hundred supercommentaries have been written on it. Rashi unites homily with grammatical exegesis in a manner which explains the charm of the commentary. His influence in Christian circles was great, especially because of the use made of the commentary by Nicolaus de Lyra (q.v.), who in his turn was one of the main sources of Luther's version. Even more important was Rashi's commentary on the Talmud, which became so acknowledged as the definitive interpretation that Rashi is cited simply under the epithet of “ the Commentator.” It is no exaggeration to assert that the modern world owes its power to understand the Talmud to Rashi. In this field the “Commentator” is supreme. He practically edited the text of the Talmud besides explaining it, and the Talmud is never printed without Rashi's commentary on the margin. An important feature of Rashi's commentaries is the frequency of French translations of words. These glosses (lo‘azim) have now been in part edited from the manuscripts of the late Arsène Darmesteter.
Bibliography.—M. Liber, Rashi (1906), published as a memorial of Rashi on the 800th anniversary of his death. Rashi's commentary on the Bible has been translated into Latin by Breithaupt (1710-1714); and into German (Pentateuch) by Dukes (1833-38) and others. The foundation of recent investigation into Rashi's life is Zunz's Salomon b. Isaac (1823), to which I. H. Weiss added much in his (Hebrew) biography (in Bet Talmud ii., Nos. 2-10. See also Graetz, History of the Jews (Engl. trans., vol. iii. ch. ix.). A critical edition of Rashi's Pentateuch commentary was published by A. Berliner (2nd ed., 1905).
- (I. A.)
RASHTRAKUTA, an Indian dynasty which ruled in the
Deccan (q.v.) from about A.D. 750 to 973. The Rashtrakuta
or Ratta clan are supposed to have held power during the
historical blank before the 6th century; but they came to the front in A.D. 750, when Dantidurga overthrew the Chalukya
dynasty and made himself ruler of the Deccan. He was
succeeded by his uncle Krishna I. (c. 760), who completed his
conquests, and whose reign is memorable for the execution of
the Kailasa, the rock-cut temple at Ellora. His grandson
Govinda III. (780-815) extended the power of the family from
the Vindhya Mountains and Malwa on the north to Kanchi on
the south. The next king, Amogavarsha, reigned for sixty-two
years. The reign of Krishna III. was remarkable for a war
with the Cholas, in which the Chola king was killed on the
field of battle in 949. The last of the Rashtrakuta kings was
Kafka II., who was overthrown by the Chalukyas in Q7 3.
See R. G. Bhandarkar, Early History of the Deccan (Bombay,
1884).
RASK, RASMUS CHRISTIAN (1787-1832), Danish scholar
and philologist, was born at Briindekilde in the island of F iinen
or Fyen in Denmark in 1787. He studied at the university of
Copenhagen, and at once showed remarkable talent for the
acquisition of languages. In 1808 he was appointed assistant
keeper of the university library, and some years afterwards
professor of literary history. In 1811 he published, in Danish,
his Introduction to the Grammar of the Icelandic and other Ancient
Northern Languages, from printed and MS. materials accumulated
by his predecessors in the same field of research. The
reputation which Rask thus acquired recommended him to
the Arna-Magnaean Institution, by which he was employed
as editor of the Icelandic Lexicon (1814) of Bjorn Haldorson,
which had long remained in manuscript. Rask visited Iceland,
where he remained from 1813 to 1815, mastering the language
and familiarizing himself with the literature, manners and
customs of the natives. To the interest with which they inspired
him may probably be attributed the establishment at
Copenhagen, early in 1816, of the Icelandic Literary Society,
of which he was the first president.
In October 1816 Rask left Denmark on a literary expedition, at the cost of the king, to prosecute inquiries into the languages of the East, and collect manuscripts for the university library at Copenhagen. He proceeded first to Sweden, where he remained two years, in the course of which he made an excursion into Finland to study the language. Here he published, in Swedish, his Anglo-Saxon Grammar in 1817. In 1818 there appeared at Copenhagen, in Danish, an Essay on the Origin oj the Ancient Scandinavian or Icelandic Tongue, in which he traced the affinity of that idiom to the other European languages, particularly Latin and Greek. In the same year he brought out the first complete editions of Snorro's Edda and Saemund's Edda, in the original text, along with Swedish translations of both Eddas. From Stockholm he went in 1819 to St Petersburg, where he wrote, in German, a paper on “ The Languages and Literature of Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Finland, ” in thesixth number of the Vienna Jahrbitcher. From Russia he proceeded through Tartary into Persia, and resided for some time at Tabriz, Teheran, Persepolis and Shiraz. In about six weeks he made himself sufficiently master of Persian to be able to converse freely. In 1820 he embarked at Bushire for Bombay; and during his residence there he wrote, in English, “ A Dissertation on the Authenticity of the Zend Language” (Trans. Lit. Soc. of Bombay, vol. iii., reprinted with corrections and additions in T rans. R. As. Soc.). From Bombay he proceeded through India to Ceylon, where he arrived in 1822, and soon afterwards wrote, in English, “ A Dissertation respecting the best Method of expressing the Sounds of the Indian Languages in European Characters, ” in the Transactions of the Literary and Agricultural Society of Colombo. Rask returned to Copenhagen in May 1823, bringing a considerable number of Oriental manuscripts, Persian, Zend, Pali, Sinhalese and others, with which he enriched the collections of the Danish capital. He died at Copenhagen on the 14th of November 1832.
During the period between his return from the East and his death Rask published in his native language a Spanish Grammar (1824), a Frisic Grammar (1825), an Essay on Danish Orthography (1826), a Treatise respecting the Ancient Egyptian Chronology and an Italian Grammar, (1827), and the Ancient Jewish Chronology pervious to Moses (1828). He also edited an edition of Schneider's Danish Grammar for the use of Englishmen (1830), and superintended the English translation of his Anglo-Saxon Grammar by Thorpe (1830). He was the first to point out the connexion between the ancient Northern and Gothic on the one hand, and the Lithuanian, Sclavonic, Greek and Latin on the other, and he also deserves credit for having had the original idea of “ Grimrn's Law ” for the transmutation of consonants in the transition from the old Indo< European languages to Teutonic, although he only compared Teutonic and Greek, Sanskrit being at the time unknown to him. In 1822 he was master of no less than twenty-five languages and dialects, and is stated to have studied twice as many. His numerous philological manuscripts were transferred to the king's library at Copenhagen. Rask's Anglo-Saxon, Danish and Icelandic Grammars were brought out in English editions by Thorpe, Repp and Dasent respectively.
RASPBERRY, known botanically as Rubus Idaeus (nat. ord. Rosaceae, q.v.), a fruit-bush found wild in Great Britain and in woods throughout Europe, North Africa and in north and west Asia. The raspberry was known to classic writers, and is mentioned by Pliny as one of the wild brambles known to the Greeks as Idea, from Mt. Ida in Asia Minor on which it grew.
and thorn less
and Gerarde
or F ramboise
is propagated
Parkinson (Paradisus, 1629) speaks of red, white varieties as suitable for the English climate, (Herbal, 1597) figures and describes the Raspis bush as one of the four kinds of bramble. It from suckers, which may be taken off the parent stools in October, and planted in rows 5 or 6 ft. apart, and at 3 ft. asunder in the rows. It is the habit of the plant to throw up from the root every year a number of shoots or canes, which bear fruit in the subsequent year, and then decay. In dressing the plants, which is done immediately after the crop is gathered, all these exhausted stems are cut away, and of the young canes only three or four of the strongest are left, which are shortened about a third. The stems, being too weak to stand by themselves, are sometimes connected together by the points in the form of arches, or a stake is driven in midway between the plants, and half the canes are bent one way and, half the other, both being tied to the stake. Sometimes they are tied upright to stakes fixed to each stool. The best support, however, is obtained by fastening the points of the shoots to a slight horizontal rail or bar, placed a foot and a half on the south side of the rows,
