TIBBON, JUDAH BEN

(12th century)--translator of Judah Halevi's Book on the Khazars from Arabic to Hebrew. The translation appeared in 1167, and there are two explanations for its unevenness: that later, printed versions were castrated in the hands of the Christian Inquisition, and that the whole thing depended not just on Tibbon, but on circumstances.

The translation was faithful when ben Tibbon was in love with his betrothed, good when he was angry, wordy if the winds blew, profound in winter, expository and paraphrased when it rained, and wrong if he was happy.

When he finished a chapter, Tibbon would do as the ancient Alexandrian translators of the bible had done--he would have someone read him the translation while walking away from him, and Tibbon would stand still and listen. With distance, parts of the text were lost in the wind and around corners, the rest echoing back through bushes and trees; screened by doors and railings, it shed nouns and vowels, tripped on stairs, and finally, having begun as a male voice, would end its journey as a female voice, with only verbs and numbers still audible in the distance. Then when the reader returned, the entire process would be reversed, and Tibbon would correct the translation on the basis of the impressions he had derived from this reading walk.