MENAHEM BEN SARUQ

born c. 910, , Tortosa, Independent Moorish States died c. 970, , Crdoba? in full Menahem ben Jacob ibn Saruq, Saruq also spelled Saruk Jewish lexicographer and poet who composed the first Hebrew-language dictionary, a lexicon of the Bible; earlier biblical dictionaries were written in Arabic and translated into Hebrew. After travelling to Crdoba, a city in Moorish Spain, Menahem became a protg of Isaac, the father of Hisdai ibn Shaprut, (q.v.) who was to become a powerful Jewish statesman in Crdoba. After Isaac's death, Hisdai employed Menahem as his literary secretary. Menahem composed the historic letter Hisdai sent to Joseph, king of the Khazars, inquiring about the Khazars' conversion to Judaism. Hisdai also encouraged Menahem to compile his famous dictionary. It was severely criticized by a rival philologist and poet, Dunash ben Labrat, who, by his bitter attacks, succeeded in turning Hisdai against Menahem. Menahem probably died not long after his fall from favour. Dunash's attack provoked a counterattack by Menahem's pupils, one of whom, Judah ben David Hayyuj, was a major Hebrew grammarian. Menahem's dictionary, the Mahberet (from haber, to join), despite its faults, did have many virtues and remained in use for many years. He established that Hebrew is a language with definite, discoverable rules, and he illustrated his principles with many elegantly phrased examples. His dictionary was an invaluable aid to Bible study for European Jews who could not read Arabic.