The Arabic version of Aristotle's "Poetics" that influenced the Middle Ages was translated from a Greek manuscript dated to some time prior to the year 700. This manuscript, translated from Greek to Syriac, is independent of the currently-accepted 11th-century source designated "Paris 1741." The Syriac-language source used for the Arabic translations departed widely in vocabulary from the original "Poetics" and it initiated a misinterpretation of Aristotelian thought that continued through the Middle Ages. "Paris 1741" appears online at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France).