of the Round Table. 275
and, if so, in what language. That it must have existed this Hebrew version is the proof, but where and by whom was it made ? There can also be but little doubt that the original was a prose romance, for the Hebrew translator would have mentioned the fact that he had rendered a metrical romance in prose, and the translation itself is so literal that one can see through it the older original. The translator has, in fact, invented new Hebrew words so as to approximate the translation as closely as possible to his original, and from the grammatical constructions and syntax, as well as from the flow of language, not the slightest doubt can be entertained that his original was a prose romance.
This original, in whichever form, — prose or rhyme, — it may have reached the translator, rests ultimately on a French text. But was it French or another Romance language which the translator mentions as the "ver- nacular " ? If we were absolutely sure that the copyist had not tampered involuntarily with the non-Hebrew words found in this text, they would furnish some indication as to the character of that original. In all about fifteen Romance words have been retained in the Hebrew, exclusive of the names of the principal persons. The translator has been very careful in his transliteration, for we find that he evidently distinguishes between V and W; for the latter he uses the double 11 (double V), and for the former the letter i (B). For example, /'Finchester is written with 11, and Vavassor or Valvassor with "2 (soft V). He also distin- guishes between the sound 9 in Lancelot and the z in Borz, and he must have found these names spelt accordingly in the Romance original. 6" is represented by a letter which may be read Sh and 5 (^), e.g. in Winche.fter and in coj-ini, and it is therefore not open to doubt that he pronounced the last word with s like French, and not with a sound resembling the Italian ^z, as Dr. Schiiler suggests. The translator does not seem to have known the latter sound, for he transcribes the
