SCERBO, FRANCESCO. – Hebraist, born at Marcellinara (Catanzaro) in 1849, died at Florence in 1927.
He entered the Seminary of Nicastro at the age of fourteen; after being ordained a priest, he studied under the guidance of A. De Gubernatis at the Institute of Higher Studies in Florence, and in 1903 became a lecturer there in Hebrew. His best-known works are the Grammatica della lingua ebraica (Florence 1888; 2nd ed. there 1908) and the Dizionario ebraico e caldaico del Vecchio Testamento, with the addition of the Lessico dei nomi propri ebraici del Vecchio Testamento, con interpretazione del significato etimologico (there 1912–13). He also concerned himself with biblical criticism and general linguistics. Nor did he fail to take an interest in broader problems, as is shown especially by his last work, Scienza e buon senso (there 1927), intended to refute the Darwinian theory of evolution.