later writers. He was followed by E. Jehuda ben-Da- vid Chajug, a native of Fez, who flourished in the 11th century, whose services have procured for him the hon- orable'designation of "chief of grammarians." From him the succession of Jewish grammarians embraces the following names [for details, see separate articles]. R. Salomo Isaaki C^d"!, Eashi), a native of Troyes in France, d. ab. 1105 ; Abu'l Walid Mervan ibn-Ganach, a physician at Cordova, d. 1 120 ; Moses Gikatilla, ab. 1 100 ; Ibn-Esra, d. 1194; the Kimchis, especially Moses and David, who flourished in the 13th century ; Isaak ben- Mose (Ephodffius, so called from the title of his work IISX Mb"'?); Solomon Jarchi wrote a grammar, in which he sets forth the seven conjugations of verbs as now usuallv given ; Abraham de Balmez of Lecci ; and Elias Levita (1472-1549). The earliest efforts in He- brew lexicography with which we are acquainted is the little work of Saadia Gaon, in which he explains seven- ty Hebrew words ; a codex containing this is in the Bodleian library at Oxford, from which it has been print- ed by Dukes in the Zeitschrift Ji'ir die Kunde des Mor- genlandes, V, i, 115 sq. In the same codex is anoth- er small lexicographical work by Jehuda ben-Karish, in which Hebrew words are explained from the Talmud, the Arabic, and other languages ; excerpts from this are given in Eichhorn's Bihlioth. der Bihl. LUt. iii, 951-980. More copious works are those of Ben-Ganach, where the Hebrew words are explained in Arabic ; of E. JNIenahem ibn-Sanik, whose work has been printed with an Eng- lish translation by Herschell Pliilipowski (Lond. 1854); of R. Salomo Parchon (about 1 lOd ), specimens of whose work have been given by De Eossi in his collection of Various Eeadings, and in a separate work entitled Lex- icon lleh. select, quo ex antique et inedito R. Parchonis Lexico novas et diversas rarionm et dijflciliorum vocum sifpiijicationcs sistit, J. B. De Eossi (Farm. 1805) ; of Da- vid Kimchi, in the second part of his Michlol, entitled Qi'^Ti'il "ISO (often printed; best edition by Biescn- thal and Leberecht, 2 vols. Berl. 1838-47); and of Elias Levita {Tis/ibi, Bas. 1527', and with a Latin translation by Fagius, 4to, 1541). The Concordance of Isaac Na- than (1437) also belongs to this period.
The study of the Hebrew language among Christians, which had only casually and at intervals occupied the attention of ecclesiastics during the IMiddle Ages, re- ceived an impulse from the revived interest in Biblical exegesis produced by the Reformation. Something had been done to facilitate the study of Oriental literature and to call attention to it by the MSS., Hebrew and Arabic, which the emperor Frederick II brought into Europe after the foiu-th crusade in 1228 (Cusjiinian, i^e Casaribus, p. 419; Boxhorn, Hist. Univ. p. 779); and a few men — such as Eaymund ]Martini, a native of Cata- lonia (bom 1236), Paulus Bugensis, Libertas Cominetus, who is said to have known and used fourteen languages, etc. — appeared as lights in the otherwise beclouded fir- mament of Biblical learning. But it was not until the beginning of the IGth century that any general interest was awakened in the Christian Church for the study of Hebrew literature. In 1506 appeared the grammar and lexicon of Eeuchlin, which may be regarded as the lirst j successful attempt to open the gate of Hebrew learning to the Cliristian world; for though the work of Conrad Pellican, 7>(' Modo ler/endi el inteUiyendi Hehnva (P.asel, 1503), had the precedence in point of time, it was too imi)erfect to exert much inthiencc in favor of Iklirew studies. A few years later. Smites I'agnini. a Domini- can of Lucca, issued his /«.<('//*///();///(// Ilihidiainmi Libh. if (Lyons, 1526), and his Tlnsiiuni.-^ Liii'j. Smict. (ibid. 1529); but the former of these works is inferior to the i (irammar of Eeuchlin, and the latter is a mere collec- tion of excerpts from David Kimchi's Book of Ji'oots, I often erroneously understood. No name of any inipor- , tance occurs in the history of Hebrew philology after 1 this till we come to those of Sebastian Minister and the i Buxtorfs. The former translated the grannnatical works
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of Elias Levita, and from these chiefly he constructed liis own Dictionarum Htbr., adj. Chald. vocahulis (Basel, 15-23), and his Opus Grammaticum ex variis Eliards li- bris coiicinmitum (Bas. 1542). The latter rendered most important service to the cause of Hebrew learning. See BuxToui'. The grammars and lexicons of the older Buxtorf were for many years the principal helps to the study of Hebrew in the Christian Church, and one of them, his Lexicon Chald. Talmud, et Rahhinicum (Basel, 1G40), is still indispensable to the student Avho would thoroughly explore the Hebrew language and litera- ture. The names also of Forster and Schindler may be mentioned as marking an epoch in the history of these studies. Previous to them scliolars had followed almost slavishly in the track of rabbinical teaching. By them, however, an attempt was made to gather materials from a wider tield. Forster, in his Diet. Hthr. Nov. (Basel, 1557), sought to determine the meaning of the words from the comparison of the different passages of Scrip- ture in which they occur, and of allied words, words having two consonants in common, or two consonants of tlie same organ. Schindler added to this the com- parison of different Shemitic dialects for the illustration of the Hebrew in his Lex. Pentar/lotton (Han. 1G12). The example thus set was carried forward by Sam. Bohle, a Kostock professor {Dissertt. pro fvrmali Sie/nif. S. S. eruenda, 1637), though by his fondness for meta- physical methods and conceits he was often betrayed into mere trifling; by Christian Nolde, professor at Co- penhagen (Concordant, particulurum Ebrteo. Chald. V. T. Hamb. 1679) ; by Joh. Cocceius (Coch), professor at Leyden {Lex. et Comment, serin. Hebr. Lond. 1669); by Castell {Lex. Ileptaglot. Lond. 1669) ; by De Dieu in his commentaries on the O. Test.; and bj^ Hottinger in his £ti/mol()fjicum Orient, sire Lex harmoniriim heptdf/ht. (Frankf. 1661). Sol. Glass also, in his Philologia Sacra, 1636, rendered important sen-ice to Hebrew learning and O.-T. exegesis.