David ben Abraham al-Fasi

David ben Abraham al-Fasi was a Jewish, Moroccan lexicographer from Fez, living in the second half of the 10th century. He belonged to the sect of the Karaites, and displayed skills as a grammarian and commentator.

Al-Fasi was the author of Kitab Jami al-Alfaz (Arabic: book containing a collection of words), a Hebrew-Arabic Dictionary.[1] It is the first dictionary of biblical Hebrew. He classifies the roots according to the number of their letters, as did the grammarians prior to Judah Hayyūj.

Al-Fasi's dictionary was later abridged by Levi b. Yefet, a native of Jerusalem, and his abridgment was, in turn, epitomized by 'Alī b. Suleimān, also of Jerusalem.

References

  1. Solomon Skoss, The Hebrew-Arabic Dictionary of the Bible known as Kitab Jami al-Alfaz (Agron) of David ben Abraham Al-Fasi, the Karaite (New Haven: Yale UP 1936-1945), pp. XXXV-ff.
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