Rashi Linguist Despite Himself

The commentary on the Torah of the eleventh-century French rabbi, Solomon Yishaqi of Troyes (better known as Rashi), is one of the major texts of mediaeval Judaism. Rashi's commentary has enjoyed an almost canonical status among many traditional Jews from mediaeval times to the present day. The popularity of his Torah commentary is often ascribed to Rashi's skillful combination of traditional midrashic interpretations of Scripture with observations on the language employed therein. In this respect, Rashi is often presented as a linguist or grammarian. This book presents a critical reappraisal of this issue through a close reading of Rashi's commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. Falling into two major sections, Part One (Contexts) presents a theoretical framework for the detailed study in Part Two (Texts), which forms the main core of the book by presenting a detailed analysis of Rashi's commentary on the book of Deuteronomy.

Breaking away from previously rigid descriptions of the linguistic system of the English language, Crossing Linguistic Boundaries explores fascinating case studies which refuse to fall neatly within the traditional definitions of linguistic domains and boundaries. Bringing together leading international scholars in English linguistics, this volume focusses on these controversies in relation to seeking to overcome the temporal and geographical limits of the English language. Approaching tensions in the areas of English phonology and phonetics, pragmatics, semantics, morphology and syntax, chapters discuss not only British and American English but also a wide variety of geographical variants. Containing synchronic and diachronic studies covering different periods in the history of English, Crossing Linguistic Boundaries will appeal to anyone interested in linguistic variation in English.

Originally published as the Continuum Companion to Historical Linguistics, this book brings together a number of leading scholars who provide a combination of different approaches to current and new issues in historical linguistics, while supplying an exhaustive and up-to-date coverage of sub-fields traditionally regarded as central to historical linguistics research. The editors aim to build a solid background for further discussion and to indicate directions for new research on relevant open questions. The book includes coverage of key terms, a list of resources, and sections on: - history of research- methodology- phonology- morphology- grammatical categories- syntax- grammaticalization- semantics - etymology- language contact- sociolinguistics- causes of language change It is a complete resource for researchers working on historical linguistics.

Contains the complete Hebrew text of Rashi's (1040-1105) commentary transcribed from the Vienna Hebrew manuscript 220, considered one of the most reliable; a fully annotated translation into modern idiomatic English; and a 40-page introduction to the work and the author. Also argues that the scholar from Troyes in northern France, whose name is an acronym for Rabbi Soloman son of Isaac, was in fact born in 1030. The Hebrew version is appended to the English, which includes both hints to meaning within the text itself and extensive footnotes explaining Rashi's sources and interpretations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR