Phineas Mordell, philologist and Hebrew grammarian whose original researches and revolutionary views on Hebrew grammar won the praise of Ahad Ha-Am and Israel Zangwill, died here today at the age of 73.
His brochure on Sefer Yetzirah, originally published in the Jewish Quarterly Review, of which Dr. Cyrus Adler is the editor, and reprinted in 1922 with a supplement containing a solution of the Pythagorean number philosophy, was regarded by scholars as the true solution of the origin of letters and numerals.
Mordell’s theory was that strokes were used simultaneously to represent early vowels and numbers. He identified Pythagorean philosophy with that of Sefer Yetzirah, which usually was considered the work of cabalists, but which really was the earliest Hebrew grammar, according to Mordell.
The scholar wrote articles in English on Jewish philology for
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
