Introduction

Chapter Summary

This is the introductory chapter of the book A Medieval Karaite Pedagogical Grammar of Hebrew: A Critical Edition and English Translation of Kitāb al-ʿUqūd fī Taṣārīf al-Luġa al-ʿIbrāniyya. The book presents notes on the edition and translation of Kitāb al-ʿUqūd, which presents a concise description of Hebrew morphology and syntax prepared specifically to cater for the level of knowledge and the learning needs of students and their study of the Hebrew language. It draws on Harunian and early grammars, and develops new approaches to verbal systematisation in order to produce a full account of the verbal system of Hebrew. Kitāb al-ʿUqūd was instrumental in the transmission of the Karaite grammatical tradition to Byzantium. It contains important data on the Karaite method of verbal classification called the 'method of symbols', and provides the Karaite tool-box for teaching Hebrew grammar, which contains mnemonics, algorithms of parsing and model analyses of biblical passages.

Keywords: biblical passages; Byzantium; Harunian grammar; Hebrew morphology; Karaite grammatical tradition; verbal classification; verbal systematisation