Ibn-darnan, Saadia Ben-maimon

Ibn-Darnan, Saadia ben-Maimon a Jewish writer of some distinction, was Rabbi to the congregation at Granada previous to the cession of this country by the Moors to Ferdinand and Isabella, and the expatriation of the Jews. He was born in the first half of the 15th century, and flourished at Granada from 1460 to 1502. He was especially given to the study of the Talmud and history, and as a result of the former we have several works on the interpretation of the O.T. Scriptures, and the elucidation of the language of the original. His exegetical works are, a Commentary on Isaiah 53:13 (MS. Michael, 412), in which he takes ground against Ibn-Caspi (q.v.): — a Hebrew Lexicon (written in Arabic). This work, which he is thought to have completed in 1468, also remains only in MS. form, but an extract from it has been printed by Pinsker in his Likute Kadmonioth (Vienna, 1860), p. 74. His historical works are, A short History of the Jews to the Days of Moses Maimonides (פאר הדור), which he originally intended for his own pupils, of whom he seems to have had a number. See Gritz, Geschichte d. Juden, 8, 345 sq.: Edelmann, Chemda Genuzsa, Introd. p. 17 sq., and Text, p. 13 sq.; Kitto, Bibl. Cyclop. 2, 352. (J. H. W.)