Liber interpretationis hebraicorum nominum (Jerome)
The catalogue entry for this text has not been published as yet. Until then, a selection of data is made available below.
Glossary of biblical names compiled by Jerome in the second half of the 4th century. For each book that it treats, the text lists Hebrew as well as Aramaic and Greek proper names, especially personal names, in roughly alphabetical order and offers etymologies and interpretations. The work circulated widely in the Middle Ages and was also reworked, expanded, excerpted, rearranged and incorporated, for instance in gospels and other biblical manuscripts.
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
Secondary sources (select)
Among the 520 AB entries of the Liber glossarum, 17 give interpretations of Hebrew, Syriac and Chaldaic names. They represent a little more than 3% of the total. Their main sources are Eucherius of Lyon, Instructiones II, Isidorus of Sevilla, Etymologies VII and some biblical commentaries of Hieronymus, whose Liber interpretationis nominum Hebraicorum is the most important source of Eucherius and Isidorus. The immediate and ultimate sources of each interpretation are indicated and then the compiler’s method of working is explained. Paradoxically, most of the time, the compiler introduces interpretations of Hebrew names by a simple ‘‘interpretatur’’, without mentioning the Hebrew language.
