The Appropriation of the Arab Geometrical Sciences in the Medieval West
L’appropriation des sciences géométriques arabes en Occident médiéval
Résumé
The focus of this study is the appropriation, by European scholars, of geometric knowledge from Islamic countries. Firstly, we explain the way in which the discipline developed by Arabic-speaking geometers was primarily based on Greek and Indian traditions. In order to do this, we have outlined five geometries: European, Archimedean and spherical geometries and geometry of conics and measurement. We thus show the various geometrical orientations favoured by the authors who flourished in Islamic countries, as well as their originality. Secondly, we pay particular attention to the European geometrical landscape before the advent of Arab knowledge and know-how which became gradually available from the tenth century onwards. Finally, we show to what extent Latin scholars (and to a lesser extent, Hebrew scholars) appropriated the geometric corpus available in Arabic, mainly through translations. After the twelfth century, Latin scholars acquired geometric texts enabling them, in their turn, to develop European geometrical science, which was essential in the university context of the quadrivium.