Ḥenanishoʿ bar Seroshway (probably 2nd half of 9th cent.) [Ch. of E.]

Bp. of Ḥirta; lexicographer and biblical interpreter.

Bp. of Ḥirta ; lexicographer and biblical interpreter. Ḥenanishoʿ’s lexicographical work is not preserved, but Bar Bahlul , who quotes him frequently, explains in the preface to his Lexicon that Ḥenanishoʿ’s Lexicon was very accurate (yattir ḥattit) and that it completed, or supplemented (šamli), Ḥunayn ’s work (another major source for Bar Bahlul).

ʿAbdishoʿ bar Brikha , in his Catalogue, attributes to Ḥenanishoʿ ‘Questions on the text of Scripture’, which Assemani (BibOr, vol. III.1, 261 [chapter 178]) wanted to identify with the anonymous ‘Questions on the Economy’ (šuʾʾāle da-mdabbrānuthā), preserved in ms. Vat. Syr. 150, f. 107r–175r (the identification of the author as Ḥenanishoʿ in the margin of f. 107r is probably from Assemani’s hand). While Van den Eynde suggested that we might be dealing in ms. Vat. Syr. 150 with extracts from Ḥenanishoʿ’s work, Reinink found evidence that the ‘Questions on the Economy’ belong to a much later period (12th cent. or later), whereby the possibility of Ḥenanishoʿ’s authorship would be completely ruled out. Ḥenanishoʿ’s exegetical work must, therefore, be considered lost.