Moses Ibn Gikatilla

Born in Córdoba sometime before 1016, the grammarian and poet Moses ben Samuel ha-Kohen Ibn Gikatilla (Chiquitilla) lived and wrote primarily in Saragossa, in northern Spain, which at the time was under Muslim rule. Little is known about his life. In his youth, he benefited from the patronage of either Samuel ha-Nagid (993–1056) or his son Yehosef (1035–1066), whom he praised in panegyric verse. He served as a representative of the earliest stages of Andalusi Jewish culture. Most of his works have been lost, but the high praise he received from later Andalusi Jews testifies to their deep respect for him. He apparently wrote commentaries on most of the Hebrew Bible, but only part of his commentary on Psalms and the Minor Prophets, and an adaptation of his translation of Job survive. He also wrote a grammatical treatise, The Book of Masculine and Feminine Nouns (Kitāb al-taḍkīr wa-’l-ta’nīṭ), part of which has survived. He had a strong rationalistic bent, expressing skepticism about miracles, and rejected the traditional authorship of several biblical books. He wrote many poems, a few of which survive. He also translated the Book of Weak Letters (Kitāb al-līn) by the tenth-century grammarian Judah Ḥayyūj from Arabic into Hebrew.