Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JONAH, RABBI (ABULWALID MERWAN IBN JA...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 497 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JONAH, See also:RABBI (ABULWALID MERWAN See also:IBN JANAH, also R. See also:MARINUS) (c. 996-c. 1050) , the greatest'See also:Hebrew grammarian and lexicographer of the See also:middle ages. He was See also:born before the See also:year 990, in See also:Cordova, studied in See also:Lucena, See also:left his native See also:city in ro12, and, after somewhat protracted wanderings, settled in See also:Saragossa, where he died before 1050. He was a physician, and Ibn Abi Usaibia, in his See also:treatise on Arabian doctors, mentions him- as the author of a medical See also:work. But Rabbi Jonah saw the true vocation of his See also:life in the scientific investigation of the Hebrew See also:language and in a rational biblical exegesis based upon See also:sound linguistic knowledge. It is true, he wrote no actual commentary on the See also:Bible, but his philological See also:works exercised the greatest See also:influence on Judaic exegesis. His first work—composed, like all the See also:rest, in Arabic—bears the See also:title Almustalha, and forms, as is indicated by the word, a See also:criticism and at the same See also:time a supplement to the two works of Yehuda 'IJayyuj on the verbs with weak-See also:sounding and See also:double-sounding roots. These two tractates, with which 'Hayyuj had laid the See also:foundations of scientific Hebrew See also:grammar, were recognized by Abulwalid as the basis of his own grammatical investigations, and See also:Abraham Ibn Daud, when enumerating the See also:great See also:Spanish See also:Jews in his See also:history, sums up the significance of R. Jonah in the words: " He completed what 'Hayyuj had begun." The See also:principal work of R. Jonah is the Kitab al Tankih (" See also:Book of Exact Investigation "), which consists of two parts, regarded as two distinct books—the Kitab al-Luma (" Book of Many-coloured See also:Flower-beds ") and the Kitab alusul (" Book of Roots ").

The former (ed. J. See also:

Derenbourg, See also:Paris, 1886) contains the grammar, the latter (ed. Ad. Neubauer, See also:Oxford, 1875) the See also:lexicon of the Hebrew language. Both works are also published in the Hebrew See also:translation of Yehuda Ibn Tibbon (Sefer Ha-Rikmah, ed. B. See also:Goldberg, Frankfurt am See also:Main, 1855; Sefer Ha-Schoraschim, ed. W. Bacher, See also:Berlin, 1897). The other writings of Rabbi Jonah, so far as extant, have appeared in an edition of the Arabic See also:original accompanied by a See also:French translation (Opuscules et traites d'Abou'l Walid, ed. See also:Joseph and Hartwig Derenbourg, Paris 188o).

A few fragments and numerous quotations in his principal book See also:

form our only knowledge of the Kitab al-Tashwir (" Book of Refutation ") a controversial work in four parts, in which Rabbi Jonah successfully repelled the attacks of the opponents of his first treatise. At the See also:head of this opposition stood the famous See also:Samuel Ibn Nagdela (S. Ha-Nagid) a See also:disciple of 'Hayyuj. The grammatical work of Rabbi Jonah extended, moreover, to the domain of See also:rhetoric and biblical See also:hermeneutics, and his lexicon contains many exegetical excursuses. This lexicon is of especial importance by See also:reason of its ample contribution to the See also:comparative See also:philology of the Semitic See also:languages—Hebrew and Arabic, in particular. Abulwalid's works See also:mark the culminating point of Hebrew scholarship during the middle ages, and he attained a level which was not surpassed till the See also:modern development of philological See also:science in the 19th See also:century. See S. Munk, See also:Notice sur Abou'l Walid (Paris, 1851); W. Bacher, Leben and Werke See also:des Abulwalid and See also:die Quellen seiner Schrifterklarung (See also:Leipzig, 1885) ; id., Aus der Schrifterklarung des Abulwalid (Leipzig, 1889) ; id., Die hebr.-arabische Sprachvergleichung des Abulwalid (See also:Vienna, 1884) ; id., Die hebraisch-neuhebraische and hebr.-aramaische Sprachvergleichung des Abulwalid (Vienna, 1885). (W.

End of Article: JONAH, RABBI (ABULWALID MERWAN IBN JANAH, also R. MARINUS) (c. 996-c. 1050)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
JONAH 		[next]
JONAS, JUSTUS (1493–1555)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries