CASPI, NATHANAEL BEN NEHEMIAH (surnamed BONSENIOR MACIF OF LARGENTIÉRE):
Provençal scholar; lived at the end of the fourteenth century and at the beginning of the fifteenth. He was a disciple of Frat Maimon, under whose direction he composed in 1424 his first work, a commentary on the "Cuzari." This commentary, still extant in manuscript (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS. No. 677, and elsewhere), is based upon the Hebrew translation of the "Cuzari" made by Judah Cardinal. Caspi was also the author of the following works: (1) a commentary on the "Ruaḥ Ḥen," which treats of the terminology of Maimonides (ib. No. 678, 3; Parma, No. 395); (2) a commentary on Maimonides' "Shemoneh Peraḳim" (Paris, No. 678; Parma, No. 395); (3) "Liḳḳutot," a collection of glosses on the Pentateuch (Munich MS. No. 252). These glosses are based upon those of Joseph Official. Many rabbis of eastern France are cited in these glosses, and many French words and sentences may be found in them.
- Zeit. für Hebr. Bibl. xvi. 128 et seq.;
- Berliner, Peletat Soferim, pp. 31 et seq.;
- Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. col. 434;
- Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecrivains Juifs Français, pp. 755 et seq.
