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book: The Masorah of Elijah ha-Naqdan
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The Masorah of Elijah ha-Naqdan

An Edition of Ashkenazic Micrographical Notes
  • Élodie Attia
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2015
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Following Levita’s statement, the Masorah transmitted by medieval illuminated manuscripts was generally considered as less significant for the study of the biblical and masoretical knowledge in the Jewish world. The biblical codices produced in Ashkenaz were considerably disregarded compared to Spanish codices. Challenging this assertion, this work engages in a reflection on the link between the standard Eastern tradition and the Ashkenazic biblical text-culture of the 13th century.

Élodie Attia provides an edition of thirteen cases taken from MS Vat. Ebr. 14, offering the oldest series of Masoretic notes written inside figurative and ornamental designs. Its critical apparatus offers an unprecedented comparison with the oldest Eastern and Ashkenazic sources to evaluate if the scribe paid more attention to aesthetic details than to the textual contents.

In an unexpected way, the Masoretic notes of Elijah ha-Naqdan, even written in figurative forms, show a close philological link with the Masorah of the eastern Tiberian sources and prove that the presence of figurative elements neither represents a loss nor a distortion of Masoretic knowledge, but rather illustrates a development in the Masoretic tradition.

Author / Editor information

Élodie Attia, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.

Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 14, 2015
eBook ISBN:
9783110417920
Hardcover published on:
December 18, 2015
Hardcover ISBN:
9783110417913
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
10
Main content:
164
Illustrations:
2
Coloured Illustrations:
50
Tables:
3
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