An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

d In spite of various contacts between Jewish and Christian scholars during the
medieval period, no single name stands out in the history of “Christian Hebrew
studies between Jerome and Johann Reuchlin.” 35 Reuchlin is a thoroughly
humanistic figure. His brief Rudimenta is not so much based on David Qimḥi’s
Mikhlol as on Moses Qimḥi’s elementary Mahalakh Shebile ha-Da˓at (The
Journey on the Paths of Knowledge), the first printed Hebrew grammar (Soncino,
1489). 36 Reuchlin’s significance does not rest on the content of his simple
grammar but rather on his pioneering efforts and tactical activity. Luther learned
Hebrew using either Qimḥi‘s Mikhlol or Reuchlin’s Rudimenta. Conrad Pellicanus
(1478–1556), a Dominican monk who taught himself Hebrew under the most
arduous circumstances, actually wrote the first Hebrew grammatical work in Latin
(1503 or 1504). 37 Pellicanus taught the Swiss reformer Wolfgang Capito (1478–
1541), who in turn instructed John Calvin.
[Page 40] 2.3.2 Development (1550–1750)
a Among the factors that spurred on the work effectively begun by Reuchlin were
the spread of printing and the controversies in the church. The itinerant Jewish
scholar Elijah Levita (1468–1549) played a special role. His books include a
commentary on the grammar of Moses Qimḥi (1504), his own grammar (1517),
and his studies on the Masorah (1538). His personal contact with Christian
scholars was also important; among his pupils was Sebastian Münster (1489–
1552), professor at Basle from 1529 on, who translated his works into Latin.
Levita transported the great fund of medieval Jewish philology with the Qimḥian
stamp into the Christian universities. 38
b The sixteenth century was the first great age of modern grammatical study. Near
the end of the century John Udall produced the first Hebrew grammar in English
(1593), a translation of Pierre Martinez’s grammar written in Latin (1567). In time
35 Barr, “Literature,” 1391.
36 Hermann Greive, “Die hebräische Grammatik Johannes Reuchlins De rudimentis
hehraicis,” Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 90 (1978) 395–409. On
early Hebrew printing, associated with Italy and with the Soncino family, see Hall,
“Biblical Scholarship,” 48–50; Goshen-Gottstein, “Hebraic Studies,” 692–93; and n.
25 above.
37 On Pellicanus’s preliminary work, De modo legendi et intelligendi Hebraeum, little
more than a squib on reading, see Barr, “Literature,” 1391; Hall, “Biblical
Scholarship,” 45.
38 On Levita and Münster, see Tene, “Literature,” 1360, 1390; Barr, “Literature,”
1392; Hall, “Biblical Scholarship,” 45–46.