Bible Encyclopedias
Judah ben Solomon Harizi

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Judah ben Samuel Halevi

Next Entry
Judas Iscariot

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

JUDAH BEN SOLOMON HARIZI (13th cent.), called also AL-Harizi, a Spanish Hebrew poet and traveller. He translated from the Arabic to Hebrew some of the works of Maimonides and also of the Arab poet Hariri. His own most considerable work was the Tahkemoni, composed between 1218 and 1220. This is written in Hebrew in unmetrical rhymes, in what is commonly termed "rhymed prose." It is a series of humorous episodes, witty verses, and quaint applications of Scriptural texts. The episodes are bound together by the presence of the hero and of the narrator, who is also the author. Harizi not only brought to perfection the art of applying Hebrew to secular satire, but he was also a brilliant literary critic and his makame on the Andalusian Hebrew poets is a fruitful source of information.

See, on the Tahkemoni, Kaempf, Nicht-andalusische Poesie andalusischer Dichter (Prague, 1858). In that work a considerable section of the Tahkemoni is translated into German. (I. A.)