Sefer he-Arukh (Talmudic Dictionary), Rabbi Nathan ben Jehiel, Scribe: Moses ben Elijah, [Italy], 1416

Nathan ben Jehiel’s classic work, the Arukh, is a lexicon of the Talmud and the Midrashim. Nathan gives the meaning of Talmudic terms, and also their etymologies, which include Aramaic, Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Persian origins. He quotes many Geonic interpretations, among others. At the Arukh’s conclusion (fol. 385r) is a poem written in difficult language and therefore of somewhat obscure meaning.  In it, the poet, lamenting his bitter lot, tells of the death of four out of his five sons during his lifetime. Nathan ben Jehiel completed the work in 1101, and according to the colophon on fol. 385v, the scribe Moshe ben Elijah finished copying it on the sixth of Adar I, 5176 [1416]. The scribe also indicates his name on fols. 113v, 239v, 290r, 332v, 384v. 11

Signed by the censor Domenico Irosolomitano, 1600 (fol. 385v).

Sotheby’s is grateful to Menahem Schmelzer z”l and Benjamin Richler for cataloguing this manuscript.

Provenance

Isaac ben Gerson Treves (he sold it to Joseph Monselice in Modena, in the year 1506, and received payment from Joseph’s son, Immanuel Hai) — Joseph Monselice — Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 90)

Physical Description

385 leaves on paper, 11 x 7 ½ inches; 280 x 191 mm, written in an Italian semi-cursive script in black ink, modern foliation in pencil; fol. 1 damaged, 286-287, and 333 damaged with some loss of text, upper half of fol. 378 lacking, some dampstaining, scattered small stains, first leaf soiled, library stamp on first and last leaves. Modern half red morocco; written on the flyleaf is poem on the commandment of sukkah.

Literature

Hirschfeld (ms. no. 415); ed. A. Kohut, Nathan ben Jehiel’s Arukh ha-Shalem, 1878-1892, the present manuscript was among those used for this edition. See introduction, p.L-LI, for a detailed description of the work