1. Life

Dunash ben Labraṭ was a central figure in the flowering of Hebrew culture in al-Andalus. Very little is known about his life. According to Moses ibn Ezra’s ars poetica, Kitāb al-Muḥāḍarawa 'l-Mudhākara, he was born in Baghdad and raised in Fez (Abumalhan ed., 31r). The names Dunash and Labraṭ seem to be Berber in origin, for which reason it is thought that his family was living in Fez when he was born, sometime between 920 and 925. His Hebrew name, Adonim, meaning “Lords,” translates Dunash as if it were a Romance word (cf. Sp. dueños). He r…