FAGIUS, PAUL (Paul Büchlein):

Christian Hebraist; born at Rheinzabern, in the Kurpfalz, 1504; died at Cambridge, England, Nov. 13, 1549. He studied at the universities of Heidelberg and Strasburg, and became successively pastor at Isny, professor and preacher at the University of Strasburg, and professor of Hebrew at Cambridge. He learned Hebrew from Elijah Levita and established a Hebrew press at Isny. He translated into Latin the following works: Pirḳe Abot (1541); Levita's "Tishbi" (1541); Tobit (1542); "Alfabeta de Ben Sira" (1542); "Sefer Amanah" (1542); David Ḳimḥi's commentary on Psalms, ch. i.-x. (1544); a part of the festival prayers under the title "Præcationes" (1542). He also edited Targum Onḳelos (1546), and wrote an exegetical work on the first four chapters of Genesis (1542); an elementary Hebrew grammar (1543); and two books, "Liber Fidei seu Veritatis" (1542) and "Parvus Tractulus" (1542), endeavoring to prove from the works of two Jews the truth of Christianity.

Bibliography:
  • Wangemann, in Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyc. v. 733;
  • Steinschneider, in Zeit. für Hebr. Bibl. ii. 149.
J. C. L.
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