Translating the Hebrew Bible in Medieval Iberia provides the princeps diplomatic edition and a comprehensive study of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hunt. 268. The manuscript, produced in the Iberian Peninsula in the late thirteenth century, features a biblical glossary-commentary in Hebrew that includes 2,018 glosses in the vernacular and 156 in Arabic, and to date is the only manuscript of these characteristics known to have been produced in this region.
Esperanza Alfonso has edited the text and presents here a study of it, examining its pedagogical function, its sources, its exegetical content, and its extraordinary value for the study of biblical translation in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Sephardic Diaspora. Javier del Barco provides a detailed linguistic study and a glossary of the corpus of vernacular glosses.
Esperanza Alfonso, Ph.D. (1998, Universidad Complutense, Madrid) is Researcher at the Center for Human and Social Sciences (CSIC). She has published monographs and collective works in the field of medieval Jewish cultural history.
Javier del Barco, Ph.D. (2001, Universidad Complutense, Madrid) is Researcher at the Center for Human and Social Sciences (CSIC). He has published monographs and articles on various aspects of Hebrew linguistics, medieval Jewish manuscript culture, and Hebrew codicology.
Acknowledgements Signs and Abbreviations Notes on Transliteration, Conventions, Translation, and Sources Plates
Part 1 Introduction
Introduction
1 The Codex
â1.1âBinding, Foliation, and Condition
â1.2âDimensions and Quires
â1.3âCatchwords and Numbering of Sections
â1.4âMargins and Justification
â1.5âScript and Layout
â1.6âThe Text, Sections, and Subdivisions
â1.7âErrors and Later Interventions
â1.8âPunctuation
â1.9âVocalization, Accents, and Other Kinds of Marks
â1.10âThe Books
â1.11âInternal and External Cross-References
â1.12âDifferences between the Books
â1.13âDating
â1.14âPrevious References to the Codex
2 The Text
â2.1âGlosses, Glossaries, and Commentaries: Preliminary Considerations
â2.2âThe Lemmata
â2.3âLeÊ¿azim
â2.4âThe Commentary
â2.5âGlossary-Commentary
3 Grammar
â3.1âNorm and Explanation of Anomalous or Unusual Grammatical Forms
â3.2âTerms with Multiple Uses
â3.3âOrthography and Phonology
â3.4âMorphosyntax
4 Exegesis
â4.1âInterpreting the Lemma versus Interpreting the Verse, Passage, or Book
â4.2âThe Context
â4.3âLiteral or Surface Meaning as Opposed to Figurative Meaning
5 Sources
â5.1âJudah ḤayyÅ«j, Jonah ibn JanÄḥ, Judah ibn BalÊ¿am, Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Abraham ibn Ezra
â5.2âSaadiah Gaon
â5.3âRashi
â5.4âDavid Kimhi
â5.5âSingle Interpretations versus Alternate Interpretations, Selecting versus Synthesizing
â5.6âThe Integration of Sources
â5.7âCultural Background
6 MS Hunt. 268 and Vernacular Translations of the Hebrew Bible
â6.1âRomanceamientos and Ladinamientos
â6.2âJb 1â10 in MS Hunt. 268 and the Medieval and Post-medieval Traditions
7 Linguistic Study of Leʿazim
â7.1âOrthography and Phonology
â7.2âMorphology
â7.3âSyntax
â7.4âLexical Remarks
â7.5âConclusions
Glossary Bibliography Index of Names and Places
Part 2 Edition
The Present Edition
Abbreviations
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Hunt. 268
Anyone interested in medieval biblical exegesis, the history of Bible translation, the study of Ibero-Romance languages, and medieval Jewish cultural history in general.