Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 200
Titolo del codice: Lexicographical and scientific miscellany
Luogo di origine: Ashkenaz
Datazione: 1290
Supporto materiale: Medium quality parchment for all three textual units. Presence of some stiches (e.g. ff. 3, 21, 22, 36, 133, 143, 171, 244, 256); small holes (e.g. ff. 125, 133, 144, 161, 163, 228) and a cut parchment pages which were done during the preparation process (e.g. ff. 106, 113, 120, 154, 190, 226, 233).
Dimensioni:
VII + 258 + XIII
Formato: 300 x 220 mm
Numerazione delle pagine: Foliation in Arabic numerals in grey pencil in the top right corner of each recto side of the page.
Composizione dei fascicoli:
- TU1: 13 quires of quaternions. Quires: I (1r-7v) - first folio is missing; II-XIII (8r-103v). Catchwords: most catchwords are cropped, only ink decorations surrounding them are visible (see below under decoration). Remaining catchwords without decoration: ff. 23v, 71v, 79v, 87v, 95v.
- TU2: 1 quire composed of a quaternion. Quires: I (104r-111v). No catchwords
- TU3: 17 quires divided into 14 quaternions. Quires: I-V (112r-151v); VII-XII (162r-209v); XIV-XVII (221r-252v); 1 quinion : VI (152r-161v) ; 1 senion : XIII (210r-220v) - 1st folio missing (between ff. 209v and 210r) is a stub.; 1 ternion : XVIII (253r-258v)
- Catchwords: all catchwords are present and are decorated (see below under decoration), except on folio 161v.
Condizione: Manuscript in good condition albeit darkening of the parchment from folios 1 to 4 as well as many stains throughout the manuscript (e.g. ff. 56v-57r; 65v-66r; 96v-97r) and particularly at the beginning (e.g. ff. 6-9). The lateral and upper margins are cropped, sometimes cutting off marginal glosses (e.g. ff. 89v, 104v, 105v, 112r). Ink erasure (f. 13v).
Disposizione della pagina:
The ruling for all three textual units is lead pencil ruling. Some remaining traces of inner prickings (e.g. ff. 64-71), when they have not been cropped. Presence of outer prickings throughout the whole manuscript. Presence of triple inner prickings between ff. 68 to 71v.
TU1: 1+1 columns of text. 30 written lines for 31 ruled lines. Ends of lines are respected by elongation and compression of letters for both hands (1 and 2) and a use of graphic signs by hand 2. Full page layout with inner and outer indentations, structured around the initial words for both hands.
TU2: 1+1 columns of text. 32 written lines for 33 ruled lines. Ends of lines are respected by elongation and compression of letters, as well as some letters in the left lateral margin (first letters of the next word in the text starting on the next line). Full page layout with inner and outer indentations, structured around the initial words.
TU3: 1+1 columns of text. 32 written lines for 33 ruled lines. Ends of lines are respected by elongation and compression of letters. Some letters overlap into the left lateral margin. Full page layout with inner and outer indentations, structured around the initial words for both hands.
TU1: 1+1 columns of text. 30 written lines for 31 ruled lines. Ends of lines are respected by elongation and compression of letters for both hands (1 and 2) and a use of graphic signs by hand 2. Full page layout with inner and outer indentations, structured around the initial words for both hands.
TU2: 1+1 columns of text. 32 written lines for 33 ruled lines. Ends of lines are respected by elongation and compression of letters, as well as some letters in the left lateral margin (first letters of the next word in the text starting on the next line). Full page layout with inner and outer indentations, structured around the initial words.
TU3: 1+1 columns of text. 32 written lines for 33 ruled lines. Ends of lines are respected by elongation and compression of letters. Some letters overlap into the left lateral margin. Full page layout with inner and outer indentations, structured around the initial words for both hands.
Tipo di scrittura e mani: The manuscript is composed of 3 textual units and was copied by 3 scribes:
TU1: scribe 1 and scribe 2.
TU2 and TU3: scribe 3.
TU1: scribe 1 and scribe 2.
TU2 and TU3: scribe 3.
- TU1: ff. 1r-101v: Two scribes. Square Ashkenazi medium module script for main text and large module script for initial words. Dark brown ink. No vocalization. 2 hands copied this text:
- Scribe 1: ff. 1r-67v; 81r-84r (middle of page, upper half)
- Scribe 2: ff. 68r-80v [beginning in the middle of quire IX (64r-71v)]; folio 84r from the middle of the page (lower half) and until folio 101v. Moreover, scribe 2 copied the 1st half of page on folio 112r, whose contents can be found already written out on the 1st half of folio 65r.
Scribe’s name: found in colophon folio 101v: Israel bar David (this scribe is also mentioned as having copied another manuscript, see Zunz, p. 568)
- TU2: ff. 104r-111v: One scribe. Bookhand Ashkenazi medium module script for the main text and large module square script for the initial words. Dark brown ink. Some initial words are vocalized. Scribe 3 starting out with a ‘rounded’ bookhand script (ff. 104r) gradually becoming an apparent gothic ‘brisé’ script on folio 104v and until 105r. Then the script goes back to a more ‘rounded’ script from folio 106r to the end on folio 111v. Scribe’s name: (see colophon folio 255v) Asher bar Jacob Halevi.
- TU3:
- ff. 112v-255v: Same scribe as for TU2. Bookhand Ashkenazi medium module script for main text and large module square script for initial words. Dark brown and light brown ink with a thicker or thinner letter width. Non-vocalized text except for particular words (e.g. ff. 120r, 165v, 167r, 169r).
Scribe 3:. The scribe not only varies his writing style like in TU2 but also uses two different inks (Edna Engel and Malakhi Beit-Arié in their Specimens of Mediaeval Hebrew Scripts also briefly mention that this scribe writes in two different styles, see Engel and Beit-Arié, 2017). - ff. 112v-124v: gothic ‘brisé’ script, gradually becoming a ‘rounded’ script on folios 125r-161v (f. 161v is also the end of a quire). Then the ‘gothic’ script reappears between folios 162r and 166r, gradually becoming the more ‘rounded’ facture again from 166v to the end on folio 255v. Scribe’s name: (see colophon folio 255v) Asher bar Jacob Halevi.
- ff. 112v-255v: Same scribe as for TU2. Bookhand Ashkenazi medium module script for main text and large module square script for initial words. Dark brown and light brown ink with a thicker or thinner letter width. Non-vocalized text except for particular words (e.g. ff. 120r, 165v, 167r, 169r).
- The scribe of TU2 and TU3 is R. Asher b. Jacob Halevi of Osnabrück (lower Saxony), a well-known copyist and a commentator of liturgical collections, which reflect an influence from the pietistic movement of the Ḥasidei Ashkenaz. He was a student of Samuel ben Baruch of Bamberg (1st half 13th c.) (see Kanarfogel, p. 103, and note 20; p. 104, note 21 and Ta-Shma, pp. 84-86). His liturgical commentaries are accompanied by colophons and found in two extant manuscripts: Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Ms Cod. 423 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms Opp. 649 (Neubauer cat. n°1102) (see Perles, pp. 2-3 and 16-20, where on p. 2, there is a mistake in the shelfmark of the Oxford manuscript, which is Ms Opp. 649, not Ms Opp. 1483).
Decorazione: Decorated later additions:
Aggiunte: Among the numerous anonymous corrections, notes and marginal glosses (mostly in TU3, ff. 112v-255v and ff. 256r-258v), a later hand and probable manuscript owner has been identified, writing in a 15th c. hand bookhand compact script either in a dark or light brown-greyish ink.
- This hand is responsible for the following marginal glosses throughout the manuscript: e.g. ff. 42r, 53r (bottom margin) (both notes have been transcribed by Ginsburger, 1927, p. 488); 113r (bottom and lateral left margin); 112r (bottom margin); 130r (lat. left margin); 256v-257r and 258v (bottom margin).
This hand has been identified as belonging to the 15th century Physician and poet Baruch bar Shimshon von Ahrweiler (Kaufmann, 1885, p.232; Kaufmann, 1886, p. 376 and see Encyclopedia Judaica). Moreover, at the end of the manuscript, writing in Middle High German, this same person has identified himself with his non-Jewish name, Bendel von Ahrweiler on folio 257r (see transcription and translation below under owner’s notes). The writing in Middle High German on folio 257r is similar to the type of writing in Hebrew and Latin on folio 256r. A further proof of this suggestion is the presence of the name Bendel dem juden in Latin characters at the bottom of folio 256r, in the same brown ink as the rest of the script on this same page. From this, it can be deduced that Baruch/Bendel of Ahrweiler evidently knew Latin and appeared to have had a keen interest in lexicography, as shown by his commentaries throughout the manuscript (e.g. ff. 42r, 53r, 130r). The date at which he owned the manuscript was in the mid-15th century, known thanks to a note in it on folio 102v (see under ‘owner’s notes’) with the date of 1448.
Ahrweiler is a town in the Ahr valley, in the north Rhine-Palatinate. Under the town of ‘Ahrweiler’, Germania Judaica (vol. III, 1, pp. 5-6), mentions the presence of a Baruch b. Simshon, also named Meister Bendel in the town of Ahrweiler. Baruch/Bendel of Ahrweiler owned the manuscript in the mid-15th century, known thanks to a note in it on folio 102v (see below) with the date of 1448, written with the handwriting, identified as that of Baruch/Bendel of Ahrweiler. - Below the notes written by Baruch/ Bendel of Ahrweiler will be highlighted by an asterisk (*) next to the latter’s name and /or next to the folio in question throughout the manuscript, to differentiate them from notes by other later hands in the manuscript:
- f. 101v-102v *: several poems [101v (bottom margin); 102r (bottom margin); 102v (second half of page); 102v (bottom margin)] written by Baruch bar Shimshon von Ahrweiler (“Rabbi Baruch so-called of Ahrweiler”, D. Kaufmann, 1885), whose acronym is spelled out vertically at the beginning of each line of a poem in the bottom part of folio 102r: ברוך בר שמשון חזק. The date of 1450 (רי') is also given at the end of the title of the poem.
- f. 102r *: The top half of the page contains two calendrical tables: the first to the right is relative to the times when the solstices and equinoxes fall during a 19-year lunar cycle. The table to the left, accompanied by a small explicative paragraph indicated when the vernal equinox falls during a 28-year cycle.
- f. 102v: The top part of the page encloses a grammatical text on 7 lists of words that differ by one letter but have the same meaning. In each pair, one word is a hapax while the other is more common. The 6 first lists are organized by the articulation place of consonants that interchange: gutturals (e.g. חילוף האהחע); velars; alveolars; dentals; labials and the weak consonants (this group is not presented by articulation). The 7th list (שער חילופים) is a mix of different cases. [Many thanks to Dr Nadia Vidro, research associate at University College, London for identifying and explaining this text.]
This text is followed by two poems by Baruch bar Shimshon of Ahrweiler*. They are preceded by a rhymed colophon bearing a date and location: זה הקיבוץ עשיתי להמר' שלמה בר' אלעזר המכומה זלמן דייוט הנה בעיר ארווילר שנת רח' לפרט שר[.]ת להש[.] את בתו
This collection I made for the Master Rabbi Shlomo bar Eleazar known as Zalman ‘die Iut’ [the Jew] Here in the city of Ahrweiler [in the] year 208 according to the small count […] and his daughter.
The date (5)208 is equivalent to 1448 according to the Julian calendar. The first small text contains with the acrostics Baruch (ברוך) and a last longer poem at the bottom of the page. - f. 103r: Two calendrical lists and one diagram relative to prognosis. The first one is displayed in two columns and refers to rhymed remainder lists for the calculation of the molad (new moon), including the remainders of groups of months from 1–13 and groups of years from 1–19. In the left margin, in another hand, is the molad for the 267th (רסז) cycle of 19 years since Creation, (5055-5074 = 1295-1314 C.E.). The second list below is on the permitted days of the week of Rosh Ha-Shanah can fall and the postponements.
* The circular diagram below a numerological algorithm for predicting the outcome of an illness. It is included here because it uses the lunar date of falling ill as one of the factors. The lunar date on any given day is defined here as the number of days that have passed between that day and the molad of the month in which the person became ill. The algorithm is to calculate the gematria of the person's name, add the lunar date and subtract 30. One must then look for the resulting number in the diagram. Numbers in the top part of the diagram (על הארץ) mean that the patient will stay alive. Numbers in the bottom part of the diagram (תחת הארץ) signal death. If your number is in the central column, it means getting well or dying quickly (top and bottom respectively), numbers in the side columns mean getting well or dying after a long illness (this diagram has been transcribed by Ginsburger, 1927, p. 489). [Many thanks to Dr. Nadia Vidro for her help in explaining these aforementioned items.] - f. 103v: Prognostication diagram in concentric circles, resembling a ‘wheel of Fortune’ with the names of the planets, elements, various states of existence, such as life, death, love, imprisonment, oppression, dispute, peace, etc... and zodiac signs, in Hebrew and in Latin in Hebrew characters. The diagram is accompanied by a paragraph at the top of the page with a series of words, possibly used as mnemonic devices (?).
- f. 112r *: bottom margin: some marginal notes with a charm for opening one’s heart (פתיחת לב) at the bottom of the page (see Kanarfogel, p. 140, note 15 and Herrman, pp. 99-100, 112).
- ff. 256r-258v: 6 blank pages filled with small texts by different later hands, one of which has been identified by an (*) as that of Baruch/ Bendel von Ahrweiler:
f. 256r *: List of weights and currencies used by physicians and apothecaries with the title: Transcription: דיט אישט דער רעכט מודנין דער מעדצינן אלש אל מיישטער אין דער אפטיקא פלעגין צו שרייבן צו דעם ערשטן זו זול מן אן העבן אן דעם געוויכט דיש פונטש.
Transliteration: Dit ist der recht Modinen der Medizin als all Meischter in der Apoteke pflegen zu schreiben zu dem ersten so soll man an- heben an dem Gewicht des Pfunts.
Translation in English: This is the right way of the medicine as all masters in the apothecary use to write: first, you have to lift the (balance?) weight of the pound. [Many thanks to Dr Andreas Lehnertz, research associate at the University of Trier for his help with the English translation of this text.]
At the bottom of this folio, a list of medical nature with names for powder, mixture, potion, ointment and pill in Latin in Hebrew characters, abbreviations in Latin for each of the words (such as: powder/pul: פולוזירא; mixture/mix (for mixtura): מיקשטורא ; ointment/ung (for ungentum): אונייענטוס ; pill/dragea translated in Hebrew characters as טרעזטיא ), and another abbreviation in Latin used for all of the words, which looked like the letters ‘fp’. The title above is in Old West Yiddish in Hebrew characters (this text has been partially transcribed by Perles, 1887 and fully transcribed by Ginsburger,1927, p. 490).
f. 256v: - *Two first paragraphs are some notes on currencies and measures and their conversions (both these paragraphs have been transcribed by Ginsburger, 1927, p. 491).
- A segulah or incantation relative to Hulda, a German goddess comparable to Venus, taken from the Tannhäuserliede which was known in Jewish circles according to Perles. Another example was also found in a 15th century Hebrew manuscript from Munich Ms hebr. 235 (Perles, 1887, p. 25). This text was written in Middle High German in Hebrew characters (not Old West Yiddish) to be said 3 times (transcribed by Perles, 1887; see also Timm, 2004, p. 356 and Timm and Beckmann, 2003, pp. 17-21).
- A medical recipe for an ointment for the eyes in Hebrew, mentioning spices like ginger (גינגברא).
- *Paragraph on the Shemitah and Ma’asser
- Medical recipe for gallbladder problems mentioned in Hebrew (המרה) and in Vernacular (קוליש) in Hebrew with names of various medicinal herbs and spices in Old West Yiddish in Hebrew characters (same later hand which wrote the medical recipe in Hebrew with an unknown purpose on f. 257r).
- * Seder ha-mishmarot.
- Two Latin lower-case alphabets ‘a’ to ‘r’ and ‘a’ to ‘v’, with Hebrew vocalized transliteration of the sounds above each letter.
- Latin upper-case alphabet ‘a’ to ‘v’, with Hebrew vocalized transliteration of the sounds above each letter. These three alphabets were clearly written by a Jew, since the Latin letters are clumsily drawn, probably copied from Latin texts and inscriptions. These alphabets are followed by a note in Middle High German by Master Bendel of Ahrweiler* (see owner’s notes).
- Medical recipe in Hebrew without a known purpose mentioned, containing vernacular names for herbs, such as Cabbage leaf (קוליש קרוט), Verbeina leaf (וראוונאן קרוט), Cinnamon (קנילא) and nutmeg (מושקוט). (same later hand which wrote the medical recipe against gallbladder problems on f. 256v).
- Undeciphered note.
- Scratched out note.
- * Three undeciphered notes in the bottom margin.
- moralistic text (?) with repetitive words.
- Medical recipe for the eyes in Hebrew by the same hand as the previous text.
- undisclosed text (hardly legible).
- Tofes ha-Qetubah, marriage contract form, with the title כתובה, dated 14th Adar 5058 (27th February 1298), without any location nor names of the bride and groom.
- Tofes ha-Ḥerem, contract form on the banishment of a member of a Jewish community with the title חרם ושמתא ונדו'.
- * Recipe in Hebrew for Gold painting. There is missing text at the bottom due to the cropped margin (this text has been transcribed by Ginsburger, 1927, p. 491).
- Text on a legal decision relative to a Jew and Gentile, with a fine to be paid of 1 litre of pepper (?) followed by a small gloss underneath.
- Copy of a statement written by Isaac bar Dorbelo (12th c.) about a letter sent by the community of Worms in the Rhineland in the year 960 (ת'ש'ך' לפרט) to the community of Palestine, regarding the arrival of the Messiah that year, along with a question of casuistic nature. The answer to this letter is attributed by the Gaon of Sura, R. Jacob ha-Cohen bar Mordekhai (798 C.E.). The text copied here is known only in two other manuscripts and is considered fraudulent. Furthermore, this copy is lacunary with missing words and a sentence at the end of the text, which are however present in the other two copies. There is also a scribal error after the name of the Gaon, R. Jacob bar Mordekhai, who was not from Russia (ר' יעקב בר' מרדכי מרוסייא) as is copied here, but from Sura in Babylonia (Bücheler, 1902; Perles, 1887; Gil, 1992).
- List enumerating the Egyptian days when bloodletting is prohibited 24 days during the solar year. However, two days differ from the traditional set of days, the first being the 24th May instead of the 25th and the second, falling on the 5th July instead of the 13th (Isserles, 2107). The list is organized according to the ‘Consuetudo Bononiensis’ method, where the first days are counted from the beginning of the month and the second days are counted in retrograde from the end of the month (Steele, 1918-19; Isserles, 2017).
- Calendrical listing of the postponements (גטר''ד) for Rosh ha-Shanah during a non-leap year.
Legatura:
- Bernese brown calf leather Renaissance binding, dated circa 1535-1565. The binding is blindstamped in concentric rectangular patterns, each containing blindstamped figurative patterns (only partially visible). The outer blindstamped frame contains bears holding coats of arms and standing hybrids/ bears holding spears, interspersed by amphoras with flowers. Between the bears are other concentric rectangular frames enclose foliage with floral and arabesque ornamentation. These patterns can be attributed to the Apiarius Brothers’ workshop (see Lindt 1969, p. 35, Nr. 2: Berner Wappenrolle des Johannes Chym, pp. 86-87, Nr. 59, 61, 62). The wooden boards measure 315 x 230 mm. Restored spine with 4 bands. The 2nd inter-band contains illegible title in black ink. The 5th inter-band contains the shelfmark ‘Cod. 200’. Two broken metal clasps remain on the board at the beginning of the volume.
- The flyleaves at the beginning and the end of the volume are watermarked with a Bernese bear (see Lindt, Pl. 3 Nr. 55, 1480-1500).
- Flyleaf Ir encloses the following text by M. Wild (librarian at the Burgerbibliothek in the 17th c.): Aruch sive Dictionarium R. Menahem. Item libellus de gemmis.] Aruch aliud incerti authoris. [Dr. Florian Mittenhuber, curator of the dept. of manuscripts of the Burgerbibliothek in Bern, mentioned that this inscription was originally on the spine of volume and legible before its restoration in October 2001, see small restorer’s note glued on the inner board at the end of the volume.]
- Flyleaf stuck to inner board at the beginning of the volume bears two 16th-17th century inscriptions by Christian Hebraists, one in brown ink and the second in black ink.
- Flyleaves V1v and VIIv bear further 16th-17th century inscriptions by Christian Hebraists, in brown and black ink.
- The back of flyleaf XIII has the shelfmark ‘Cod. 200’ written on it in the top right corner. [Many thanks to Dr. Florian Mittenhuber for the references found in J. Lindt, relative to the origins of the binding of the volume.]
Contenuto:
This medieval Hebrew lexicographical and scientific miscellany is dated 1290 in two colophons and encloses three highly important texts, used as the base for editions and studies. These are: the Maḥberet Menahem by (died c. 970); an anonymous Hebrew prose translation of the very popular lapidary by (12th c.) and an anonymous abridged version of the talmudic and midrashic lexicon entitled Sefer ha-Arukh by (1035-1110), called the Berner Kleinen Arukh. The particularity of this copy is the presence of Old West Yiddish and Old French glosses. Furthermore, among the numerous later notes, there are more significant additions which abound in the blank pages and margins of the manuscript, such as: poems, calendars, a list of weights and currencies destined to apothecaries and physicians, a grammatical treatise, prognostication diagrams, medical recipes, legal texts and a most unusual charm in Middle High German in Hebrew characters, relative to Hulda, a German goddess comparable to Venus, taken from the Tannhäuserliede. Moreover, this manuscript passed through the hands of three Jews, one of them being Bendel von Ahrweiler (15th c.), and three Christian Hebraists, Konrad Pellikan (1478-1554), Johannes Buxdorf II and Samuel Hortin, before being donated by the latter to the BB in 1634. Their respective scriptural witnesses testify to the manuscript’s remarkable stature as an esteemed source of knowledge from the time it was compiled at the end of the 13th century, to its possession by Christian Hebraists in Switzerland during the 16th and 17th centuries.
-
ff. 1r-101v
:
Maḥberet Menahem
(lacunary in the beginning, missing one folio).
This dictionary of the Hebrew language was composed by (died c. 970), a Jewish poet and philologist who spent most of his life in Cordoba. The importance of this dictionary (Maḥberet) named after its author (Menahem), lies within the fact that it was the first complete lexical systematization of the Biblical vocabulary composed in Hebrew. At the time, the prevailing view was the unilateral and bilateral character of Hebrew roots. Later, Ibn Saruq’s student, Judah ben David Hayyuj (c. 945-1000), a Jewish linguist from Morocco, set aside this theory and correctly suggested the triliteral character of Hebrew roots in several treatises in Arabic (three of which will be later translated into Hebrew by Moses Gikatilla (11th c.) and Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089/92-1164/67)). Once this new grammatical theory was established, Hayyuj will be considered as the father of scientific grammar. However, because the Maḥberet Menahem was written in Hebrew, it remained the chief source of philological instruction during the Middle Ages for Jews who were unacquainted with Arabic, especially those in Christian Europe, such as for Rashi (1040-1105), who refers to Menahem Ibn Saruq as a philological authority.
The editions and extant manuscripts of the Maḥberet: Since Filipowski’s 1854 edition of this work (criticized by D. Kaufmann in an article, 1886 and by Saénz-Badillos, 1985, 1986), a more accurate study of the Maḥberet was published in 1986 by the late Angel Saénz-Badillos, as a critical edition which does not depend on the old edition but follows the principles of modern textual criticism, incorporating no less than 11 complete manuscripts, 3 fragmentary manuscripts and 16 Cairo Genizah fragments (Saénz-Badillos, 1985, p. 32). This edition includes, among others, the two oldest extant complete manuscripts, both housed in the British Library (London): Add. Ms 27214, dated 1091 of Italian origin, which agrees with most Genizah fragments in the order of the roots and the contents and Ms Ar.Or.51, dated 1189, which is of Ashkenazi origin and should be considered as stemming from a second transmission of the text coming from central Europe, with a different order of roots and therefore constituting the second group of manuscripts (Saénz-Badillos, 1985, p. 32). According to Saénz-Badillos (1985, p. 33), the extant manuscripts and fragments of the Maḥberet organize the roots in three different main order systems (which form the first group, second group and third later group of manuscripts) and his main conclusion establishes that the order found in the first group including the oldest manuscript Add. Ms 27214, dated 1091 and the Genizah fragments, were the closest to the original ‘standard text’.
Finally, where can the version of the Maḥberet in the Bern Codex 200 be situated in this line of transmission? Already in his 1886 article, David Kaufmann presumed that this text reflected another shorter version of the Maḥberet and tried to defend that there may have been two Urtexts the Maḥberet, one shorter version and one longer more standard version. In reaction to this theory, Saénz-Badillos (1985, p. 35 and ibid., 1986, p. 49) looked for this ‘shorter version’ in several manuscripts but came to the conclusion that there are no traces of a ‘shorter’ original text, and that the text in Codex 200 can neither be considered part of the first, nor the second group of manuscripts mentioned above. Furthermore, even though the text in Codex 200 has many shorter passages of the original text, deliberately shortened by later scribes, it is overall considered an ‘re-elaborated’ manuscript containing many additions and should be inserted into the third group of later manuscripts with many additions (Saénz-Badillos, 1985, p. 36 and ibid.,1986, p. 49).
Lastly, it is noteworthy to add that since the publication of Saénz-Badillos’1986 critical edition, another two fragments of the Maḥberet were recently discovered in bindings of notarial documents in the State Archive of Bologna by Mauro Perani (Perani, pp. 146-147) and which were originally part of a manuscript of the Maḥberet copied in southern Italy during the 11th century, assigned to the scribal school of Otranto. -
ff. 101v-103v
: 5 blank pages at the end of quire XIII enclose poetical, calendrical, astronomical and astrological material with tables, rosters and diagrams (see under ‘Later additions’).
Colophon on folio 101v: Transcription:מן איש חסיד יהי ברוך שסיימתי ספר ערוך ויזכהוTranslation:
חזק ונתחזק הסופר לא יזק
לא היום ולא לעולם עד
שיעלה חמור בסולם
אני ישראל בר' דוד סיימתי
המחברת הזה בשנת נ'
לפרט'Strength and we shall be strengthened this scribe will not cause any damage(equivalent to 1290 C.E.).
Not today or forever until he climbs a ladder on a donkey
I am Israel bar David I finished
This notebook in the year 50 according to the small count.
The exact same expression in the first 3 lines of this colophon seen above are also found in the colophon of Zurich, Braginsky collection, Ms 389 (f. 209v), a 13th century mahzor according to the north French rite. -
ff. 104r-111v
:
Sefer ha-Avanim (Lapidary)
Title transcription: אלו שמות האבנים הטובים כוחם וצבע מראיתם וגבורתם בתבניתם
Title translation: Here are the names of the precious stones, their virtue[s] and colour[s], their aspect and their power when they have their shapes.
This lapidary is a treatise on stones which was recently been studied and edited in an article by Gad Freudenthal and Jean-Marc Mandioso in 2014. It is separated into two distinct sections: the first, describing the properties of 67 gemstones (ff. 104r-108v) and the second, discussing how the gemstones should be handled (ff. 109r-111v) (Steinschneider, p. 957). The incipit/title only refers to the first text (ff. 104r-108v), which is an anonymous Hebrew prose translation of the very popular lapidary by Marbode of Rennes in Old French, originally a Latin poem composed before 1150. (Studer and Evans, pp. XIV-XV; Freudenthal and Mandioso, p. 22-23). The second text (ff. 109r-111v) is not related in any way to the first one and has recently been identified by Katelyn Mesler as a Hebrew translation from Anglo-Norman of the so-called Techel/Azareus Complex.
There are four extant Hebrew lapidaries which are based on the Old French version of Marbode’s lapidary (see Freudenthal and Mandioso, pp. 32-33):- Jacob ben Reuben’s Sefer ha-Osher (preserved in 6 manuscripts, see Freudenthal and Mandioso, p. 33, note 47).
- An anonymous Hebrew translation found in the end of the 13th century biblical manuscript called the Leipzig Glossary (Leipzig, University Library, Ms 1099, which was edited by M. Banitt, pp. 185-195).
- A Hebrew translation by Berachiah ben Natronai ha-Naqdan (12th c.), found in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms Can or. 70 (Neubauer cat. n°1147), ff. 73r-80v (For an edition of this text, see Bos and Zwink; see also Steinschneider, 1893, §572, p. 957 and ibid., 1897, p. 69; see also Visi).
- An anonymous Hebrew translation found in two manuscripts:
Whilst lapidaries in verse were composed possibly as mnemonic devices with an aesthetic purpose for learned physicians and pharmacists, lapidaries in prose were mainly copied by laymen as a source for practical knowledge and concrete application. These texts were often expanded and improved with additions of useful information and can be considered as ‘texts in flux’, as Gad Freudenthal suggests. Furthermore, a good example of this transmission pattern of continually updating a text is this lapidary in prose found in Ms Codex 200, where interlinear and marginal additions have been interpolated to the main text. Furthermore, when another scribe came along and copied the text, he would integrate the additions but not always in the same place, thus creating yet another version (Freudenthal and Madioso, pp. 26-30). To prove this point, a comparison was made between the texts in the Bern manuscript and the Bodleian manuscript Heb. d. 11 and the conclusion was put forth in the words of Gad Freudenthal declaring: “…every time when a lapidary was copied, a new text results, one that was ever further removed from the original.” (Freudenthal and Madioso, p. 31). In other words, the Hebrew version of Marbode’s Lapidary found in Ms Codex 200, should be seen as link in a chain of multiple renderings of this treatise. - f. 112r : Originally blank page [part of quire I (112r-119v) of TU3] filled in partially with the Maḥberet Menaḥem by hand 2 of TU 1, already found on folio 65r. The bottom margin of this page contains later additions (see under ‘Later additions’).
-
Colophon on folio 111v: Transcription:
סליק ספר האבנים הנקרא בלשון לטין לפדריוש
Translation: End of Sefer ha-Avanim named in Latin language Lapidarius. -
ff. 112v-255v
:
Sefer Arukh ha-Qatan
by (1035-1110). Wednesday 11th Shevat (5)050 (Wednesday 24 January 1290)
This work is an abridged version of the talmudic and midrashic lexicon entitled Sefer ha-Arukh. The original work was completed in 1101 by the Natan ben Yehiel of Rome, a member of the Anav family. According to tradition, the Anavs were descended from one of the aristocratic families of Jerusalem, whom Titus had exiled to Rome after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. It is also the first Jewish family in Rome to be known by a surname. Other variants for this name are Degli Manzi, Del Manzi, Umano, Pietosi and Piatelli. Not much is known about his life other than Natan ben Yehiel studied under his father, who was the head of the Yeshiva of Rome. As a young man, Natan ben Yehiel also studied under R. Moses ha-Darshan of Narbonne (11th c.) and other scholars in Bari and Pavia. After his father died, he returned to Rome around 1070 to succeed his him in his position of Rosh Yeshiva in Rome, along with his two brothers. It was during this time that Natan ben Yehiel wrote responsa as well as his magnum opus the Sefer ha-Arukh. Known for his charitable acts, he is known to have commissioned a synagogue and a ritual bathhouse for his community in Rome.
Aside from the fact that this work is one of the landmarks of medieval Italian Jewish learning and the only preserved literary production of Italian Jews from this period in history, the Sefer ha-Arukh preserves many passages and references to earlier lost works. Moreover, this compilation bases itself on the grammatical bilateral scheme of Hebrew roots, established by Menahem Ibn Saruq and subsequently endorsed by the rabbis in Franco-Germany, rather than the principle of triliteral roots, discovered by Judah ben David Hayyuj and adopted by the Spanish grammarians as a rule (see the description of the Maḥberet Menahem above). Furthermore, this multifaceted work reflects Natan ben Yehiel’s immense erudition in the field of medicine, astronomy, mathematics and geometry and above all in linguistics. Accordingly, as a polyglot, Natan ben Yehiel employs along-side the Hebrew, a multitude of vernaculars, such as Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Slavonic and his native Italian, to clarify and explain difficult etymologies found in the Talmud and Midrash.
Once completed, the Sefer ha-Arukh gained a large acceptance, namely among the biblical commentators and Tosafists of Franco-Germany and Italy. Numerous manuscript copies of the work circulated and its first published edition in 1477 (location unknown, then by D. Bomberg in Venice, 1531), enabled an even larger dissemination of it (a modern edition was published by Alexander Kohut in 1878-92). Further proof of the popularity gained by this work is the compiling of many supplements, such as the ‘abbreviated’ Arukh, named the Arukh ha-Katzar or Kitzur Arukh, which only includes the explanation of words, without their etymologies (Ed. Princeps Constantinople, 1511, Cracow, 1591, Prague, 1707). This abridged work is extant in only two manuscripts, the earliest being precisely the one identified in Ms Codex 200, while the later one dates from the 15th century (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, cod. Hebr. 390). The earlier version in Cod. 200, named the Berner Kleinen Arukh, was copied in 1290 by Asher bar Jacob Halevi of Osnabrück, and encloses 318 Old West Yiddish and Old French vocalized glosses, 226 of which are integral to the text, leaving the remainder as marginal or interlinear additions. Of these additions, 67 are by a hand contemporary to the original text and the last 25 are by a later hand (see Frakes, pp. 5-6) (see Kaufmann, 1885 “Buxtorf’s Handschrift”; E. Timm, 1977, 1987, 2004; Perles, 1973; and see edited sample in Frakes, pp. 5-6).
Colophon on folio 255v: Transcription: האל לבעל ביתי לזמן ארוך ללמוד ולהגות בוTranslation:
הוא וזרעו עד סוף כל הימים וזה הספר כתבתי
בשנת החמישים בתוך חמשה שבועות וסיימתיו
בשבט בי'א' בו ביום ד' אני הכותב אשר בר' יעקב
הלוי לבן דודי ר' יצחק בר' אלעזר הלוי חזק ושלם
Amen [to the] pious man, my he be blessed, I finished [the] Book Arukh which grants favor(11th Shevat (5)050 is equivalent to Wednesday 24th January 1290)
To the husband of my daughter to study and to ponder it for a long time
Him and his descendance until the end of days and this is the book which I wrote
In the fiftieth year within five weeks and I finished it
On the 11th of Shevat on Wednesday. I the author Asher bar Jacob Halevi for my cousin R. Itsḥaq son of R. Eleazar Halevi [who is] strong and complete.
- ff. 256r-258v : 6 blank pages at the end of quire XVIII are filled with small paragraphs of different later hands (see under ‘later additions’).
Origine del manoscritto: Itsḥaq bar Eleazar Halevi (1290) was the first owner of this manuscript, written by his cousin the scribe Asher ben Jacob Halevi (colophon of TU3, f. 255v)
Provenienza del manoscritto: Before this manuscript was in Hortin’s possession, this manuscript belonged to the following four owners:
Jewish and Christian owners:
- f. 258v (middle of page):
Transcription: זה הספר יורשל מאבי זצל נאום הוא רפאל בן הר' מהרר' מאיר זל'
Translation: This book was inherited from my father, may his righteous memory be blessed, word of Raphael son of the Rabbi our Master the Rabbi Meir, may his memory be blessed. - Avraham ben Josef ha-Tsadiq (see owner’s note, f. 258v (bottom of page twice, once horizontally, once vertically):
Transcription: אברהם בן החר' יוסף הצדיק סימן
Translation: Avraham ben Joseph ha-Tsadiq sign - Bendel von Ahrweiler (15. Jh.)
- f. 256r: Middle bottom of page, name in Latin characters: bendel dem juden.
- f. 257r: Note in Middle High German, 15th century, by a Jew named Bendel von Ahrweiler: Ich mo[...] ich meyschter bendel von arwiler der jud, ein meyschter von li[...]e virer al meyschter eyn bwerer aler kunscht des er sich […] vermist ze dun sunder arges list un hinder dank.
Translation in German: Ich mo[…] Ich Meister Bendel von Ahrweiler der Jud, ein Meister von alle Meister, ein Bewährer aller Kunst, die er sich […] vermisst zu thun sonder Arglist und Hintergedanken.
Translation in English: I Mo […], I Master Bendel of Ahrweiler the Jew, Master of […] before all Masters, a protector of all Arts, which he […] aims to do without any guile and ulterior motive. [Many thanks to Prof. Christoph Flüeler, University of Fribourg and Dr. Andreas Lehnertz, research associate at Hebrew University, Jerusalem for their help with the transcription and translations of this text].
- Konrad Pellikan (1478-1554), Christian Hebraist (see owner’s note, f. 101v, 111r)
- Johannes Buxtorf ‘The Younger’ (1599-1664), Christian Hebraist and son of Johannes Buxtorf ‘The Elder’ (1564-1629).This manuscript was known to have been loaned by Samuel Hortin, librarian of the Burgerbibliothek, to Johannes Buxtorf ‘The Younger’ and was used by the latter for his Lexicon Chaldaicum Talmudicum et Rabbinicum (Basel, 1639) (see Kaufmann, 1885, “Buxdorfs Aruchhanschrift”; Burnett, « Christian Hebraism », 131, n. 153 where this loan is attested in an epistolary exchange between Hortin and Buxtorf II).
Acquisizione del manoscritto: This manuscript has been preserved in the Burgerbibliothek in Bern since 1634, date at which the owner at the time, Samuel Hortin (1589-1652), donated it to the library along with 8 other Hebrew manuscripts from his possession. This manuscript was listed in Hortin’s Clavis bibliothecae Bongarsianae (1634) catalogue of the Jacques Bongars (1554-1612) collection which also entered the library in 1634. This highly important collection includes 650 medieval and Early Modern manuscripts, as well as about 150 fragments from monasteries in and around Orleans and Strasbourg.
Folio 1r: Round black Stamp of the Bibliotheca Bernensis (27mm) (see Agnes Wegmann, Schweizer Exlibris (Zürich 1933-1937), #573 "nach 1600").
Folio 1r: Round black Stamp of the Bibliotheca Bernensis (27mm) (see Agnes Wegmann, Schweizer Exlibris (Zürich 1933-1937), #573 "nach 1600").
Thanks
- Many thanks to Dr. Florian Mittenhuber, for sharing several of the following bibliographical references with me: S. Engel, H. Hagen, S. Hortin, J. Lindt, J. R. Sinner, A. Wegmann, M. Wild
Catalogues in manuscript form:
- S. Engel, Katalog "Manuscripta", hs., 1740, [BBB Mss.h.h. III 110], f. 9r: '200. Aruch sive Dictionarium R. Menachem. Item Aruch al[iud] incerti authoris. M[embr.]'
- S. Hortin, Clavis bibliothecae Bongarsianae MDCXXXIIII. Bern 1634 [= BBB Cod. A 5], p. 80c: [Sign.] 'XII.9. R. Menachen. Dictionarium in membrana. f.'
- M. Wild, Catalogus Librorum Bibliothecae Civicae Bernensis MDCIIIC. Bern 1697 [= BBB Cod. A 4] f. 28r: '200. Aruch s[ive] Dictionarium R. Menahen. Item libellus de gemmis. Aruch aliud incerti authoris. f.'
Printed catalogues and secondary literature:
- M. Banitt (ed.), Le Glossaire de Leipzig, vol. 1: Texte (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1995).
- G. Bos and J. Zwink, Berakhyah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan. Sefer Koah ha-Avanim (On the Vitrue of the Stones). Hebrew Text and English Translation (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2010).
- A. Bücheler, « Rédaction d’Isaac b. Durbelo sur une consultation envoyée par les juifs du Rhin en l’an 960 aux communautés de Palestine », Revue des études juives 44 (1902), pp. 237-243.
- S. G. Burnett, From Christian Hebraism to Jewish Studies. Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629) and Hebrew Learning in the Seventeenth Century (Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, 1994)
- J. M. Delgado, « The Philosophical Backround of the Andalusian Hebrew Grammar (10th Century) », Zutot (2003), pp. 42-48.
- E. Engel, M. Beit-Arié, Specimens of Mediaeval Hebrew Scripts: Ashkenazic Script (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Science and Humanities: 2017), pp. 26, 27, 97.
- Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem, Keter Publishing House, 1973), vol. 2, p. 470, s.v. « Ahrweiler »; vol. 12, pp. 859-860, s.v. « Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome ».
- E. Ewald and L. Dukes, Beiträge zur Geschichte der ältesten Auslegung und Spracherklärung des A.T., vol. II (Stuttgart: 1844).
- H. E. Filipowski (ed.), Menahem ben Saruq, Maḥberet Menaḥem (London 1854) (Jerusalem 1968, supplement: Biography of the Author, the First Hebrew Lexicographer, The Celebrated Rabbi Menahem Ben Saruk).
- M. Gil, A History of Palestine, 634-1099, Translated from the Hebrew by Ethel Broido (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1992), p. 498.
- J. C. Frakes, Early Yiddish Texts 1100-1750: with Introduction and Commentary, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 5-6.
- O. Franz-Klauser, « Burgerbibliothek Bern. Die hebraïschen Handschriften, Verzeichnis mit Einleitung», Judaica: Beiträge zum Verstehen des Judentums, 55, (1999), pp. 23-24 (description n°27).
- G. Freudenthal and J.-M. Mandioso, « Old French into Hebrew in Twelfth Century Tsarfat: Medieval Hebrew Versions of Marbode’s Lapidary », Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism, 14.1, (2014), pp. 11-187.
- M. Ginsburger, « Bendel Ahrweiler », Hebrew Union College Annual (1927), vol. 4, pp. 487-491.
- H. Hagen, Catalogus codicum bernensium (Bibliotheka Bongarsiana) (Hildesheim: 1974, reprint), pp. 247–248.
- K. Herrmann, « Re-written Mystical Texts: The transmission of the Heikhalot Literature in the Middle Ages », Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, vol. 75. 3 (1993), p. 99-100, 112.
- J. Isserles, « Some Hygiene and Dietary Calendars in Hebrew Manuscripts from Medieval Ashkenaz », in Time, Astronomy and Calendars in the Jewish Tradition, Charles Burnett and Sacha Stern (eds.) (Leiden: Brill, 2014), pp. 273-326 (esp. pp. 276-277).
- J. Isserles, « Bloodletting and Medical Astrology in Hebrew Manuscripts from Medieval Western Europe », Sudhoffs Archiv: Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, vol. 101, 1 (2017) 2-41.
- J. Isserles, Catalogue des manuscrits hébreux de la Bibliothèque de Genève, notices et commentaires (Genève : 2016, revised edition 2021), published online: https://archives.bge-geneve.ch/ark:/17786/vta3485ae1cf4b675b6.
- E. Kanarfogel, Peering through the Lattices, Mystical, Magical and Pietistic Dimensions in the Tosafist Period (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000).
- D. Kaufmann, « Rabbi Baruch so-called of Ahrweiler and his Poems » (Hebrew), in (ed. Nachum Sokolow) ha-Assif: Yearbook (Warsaw: 1885), pp. 293-299.
- D. Kaufmann, «Buxdorfs Aruchhandschrift, wiederaufgefunden», Monatszeitschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 34 (1885), pp. 185-192; 225-233.
- D. Kaufmann, « Das Wörterbuch Menachem Ibn Saruk’s nach Codex Bern 200 », Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (ZDMG) (1886), pp. 367-409 (part. pp. 374-376).
- A. Kohut (ed.), Nathan filio Jechielis. Aruch Completum sive lexicon Targumicis, Talmudicis et Midraschicis, 8 vols. and supplement (Vienna and New York: 1878–92).
- J. Lindt, Berner Einbände, Buchbinder und Buchdrucker. Beiträge zur Buchkunde des 15. bis 19. Jahrhundert (Bern: Bibliothek des Schweizerischen Gutenbergmuseums 3, 1969).
- A. Maimon and Y. Guggenehim, Germania Judaica, 1350-1519, vol. III, 1 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003), pp. 5-6.
- Marbode of Rennes (1035-1123), De lapidibus, (ed). John M. Riddle (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1977) (Sudhoff’s Archiv. Beiheft 20). Review by Herbert Bloch, Speculum 57 (1982), pp. 914-916.
- Medieval Science, Technology and Medicine, an Encyclopedia, (eds.) Th. Glick, S. J. Livesey, F. Wallis (New York, London: Routledge, 2005), pp. 306-307, s.v. « Lapidaries ».
- K. Mesler, «The Medieval Lapidary of Techel/Azareus on Engraved Stones and Its Jewish Appropriations », Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism, 14.2 (2014), pp. 75-143.
- P. Moinat, Marbode, poème des pierres précieuses, XIe siècle, traduit du latin, présenté et annoté…, followed by Une lecture symboliste des lapidaires médiévaux by C. Louis-Combet (Grenoble : 1996).
- M. Perani, « Fragments of Linguistics Works from the Italian Geniza », in A Univesral Art. Hebrew Grammar Across Disciplines and Faiths (eds.) Nadia Vidro, I. E. Zwiep, J. Olszowy-Schlanger (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2014), pp. 137-166 (part. pp. 144, 146-149).
- J. Perles, « Die Berner Handschrift des Kleinen Aruch », in Jubelschrift zum 70. Geburtstag von Dr. Heinrich Graetz (Hildesheim, New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 1973), pp. 1-38 (Breslau:1887).
- J. Prijs, Die hebräischen Handschriften in der Schweiz: Katalog der hebräischen Handschriften in den Schweizer öffentlichen Bibliotheken … redigiert auf Grund der Beschreibungen von Joseph Prijs (Basel: 2018), pp. 409-410 (descriptions of 13 Hebrew mss of the Burgerbibliothek, Bern, by O. Franz-Klauser added at the end of the catalogue, since Prijs did not know of their existence).
- A. Saénz-Badillos, « A New Critical Edition of the ‘Mahberet Menahem’», in Proceedings of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem, August 4-12, 1985), division D, 1086, pp. 31-36.
- A. Saénz-Badillos (ed.), Menahem Ben Saruq Mahberet. Edición crítica e introducción (Grenada: University of Grenada, 1986).
- M. Saruq ben, Sefer Maḥberet Menaḥem. See a printed version (London, Edinburgh, 1854), held at Harvard College Library: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hwmki1;view=1up;seq=113, accessed 14.01.2019)
- J. R. Sinner, Catalogus codicum mss. bibliothecae Bernensis, 3 vols. (Bern: 1760-1772), vol. 3, p. 332.
- C. Sirat, « Les pierres précieuses et leur prix au XVe siècle en Italie d’après un manuscrit hébreu », Annales, September-October 1968, pp. 1067-1085.
- R. Steele, « Dies Aegyptiaci », Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 12 (1918-1919), pp. 108-121 (esp. p. 110).
- M. Steinschneider, Die Hebraeischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher. Ein Beitrag zur Literaturgeschichte des Mittelalters, Meist nach Handschriftlichen Quellen (Berlin: 1893), §572, pp. 956-957, « Marbod».
- M. Steinschneider, « Lapidarien, ein Kulturgeschichtlicher Versuch », in Semitic Studies in Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut (Berlin: S. Calvary, 1897), pp. 42-72.
- P. Studer and J. Evans, Anglo-Norman Lapidaries (Paris: Édouard Champion, 19241; Geneva: Slatkine, 19762), pp. XIV-XV.
- I. Ta-Shma, « ͑Al kamah ͑ inyanei Maḥzor Vitry » (Hebrew), Alei Sefer, 11, (April 1984/85), pp. 81-89.
- E. Timm, « Die Jiddische Sprachmaterialen aus dem Jahre 1290, Die Glossen des Berner kleinen Aruch, Edition und Kommentar», in Trierer Beiträge, Sonferheft 2 (1977), pp. 16-34.
- E. Timm, Graphische und phonische Struktur des Westjiddischen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Zeit um 1600 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1987) (Hermaea 52), pp. 388 and 437.
- E. Timm and G. A. Beckmann, Frau Holle, Frau Percht und verwandte Gestalten (Stuttgart: S. Hirzel Verlag, 2003), pp. 17-21.
- E. Timm, « The Early History of the Yiddish Language », in The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries): Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Speyer 20-25 October 2002, (ed.) Ch. Cluse (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), pp. 353-364, part. p. 356.
- T. Visi, « Berachiah ben Natronai ha-Naqdan’s Dodi ve-Nekdi and the Transfer of Scientific Knowledge from Latin to Hebrew in the Twelfth Century », Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism, 14.2 (2014), pp. 9-73.
- A. Wegmann, Schweizer Exlibris (Zurich: 1933-1937), #573.
- L. Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur, vol. 1 (Berlin: Veit, 1845), p. 568.