JEKUTHIEL BEN JUDAH HA-KOHEN (YaHBI []; known also as Jekuthiel ha-Naḳdan and Zalman ha-Naḳdan):

By: Crawford Howell Toy, M. Seligsohn

Grammarian of Prague; lived in the second half of the thirteenth century. Baer claimed to have seen a manuscript which gave 1171 as the date of Jekuthiel's death ("Orient. Lit." xii. 6), but according to Steinschneider ("Cat. Bodl." col. 1381) the date refers to Jacob Tam (comp. Gross, "Gallia Judaica," p. 117). Jekuthiel occupied himself chiefly with the Masorah and its punctuation, hence his surname "ha-Naḳdan" (the punctuator). With the help of six ancient Spanish manuscripts he prepared a correctly vocalized and accented text of the Pentateuch and the Book of Esther. His rules of punctuation are explained in his "'En ha-Ḳore," in which he quotesthe ancient grammarians Ben Naphtali, Ben Asher, Ibn Janaḥ, Ibn Ezra, Jacob Tam, and others. In ancient texts of the Pentateuch his work is indicated by the initials . It is quoted by Abraham de Balmes in his "Miḳneh Abraham," by Elijah Levita in his "Masoret ha-Berit," and by Solomon Hanau in his "Ẓohar ha-Tebah." Heidenheim published the preface of the "'En ha-Ḳore," and many extracts from it, in his editions of the Pentateuch ("Me'or 'Enayim") and the Seder Purim. It was Heidenheim's opinion that Jekuthiel lived before David Ḳimḥi.

T. M. Sel.