QIMHĪ, DAVID. — Rabbi (called Radaq = RDQ), grammarian, lexicographer, and exegete, born in Narbonne around 1160, died there in 1235. His father, JŪSĒPH BEN JISHĀQ (ca. 1105–70), who came from Spain to Provence, to Narbonne, and published the first Hebrew grammar for schools (Sēpher Zikkārōn, “Memorial Book,” edited by W. Bacher in 1888), and his elder brother MŪŠEH, who died around 1190 in Narbonne and whose grammar Mahdākh Šēbhlē had-da'ath “The Way of the Paths of Knowledge” was printed in Pesaro in 1508 Elia (v.) Levita under the title 'Oßomopía (Leiden 1631), also distinguished themselves as grammarians.
In his grammatical studies he follows Jēhūdhāh Hajjūg, Jōnāh ibn Ganāh, and his father, Jūsēph. His grammatical work is entitled Mihlāl (“Completeness”); the first part concerns morphology, while the second is a list of verbal roots. The lexicographical section also provides etymological indications and comparisons with later Hebrew and Aramaic. In the sixteenth century J. Reuklin followed Q.’s work in his Rudimenta linguae Hebraicae (1506). In the writing 'Ēt sōphēr (“The Scribe’s Pen”) he gives instructions for scribes of the sacred Scrolls and discusses punctuation. Q. took an active part in defending the works of Maimonides.
Exegetical works: Commentaries on Chronicles, the Psalter, the twelve Minor Prophets, and the Pentateuch, of which only part has survived. In his commentaries he refers to Maimonides (v.) and interprets certain accounts of miracles in the Bible as prophetic visions; he denies the bodily assumption of the prophet Elijah (II Reg. 2,1); Adam (in Genesis) signifies the human race; Ezekiel’s vision is interpreted philosophically. He was excommunicated for maintaining that, in the messianic age, Talmud (v.) would lose all practical value. The commentary on the Psalms contains several anti-Christian excursuses.