On the Rudiments of Hebrew (1506) - Page 20

BOOK ONE

ON PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION

After so many and such varied rules of letters and syllables, I believe it will be especially useful, and even nearly necessary for the skill of reading, to bring forward certain chosen words. These should not be entirely foreign to your ears, yet they should be challenging enough in their understanding and pronunciation that you must train your mouth and breath to master them. It is often the case that things which are completely foreign, and which deviate from the common path of speaking according to the idiom of this language, turn away the mind of a beginner original: "Neophyti," meaning a person who is new to a subject or belief. with terror or despair at the start. This is especially true in a study that has not yet been explained in our own language.

On the contrary, it happens that a person who applies effort and expense to the beginnings of an art is particularly unwilling to labor over common and trite things. This is because they wish to attain the praise of virtue, which always deals with difficult matters. Therefore, I thought it fitting to set before those being taught the noble lineage of the Virgin Mary. Students have often heard this lineage pronounced in church on feast days, though perhaps without formal learning. Yet, it is not so commonly chanted that one should not need to apply all their strength to gathering the syllables. Therefore, you should store this matter, which is of no small importance, in your deepest senses.

HERE BEGINS THE GENEALOGY OF THE VIRGIN MARY, FROM WHOM WAS BORN AS A MAN THE KING OF KINGS, JESUS, THE BEST AND GREATEST GOD.

Enoch, Jared, Mahalalel, Cainan, Enos, Seth, Adam
[Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch] This line translates the Hebrew text: אָדָם שֵׁת אֱנוֹשׁ קֵינָן מַהֲלַלְאֵל יֶרֶד חֲנוֹךְ. The names are listed from right to left.

Eber, Shelah, Arpachshad, Shem, Noah, Lamech, Methuselah
[Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber] This line translates the Hebrew text: מְתוּשֶׁלַח לֶמֶךְ נֹחַ שֵׁם אַרְפַּכְשַׁד שֶׁלַח עֵבֶר. The names are listed from right to left.

Isaac, Abraham, Terah, Nahor, Serug, Reu, Peleg
[Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac] This line translates the Hebrew text: פֶּלֶג רְעוּ שְׂרוּג נָחוֹר תֶּרַח אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק. The names are listed from right to left.

Amminadab, Ram, Hezron, Perez, Judah, Jacob
[Jacob, Judah, Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab] This line translates the Hebrew text: יַעֲקֹב יְהוּדָה פֶּרֶץ חֶצְרוֹן רָם עַמִּינָדָב. The names are listed from right to left.