Māsarjawaih () was one of the earliest

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

physicians A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

origin, and the earliest

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

from the Syriac; he lived in

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

about 683 (

Anno Hegirae The Hijri year () or era () is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins its count from the Islamic New Year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (now Medina) in 622 CE. This event, known as the Hij ...

64). His name, distorted, has been transmitted in European sources; it has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Neuda (in "Orient, Lit." vi. 132) compares the name "''Masarjawaih''" with the Hebrew proper name "''Mesharsheya''"; but the ending "''-waih''" points to a

origin. The form "''Masarjis''" has been compared with the Christian proper name "''Mar Serjis''"; but it is not known that Masarjis embraced either

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. Masarjawaih's son, who also was a translator, and was the author of two treatises (on colors and on foods), was called " Isa''", that is, "

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

"; whose name indicates that this son had converted to Christianity. Masarjawaih translated the medical ''Pandects'' of the

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

Aaron of Alexandria (fl. –641) from the Syriac into Arabic and added to the thirty chapters of this translation two of his own. This is believed to be the first scientific book to have been translated into Arabic. He also wrote in Arabic two treatises, "The Virtues of Foods, Their Advantage and Their Disadvantage", and "The Virtues of the Medicinal Plants, Their Advantage and Their Disadvantage". None of these three writings has been preserved. Their contents, however, are known to a certain extent by quotations. How much Masarjawaih added to the translation of

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

's pandects can hardly be decided, as the works themselves are preserved in fragments only.

Resources

Gottheil, Richard and Max Schloessinger. "Masarjawaih".
''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

''. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–1906; which gives the following bibliography: :*Steinschneider, in Z. D. M. G. liii. 428 et seq.; :*''idem'', Die Arabische Literatur, § 16, pp. 13 et seq. G. M. Sc.

References

*
JE
{{Islamic medicine Medieval Jewish physicians Syriac–Arabic translators 7th-century Iranian physicians Physicians from the Umayyad Caliphate 7th-century Jews 7th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate Medieval Jewish physicians of Persia Jews from the Umayyad Caliphate

Resources

See also

References