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Home » Bible Encyclopedias » The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia » Letter P

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Pseudonymous Literature and Writers

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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The habit of adopting literary disguises is a very old one in Hebrew literature. According to the views of higher criticism, there are a large number of books of the Old Testament which might be included under the foregoing heading. The cabalists of later days often chose the names of Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiba, whom tradition celebrated as the greatest teachers of esoteric doctrines. But the choice of names was not always as appropriate as in these instances. No one, for example, can tell why the "Sefer Yeẓirah" should have been ascribed to Abraham, and the "Sifra di-Ẓeni'uta," to Jacob. In these instances, however, it must be borne in mind that the pseudo-authorship is perhaps the invention of a later day, and that the books were originally anonymous (Zunz, "G. V." 1892, p. 175).

The employment of pseudonyms may be said to have been more in vogue among authors of imaginative and mystic writings, while those who wrote halakic works, If they did not acknowledge their authorship, left them anonymous. In their search for great names the pseudonymous writers not only leaped over centuries, but even ascended to heaven. Thus the "Sefer Raziel" is ascribed to an angel of that name.

Early Instances.

The pseudonymous literature of the Middle Ages is too extensive to be treated here exhaustively. The best-known works, besides those already mentioned, are: the "Otiyyot de-Rabbi 'Aḳiba"; the "Sefer Baḥir," ascribed to Neḥunya b. ha-Ḳanah; the "Sefer ha-Taggin," ascribed to R. Ishmael b. Elisha or to the high priest Eli (Zunz, c. p. 418, note b); and the Zohar, ascribed to R. Simeon b. Yoḥai. This last-named work is perhaps the greatest literary forgery of all times, considering the influence it exerted upon the Jewish people. Of a different character, but no less popular, were the two pseudonymous books "Yosippon," ascribed to Josephus, and the "Sefer ha-Yashar," said to have been found during the destruction of the Second Temple.

In modern times the use of literary disguises has been more widely adopted; but, at the same time,the number of literary forgeries has considerably diminished. Perhaps the last great literary forgery was the "Besamim Rosh" (Berlin, 1793) of R. Saul Berlin, which he ascribed to R. Asher b. Jehiel. Authors have now more often cause to conceal their identity; but the names they assume generally hold, as it were, the real name in solution.

Methods of Formation.

The most ordinary class of pseudonyms is that which is composed either of the initial or the final letters of the author's real name. Such, for instance, is AB (="father") for Abraham Berliner, and HaBeṬ (= "look")for Solomon Löb Rapoport. Occasionally an author will hide his identity under an anagram, composed of the letters which, in the arrangement of the alphabet, immediately precede or follow the initials or final letters of his name. Thus the pseudonym , which Abraham Baer Dobsewitch () employed, is composed of letters which in the alphabet immediately follow the final letters of his name. Another common method of forming pseudonyms is metathesis, e.g., for . Sometimes the pseudonym is nothing more than a Hebrew translation of the author's family name, as Ish Maḥshabot for Trachtmann. Less frequent is the pseudonym based on a Biblical allusion, as Ben Tamar for J. L. Perez, an allusion to Genesis 38:29. Still rarer is the pseudonym based on another pseudonym. This is met with in cases where a writer well known under one pseudonym forms another out of the first. Thus A. S. Friedberg, known under the pseudonym Har Shalom, often signs himself , which is an abbreviation of his pseudonym. The most complicated pseudonym, formed by a combination of several of the above-mentioned methods, is , which is the nom de plume of Joseph Brill of Minsk. By metathesis stands for "the native of Minsk," and for , according to 2 Samuel 2:13: and , again, contains the initials of . Finally, there are pseudonyms entirely independent of the author's name, but indicative of the writer's attitude, as Aḥad ha-'Am ("one of the people") for Asher Günzburg, while others are rare Biblical names, as Buḳḳi ben Yogli (Numbers 34:22), the pen-name of J. L. Katzenelson.

In the selected list of pseudonyms that follows here only those pen-names have been included which have been used by the authors themselves, or which, through long usage, have become inseparably associated with an author's works, as, for example, Rashi, which is always used for R. Solomon of Troyes when mention is made of his writings. Pennames like for Abraham ibn Ezra, for Abraham Geiger, or for De Rossi, belong rather to abbreviations and nicknames. Every name in the subjoined list is followed by a corroborative source, except in such well-known pseudonyms as require no corroboration. The letters within parentheses, refer to these sources as given in the bibliography at the end of this article. It should be added that, since the following list is bilingual, some of the letters of the pseudonyms must, of necessity, appear unrepresented in the real name, and, furthermore, that the letters א, ד, ה, ם, נ, ר of the pseudonym are not reproduced in the real name when they stand for . The same holds good for any combination of these words.

Authors and Their Pseudonyms.
Bibliography:
  • Benjacob, Oẓarha-Sefarim [quoted in the foregoing article as Bj.];
  • G. H. Händler, Lexikon der Abbreviaturen als Anhang zu Dalman's Aramäisch-Neuhebräisches Wörterbuch [D.]:
  • L. Löwenstein, Abbreviaturen ( , pp. 255-264, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1903) [L.]:
  • M. Mortara, Indicc [M.];
  • M. Roest, , Amsterdam, 1867 [R.]:
  • M. Sablotzki, , Berdychev, 1902 [S.];
  • M. Schwab, Initiales et Pseudonymes Hébreur, in Répertoire, Supplement, pp. 200-207, Paris, 1903 [Sch.];
  • D. Simonsen, Abgekürzte Hebräische Schriftstellernamen, in Zeit. für Hebr. Bibl. 4:87-92 [Si.];
  • N. Sokolow, , Warsaw, 1890 [So.];
  • Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. [C. B.], pp. , ,;
  • idem, Hebr. Bibl. [H. B.] 16:65; 21:103;
  • L. Wiener, The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century. pp. 383-384, New York, 1899;
  • S. Wiener, [W.], St. Petersburg, 1893;
  • Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels. Leipsic, 1891-95 [Z.];
  • Fürst, Bibl. Jud. [F.];
  • Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. [Zed.]. Essays on the literature: N. H. Getzow, in , pp. 158-162;
  • S. Lauterbach, in , 1:61-64;
  • I. S. Reggio, (Letter 1);
  • J. H. Schorr, in , ,;
  • L. Schulmann, in , 2:104.
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Bibliography Information
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Pseudonymous Literature and Writers'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​p/pseudonymous-literature-and-writers.html. 1901.
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