(RaDa”K). Sepher ha-Shorashim [“Book of Roots;” Biblical lexicon and grammar]

KIMCHI, DAVID

Marco Antonio Giustiniani

Venice

1547

Printed in two columns. Title within woodcut architectural arch. Hebrew words occasionally provided with nikud (vowel points). Sidebars contain Latin equivalents. Initial words within woodcut design. On title, former owners' inscriptions

Vinograd, Venice 330; Habermann, Adelkind 44; Adams K-46

An uncensored copy. Unusually, this edition of Kimchi’s fundamental lexicographical work explicitly retains the word “Notzrim” and other references. Under the entry “elem” (column 361), the author, quoting his father R. Joseph Kimchi, derides the Christian assertion that the word “almah” (a young girl) found in Isaiah Chap 7:14 refers to a virgin birth. Remarkably, the passage has survived intact. In most other copies, the offending lines were vehemently struck out by the ever-watchful Church censor.