'ARUK(
):
By: Kaufmann Kohler
Hebrew expression for "dictionary," corresponding with the Arabic "ta'alif," and derived from "'arak [millin]" (Job xxxii. 14), "arranged words" (A. V. "directed words").
A Biblical dictionary, under the title "MaḦberet ha-'Aruk" (Composition of the Dictionary), was written by Solomon ibn ParḦon of Aragon in the twelfth century.
A Talmudical 'Aruk was first composed by ẒemaḦben Palṭai, a gaon of Pumbedita, at the close of the ninth century; but only traces of it have been preserved (see Rapoport's biography of Nathan, the author of the 'Aruk, in "Bikkure ha-'Ittim," x. 24; and Kohut's "'Aruk ha-Shalem" [Aruch Completum] I., introduction, xviii.).
The work generally quoted as "'Aruk" is the great Talmudical dictionary composed by Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome, and completed in 1101. (See
