The first is a useful comparison of the alphabets, Arabic and Hebrew, as used for writing Arabic.
This entry is amusing because of the Latin name he assigns to this (and other) Karaite scholars: R. Beniamin Ben Mosis Hæreticus Karræus. Gee, nice of him to take sides.
And here's an excerpt from his essay on the works of R. Eliyahu Bachur (Levita). This is from his Masoret ha-Masoret, and relates - inadvertently - to a popular legend about Rashi in Spain.
Masores Hamasores (third introduction) quoted the unpreserved Sefer Hasmadar by one Rabbi Levi ben Joseph which is the actual source for the observation that "שלמה" can produce the following sentence: "שֶׁלָמָה שַׁלְמָה שְׁלֹמֹה שַׂלְמָה שְׁלֵמָה."
Ginsburg's translation is:
R. Levi b. Joseph, author of the book Semadar, says, at the beginning of his work, as follows: "If any one should ask, Whence do we know that the points and accents were dictated by the mouth of the Omnipotent? the reply is, It is to be found in Scriptures, for it is written, ' And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly' (Deut. xxvii. 8). Now, if the points and accents, which make the words plain did not exist, how could one possibly understand plainly whether שלמה means wherefore, retribution, Solomon, garment, or perfect? " Thus far his remark. I leave it to the reader to judge whether this is reliable proof.
Here is R. Yehuda Leib Maimon's version of the legend, in Sinai 17 (1954):
Speaking of Ginsburg, to read Louis Ginzberg on C.D. Ginsburg, click here.
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