Grammarian and Lexicographer
In Ḳimḥi's grammatical works "Sefer Zikkaron" (edited by Bacher, Berlin, 1888) and "Sefer ha-Galui" (edited by Matthews, ib. 1887) he is dependent on Ḥayyuj for the treatment of his subject, but in his explanations of words he relies mainly on Ibn Janah. On the whole, he is not original; in minor points, however, he goes his own way, becoming therein the model for future generations. Thus he was the first to recognize that the hif'il has also a reflexive and an intransitive meaning; he was also the first to arrange a list of nominal forms, to indicate eight verb classes, and to classify the vowels into a system of five short and five long ones. In his works he pays frequent attention also to the language of the liturgy. In his etymological explanations he seeks for analogies in Bible, Talmud, Targum, and in Arabic. In cases where such analogies are wanting or unsatisfactory he is guided by the principle, "The unknown must be deduced from the known." Not seldom he explains difficult words on the basis of phonetic laws laid down by himself.
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