
Charles of Anjou giving an Arabic manuscript to Faraj for translation, from a medieval illumination.
'Faraj ben-Sālim' (
Arabic,'فرج بن سالم' ), 'Moses Farachi of
Dirgent', 'Ferrarius', 'Franchinus' was a
Sicilian-
Jewish
physician and
translator; flourished in the second half of the
thirteenth century. He was engaged by
Charles IV, Duke of Anjou as translator of medical works from
Arabic into
Latin. In this capacity he rendered a great service to medicine by making a Latin translation of
Razi's medical encyclopedia, ''
Al-Hawi'' (published
1486, under the title ''
Continens'', with a glossary by the translator). The translation is followed, between the same covers, by "''De Ex-positionibus Vocabulorum seu Synonimorum Simplicis Medicinæ''", which
Steinschneider supposes to form a part of the ''Continens''. As a token of his esteem for the translator, Charles of Anjou ordered that on the original copy of the manuscript of the ''Continens'' (MS. ''
Bibliothèque Nationale'', Paris, No. 6912) the portrait of Faraj should be drawnbeside his own by
Friar Giovanni of
Monte Cassino, the greatest illuminator of his time.
Faraj also translated
De Medicinis Expertis, attributed to Galen and included in his works published by
Juntas and Chartres (x. 561-570), and
Tacuini Ægritudinum (Arabic, ''
Taqwim al-Abdan''), by
Ibn Jazla, published at
Strasburg, 1532. Steinschneider believes that to Faraj should also be ascribed the Latin translation of
Masarjawaih's treatise on surgery (MS. Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris, No. 7131), said to have been made by a certain
Ferrarius.
External links
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Jewish Encyclopedia
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