Moses Kimhi
MOSES KIMHI was the author of a Hebrew grammar, known after the first three words as Mahalak Shebile Ha-daat,or briefly as Mahalak. It is an elementary introduction to the study of Hebrew, the first of its kind, in which only the most indispensable definitions and rules have a place, the remainder being almost wholly occupied by paradigms. Moses Kimhi was the first who made the verb paqadh a model for conjugation, and the first also who introduced the now usual sequence in the enumeration of stem-forms. His handbook was of great historical importance as in the first hah' of the 16th century it became the favourite manual for the study of Hebrew among non-Judaic scholars (isted., Pesaro, 1508). Elias Levita (q.v.) wrote Hebrew explanations, and Sebastian Munster translated it into Latin. Moses Kimhi also composed commentaries to the biblical books; those on Proverbs, Ezra and Nehemiah are in the great rabbinical bibles falsely ascribed to Abraham ibn Ezra.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
