Berekhiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan

Berekhiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan (berukī'u ben nätrōnī' hä-näk'dän) [key], fl. 12th or 13th cent., French Jewish fabulist, biblical commentator, philosopher, grammarian, and translator. His first name also appears as Berachya. He is best known for his collection of fables in rhymed prose, Mishlei Shualim (tr. by Moses Hadas, Fables of a Jewish Aesop, 1967), derived from the French collection Ysopet of Marie de France (c.1170), from the now lost Latin translation of Aesop, Romulus, and from several Middle Eastern sources. His Sefer Mazref (tr. by Sir Herman Gollancz, The Ethical Treatises of Berachya, 1902) is a summary of the ethical views of Saadia and several other Gaonim.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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