JUDAH SICILIANO (called also Al-Sha'ari [
]):
Italian poet of the fourteenth century. He earned a livelihood by giving lessons in poetry and by writing occasional poems; but none of his poetical productions has been preserved. He composed a riming dictionary, preserved in manuscript at Oxford and Rome (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 1530; Michael, "Or ha-Ḥayyim," No. 1163). Judah became acquainted with Immanuel ben Solomon of Rome by sending him a poem; the latter in his "Meḥabberot" (ch. xiii.) highly commends Judah's skill in the use of various meters.
Bibliography:
- Zunz, Analekten, in G. S. iii. 184;
- idem, Z. G. p. 516;
- Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, i. 327, 389, 434, 445.
