DUNASH BEN TAMIM

born c. 900 died c. 960 also called Adonim, or Abu Sahl Jewish physician and one of the first scholars to make a comparative study of the Hebrew and Arabic languages. He practiced medicine at the Fatimid court of al-Qayrawan, (now in Tunisia) and, like other educated Jews of his time, was versed in Hebrew. The work for which he is best known was written in Arabic, but the original was lost and it is known only in Hebrew translation. In it he advanced the view that Hebrew is an older language than Arabic, which he also considered to be a corruption of Hebrew. He was frequently quoted by Muslim writers.