Rime-lexicons were compiled for the benefit of verse-makers, examples of which are: "Sharshot Gablut" by Solomon di Oliveira (Amsterdam, 1665) "Sefer Yad Ḥaruzim" by Gerson Ḥefeẓ (Venice, 1705) "Imre No'ash" by Solomon b. Owing to the influence of Arabic poetry and the weight of Ḳalir's example, and facilitated by the identity of the suffixes in Hebrew, the use of rime spread rapidly, extending even to titles and prefaces of books and it has remained the dominant form of Hebrew poetry to the present day. In Spain Samuel ha-Nagid (993-1055) introduced rime into non-liturgical poetry also, as in his "Ben Mishle." In the Franco-German school Gershon, the "Light of the Captivity" (960-1040), and Rashi (1040-1104) sanctioned it by use. Labraṭ (10th cent.) and Rabbenu Nissim (11th cent.). Of the Africans may be mentioned Dunash b. In Babylonia the first to employ rime were Saadia Gaon (892-942), in his poem on the letters of the Torah, and his AZHAROT and agenda, and Hai Gaon (939-1038), in his "Musar Haskel." In Italy the new form of poetry was first adopted by Shabbethai ben Abraham Donnolo (913-982) in the prologue to his "Taḥkemoni," and by Nathan ben Jehiel, author of the "'Aruk" (11th cent.). Luzzatto in his "Mobe le-Maḥzor ke-Minhag Bene Roma," p. As inaugurators of it are generally considered Yannai and especially his disciple Eleazar ha-Ḳalir (comp. The sphere in which rime first appears as an essential element is that of the liturgical productions of the geonic period. 116a, b etc.), nor any of the few lyric pieces preserved in it (Suk. None of the portions of the liturgy quoted or indicated in the Talmud (Ber. Brody, in his edition of Immanuel Francis' "Meteḳ Sefatayim," p. 114a etc.) do not justify the supposition of intentional use of the rime (H.
The few rimed rules, proverbial phrases, and incantations scattered through the Talmud (Ber. What has been said of the Old Testament is in substance applicable to the compositions of the Talmudic period also. Cases in which the rime extends to stem-syllables (as Genesis 1:2 Joshua 8:12 2 Samuel 22:8 Isaiah 24:4) are few and far between and, with rare exceptions ( Psalms 55:8 Proverbs 4:6, 22:10 Job 28:16), do not stand at the end of corresponding lines.īut those rimes that are found in the Old Testament show the adaptability of Hebrew to this device and the parallelism of clauses in Old Testament elevated diction must have suggested the use of parallelism of sound, or rime, when once had been awakened through contact with other literatures the sense of the beauty and necessity of externally marking off thought-complexes into symmetrical groups. The agreement in terminal sounds of parallel lines (as in Genesis 4:23 Exodus 15:2 Deuteronomy 32:2,6 Judges 14:18, 16:24 1 Samuel 18:7 Isaiah 26:21 Psalms 2:3, 6:2, 8:5 Proverbs 5:15 Job 10:10,17) can not be considered as an organic element of composition, as it is the result of grammatical congruence and, besides, through any lengthy poem the assonances are not introduced with consistency (not even in Lamentations 5). It is, however, generally agreed that rime, e., the correspondence in sound of word-endings, did not attain in the Old Testament the importance of a formal principle of poetry, or of a device of style in general.
Kautzsch, "Die Poesie und Poetischen Bücher des Alten Testaments," p. also Herzog-Plitt, "Real-Encyc." 5:678 and E. der Heiligen Schriften des Alten Testaments," § 125 Brunswick, 1881 comp. Of modern writers who attribute an important part to rime in the composition of the Old Testament may be mentioned E.
Samuel Archevolti ("'Arugat ha-Bosem," 32:112, Venice, 1602) argues that rime and meter existed in the Old Testament, but were not fully developed while Moses ibn Ḥabib assumes their use in extra-Biblical Hebrew poetry contemporaneous with the Bible, basing this view upon the rimed epitaph of the alleged general of King Amaziah, for which see Jew. Judah Provencal, according to Azariah dei Rossi ("Me'or 'Enayim," ), considered Hebrew poetry the mother of all other poetries, so that in adopting the poetic forms of other peoples the Jews received back from them what they had given long before. The early Hebrews have been credited with the knowledge and use of rime.