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ELIAS LEVITA (1469-1549)

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 272 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ELIAS LEVITA (1469-1549) , Jewish grammarian, was See also:born at See also:Neustadt on the Aisch, a See also:place in See also:Bavaria lying between See also:Nuremberg and Wtirzburg. He preferred to See also:call himself " Ashkenazi," the See also:German, and See also:bore also the See also:nickname of " Bachur," the youth or student, which latter he gave as See also:title to his See also:Hebrew See also:grammar. Before the end of the 15th See also:century he went to See also:Italy, which thenceforth remained his See also:home. He lived first at See also:Padua, went in 1509, after the See also:capture of this See also:town by the See also:army of the See also:League of See also:Cambrai, to See also:Venice, and finally in 1513 to See also:Rome, where he found a See also:patron in the learned See also:general of the Augustinian See also:Order, the future See also:cardinal Egidio di See also:Viterbo, whom he helped in his study of the See also:Kabbalah, while he himself was inspired by him to See also:literary See also:work. The storming of Rome by the army of the See also:Constable de See also:Bourbon in 1527 compelled Elias to go to Venice, where . he was employed as corrector in the See also:printing-See also:house of See also:Daniel See also:Bomberg. In the years 1541 and 1542 he lived at Isny, in See also:Southern See also:Wurttemberg, where he published several of his writings in the printing-house of the learned pastor See also:Paul Fagius. The last years of his See also:life he spent at Venice, continuously active in spite of See also:ill-See also:health and the weakness of old See also:age. His See also:monument in the graveyard of the Jewish community at Venice boasts of him that " he illuminated the darkness of grammar and turned it into See also:light." The importance of Levita rests both in his numerous writings and in his See also:personal activity. In the remark-able See also:period which saw the rise of the See also:Reformation and gave to the study of the Hebrew See also:Bible and to its See also:language an importance in the See also:history of the See also:world, it was Levita who furthered in an extraordinary manner the study of Hebrew in See also:Christian circles by his activity as a teacher and by his writings. To his pupils especially belong See also:Sebastian Minoter, who translated Levita's grammatical See also:works into Latin, also See also:George de See also:Selve, See also:bishop of See also:Lavaur, the See also:French See also:ambassador in Venice (1536), who was instrumental in obtaining for Levita an invitation from See also:Francis I. to come to See also:Paris, which invitation, however, Levita did not accept. Levita's writings on Hebrew grammar (Bachur, a See also:text-See also:book, 1518; Harkaba, an explanation, alphabetically arranged, of irregular word-forms; a Table of Paradigms; Pirke Elijahu, a description—partly metrical—of See also:phonetics, and other chapters of the grammar, 1520; his earliest work, a Commentary on See also:Moses Kimhi's Hebrew Grammar, 1508) were by See also:reason of their methodical exposition, their clear See also:articulation, their avoidance of prolixity, especially suited as an introduction to the study of the Hebrew language. Amongst Levita's other writings is the first See also:dictionary of the Targumim (Meturgeman, 1541) and the first See also:attempt at a See also:lexicon in which much of the treasure of See also:late Hebrew language was explained (Tishhi, explanation of 712 new Hebrew vocables, as a supplement to the dictionaries of See also:David Kimtii and Nathan b.

Yehiel, 1542). Scientifically most valuable, and of See also:

original importance, are the works of Levita on the Massora; his See also:Concordance to the Massora (Sefer Zikhronot completed in the second revision 1536), of which hitherto only a small See also:part has been published, and especially his most celebrated book Massoreth Hamasoreth (1538), published with See also:English See also:translation by Chr. D. See also:Ginsburg, See also:London, 1867. This was the first attempt to give a systematic See also:account of the contents and history of the Massora. By his See also:criticism of the Massora, and especially by proving that the See also:punctuation of the books of the Hebrew Bible is of late origin, Levita exercised an See also:epoch-making See also:influence. Of his other writings may be mentioned his See also:running commentary on David Kimbi's Grammar and Dictionary (in the Bomberg See also:editions 1545, 1546), his German translation ofthe See also:Psalms (1545) and the Baba-See also:Buch (more properly Buovobuch, a German recension of the See also:Italian novel Historia di Buovo d' Antona, 15o8). Of the literature on Levita may be mentioned : Y. See also:Levi, See also:Ella Levita and See also:seine Leistungen als Grammatiker (See also:Breslau, 1888) ; W. Bacher, " E. Levita's wissenschaftliche Leistungen " in Z. d. D.

M. G. xliii. (1889), p. 206-272. (W.

End of Article: ELIAS LEVITA (1469-1549)

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