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Hexapla

(Encyclopedia)Hexapla hĕkˈsəplə [key] [Gr.,=sixfold], polyglot edition of the Hebrew Bible prepared by Origen (c.185–c.255). It was mainly in six columns—a Hebrew text (probably the Masoretic), a Greek tran...

Mendele mocher sforim

(Encyclopedia)Mendele mocher sforim [Yid.,= Mendele the book peddler] shōˈləm yäˈkôv əbräməˈvĭch [key], 1836–1917, Yiddish novelist. Born in Minsk, and orphaned at 14, he traveled with beggars through ...

Esther

(Encyclopedia)Esther ĕsˈtər [key], book of the Bible. It is the tale of the beautiful Jewish woman Esther [Heb.,= Hadassah], who is chosen as queen by the Persian King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I or II) after he has rep...

Mari, ancient city, Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Mari mäˈrē [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia (modern Syria). It is on the middle Euphrates, south of its junction with the Habor (Khabur). The site was discovered by chance in the early 1930s by A...

Driver, Samuel Rolles

(Encyclopedia)Driver, Samuel Rolles, 1846–1914, English clergyman and biblical scholar. He was regius professor of Hebrew and canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and from 1876 to 1884 was a member of the Old Testamen...

Levita, Elijah

(Encyclopedia)Levita, Elijah ēlīˈjə lēvīˈtə [key] (Elya Bokher), c.1468–1549, German philologist, grammarian, and lexicographer who wrote in Hebrew. He spent most of his life in Italy, teaching Christian ...

Onkelos

(Encyclopedia)Onkelos ŏngˈkəlōs [key], 2d cent. a.d., translator of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, his work later being given the title Targum Onkelos (see Targum). A proselyte, he gained the respect of the lea...

Dunash ben Tamim

(Encyclopedia)Dunash ben Tamim täˈmēm [key] or Dunash ibn Tamim, c.900–c.960, Hebrew scholar, an astronomer and physician of North Africa. A pioneer in the field of scientific comparative philology, he tried t...

Aquila Ponticus

(Encyclopedia)Aquila Ponticus pŏnˈtĭkəs [key], 2d cent., Jewish translator of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. The characteristic feature of Aquila's version was its extremely literal rendering of the ...

language

(Encyclopedia)language, systematic communication by vocal symbols. It is a universal characteristic of the human species. Nothing is known of its origin, although scientists have identified a gene that clearly cont...
 

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