Samuel ibn Tibbon שמואל אבן תיבון
translator of the Guide of the Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew
He was the son of Judah ibn Tibbon, called "the father of translators", and the father of Moses ibn Tibbon, also a translator: three generations of one family turning into Hebrew what had been written in Arabic.
His chief work was finished at Arles in 1204—the year Maimonides died. In 1213 he issued a corrected version with a glossary of difficult terms, Perush ha-Millot ha-Zarot. While working he wrote to Maimonides about passages that would not yield; one reply survives, though there is indirect evidence of more letters.
The importance of this work goes beyond one book. Jewish philosophical speech in Hebrew scarcely existed before him—the words were not there. He made or fixed them, and they served for centuries after.
He wrote his own works too: Maamar Yikkavu ha-Mayim and a commentary on Kohelet; work on Mishlei and Bereshit was left unfinished. His dates are approximate and differ between reference works: birth is put at 1150 or 1165, death at 1230 or 1232. He is buried in Tiberias.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed, Hebrew translation by Samuel ibn Tibbon, Arles, 1204 — the translation by which the Guide was read in Hebrew
Scholarship
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Samuel Ibn Tibbon” — dating of the works, the correspondence with Maimonides, the differing life dates
Basis: documents and evidence.