NATAN da ROMA. - Jewish lexicographer, who lived in Rome in the 11th century and died in 1106. He was a contemporary of the Talmudist Isacco da Fez (al-Fāṣī) and of the great commentator Rašī (v.).
The work of N., 'Ārīkh (“Prepared”), extends over the whole of Talmudic, Gaonic (v. GE'ONIM), and later literature. It was published at Pesaro in 1517; photographically reprinted at Berlin in 1927; republished by A. Kohut at Vienna in 1878 and following years; finally edited, with Additamenta, by S. Krauss at Vienna in 1937.
In his work N. has recourse, for comparisons or explanations, to various languages (Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Italian, Provençal; the “grammatical” language does not mean, in N.’s usage, “Latin,” but Greek). Valuable are the quotations of passages from forgotten or lost works. The 'Ārīkh very soon became, and remained, a first-rate working tool. The first additamenta to the work were due to the physician Beniamino Mussafia (Amsterdam 1655). Together with his brothers, or alone, he composed responsa on Talmudic matters.