KENNICOTT, BENJAMIN. - English critic of the Hebrew biblical text, b. at Totnes (Devonshire) on 4 April 1718, d. at Oxford on 18 Sept. 1783. Pastor at Culham (Oxfordshire) in 1753, doctor of theology at Oxford in 1761, and there professor of Hebrew language at Exeter College, from 1770 canon of Christchurch; from 1767 librarian of the Radcliffe Library.
His dissertations The state of the Hebrew text of the Old Test, considered (Oxford 1753) and The state of the printed Hebrew text of the Old Test, considered (ibid. 1753-59) gave rise to a ten-year controversy, in which F. Connings (1753) and J. Bate (1754) took part.
The work to which K. owes his fame is: Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum cum variis lectionibus (Oxford 1776-1780), in two volumes, the second of which is headed by a Dissertatio generalis in Vetus Testamentum (on the Hebrew manuscripts) reprinted separately in Brunswick in 1783 by P. F. Bruns. K. precedes G. B. De Rossi (v.) in demonstrating the slight importance of the variants of the Masoretic text. The work cost him 20 years of uninterrupted study; he collated 615 codices and 52 editions. In the years 1784 ff. G. B. De Rossi would bring complements and corrections to K.'s works.
BIBL., F. Ph. Kaulen, s. v. in Kirchenlex., VII, coll. 375-78; E. Michels, s. v. in DB. III, coll. 1887-89.
Emmanuele da San Marco