--title of the Latin translation of Judah Halevi's book about the Khazars, which appeared in 1660. The translator, John Buxtorf (1599-1664), gave a comparative Hebrew version along with his own Latin translation. Buxtorf was the son of a father who carried the same name and surname and was introduced to the biblical, rabbinical, and mediaeval Hebrew language at an early age. He also translated Maimonides into Latin (Basel, 1629) and took part in lengthy public debate with Louis Capella on biblical diacritical marks and letters denoting vowels. He published his translation of Halevi's book in 1660, and the forward shows that he worked from the Venetian editions of ben Tibbon's Hebrew translation. Like Halevi, he believed that vowels are the souls of letters and that there are three vowels to each of the twenty-two consonants. Reading is really like trying to hit one tossed stone with another; the consonants are the stones, the vowels their velocity. In his opinion, seven numbers were brought onto Noah's ark during the flood, and they were shaped like a dove because it can count to seven. But these numbers bore the mark of vowels, not consonants.
Title Page of Halevi's Book on the Khazars
Although known of since 1577, the "Khazar Correspondence" did not reach the broader public until Buxtorf's 1660 translation of Halevi, to which he appended Hasdai Ibn Shaprut's letter and Khazar King Joeseph's reply.
| Previous Entry | Main Index | Next Entry |