A Hebrew Translation of the Letter Alef in the Biblical Dictionary Kitab Jami` al-Alfaz of the Karaite Scholar from the 10th Century David Ben Abraham Al-Fasi, edited by S.L. Skoss
Authors: Blau Joshua 
Published: September 2020

This article presents the Hebrew translation of the introduction and the letter alef of the first Judaeo-Arabic Biblical dictionary extant, the Kitāb Jāmiʿ al-Alfāẓ, composed by the Karaite scholar David Ben Abraham al-Fāsī (fl. second half of the 10th century), ably edited by the late S.L. Skoss.
The dictionary is quite comprehensive. Even if one does not take the introduction into consideration, the first volume contains no less than 600 pages, the second more than 750. The introduction itself deals intensively with various aspects of the structure of the dictionary. The main part of the dictionary is divided into 22 sections, reflecting the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Every section opens with an introduction characterizing the letter in question. The following main part is theoretically subdivided into 22 subsections, exhibiting the combination of the letter of the section dealt with, with one letter of Hebrew alphabet. Since, however, not every combination is attested, there are in fact, as a rule, less than 22 subsections. Every subsection is introduced by a list of the verses to be dealt with, followed by a thorough lexical and grammatical analysis, which forms the main body of the dictionary. Yet, the correspondence between the examples in the list and the analysis is not always clear. And one wonders what the real function of the list can be.
The dictionary is based, in accordance with the period in which it was written, on the bi-radical and mono-radical system. There is no doubt that it is only the tri-radical principle that enables a clear and all-comprising analysis of the Hebrew roots. On the other hand, the bi-radical and mono-radical system does not artificially separate related weak roots. It was because of this relationship that Hebrew grammarians adhered to the bi-radical and mono-radical principle, and it was only through the influence of Arabic, in which the tri-radical structure of the verb is prominent that the tri-radical principle was adopted in Hebrew grammar.
Being one of the first Judaeo-Arabic dictionaries, it is not surprising that the structure of subdivisions, containing lexical and grammatical analysis of the material, is sometimes ambiguous, at times because of the conciseness of expression. In the wake of Biblical prose, in which main clauses opening with copulative waw are very frequent, our dictionary tends to introduce main clauses with copulative waw, whereas classical Arabic utilizes fa in this environment. On the other hand, al-Fāsī frequently applies asyndetic clauses, both coordinated and subordinated ones.
Like Judaeo-Arabic literature in general, our dictionary too is written in Middle Arabic, in which post-Classical Arabic, Neo-Arabic and also pseudo-corrections alternate. Sometimes al-Fāsī's Arabic is influenced by Hebrew, as when, in the wake of Hebrew hāyā, Arabic kāna governs its predicate with the preposition la. Sometimes the translation of Biblical verses is so literal as to be unintelligible; accordingly, al-Fāsī considers himself obliged to add another translation in a more comprehensible Arabic. On the other hand, al-Fāsī's understanding of Biblical Hebrew is often influenced by Arabic. Thus, when analyzing 'eshekh, he interprets it, as well as the verb shkhkh, by comparing the Hebrew verb shākhan (exhibiting shkh as the first part of its root), yet he attributes to it peculiar meanings of the parallel Arabic sakan, viz, 'to calm down' as well as its late signification ‘to be hidden'.