CONIUNCTIO - CONTINUATIO

CHARLES BURNETT'

A distinctive element in the psychology of Averroes is his doctrine of the 'conjunction'

of the human soul or the 'material intellect' with the active intellect. This is expressed
in the De animae beatitudine and De perfectione naturali intellectus secundum mentem
Philosophi-two versions of a text based on two letters written by Averroes originally
in Arabic 1 .
The relevant texts are as follows :

[2] Et cum dico ascensum <sc. animae> intelligo quod perficiatur et nobilitetur,
ita ut coniungatur cum intellectu abstracto et uniatur cum eo, ita ut cum eo fiat
unum [... ] [4] Ideo quum dicitur de anima quod ascendit, intelligitur coniunctio
eius cum aliquo intellectuum abstractorum (De animae beatitudine 2 = De
perfectione naturali intellectus 1)2 . (And when I refer to 'the ascent (of the
soul)' I mean that it is perfected and ennobled, in such a way that it is conjoined
with the abstract intellect and united with it, so that it becomes one with it [... ]
Therefore, when I say about the soul that it ascends, what is understood is its
conjunction with one of the abstract intellects.)

This derives from the opening of Letter 1, which occurs separately only in Hebrew,
and starts :

I have got to know, 0 noble brother, that you have asked me to explain to you
the opinion of the Philosopher about the conjunction of the separated intellect
with man 3 .

The original Arabic of the two letters of Averroes does not survive. All we have is the
Hebrew translation of the separate letters, and the Latin translations deriving from

' I am very grateful for the help of Jules Janssens and Pieter DeLeemans who have provided me
with unpublished work and a scan of a manuscript respectively. Cristina d'Ancona, Katrin Fischer and
Dag Nikolaus Hasse have helfpully commented on and corrected drafts of this article. Professor Hasse
has additionally allowed me to consult the draft of the relevant section of the Arabic-Latin glossary he is
preparing ( .:-v, ww.philosophie.uni-wuerzburg.de/arabic-latin-glossary t: ·).
I See AvERROES, La Beatitude de l'ame, ed., trad. annot., etudes doctrinales et historiques d'un

traite d'Averroes, M. GEOFFROY, C. STEEL (eds), Vrin, Paris 2001. For the antecedents to Averroes's
theory of conjunction see C. o'ANcONA, «Man's Conjunction with Intellect: A Neoplatonic Source of
Western Muslim Philosophy», Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 8 (2008),
p. 57-89.
2
AvERROEs, La Beatitude de l'ame, p. 134-5.
3
J. HERCZ, Drei Abhandlungen iiber die Conjunction des separaten Intellects mit dem Menschen
von Averroes (Vater und Sohn), aus dem Arabischen 17bersetzt von Samuel Ibn Samuel Ibn Tibbon,
H.S. Hermann, Berlin 1869, p. 1 (my translation).
186 CHARLES BURNETT

the Hebrew. There is, however, a third letter on the same topic, which travelled with
the two letters of Averroes, and of which we haYe Arabic, Hebrew and Latin versions,
namely that of Abu Muhammad Abdallah Ibn Rushd (Averroes's son), which begins
0

(in Latin) 4 :
§ 1 Intentio nostra de hac dictione est quod probemus omnes vias claras et
demonstrationes firmas que faciunt scire questionem magnam et fortunium
sublime, scilicet si coniungatur intelligentia operans cum intellectu materiali
donec est in corpore. (Our aim in this essay is to explain all the clear ways and
well-grounded proofs which provide understanding for the important question
and <source of> greatest happiness, namely, whether the active intellect
conjoins (yatta~ilu) with the material intellect whilst it is in the body.)
§28 Sed cum coniungitur cum intellectu materiali aliquid intellectum ex
intellectualibus rebus et est res universalis [... ] propter hoe scit homo. (But when
one of the intelligible things is conjoined (itta~ala) with the material intellect,
this being a universal notion[ ... ] because of this a man knows.)

It is clear from the original Arabic text here that the equivalent of the verb coniungere
is itta~ala, the eighth form of the verb wa~ala, 'to connect, join, unite, combine,
link, interlock' (thus maw~ul, the passive participle of this form means 'connected'
or 'united') . The eighth form has a passive sense : 'to be joined, be connected, to
combine, unite, to have a relation to, to be attached to, to adjoin, to belong to', which
is shared with the verbal noun from this form, itti~iil, 'union, juncture, link' (hence,
too, the active participle mutta~il means 'connected', 'united'). Itti~iil does not occur
in the letter of Abu Muhammad Abdallah, though we might assume that it was in
0

the original Arabic of Averroes's First and Second Letters, corresponding to Hebrew
devequth and Latin coniunctio 5 .
We have, therefore, the equivalents coniunctio and itti~iil, and coniungere and
itta~ala. In English it has become conventional to refer to this doctrine as that of
'conjunction', while in French it is 'jonction' 6 , both presumably on the model of the
Latin coniunctio.

4
The Arabic, Hebrew and Latin versions of this letter are edited with an English translation in
Ch. BURNETT, M. ZoNTA, «Abu Muhammad Abdallah Ibn Rushd (Averroes junior), On Whether the
0

Active Intellect Unites with the Material Intellect whilst it is Clothed with the Body», Archives d'histoire
doctrinale et litteraire du Moyen Age, 67 (2000), p. 295-335. The Latin and Hebrew versions were made
in the early thirteenth century, and the Latin appears to have been translated from the Hebrew. In this
and the following quotations I italicize the relevant terms.
5
This same Hebrew word (deveqiith) is also used in the Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction
with the Active Intellect which exists only in Hebrew : Epistle on the Possibility of Conjunction with the
Active Intellect by Ibn Rushd with the Commentary of Moses Narboni, ed. and trans. by K.P. BLAND,
Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Distributed by Ktav Pub. House, New York 1982. For the
English translations of the Arabic terms, see H. WEHR, J. MILTON CowAN (eds), A Dictionary of Modern
Written Arabic, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1979 (41h).
6 Cf. AvERROEs, La Beatitude de l'ame, p. 200-201 and passim; AvERROEs, L'intelligence et la

pensee: grand commentaire du 'De anima', livre Ill (429a J0-435b 25), trad., introd. et notes par A. DE
LIBERA, Flammarion, Paris 1998, p. 162 and passim. Richard Taylor uses the word 'conjoining' : see
the section of his introduction, p. lxix-lxxvi : «The Cogitative Power and Conjoining with Separate
Intellect», in AvERROES (IBN RusHD) OF CORDOBA, Long Commentary on the De Anima of Aristotle,
trans. R.C. T.wLOR with Th.-A. DRUART, Yale University Press, New Haven (Conn.) 2009.
 CONIUNCTIO - CONTINUATIO 187

There is, however, another well-known source in which Averroes discusses the
conjunction of the human intellect with the separate intellects : his Long Commentary
on Aristotle's De anima7 . Although the original Arabic of this treatise is missing
(except for fragments, which are not relevant here), it is clear that the translator,
Michael Scot, has opted for a different Latin root to represent the concept of itti!jiil,
namely continuatio. This term occurs about 50 times. When using this term in respect
to the soul, Averroes writes :

Avempeche autem exposuit sermonem eius et dixit quod opinio eius est opinio
omnium Peripateticorum, scilicet quod continuatio est possibilis et quod est
finis 8 .

That continuatio is equivalent to itti!jiil is clear from Averroes' references to the title
of the text in which Ibn Bajjah discussed conjunction. This appears as Continuatio
Intellectus cum Homine 9 or simply Continuatio 10 . The Letter of Conjunction of Ibn
Bajjah is extant in Arabic, where its title is risiila fi 'l-itti!jiil 11 .
We also find the verb continuari :

Dicamus igitur : qui autem ponit intellectum materialem esse generabilem et

corruptibilem nullum modum, ut michi videtur, potest invenire naturalem quo
possum us continuari cum intellectibus abstractis 12 .

The verbal and nominal forms of the root are juxtaposed in the following passage :

Et est etiam manifestum ex hoe quare non continuamur cum hoe intellectu
in principio, sed in postremo. Quoniam, dum fuerit forma nobis in potentia,
erit continuatus nobiscum in potentia, et dum fuerit continuatus nobiscum in
potentia, impossibile est ut intelligamus per illum aliquid. Sed cum efficietur
forma nobis in actu (et hoe erit apud continuationem eius in actu), tune
intelligemus per ill um omnia que intelligimus 13 .

But the verb copulare often seems to be used in the place of continuari :

Innuit intellectum materialem secundum quod perficitur per intellectum agentem,

quando fuerit copulatus nobiscum ex hoe modo, deinde abstrahetur 14 .

7
AvERROES, Commentarium magnum in Aristotelis De anima libros, F.S. CRAWFORD (ed.), The
MediaeYal Academy of America, Cambridge (MA) 1953.
8
Ism., III, comm. 14, p. 433, 159-160.
9
IBID., III, comm. 5, p. 404, 498 and p. 412, 729-735; III, comm. 36, p. 487, 218-224 and p. 490, 322-
324.
10
Ism., III, comm. 36, p. 494, 426-433.
11
Rasii 'il Ibn Biijjah al-iliihlyah, J:iaqqaqaha \'.a qaddama la-ha M. FAKHRI, Dar al-Nahar, Bayrut
1968, p. 153-173.
12
AvERROES, In De anima, III, comm. 36, p. 481, 48-51.
13
Ism., p. 50 I, 630-636
14
Ism., III, comm. 20, p. 450, 206-208.
188 CHARLES BURNETT

The variation between continuari and copulare occurs elsewhere in the commentary in
passages of Aristotle's text, in which copulare is equivalent to the the Greek oUVEXELV
on four occasions, but on two occasions continuare is equivalent (ligare and retinere
both occur once), whilst ouvEX~C: dvw is translated as continuari in De anima 419a14:

Sed color movet diaffonum sicut aer, cum continuatur, moYetur sensus ab eo 15 .

For the noun ouvtxrnx, however, continuatio is the equivalent:

(on De anima 420a3) Habens igitur sonum est movens unum aerem secundum
continuationem (auvsxdCf'.) quousque perveniat ad auditum 16 .

In these cases, continuatio does not, of course, have the same sense as it does in respect
to the 'conjoining' of the human soul. The very point of Averroes's commentary is
that there is no discussion in Aristotle of this conjoining 17 . But, one would expect
that continuatio would consistently translate the same word in Arabic, and that this is
the word itti:jiil which is used to translate the Greek ouvtxrnx.
In spite of the absence of the Arabic text of the Long Commentary on the De
anima, it is a reasonable assumption, then, that continuatio is used as the equivalent
of itti:jiil, whilst there is a variation between the use of continuari and copulare to
translate the verb itta:jala. From the evidence of Crawford's index, coniunctio and
coniungere are not used at all.
Now, continuatio in the sense of 'conjoining' or 'being unified with' is not found
in Classical Latin or in Early Medieval Latin. One finds the spatial sense of the
continuation or extension of a line, and the temporal sense, applied to the prolongation
of an action, or of human life. The word's most common use in Medieval Latin is
as a technical term referring to the 'continuation' of a text that is being commented
upon: i.e. a summary of a section in which the connection with the previous section
is brought out. The closest one gets to 'conjunction' in the sense used in the Long
Commentary on the De anima, is in a phrase from Seneca's Natural Questions, 2.2.2,
within a classification of the ways things can be associated with each other:

Continuatio est partium inter se non intermissa coniunctio. Unitas est sine
commissura continuatio 18 .

The question, therefore, is: How did Michael Scot come up with the term continuatio
as a translation of itti:jiil? One possibility is that he was influenced by another context
in which the same Latin term was chosen as the equivalent of the Arabic term. This
context is astrology.

15
Isrn., II, comm. 73, p. 240, 8-9.
16
Isrn., II, comm. 82, p. 255, 1-3
17
Ism., III, comm. 36, p. 487, 218-224: « Causa autem istius ambiguitatis et laboris est quia null um
sermonem ab Aristotele invenimus in hac intentione, sed tamen Aristoteles promisit hoe declarare ».
18
SENECA, Naturales Quaestiones, ed. and trans. T.H. CoRcORAN, W. Heinemann/Harvard University
Press, London/Cambridge (Mass.) 1971, I, p. 102sq.
 CONIUNCTIO - CONTINUATIO 189

In the translation of the De magnis coniunctionibus of Abu Ma 'Shar, a major text

on general astrology, for which we have the Arabic and two Latin versions (an original
and a revised version), we find that continuatio and continuari are the terms regularly
used to translate itti~iil and itta~ala. For example:
Si fuerit Sol in eis in domo sua aut exaltatione aut medio celi aut in aliquo
angulorum, et continuentur ei domini ascendentium ex locis laudabilibus et
fuerit receptus, et precipue ex aliquo angulorum, regnabunt 19 .

and two lines further on:

Et si fuerit debilis et non fuerit inter ascendentium dominos et Solem continuatio,
considerabis ergo dominos medii celi20 .

Itti~iil
has a technical meaning in astrology. It is described in the following way in the
Introduction to Astrology of al-Qabisi, 3[11]:
When two planets are in two signs aspecting each other, and the degrees of the
light planet in its sign are less than the degrees of the heavy planet in its sign
and the distance between them is six degrees or less than that, it is said that the
light planet is entering into itti:jiil with the heavy planet. When their degrees
are the same, its itti:jiil is complete: when it passes it, it is separating from it 21 .

This technical term is usually called, in English, 'application'. It refers to a dynamic

situation: a lighter planet - i.e. a planet closer to the earth-is catching up with a
heavier planet (one further away from the earth) until it arrives at the same degree
as the other. These degrees need not be in the same sign of the zodiac, but can be in
signs of the zodiac which are distant from each other in the geometrical relationships
called 'aspects'.
Although continuari has become the normal term used by the translator, there is
evidence that this was not his first choice as a translation for itti~al. For, in their first
occurrences itti~iil and itti~ala are translated with the words coniunctio and iungere.
For example:
Si enim fuerit complexus Saturno, significabit quod tides civium eiusdem secte
sit Iudaismus qui congruit substantie Saturni, eo quod omnes planete iunguntur
ei et ipse nemini eorum iungitur 22 . (If (Jupiter) is mixed with Saturn, it will
indicate that the faith of the citizens of that sect is Judaism, which agrees with
the substance of Saturn, because all the planets apply (tatta:jilu) to it, and it
applies (yatta:jilu) to none of them.)

19 ABU MA 'SAR AL-BALIJI GA 'FAR IBN MUHAMMAD IBN 'UMAR, On historical astrology. The 'Book
of religions and dynasties': 'On the great conjunctions', ed. and transl. by K. YAMAMOTO, Ch. BURNETT,
Brilll, Leiden 2000, II 167, II, p. 45.
20
IBID., II l 7l(II, p. 45).
21 'ABD AL-'Azrz IBN 'UIM.~N AL-QABl~I, The introduction to astrology; editions of the Arabic and
Latin texts and an English translation by Ch. BURNETT, K. Y.'\cl\IAMOTO, M. YANO, Warburg Institute,
London 2004, p. 94-7.
22 ABU MA 'SAR AL-BAL!JI GA 'F.\R IBN l\luJ:IAMMAD IBN 'UMAR, On historical astrology, I 423-4, II,
p. 28.
190 CHARLES BURNETT

In the title of the third part of De magnis coniunctionibus, coniunctiones has been
written for itti~iiliit in the first version, but this has been changed to continuationes in
the revised version 23 .
The translator of the De magnis coniunctionibus is not named in any of the
manuscripts, but has been assumed to be John of Seville (ft. 1125-45), because of the
work's association in the manuscripts with John's translation of Abu Ma'shar's other
substantial handbook, the Liber introductorius (The Great Introduction), and because
of its terminology and style. John of Seville dedicated another work of his to Raymond
de La Sauvetat, archbishop of Toledo from 1125-52; the only complete manuscript of
the original Yersion of the De magnis coniunctionibus was written in Toledo; and a
gloss in the revised version refers to an equivalent in the dialect of Toledo 24 . Since
we know, in addition, that Abu Ma'shar's Great Introduction was being taught in
Toledo by the doyen of translators there, Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187), one can
be reasonably sure that John of Seville's astrological translations, including the De
magnis coniunctionibus, were known at, if not translated in, Toledo, where Michael
Scot spent the first part of his career. It may not be a coincidence, then, that continuatio
is preferred as the translation of itti~iil in both the De magnis coniunctionibus and in
the Long Commentary on the De anima.
But the astrological translations of John of Seville can also help us, perhaps, to
understand why coniunctio was replaced by continuatio as a translation of itti~iil.
When one turns to other astrological works by John of Seville one finds that itti~iil
is translated as coniunctio. This is the case of al-Qabisi's Introduction to Astrology,
whose definition of itti~iil was quoted above. The Latin text - the Liber introductorius
of Alcabitius - gives the following:
[11] est coniunctio [... ] cum fuerint duo planete in duobus signis aspicientibus
se et fuerit levior in signo suo minus gradibus quam fuerit ponderosior in signo
suo, fuerintque inter eos sex gradus vel infra; tune dicitur quod levior eat ad
coniunctionem ponderosioris. Et cum eorum gradus fuerint equales, perficitur
eius coniunctio 25 .

The Liber introductorius of Sahl ibn Bishr (Zahel), also translated by John, according
to at least four manuscripts 26 , uses the same terminology:
Alitisal (itti~al) est ut petat planeta levis atque velox coniunctionem alterius
planete tardioris atque ponderosioris et sit planeta levior minus gradibus quam

23
Ism., II, p. 103. For the revision of the De magnis coniunctionibus, see Ch. BURNETT, «The
Strategy of Revision in the '\rabic-Latin Translations from Toledo: The Case of Abu Ma,shar's On
the Great Conjunctions», il1 J. HAMESSE (ed.), Les Traducteurs au travail: leurs manuscrits et leurs
methodes, Brepols, Turnhout 2002, p. 51-113,529-538. The same scholar could have been responsible
for both versions, especially since the shift from coniunctio to continuatio is also made in the original
\·ersion.
24
AsD MA 'SAR AL-BAL!:!I GA 'FAR IBN MUJ:!AMMAD IBN 'UMAR, On historical astrology, II, p. 328-
329: « Ssere est pruritus quidam [... ] in Toleto dicitur 'maluero' ».
25
'ABD AL-'Azlz IBN 'UIMAN AL-QABl~I, The introduction to astrology, Liber introductorius, 3,
p. 302.
26
Ms. Dijon, EM, 449; Madrid, EN, 10012; :t\Iunich, ESB, Clm 2841 and Vatican, BAV, Vat. !at.
4079.
 CONIUNCTIO - CONTINUATIO 191

tardior quamdiu ierit ad eum, donec iungatur ei et fit in tali minuto per aspectum.
Mutathil (mutta~il), i.e. coniunctus, donec separetur ab eo per spatium unius
gradus. (in the margin are the headings: de petitione coniunctionis and de
coniunctione )27 .

Above all, in the Great Introduction, the term used for itti:jal both in the original and
revised Latin versions, is coniunctio:
Coniunctio igitur in uno signo est ut sint duo planete directi euntes in uno
signo, et sit eorum levior cursu minus gradibus quam tardior. Tune quamdiu
duraverit cursu levior infra tardum, i.e. minus gradibus eius, erit iens ad
coniunctionem illius per unitatem signi. Cumque fuerit cum eo in uno gradu,
perficit coniunctionem suam cum eo 28 .

This use of coniunctio for itti:jal seems to be distinctive of John of Seville's translations
and of Toledo. For when Adelard of Bath translates an abbreviation of Abu Ma 'shar's
Great Introduction, early in the twelfth century, he uses, rather, the Latin term
applicatio:

Applicatio (in margin: itecal) alia in longitudine, alia in latitudine. Est autem
applicatio longitudinis alia in eodem signo, alia in diverso 29 .

Hermann of Carinthia, working in the Northeast of Spain, who made a translation of

Abu Ma 'shar' s Great Introduction in 1140, independently of that of John of Seville,
also opted for applicatio 30 , which is also found in one family of the manuscripts of
Alcabitius's Liber introductorius.
There was a problem in translating itti:jal as coniunctio, namely that this word and
its cognates were also used for another Arabic root which was important in astrology -
q-r-n, meaning 'conjunction' (both the third and the eighth forms of the verb - qarana
and iqtarana - and their corresponding nouns - qiran and iqtiran - have this meaning).
The difference between 'conjunction' and 'application' is distinct. 'Conjunction'
is a state in which two planets are found together in the same degree in the same
sign of the zodiac. The conjunctions of the 'slow' planets, Saturn and Jupiter, which

27
SAHL rnN BrsR <1.L-lsRii.'ILI, Liber introductorius, Paris, BnF, !at. 16204, f. 436v-437r. This same
text has been printed from other sources and compared with the Arabic original, and a Greek text
attributed to the first century A.D. Dorotheus of Sidon in V. STEGEMANN, Dorotheos van Sidon und das
sogenannte Introductorium des Sahl ibn Bi.fr, Druckerei des Protektorates Bohmen und Mahren, Praha
1942, p. 38.
28
ABU MA 'SAR AL-BALlj:I GA 'FAR rnN Muf,!AMMAD IBN 'UMAR, Liber introductorius, VII, cap. 5,
R. LEMAY (ed.), 9 vols, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli 1995-1996, V, p. 293. Abu Ma shar 0

goes on to describe application in different signs, of more than one planet, in latitude, and in special
circumstances.
29
ABu MA 'SAR AL-BALlj:! G.-\ 'E\R !BN MUf,!AM~IAD rnN °UMAR, The Abbreviation of the Introduction
to Astrology, together with the Medieval Latin translation of Adelard of Bath, Ch. BURNETT, M. YANO,
K. YAMAMOTO (eds), Brill, Leiden/New York/KO!n 1994, p. I 10.
30
ABu MA 'SAR AL-BALlj:I GA 'FAR !BN Muf,!AMMAD !BN °UMAR, Liber introductorius, VII, cap. 5,
p. 136, 328.
192 CHARLES BURNETT

occur every 20 years, were regarded as particularly significant, and the shifts of this
conjunction from one triangle (triplicity) of signs to another (approximately every
240 years) and eventually round the whole circuit of the zodiac (every 960 years),
were even more significant. The perfection of the application of one planet to another
in one sign is astronomically the same as a conjunction, but the nuances are different.
Application always implies movement (of the faster planet towards the slower one);
'conjunction' as it were 'freezes' the planets (especially the higher planets) in their
situation in the same degree. A special term - ijtima' - was used for the location of
the Sun and the Moon in the same degree, i.e. the New Moon.
The ambiguity caused by the same Latin word being used for two Arabic
astrological concepts did not arise when itti~iil was translated as applicatio. But
in the context of the Toledan astrological texts it evidently gave rise to a problem.
What we see, apparently, is that John of Seville at first translated both qiriin and itti~iil
as coniunctio, in the Libri introductorii of Alcabitius, Zabel and Albumasar. This was
not seriously confusing, because conjunctions do not form a significant part of these
books. But when John or his successor came to translate On the Great Conjunctions,
whose Yery title included the word qiriiniit, he must have realised that using coniunctio
for two terms which occurred frequently \Vould be confusing. Thus, soon after the
beginning of the second book (out of eight books) he adopted the word continuatio
for application and reserved coniunctio for conjunction31 .
Is there any connexion between the adoption of continuatio for itti~iil in the De
magnis coniunctionibus, and the use of the same word in the Long Commentary on
the De anima by Michael Scot32 ? One might say that there is a similarity in concept
between the approach of a lower planet to a higher one, and the ascent of the human
soul and its eventual unification with the acti\e intellect33 . Is it possible that Michael
Scot was swayed by the analogy of planetary application to chose continuatio as his
translation of itti~al? After all, he is best known, through his original writings and
the anecdotes concerning his life, as an astrologer, and he was in Toledo, completing
translations of Aristotle's De animalibus (1217) and al-Bitruji's critique of Ptolemy,
before moving to Bologna and Frederick II Hohenstaufen's court.
The distinctive use of the verb continuari can already be found in Michael Scot's
translation of al-Bitruji:
Et quilibet celorum inferiorum est habens desiderium ut assimiletur ei (sc. celo

31
Perhaps reflecting the same reaction is the glossator of Alcabitius's Uber introductorius, who
writes in the margin opposite coniunctio (= itti:fiil): vel applicatio vel actisal vet continuatio ( 'ABD
AL-'AzIZ IBN 'Uil\IAN AL-QABl~l, The introduction to astrology, p. 302).
32
A secondary meaning of the verb itta:jala is 'to approach', but this does not serve to differentiate
the astrological from the psychological meaning, for the sense 'to approach' requires the following
preposition ilii ('to'), whereas in both the astrological texts and in Averroes the preposition (present
or implied) is bi ('with'). The astrological term itti:jiil is equivalent to the Greek ouv01.cp~ rather than
oUVEXE:LOI. (STEGEMANN, Dorotheos von Sidon, p. 38), but this distinction was lost when both words were
translated as itti~iil in Arabic.
33
Compare AvERROES, In De anima, III, comm. 36, p. 500, 601-606: «cum omni a intellecta
speculativa fuerint existentia in nobis in actu, erit ipse tune copulatus nobis in actu. Et cum quedam
fuerint potentia et quedam actu, tune erit ipse copulatus secundum partem et secundum partem non; et
tune dicimur moveri ad continuationem ».
 CONIUNCTIO - CONTINUATIO 193

superiori), et movetur sequendo ipsum cum quantitate virtutis qua continuatur

cum eo et que accidit ei ex eo 34 .

However, Michael Scot does not use continuatio for 'conjunction' in his original
astrological work, the Liber introductorius, but rather repeats the terminology used
by John of Seville, his source here:
Coniunctio longitudinis fit hoe modo a planetis. Nam cum duo planete fuerint
in duobus signis sese aspicientibus et levior planetafuerit in suo signo minus
gradibus quam fuerit ponderosior in suo signo fuerintque inter eos 6 gradus
vel infra, tune dicitur quad levior planeta est paratus ire ad coniunctionem
ponderosioris[... ] cum vero gradus eorum fuerit equales, coniunctio eorum
perficitur35 •

This is simply a slightly fuller version of Alcabitius's description of application36 .

But it is not necessary to look at an astrological work for the source of the
translation of itti!jiillitta!jala as continuatiolcontinuare, since this occurs in earlier
philosophical translations made in Toledo: specifically those of Avicenna's Shifa'.
The translation of the portion of the Shifa' on psychology (the sixth part of
the division on Natural Science) is clearly indicated as being made by Dominicus
Gundissalinus, whom we know was an archideacon of Segovia resident in Toledo
cathedral, with the help of 'Avendauth', during the archbishopric of John of
Castelmoron (1152-66). Thanks to the existence of critical editions of both the Arabic
text and the Latin translation, and comprehensive Arabic-Latin and Latin-Arabic
glossaries, we can observe that the verb itta!jala is translated as coniungi 13 times, and
continuari 9 times (other words used only once or twice each are annecti, continuum
esse, adhaerere, cohaerere, pervenire and pertinere). The noun itti!jiil, on the other
hand, is usually translated as continuitas (11 times), with coniunctio trailing behind
(4 times) and verbal forms used on other occasions: continuari (3 times), coniungi (2
times); repercuti (!) once.
As examples of the alternating translations of itta!jala one may quote two passages
relevant to the human soul:
coniungere:

sic anima rationalis cum coniungitur formis aliquo modo coniunctionis, aptatur
ut contingant in ea ex luce intelligentiae agentis ipsae formae nudae ab omni
permixtione37 .

34
ABO lsl;IAQ AL-BrfROci!NOR AL-DIN, De motibus celorum. Critical edition of the Latin Translation
of Michael Scot, F.J. CARMODY (ed.), eh. 8, section 2, University of California Press, Berkeley 1952,
p. 92. For the Arabic see ABO Isl;l',Q AL-BITROGI NOR 'i.L-DIN, Kitab fi al-haY'ah. On the principles
of astronomy, an edition of the Arabic and Hebrew versions with translation, analysis, and an Arabic-
Hebrew-English glossary by B.R. GOLDSTEIN, Yale University Press, New Haven 1971, I, p. 131.
35
M1ctt-'i.EL ScOT, Uber introductorius, MS Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 10268,
f. 106r.
36
Italics show the words \\·hich have been taken over from Alcabitius.
37
Av1cENNA, Liber de anima seu sextus de naturalibus IV-V, ed. S. VAN RrnT, introd. G. VERBEKE,
Quintapars, cap. 5, p. 128, 61-63.
194 CHARLES BURNETT

continuari:
Aliquando autem anima praevalet super earn (sc. imaginativam) in suis
actionibus quae continuantur ei de cognitione et cogitatione38 .

While continuari is used a significant number of times, continuatio is not used at all
here. But when one turns to another part of the Shifii' that was translated in the twelfth
century, the Metaphysics, or Prima philosophia, there is a marked shift. The verb
itta~ala appears rarely, and is translated coniungi on three out of its four occurrences
(addi on the fourth). The noun itti~iil, however, is translated as continuatio on 28
occasions, as continuitas on 11, and as coniunctio only twice (with coniungi occurring
on two further occasions and applicatio once).
The translation of the Metaphysics is also attributed to Gundissalinus, but whether
this shift in the translation of itti~iil is due to the presence of a different collaborator
(neither Avendauth nor any other collaborator is mentioned in the manuscripts), or
simply to a shift in Gundissalinus's own preferences is, for the moment, unclear.
All one can say is that (on the reasonable assumption that the Metaphysics
was translated later than the De anima - occurring later, as it does, in the Shifii ')
the development of the preference for continuatio as a translation of itti~iil runs
parallel to what happens in the translation of astrological texts (again in Toledo)
where continuatio becomes the preferred translation of itti~iil as an astrological term.
Gundissalinus had no particular interest in astrology, and it would be more difficult
to claim that he may have been influenced in his decisions by the translation of
astrological terminology. Rather, something much closer to hand could have been
responsible for the shift: namely, Aristotelian physics:

In Physics V.3, Aristotle defines various ways in which two bodies can be connected
to each other39 :

(1) They can be together and separate (&µcx xcxt xwpk, ma 'an furiidii)
(2) touching (&-n:i:w'l'Jm, mamiiss)
(3) in between (µncx<:u, mii bayna)
(4) in succession (E:cps<:~c;, yatalu)
(5) contiguous (sx6µsvov, shiifi ')
(6) or continuous (auvsxE:c;, mutta~il)

The more detailed definition of 'continuous' is:

38
Ism., Quarta pars, cap. 2, p. 16, 15-16.
39
ARISTOTLE, Physics, V.3 (226b 19-21 ). For Aristotle's diYisions and their discussion by Averroes
see M.J. WHITE, The Continuous and the Discrete: Ancient Physical Theories from a Contemporary
Perspective, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1992 and R. GLASNER, Averroes' Physics: A Turning Point in
Medieval Natural Philosophy, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, p. 64. For the relevant passages
in the Arabic translation see Aristotle's Physics trans. by Ishaq ibn Hunayn: Aris!i:ifiills, al-Tabz'ah,
Tarjamat 'isfliiq ibn Ifunayn, ma'a shurufl lbn Samfl wa lbn '['day wa Matta ibn Yiinis wa Ab! al-Faraj
Ibn al-Tayyib, J:iaqqaqahu "a qaddama la-hu 'Abd al-RaJ:iman BADAwl, al-Qahirah, al-Dar al-Qawmlyah
lil-Tiba'ah wa al-Nashr 1964-1965, II, p. 537 and 545-546.
 CONIUNCTIO - CONTINUATIO 195

Things are said to be continuous (avvExsc;) if those of their limits which touch
each other become one and the same, as the term 'contained' (avvsxrp:cn)
signifies. But if these extremities are two, there can be no continuity. With this
specification, it is evident that continuity (co avvExsc;) belongs to a thing whose
parts have become by nature one in virtue of the fact that their contact (a6vcxtj;Lc;)
holds them together; and the manner of continuity (1:0 avvsxov) which makes
the parts one is also the manner in which the whole thing will be one40 .

The translation of the Physics made by James of Venice in the early twelfth century
(Physica, Translatio vetus), provides a very literal translation of the Greek text:
Post hec autem dicamus quid est simul et extra[tim], et quid tangere, et quid
medium et quid consequenter et quid habitum et quid continuum (avvExsc;) [... ]
dico autem esse continuum (avvExsc;) cum idem fiat et unus utriusque terminus
que tangantur, et sicut significat nomen 'contineatur' (aVVEXYJLO'.l). Hoe au tern
esse non potest cum duo sint ultima. Sed, hoe determinato, manifestum est quod
in his est continuum (co avvExsc;) ex quibus unum aliquod aptum natum est fieri
secundum contactum (a6vcxtj;Lc;). Et sicut aliquando fit continuum (1:0 avvsxov)
unum, sic et totum erit unum41 .

Here we see the use of the word continuum as a calque on the Greek auvsxE:c;;,
reproducing both elements of the word: 'together' and 'hold'; the etymology is
already in Aristotle, and can, therefore, be mirrored in the Latin. Gerard of Cremona's
translation of the same passages, however, is as follows:
(Physics, V.3) Dicamus ergo post illud que est intentio simul et separatim
singulariter, et que intentio occursus, scilicet tactus, et que intentio inter,
et que intentio sequitur, et que intentio intercedens, habitum, et continuum
(mutta~il) [... ] Verum dico ego continuum (muttas.il) quando fit terminus super
quern contingunt se unaquaque tuarum (read: suarum) linearum42 unus idem
et continuatur (itta~alat), secundum quod significat hoe nomen. Et non est
possibile ut sint illud et partes utriusque duo. Et quia iam determinatum est
illud, tune manifestum est quod continuatio (itti~~iil) non est nisi in rebus de
aptitudine quarum est ut fiat ex eis aliquid unum per parilitatem (iqtiriin) et sicut
continuatum (al-maw~ul) fit in aliqua dispositionum unum, fit similiter totum
unum43 .

Continuatio has taken the place of continuum. This passage, I submit, already
in Aristotle's original text provides an opportunity for the spatial and temporal

40
ARISTOTLE, Physics, V.3 (227a 10-17), trans. H.G. APOSTLE, Indiana University Press,
Bloomington 1969, p. 92.
41
ARISTOTELES LATINus, Physica. Translatio Vetus, in Aristoteles latinus VII 1-2, F. BossrnR,
J. BRAMS (eds); Translatio Vaticana, A. MANSION (ed.), Brill, Leiden/New York 1990, p. 200, 6-8 and
p. 201, 15; p. 202, line 3.
42
Gerard must have had a different Arabic text here, for the Arabic edition (al-Tt;ib! ah {ta lif]
0

Aristoteles, p. 545), and Averroes (see below) gives 'when the boundary of each one of two things which
touch each other is one in itself'.
43
MS Vienna, ONB, cod. 234, f. 45v-46r. I am grateful to Pieter DeLeemans and Valerie Cordonier
for sending me copies of the releYant pages of this manuscript.
196 CHARLES BURNETT

sense of 'continuity' to acquire a stronger sense of 'being one'. And hence in

Gerard's translation, continuatio acquires a new significance which is akin to that of
'conjunction' in the psychological context:
[... ] it is clear that continuity (conjunction) occurs only in things whose aptitude
is that some whole arises out of them through their evenness, and just as the
continued (conjoined) becomes one in one of its parts, so the whole becomes
one44 .

When we come to the translation of Averroes's Long Commentary on the Physics, we

find the words continuatio and continuari continue to be used in the translation of the
lemma from Aristotle's text:
(Physics, V.3) Dicamus nunc igitur quid est simul et quid est separatim et quid
est tangere et quid est inter et quid est sequi et quid est succedere et continuari
(muttw;il). [... ] Sed dico continuum (mutta~il) quando ultimum utriusque
in quo tangunt se fuerit idem et fuerint continua (itti~alat), secundum quod
significat hoe nomen. Quod est impossibile, si ultima fuerint duo. Manifestum
est igitur quod continuatio (itti~al) est in rebus quae innata sunt ut ex eis sit
unum per coniunctionem (iqtiran) et quemadmodum copulatum (al-maw~ul) fit
unumquandoque (read: unumquodque), similiter totum fit unum45 .

Averroes's comment brings out the unifying aspect of continuity, ending:

Et quasi intendit dicere quemadmodum sese transfertur de secatione ad
continuationem, similiter transfertur de continuatione ad adunationem46 .

Although the Long Commentary on the Physics is not attributed to any translator
(the preface was translated by Theodore of Antioch), it is assumed on grounds of
style and date of appearance to be by the same translator as the Long Commentary
on the De anima, i.e. Michael Scot47 . The fact that the word continuatio is used in
both Long Commentaries, would support this attribution, and the appearance in both
commentaries of a form of copulare as a variant translation of the w-~-l root adds
further confirmation48 .

Conclusions
The definition of 'continuity' (ouvE:xsm) given by Aristotle emphasises the unificatory
aspect of the term. It was natural, therefore, that Arabic philosophers should think it

44
This is a translation of the last lines of the previous Latin passage. Cristina d'Ancona has informed
me that continuatio and its cognates are regularly used also in the Uber de causis (another Toledan
translation) for the equivalent parts of w-~-l.
45
AvERROES, Commentarium magnum super Physicam Aristotelis, Venezia (apud Junctas), 1562-
1574, repr. Minerva, Frankfurt a.M. 1962, IV, fol. 222va, 224vb and 225ra.
46
Ism., f. 225ra
47
For a detailed stylistic analysis which leads to this conclusion, see D.N. HASSE, Latin Averroes
Translations of the First Half of the Thirteenth Century, Olms, Hildesheim 2010.
48
One may note that coniunctio is also used for iqtiran, as in the Toledan astrological translations.
 CONIUNCTIO - CONTINUATIO 197

appropriate to use the Arabic equivalent of this term (itti~al) to describe the unity or
conjunction of the soul with the active intellect (a concept lacking in Aristotle). The
adoption of the translation continuatio in Latin as the translation of itti~al in all its
contexts, would seem to have occurred in Toledo, already by the third quarter of the
twelfth century (the time of the activity of Dominicus Gundissalinus and Gerard of
Cremona), and to have been taken from there by Michael Scot in his translations of
the Long Commentaries of Averroes.
Some compilers of current dictionaries of Medieval Latin seem to miss this
sense of continuatio. For example, The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British
Sources49 only gives the meanings 'continuation, adjournment, persistence', and I
wonder whether 'to form a continuum' really gets the sense of the passage from
John Blund's De anima quoted here under the lemma 'continuare: 2 (phil.)': « si
anima sensibilis et vegetabilis sint corporee, illa anima et corpus in quo sunt
aut contiguantur aut continuantur. Si continuantur, tune est diversarum rerum
continuatio » 50 ? The Mittellateinisches Worterbuch 51 is more accurate in giving
under continuare IC 1b(phil. )~, uniri, and in illustrating this with a passage from
Albertus Magnus's De animalibus, 16,136: « quae continuantur ad invicem ex hiis fit
unum, sicut quando miscentur vinum et aqua » 52 . One problem is that the English
words 'continuous' and 'to continue' privilege the spatial and temporal senses of the
concept, which is certainly met in both itti~al/itta~ala and continuatio/continuari. But
one must be aware that there is also the sense of 'becoming one', which is implied
in Aristotle's Physics, V.3. It is increasing understanding of this unificatory sense
that enabled translators in Toledo to adopt continuatio/continuari as their preferred
translation of itti~al/itta~ala. It may even be one of these philosophically enlightened
translators who then used the term continuatio to translate the astrological term itti~al
rather than vice versa. For the application to and eventual meeting of a lower planet to
a higher planet has a certain analogy to the ascent of the human soul and its eventual
unification with the active intellect. The use of the same Latin term to translate
the same Arabic term, however, whatever the context, is also typical of the literal
translation style developed in Toledo and extended to the translations of Averroes,
and this consistency may be a sufficient explanation for the use of continuatio in both
astrological and psychological contexts.
Continuatio, then, acquires a philosophical sense that it hardly had before the
Arabic-Latin translations. This sense was, however, perpetuated in works that used
these translations, such as those of John Blund and Albertus Magnus cited in the
pre\ious paragraph, and most clearly in Thomas Aquinas:
Sicut enim ex praedictis patet, virtus passionis Christi copulatur nobis per
fidem et sacramenta, differenter tamen, nam continuatio quae est per fidem, fit

49
Dictionary of medieval Latin from British sources, R.E. LATHAM, D.R. HowLETT (eds), Oxford
University Press, Oxford 1975- .
50 loHANNES BLUND, Tractatus de anima, D.A. CALLUS, R.W. HUNT (eds), Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1970, p. 314.
51
Mittellateinisches Worterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert, 0. PRINZ, J. SCHNEIDER et
al. (eds), C. H. Beck, Mlinchen 1959-.
52
ALBERTUS MAGNUS, De animalibus, H. STADLER (ed.), Aschendorff, Munster 1916-1921, p. 1136-
1137.
198 CHARLES BURNETT

per actum animae; continuatio autem quae est per sacramenta, fit per usum
exteriorum rerum 53 .

Quidam autem dicere voluerunt quod intellectus unitur corpori ut motor; et

sic ex intellectu et corpore fit unum, ut actio intellectus toti attribui possit.
Sed hoe est multipliciter vanum. Primo quidem, quia intellectus non movet
corpus nisi per appetitum, cuius motus praesupponit operationem intellectus.
Sed ista continuatio vel unio non sufficit ad hoe quod actio intellectus sit actio
Socratis. Et hoe patet per similitudinem in sensu, ex quo Aristoteles procedit ad
considerandum ea quae sunt intellectus54 .

This article also gives an example of the continuity between the terminology of the
Latin translations of the Long Commentaries of Averroes and that of Avicenna's Shifa'
made in Toledo in the previous century, and the distance between these commentaries
and Michael Scot's original work, the Liber introductorius. On the other hand,
translations made from Hebrew, even when they are of the same author (Averroes) and
are contemporary with the translations of the Long Commentaries, exhibit different
terminology. These conclusions may be corroborated by investigations of other terms.

53
THOMAS DE AQUINO, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 18, a. 2, ad 2.
54
IBID., I, q. 76, a. 1, c.