I have always loved the Holy Tongue: Isaac Casaubon, the Jews, and a Forgotten Chapter in Renaissance Scholarship (Carl Newell Jackson Lectures)

393 Pages·2011·1.71 MB·English

by  Anthony Grafton

“I have always loved the Holy Tongue”
based on the
carl newell jackson lectures

“I have always loved the Holy Tongue”
Isaac Ca sau bon, the Jews, and a
Forgotten Chapter in Renaissance Scholarship
y
Anthony Grafton Joanna Weinberg
with alastair hamilton
The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
cambridge, massachusetts london, en gland 2011
Copyright © 2011 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Grafton, Anthony.
“I have always loved the holy tongue” : Isaac Ca sau bon, the Jews, and a forgotten chapter
in Renaissance scholarship / Anthony Grafton, Joanna Weinberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 674- 04840- 9 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Ca sau bon, Isaac, 1559–1614. 2. Old Testament scholars—Biography.
3. Christian Hebraists—Biography. 4. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—
History—16th century. 5. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—
History—17th century. I. Weinberg, Joanna, 1949– II. Title.
PA85.C3G73 2011
296.092—dc22
[B] 2010012951
To the memory of A. M. Meyer

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
A Note to Readers xi
1 Rabbi Isaac Ca sau bon
A Hellenist Meets the Jews 1
2 How Ca sau bon Read Hebrew Texts 60
3 Wider Horizons in Hebraic Studies 121
4 Ca sau bon and Baronio
Early Chris tian i ty in a Jewish Setting 164
5 The Teller and the Tale
What Ca sau bon Learned from Jews 231
Appendix 1
The Long Apprenticeship 293
Cas au bon and Arabic
by alastair hamilton
Appendix 2
Ca sau bon on the Masoretic Text 307
Appendix 3
Ca sau bon’s Hebrew and Judaic Library 329
Glossary 333
Bibliography 335
Acknowledgments 367
Index 369

Illustrations
1.1 Ca sau bon’s copy of Calvin’s catechism, in Hebrew 2
1.2 Ca sau bon’s copy of Kimhi’s Sefer Mikhlol 3
1.3 Ca sau bon’s working copy of Polybius 25
1.4 Hebrew note in a working copy of Theophrastus’
Characters 28
1.5 Ca sau bon’s copy of Hermes Trismegistus 32
1.6 Ca sau bon’s copy of a Hebrew prayerbook 46
1.7 Ca sau bon’s copy of a blessing from the Roman Mahzor 47
1.8 Ca sau bon’s transcription of Psalm 119 53
1.9 Note in Ca sau bon’s copy of Sefer Hasidim 56
1.10 Note in Ca sau bon’s copy of Calvin’s catechism, in Hebrew 58
2.1 Ca sau bon’s copy of Samuel di Uceda’s Midrash Shemuel 61
2.2 Notes in Latin and in cursive Hebrew, in Ca sau bon’s
copy of Mercier’s edition of the minor prophets 69
2.3 Ca sau bon’s list of books to be sent on from Paris to London 70
2.4 Notes on Proverbs 72
2.5 Ca sau bon’s copy of Chevalier’s Hebrew grammar 74
2.6 Ca sau bon’s copy of Mercier’s edition of the minor prophets 76
2.7 Colophon to Ca sau bon’s notes on Elijah Mizrahi 77
2.8 Beginning of Ca sau bon’s notes on Elijah Mizrahi 79
2.9 Notes on Jewish exegetical techniques in
Kimhi’s Sefer Mikhlol 88