relied on for centuries. They were probably written by a 13th-century European who borrowed the name of the Baghdad physician Yuhanna ibn Masawayh (d. 857) to lend them authority: a European book that travelled under an Arabic name.

Author
An unknown European author ("Pseudo-Mesue") (probably 13th century)
Field
Medicine
Arabic title
الأقراباذين، والأدوية المفردة، والقوانين الكلّيّة (بأسمائها اللاتينيّة)
Latin title
Opera: Canones universales; De simplicibus; Antidotarium sive Grabadin

A European book that Europe knew under an Arabic name not its author's.

First leaf of an Italian translation of the "Mesue" books, Tuscany, c. 1460–1475
First leaf of an Italian translation of the "Mesue" books, Tuscany, c. 1460–1475
Wellcome Collection, MS.492 · Public Domain Mark

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Sources

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