Tzemach David / Dittionario Novo Hebraico [trilingual lexicon]

DE POMIS, DAVID OF SPOLETO

Giovanni di Gara

Venice

1587

FIRST EDITION. Arms of Pope Sixtus V on f. 2r and heraldic crest of the de Pomis (“Min Hatapuchim”) Family on f.5v. (Yaari, Hebrew Printers’ Marks, no. 41). On final blank, inscription of censor, “Camillo Jaghel, 1629.” (Cf. Wm. Poppers, The Censorship of Hebrew Books, Plate IV, No. 2)

Vinograd, Venice 717; Habermann, di Gara 97a; Adams P-1823

Celebrated Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Italian dictionary presenting definitions from Kimchi’s Shorashim, Levita’s Tishbi, and Nathan ben Yechiel’s Aruch, within which are numerous historical and scientific observations and discourses. Trained as a medical doctor, de Pomis’s expositions of Biblical and Talmudic terms comprise a good deal of curious and interesting medieval scientific lore. The introductory pages embody the author’s genealogy and autobiography, and recount the remakable history of the ancient de Pomis family, brought in chains to Italy from the Land of Israel by Emperor Titus following his destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. In his memoirs, the distinguished historian Arnaldo Momigliano recalls as a child having daily used the Tzemach David dictionary. See A. Momigliano, Essays on Ancient and Modern Judaism (Chicago, 1994), p. 124