Dunash Ibn Labrat
Dunash (or ( Hebrew : ; Arabic : ), is an important poet and grammarian Hebrew of the tenth century ( Fez , Morocco , 920 - Cordoba ?, Spain , 990 CE).
It is the first to use the Arabic meter in its versification, inaugurating a new style of poetry in Hebrew, and his polemic with Menahem Ben Sarouk contributed significantly to the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain.
Summary |
Biographical Elements
Dunash born in Morocco, a family of Jewish Babylonian. Still young, although probably already knew the work of philological Judah ibn Kuraysh and Dunash ibn Tamim , he headed east, lured by the reputation of Saadia Gaon , and became his pupil, as it will boast a lifetime .
After the death of Saadia (942 CE), Dunash returned to Fez, and thence to Cordova , which became under the influence of Hasdai ibn Shaprout , a center of culture among the Jews of Spain.
Dunash presents, as a pupil of Saadia, the new metric Hebrew. He said Saadia reportedly said that "such a thing has never been known in Israel," which was interpreted as a criticism as a compliment. He won the favor of Hasdai through his poems, and attacked the clerk thereof, Menahem Ben Sarouk , accusing him of criticizing the teachings of his master grammatical Saadia and propagate ideas Karaites (Jewish power scripturalist, as opposed to rabbinic Judaism Traditional). Menahem is promptly removed, and died shortly thereafter.
Some time later, Dunash is attacked by the three foremost disciples of Menahem, including Judah ben David Hayyuj , trying to defend the scientific reputation of their master, and refute the arguments Dunash. They also argue that it has not only sought to humiliate their master, but all Jewish scholars in Spain (Dunash was likely often boast of his training in the Babylonian Talmudic academies ).
Dunash leaves his disciple, Yehudi ben Sheshet , care to answer them. Yehudi's writings are even more controversial and satirical, and they contain arguments undoubtedly inspired if not dictated by the master.
We do not know much about the circumstances of later life Dunash. He probably took the place previously occupied by Menahem to Hasdai, and seems to have lived in comfort.
Although his argument with Menahem was behind the development of Hebrew philology, as the main problems of Hebrew grammar there had been addressed and resolved for the most part, Dunash probably did not live to see it.
Works
Poetry
Dunash ben Labrat was considered the greatest poet of his time, as shown by Solomon ibn Gabirol , although it is better to praise Samuel HaNaggid 'O Samuel, death is Ben Labrat and hast taken his place. If he lived, he should bow to you . "However, his poems were, according to Al-Harizi , quickly forgotten .
Several pieces have been preserved, which contain the name of Dunash (or Dunash ha-Levi) in acrostic.
Besides Deror Yiqra, Dunash composed for the Sabbath anthem Dela Shovav; Barkha Yehida, and Hasser Devei Devok hatan baderekh were also selected in the poems sung at weddings .
The new Hebrew versification
Dunash is the first to use the metric in the Arab quantitative Hebrew poetry.
Unlike the Arabic , the Hebrew does not distinguish between vowels by length, but according to their quality. The innovation is to make Dunash shva na '(shva "mobile") and semi-vowels (shva combined with a vowel, E / A / O) the equivalent of short vowels in Arabic, therefore, only the length matters, not the accents . His critics point out that it distorts the biblical language of Arabic and adapted to a metric that is not hers. Anthem Deror Yiqra contains several examples of such distortion of language, writing several words Dunash to construct state to grant them to rhyme or meter, while it does absolutely not justified in the sentence.
He was the founder of the Hebrew new metric has been accepted as historical fact by his contemporaries, both his student and admirer Yehudi ben Sheshet by its opponents, the disciples of Menahem, who, while criticizing its innovation, used it themselves.
It seems however that the true innovator in the field, was his wife, which we do not know the name, but a poem was discovered by Ezra Fleischer in 1984 among the documents of the Cairo Geniza .
This innovation has been repeated and elaborated by later poets, including Solomon ibn Gabirol. It has certainly been inspired by North Africa, where Tamim ibn Dunash and Judah ibn uraish had prepared the way for a systematic comparison of Hebrew and Arabic - Ibn Labrat comparison which then gave his support in his dispute with Menahem , accusing his opponent of not having taken into account.
Grammar
Objections to Maberet Menachem ibn Sarouk
Dunash is the author of a critical 180 points of the Maberet Menachem ibn Sarouk , in which he lamented the lack of systematization and proposes the model Menachem should, according to him, to follow.
It is in this book, the first grammarian Hebrew to use the notion of mishkal, equivalent to the linguistic paradigm , postulating that the root letters are combined according to some mishkalim and have a certain relationship (eg, the plural word yad, keren , ain, etc.. respectively meaning "hand" horn "and" eye "is built on the mishkal shnam of" two, "yad AIM, karn AIM, Ein aim. All have in common that only exist in Generally, only two ).
In addition, Dunash is the first to list the verbs according to their root triliteral pa'al the verb form (eg, the shape of the root pa'al KTV, "write," is Katav), and further distinguished roots "heavy" roots "light. "
According to Abraham ibn Ezra ( twelfth century ), Dunash "was the only ayyuj before, to have awakened from the lethargy of ignorance that, like a deep sleep, still holding the others in his nets . "
His positions were however criticized in Hakhraot (Decisions) of Rabbeinu Tam , one of the most prominent tossafists (Talmudic commentators in northern France and Germany) as Menachem ibn Sarouk was still considered the leading authority field of Hebrew philology. The Hakhraot were themselves challenged by Joseph imi , whose scientific knowledge was more advanced.
The Treaty of Dunash was edited from a codex of the Bodleian Library , with criticism of Rabbeinu Tam, H. Filipowski (Critic Vocum Recensione, London, 1855).
The polemical writings of Dunash and students of Menahem were edited by SG Stern (Liber Responsionum, Vienna, 1870).
Objections to the system of Saadia Gaon
Dunash would, according to Abraham ibn Ezra, the author of a treatise by the latter discovered in Egypt. The author is initiated in a very Arabized Hebrew alphabetical classification for his comments on the opinions and grammatical exegesis of Saadia Gaon, the bulk of the document but was left in a state of scattered notes. In criticism of Saadia (to which Ibn Ezra responds with the treatise Sefat Yeter), the author clearly states that the roots may contain small letters (letters supposedly functional and can not be part of the root of a word) and that these could be eliminated, so generally attributed to demonstrate the existence of weak roots triliteral letter to Judah ben David ayyuj.
In reality, Dunash ayyuj and both know Arabic grammar at a level sufficient to reach the same conclusion independently. However, it is ayyuj that, based on that finding, conducting systematic elucidation of the conjugation of verbs mentioned above, while Dunash merely indicated that the first, second or third letter of the root could be "low. "Moreover, he still accepts the idea of roots and biliterals monolitres.
Because of its incomplete form, the treaty was never published by himself, and its existence is never reported before Ibn Ezra. Porges Nathan contests its attribution to Dunash , but his arguments are considered insufficient . It was edited by R. Schrter under the title Critique of Dunash b. Labrat (Breslau, 1866), from manuscript No. 27214 of the British Museum.
References
- So that Abraham ibn Ezra Hebraicized his name Dunash himself who used the name Adonijah (") as a mnemonic device of letters "weak" (letters that do not constitutively functional part of word) - cf. Reviews of Saadia, No. 6
- Labrat as a first name is unknown, it is probably a surname. According to Steinschneider , it should read L avrate ( Jew. Quart. Rev... xiv 130), according Derenbourg , L or L Ibrat Ibrado (Booklets, p.2)
- Especially during the fight against Menahem Ben Sarouk - cf. Responsionum Liber p.48; students of Menahem retort that it was the least of his disciples in importance - Liber Responsionum P. 27
- Shir Shelomoh, No. 54
- Al Hariz, Tahkemoni iv.
- (he) Dunash ben Labrat site daat cf. Mahzor Vitry , ed. Hurwitz, P. 178; Zunz , Literaturgesch. p. 484
- Amnon Shiloah, Cyril Aslanov, Jewish Musical Traditions, ed. Maisonneuve & Larose, 1995, ISBN 9782706811463 , pp. 141-143
- Solomon Ibn Gabirol: AN ALPHABET Andalusian , Ch.1 of Selected Poems of Solomon Ibn Gabirol, translated by Peter Cole, accessed on 16/05/2009
- See Avi Ezer about the comment of Abraham ibn Ezra on Genesis. 1:1, gloss on veyesh shmei shamam
- Abraham ibn Ezra, Safah brurah. Escogida la lengua. Introduccin (en castellano e ingls). Edicin crtica del texto y versin castellana hebreo Enrique Gonzlez Ruiz, revisada, y completada reelaborada por Angel Senz-Badillos. Cordoba: Ediciones el Almendro, 2004. p. 256; see Bacher, Abraham ibn Ezra als Grammatik, p. 87, in Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Kaiserlichen, 1881.
- Neubauer , Cat. Bodle. Hebr. MSS. No. 1449
- Kaufmann Gedenkbuch, Breslau, 1901
- Eppenstein, in Monatsschrift, 1902, i. 46, pp. 62-83, 535-536; Porges, ib. pp. 141-153; Bacher, ib. pp. 478-480; D. Kohn, in Ha-Goren, iii., 1902, pp. 86-89
This article incorporates text from the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906, article "DUNASH Ben Labrat" , a publication now in the public domain.
See also
Related articles
External Links
- (He) Dunash Works, available online:
- (He) Invitation to poetry (including several site version of its liturgical poem Deror Yikra, and biographical information)
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