Elia Levita (13 February 1469 – 28 January 1549), (Hebrew: אליהו בן אשר בחור) also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Eliahu Bakhur ("Eliahu the Bachelor") was a Renaissance-period Hebrew grammarian, poet and one of the first writers in the Yiddish language. Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Events 1077 - Walk to Canossa: The Excommunication of Henry IV Holy Roman Emperor is lifted The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High He was the author of the Bovo-Bukh (written in 1507–1508), the most popular chivalric romance written in Yiddish, which, according to Sol Liptzin, is "generally regarded as the most outstanding poetic work in Old Yiddish". The Bovo-Bukh ("Bovo book" also known as Baba Buch, etc Chivalric order Chivalry is a term related to the Medieval institution of Knighthood. As a Literary genre of High culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic Prose and verse Narrative ^[1]

A page from Levita's Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary

Born at Neustadt near Nuremberg, he was the youngest of nine brothers. Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Neustadt an der Aisch (Neustadt/A is a small town in the northern part of Bavaria (Germany within the Franconian administrative region During his early manhood, the Jews were expelled from this area. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ He lived in Venice for a time after 1496, where he was one of the most important figures of the flourishing of Yiddish literature, before the descendants of the Ashkenazic Jews who had emigrated this area adopted the local Italian speech. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim ( Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים, ˌaʃkəˈnazim sing Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. ^[2]

During these years, Levita scratched out a living as an entertainer. After Venice, he relocated to Padua (1504), where he wrote the 650 ottava rima stanzas of the Bovo-Bukh, based on the popular romance Buovo d'Antona, which, in turn, was based on the Anglo-Norman romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton. Padua ( Padova 'padova Latin: Patavium, Padoa) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. For etymology and similar terms see Octave. Ottava rima is a rhyming Stanza form of Italian origin The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066, although Bevis of Hampton (Old French Beuve(s or Bueve or Beufves de Hanton(ne; Anglo-Norman Boeve de Haumtone; Italian Buovo d'Antona ^[3]

Escaping a war, he left in 1509 for Rome, where he acquired a patron, the humanist Petrus Egidius (1471–1532) of Viterbo, who from 1517 held the rank of a Roman Catholic cardinal. Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal Aegidius Antonius Canisius of Viterbo (1470 - Rome, November 12, 1532) was an Italian Augustinian cardinal, Theologian, Viterbo is an ancient city and Comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the Province of Viterbo. A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. Levita taught Hebrew to Petrus, and copied Hebrew manuscripts—mostly related to the Kabbalah—for Petrus's library. Kabbalah (קַבָּלָה lit "receiving" is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mystical aspect of Judaism. ^[3]

The 1527 Sack of Rome sent Levita back to Venice, where he worked as a proofreader and taught Hebrew. The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527, carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V Holy Roman Emperor, marked a crucial imperial victory in Proofreading traditionally means reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors ^[3] Levita published at Venice a treatise on the laws of the accents entitled Sefer Tuv Ta'am. At seventy years of age, Levita left his wife and children and departed in 1540 for Isny, accepting the invitation of Paul Fagius to superintend his Hebrew printing-press there. Isny im Allgäu is a city in south-eastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Paul Fagius ( 1504 - 13 November 1549) was a Renaissance scholar of Biblical Hebrew. During Elia's stay with Fagius (until 1542 at Isny and from 1542 to 1544 at Konstanz) he published the following works: Tishbi, a dictionary containing 712 words used in Talmud and Midrash, with explanations in German and a Latin translation by Fagius (Isny, 1541); Sefer Meturgeman, explaining all the Aramaic words found in the Targum (Isny, 1541); Shemot Debarim, an alphabetical list of the technical Hebrew words (Isny, 1542); a Judæo-German (that is, early Western Yiddish) version of the Pentateuch, the Five Megillot, and Haftarot (Konstanz, 1544); and a new and revised edition of the Bachur. Konstanz (in English formerly known as Constance) is a university town of around 80000 inhabitants at the western end of Lake Constance The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history Midrash ( Hebrew: מדרש plural midrashim, lit "to repeat" is a Hebrew term referring to the not exact but comparative ( homiletic Aramaic is a Semitic language with A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew The haftarah or haftorah (also haphtara) ( Hebrew: הפטרה ‎ plural haftarot or haftorahs; "parting" ^[4] While in Germany he also printed the first edition of his Bovo-Bukh. ^[3] On returning to Venice, Elijah, in spite of his great age, he worked on editions of several works, including David Kimhi's Miklol, which he also annotated. David Kimhi (דוד קמחי also Kimchi or Qimchi) (1160 &ndash 1235 also known by the Hebrew Acronym as the RaDaK (he רד"ק ^{[4] [3]}

Elia Levita died 28 January 1549 in Venice, aged 80 years. Events 1077 - Walk to Canossa: The Excommunication of Henry IV Holy Roman Emperor is lifted Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the

Liptzin writes that Paris and Vienna, attributed to Levita, "easily ranks with the Bovo-Bukh in quality though not in popularity. Also a chivalric verse romance, it tells the story of a knight (Paris) and a princess (Vienna); the name of the work has no apparent connection to the similarly named cities. ^[5] He adds that Levita "was not the equal" of his contemporaries Ariosto or Tasso, and that the "knightly adventures" he depicted "had no basis in Jewish reality": compared to other chivalric romances, Levita's works "tone down the Christian symbols of his original" and "substitute Jewish customs, Jewish values and Jewish traits of character here and there. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth . . " ^[6]

Works

• Elia Levita Bachur's Bovo-Buch: A Translation of the Old Yiddish Edition of 1541 with Introduction and Notes by Elia Levita Bachur, translated and notes by Jerry C. Smith, Fenestra Books, 2003, ISBN 1-58736-160-4.
• Paris and Vienna (attributed)
• miscellaneous shorter poems

Notes

1. ^ [Liptzin, 1972] p. 5, 7.
2. ^ [Liptzin, 1972] p. 5.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} [Liptzin, 1972] p. 6.
4. ^ ^{a b} Jewish Encyclopedia article.
5. ^ [Liptzin, 1972] p. 7–8.
6. ^ [Liptzin, 1972] p. 8.

References

• Gottheil, Richard and Jacobs, Joseph Baba Buch, Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906
• Liptzin, Sol, A History of Yiddish Literature, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, ISBN 0-8246-0124-6. Richard James Horatio Gottheil (1862—1936 was an American Semitic scholar and Zionist. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an Encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls.
• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article "Levita, Elijah" by Joseph Jacobs and Isaac Broydé, a publication now in the public domain. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an Encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. Joseph Jacobs ( 29 August 1854 - 30 January 1916) was a literary and Jewish Historian. Isaac Broydé (born at Zelva, Porozowo, government of Grodno, Russia now Belarus, February 23[[ 867]] died 1922 was a Russian Orientalist The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone