Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vadim Cherny <vadimcherny AT gmail.com>]

If I understand correctly, the grammar books (Ein Qore, Aklah we- 
Aklah...) date much after the Masoretic work in question, the  
vocalization of Tanakh. Saadia, too, wrote his basic grammar some two  
centuries after the Masoretes vocalized the text. The events may  
appear close to us, but they were actually quite removed in time.

Vadim Cherny


Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

The Masoretes wrote many treatises on various aspects
of grammar.  By the time of the Masoretes, grammatical investigation  
into
Arabic was very influential.  Saadia Gaon's grammar (perhaps the first  
full
grammar of Hebrew, and definitely the first one that has largely  
survived)
was written after, if not during, Saadia Gaon's stay in Tiberias where  
he
met and spoke to the Masoretes themselves.