The first Hebrew dictionary that we know of is Mahberet Menahem by Menahem ben Saruq. It was written in Spain in the years 960-950. It contains all the words and roots in the Hebrew Bible.[1]
Rabbi Hai Gaon compiled dictionary of especially difficult words in the Bible, Targum, and Talmud, in the 10th or 11th century. The Arabic title of the book was Kitab al-Hawi.[2][3]
In the first half of the 11th century, Jonah ibn Janah compiled the Book of Roots (Kitab al-Usul), which is a complete dictionary of the Hebrew roots in the Bible.
In the 11th century, Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome wrote The Arukh - a dictionary that deals with difficult and foreign words written in Hebrew letters in the Talmud and Midrash. The explanations for the words rely mainly on the literature of the Geonim and the author's interpretation. Each of the dictionary entries has a broad explanation in Hebrew, which sometimes also includes reference to other matters related to the subject.
In 1161, Solomon ben Abraham ibn Parhon completed his Mahberet HaArukh Hebrew dictionary of the Biblical Hebrew, in the city of Salerno, Italy. It was influenced by the Mahberet of Menahem ben Saruq and the Arukh of Nathan of Rome. It also took material from Jonah ibn Janah's Book of Roots and Judah ben David Hayyuj's Book of Extracts.[4]
Rabbi David Kimhi compiled an Hebrew dictionary of the Hebrew language called Sefer HaShorashim (The Book of Roots), in the 12th or 13th century. It draws heavily from the previous works mentioned here.[5]
Dictionaries published in 1500-1900
In 1561, Elia Levita published the Tishbi, an Hebrew dictionary of the Hebrew language of the Talmud and the Middle Ages, focusing on words that didn't appear in the Arukh.[6][7]
Solomon de Oliveyra published in the second half of the 17th century several Hebrew dictionaries: Sharshot gablut. Amsterdam. 1665. Rhyming dictionary; Zayit raanan. Amsterdam. 1683. A collection of Talmudic and scientific Hebrew terms with some Hebrew riddles; Darkhey noam. Amsterdam. 1688. A dictionary of rabbinical terms, published with Darkhey haShem (1689).[8]
In 1808 Judah Leib Ben-Ze'ev published in Vienna the dictionary Otzar haShorashim, a lexicon of Hebrew roots and Hebrew-German dictionary, inspired by the work of David Kimhi.[9]
Samuel Joseph Fuenn published in 1884 the first volume of an Hebrew dictionary called HaOtzar. It was completed by 1912 by others after his death in 1894.[10][11]
רב-מילים[he], originally developed by the Israeli Center for Educational Technology, first published in 1997, including both a printed version and an electronic one. Currently maintained by Melingo.
Historical and scholarly Hebrew translation dictionaries
Medieval dictionaries
Agron, a 10th century lexicographical reference book by Saadia Gaon, including Arabic word translations.
Kitāb Jāmiʿ al-Alfāẓ ("The Book of Collected Meanings"), a 10th century Hebrew-Aramaic-Arabic dictionary[12] by David ben Abraham al-Fasi
Dictionaries published in 1500-1900
De Rudimentis Hebraicis, ("The fundamentals of Hebrew"), first published in 1506 by Johann Reuchlin, on the Hebrew grammar, including a Hebrew-Latin lexicon[13]
אוֹצַר לְשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶשׁ, Thesaurus Linguae Sanctae, sive Lexicon Hebraicum ("Treasury of the sacred language, or Hebrew lexicon"), first published in 1529 by Santes Pagnino,[14] a Hebrew Latin dictionary.[15][16]
Cover of Steinberg O.N. Jewish and Chaldean etymological dictionary to Old Testament books 187
Hebräisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch über die Schriften des Alten Testaments mit Einschluß der geographischen Nahmen und der chaldäischen Wörter beym Daniel und Esra (Hebrew-German Hand Dictionary on the Old Testament Scriptures including Geographical Names and Chaldean Words, with Daniel and Ezra), by Wilhelm Gesenius, published in 1810/1812[17]
A Hebrew, Latin and English Dictionary; containing all the Hebrew and Chaldee Words used in the Old Testament, by Joseph Samuel Christian Frederick Frey, published 1815 by Gale and Fenner, Paternoster-Row[18]
Lexicon Hebraicum et Chaldaicum cum brevi Lexico Rabbinico Philosophico, a Hebrew and Chaldean lexicon by Johannes Buxtorf, published in 1607, reprinted in Glasgow, 1824.
Steinberg O.N. (Father to the soviet composer of classical music Maximilian Osseyevich Steinberg[19]): Jewish and Chaldean etymological dictionary to Old Testament books. T. 1-3. Vilna: Type. L. L. Matza, 1878–1881. (A Biblical hebrew dictionary in the Russian language) Штейнберг О. Н. Еврейский и халдейский этимологический словарь к книгам Ветхого Завета. Т. 1–3. Вильна: тип. Л. Л. Маца, 1878– 1881.
Neues Hebräisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament mit Einschluß des biblischen Chaldaismus ("New Hebrew-German hand dictionary on the Old Testament including Chaldean words"), by Wilhelm Gesenius, originally published in Leipzig in 1815.[20] Also available as a digitized version of the 16th edition, 1915 and 18th edition reprint, from Springer Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN3-540-78599-X
Brown–Driver–Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, first published in 1906.
Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti libros, a scholarly translation dictionary, consisting of "Ludwig Koehler - Dictionary of the Hebrew Old Testament in English and German", and "Walter Baumgartner - A Dictionary of the Aramaic parts of the Old Testament in English and German", published in 1953.[21]
Babylon, a computer dictionary and translation program.
מורפיקס[he], an online Hebrew English dictionary by Melingo.
New Hebrew-German Dictionary: with grammatical notes and list of abbreviations, compiled by Wiesen, Moses A., published by Rubin Mass, Jerusalem, in 1936[23]
↑ Markon, Isaac D. (1946). "The Hebrew Arabic Dictionary of the Bible of David al-Fāsī". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 37 (2): 199–207. doi:10.2307/1452076. JSTOR1452076.
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