The paper offers an overall view of the development of the Hebrew philology and the Hebrew language in Spain in the tenth century, as a part of the intellectual history of the Jewish communities of the country. Emphasis is being put on the socio-linguistic aspects.The paper deals primarily with the following themes: (a) form and meaning -the study of the biblical word: Menahem and Dunash; (b) the Arabic model -relying on Arabic for the study of the biblical vocabulary and for prosody: negative and positive attitudes; (c) absorbing Arabic influence, at the same time avoiding the assimilation into the framework of Arabic culture: the emergence of Sephardi - Hebrew linguistic and literary entities; (d) poetry and the vocabulary of the Bible; (...