Balmes, Abraham Ben-meir

Balmes, Abraham Ben-Meir (ben-Abraham ben-Moses ben-Chiskija) DE, a Jewish physician, philosopher, and grammarian of Italy, was born at Lecci. He practiced medicine at Padua, and became professor of philosophy in the university there, both Jews and Christians attending his lectures. He died in 1521 or 1523. Being a linguist and man of letters, he translated the works of Averroes from the Arabic into Latin, which translations are printed in the edition of Averroes's Opera (Venice, 1542). At the request of the celebrated printer D. Bomberg, he wrote a very valuable and often-quoted Hebrew grammar, מַקנֵה אִברָ, in which he frequently. opposed David Kimchi, and which was the Ewald among the Hebrew students. It was edited with a Latin translation and a treatise on the accents by Calo Calonymus (ibid. 1523). See Furst, Bibl. Jud. i, 82; De' Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ. transl.), p. 51; Kalisch, Hebrew Grammar, ii, 34; Da Costa, Israel and the Gentiles, p. 485; Etheridge Introd. to Heb. Lit. p. 451; Basnage, Histoire des Juif (Taylor's transl.), p. 724; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 9:235; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u. s. Sekten, 3, 119; Dessauer, Gesch. d. Israeliten, p. 434. (B. P.)