Solomon Gai (1600 – August, 1638) was an Italian scholar and

hebraist A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...

. He was born and died in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

. Gai is chiefly known as the correspondent and friend of

Johannes Buxtorf II Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, (13 August 1599 – 16 August 1664) was son of the scholar Johannes Buxtorf, and a Protestant Christian Hebraist. Life Buxtorf was born in Basel, where he also died. Before the age of thirteen he matriculated at ...

. In a letter which he wrote to Buxtorf from Mantua on November 6, 1637, Gai declared that he had emigrated to

Botzen Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

, a town in the

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

, where he had become the tutor of the two sons of a rich man named Jacob Moravia. He studied German at Botzen, and after a stay of five years and a half returned to Mantua. Buxtorf's Latin translation of the "Moreh" won Gai's admiration. Attributing the translation to Buxtorf the Elder, Gai wrote a letter expressing admiration for the father. Buxtorf explained to Gai that he himself was the translator, and sent him a copy of his dissertation "Diatribe" as a present. Gai wrote another letter to Buxtorf in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

with a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

introduction drawing his attention to works of which Buxtorf was unaware. Buxtorf subsequently commissioned Gai to purchase Hebrew books for him. Gai insisted particularly on obtaining Buxtorf's

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

s, as he planned to write a lexicon in collaboration with a cleric to whom he was giving Hebrew lessons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gai, Solomon 1600 births 1638 deaths Italian Hebraists Writers from Mantua Jewish lexicographers 17th-century Italian Jews