Pub Date : 2019-05-24DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01701001
P. Alexander
This article challenges the assumption that insofar as the Jewish communities of Babylonia were a ‘people of the book’, their book was a Hebrew Bible. Functionally the Bible that most people would have known was the Aramaic Targum of Onqelos and Jonathan. The Bible’s content—its law, narrative, and prophecy—was culturally mediated through Aramaic. Even in Rabbinic communities, where some had competence in Hebrew that gave them ready access to the original, the lack of formal and systematic study of Miqra may have made the Targum the tradition of first resort for understanding the Hebrew. The situation in the Aramaic-speaking east may not, then, have been all that different from the west, where a Greek Bible shaped the religious identity of the Greek-speaking Jewish communities. This essay is offered as a contribution to the neglected study of the role of Bible translation in the history of Judaism.
{"title":"The Aramaic Bible in the East","authors":"P. Alexander","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01701001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01701001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article challenges the assumption that insofar as the Jewish communities of Babylonia were a ‘people of the book’, their book was a Hebrew Bible. Functionally the Bible that most people would have known was the Aramaic Targum of Onqelos and Jonathan. The Bible’s content—its law, narrative, and prophecy—was culturally mediated through Aramaic. Even in Rabbinic communities, where some had competence in Hebrew that gave them ready access to the original, the lack of formal and systematic study of Miqra may have made the Targum the tradition of first resort for understanding the Hebrew. The situation in the Aramaic-speaking east may not, then, have been all that different from the west, where a Greek Bible shaped the religious identity of the Greek-speaking Jewish communities. This essay is offered as a contribution to the neglected study of the role of Bible translation in the history of Judaism.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01701001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46542941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-05-24DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602004
M. Morgenstern
The first part of this article examined the features that distinguish the language of the earliest Mandaean colophons from Classical Mandaic and demonstrated that many of these features are shared with the contemporary Neo-Mandaic dialects recorded in the research literature since the 20th century. Part 2 presents editions and translations of the source texts with some brief philological notes and seeks to identify the origins of the linguistic innovations.
{"title":"Neo-Mandaic in Early Mandaean Colophons. Part 2: Texts, Translations and Conclusion","authors":"M. Morgenstern","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The first part of this article examined the features that distinguish the language of the earliest Mandaean colophons from Classical Mandaic and demonstrated that many of these features are shared with the contemporary Neo-Mandaic dialects recorded in the research literature since the 20th century. Part 2 presents editions and translations of the source texts with some brief philological notes and seeks to identify the origins of the linguistic innovations.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46096911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-05-24DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01701003
J. Dušek
Based on palaeography and the supposed relative chronology of the three Aramaic steles from Sefire, various dates in the first half of the 8th century BCE have been proposed for the stele Sefire I. In this article, I propose a new reading in the inscription of part of the name of Aššur-dān III, one of the kings of Assyria from the first half of the 8th century BCE. This new reading, together with other available data, especially those gleaned from Neo-Assyrian written sources, provides the basis for a more precise dating of the inscription on stele Sefire I.
{"title":"Dating the Aramaic Stele Sefire I","authors":"J. Dušek","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01701003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01701003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Based on palaeography and the supposed relative chronology of the three Aramaic steles from Sefire, various dates in the first half of the 8th century BCE have been proposed for the stele Sefire I. In this article, I propose a new reading in the inscription of part of the name of Aššur-dān III, one of the kings of Assyria from the first half of the 8th century BCE. This new reading, together with other available data, especially those gleaned from Neo-Assyrian written sources, provides the basis for a more precise dating of the inscription on stele Sefire I.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2019-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01701003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47557179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-19DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602009
Christian Stadel, M. Shemesh
For the first time, we provide a comprehensive and annotated list of 74 certain, likely, and possible Greek loanwords in Samaritan Aramaic, paying due attention to the variegated distribution of the loans in the different textual genres and chronological stages of the dialect. Greek loanwords in Jewish and Christian Palestinian Aramaic as well as Rabbinic Hebrew are compared throughout. The study provides insights into the contact situation of Greek and Samaritan Aramaic in Late Antique Palestine. An appendix contains short discussions of 22 additional lexical items for which a Greek etymon has been proposed erroneously.
{"title":"Greek Loanwords in Samaritan Aramaic","authors":"Christian Stadel, M. Shemesh","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602009","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 For the first time, we provide a comprehensive and annotated list of 74 certain, likely, and possible Greek loanwords in Samaritan Aramaic, paying due attention to the variegated distribution of the loans in the different textual genres and chronological stages of the dialect. Greek loanwords in Jewish and Christian Palestinian Aramaic as well as Rabbinic Hebrew are compared throughout. The study provides insights into the contact situation of Greek and Samaritan Aramaic in Late Antique Palestine. An appendix contains short discussions of 22 additional lexical items for which a Greek etymon has been proposed erroneously.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43857522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-19DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602010
G. Khan
This paper examines some aspects of the morphology and syntax of the copula in the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects. The first part proposes a possible pathway for the diachronic development of the morphology of the copula, with particular attention to the innovative inflection of the 3rd person. It is argued that this originated in deictic constructions that were reanalysed as deictic copulas. The second part offers a functional explanation for the position of the copula before or after the predicate. It is argued that many constructions that place the copula before the predicate should be interpreted as thetic sentences, whereas those that place the copula after the predicate should be interpreted as categorical sentences. The thetic structures are likely to have developed by the replication of the pattern of copula constructions in Kurdish.
{"title":"Remarks on the Historical Development and Syntax of the Copula in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects","authors":"G. Khan","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper examines some aspects of the morphology and syntax of the copula in the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects. The first part proposes a possible pathway for the diachronic development of the morphology of the copula, with particular attention to the innovative inflection of the 3rd person. It is argued that this originated in deictic constructions that were reanalysed as deictic copulas. The second part offers a functional explanation for the position of the copula before or after the predicate. It is argued that many constructions that place the copula before the predicate should be interpreted as thetic sentences, whereas those that place the copula after the predicate should be interpreted as categorical sentences. The thetic structures are likely to have developed by the replication of the pattern of copula constructions in Kurdish.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48276712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-19DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602008
M. Waltisberg, S. Rudolf
{"title":"Introduction: Aramaic—Linguistic Diversity across Three Millennia","authors":"M. Waltisberg, S. Rudolf","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43805699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-12DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602006
A. Mengozzi, E. Miola
In the present article we aim to describe the distribution and functions of preposed and postposed paronomastic infinitives in literary and spoken varieties of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). In the first part, the syntax and the function(s) of constructions involving a paronomastic infinitive will be described from a typological point of view. Syntactic and functional variation of NENA paronomastic infinitives largely corresponds to what is found in other Semitic languages, as well as in many languages belonging to other families. In the second part of the article we will address the rendering of Biblical Hebrew and Classical Syriac paronomastic infinitives in NENA Bible translations and offer a survey of various constructions found in spoken varieties and in the language of early Christian Neo-Aramaic poetry.
{"title":"Paronomastic Infinitives in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic: A Typological Approach","authors":"A. Mengozzi, E. Miola","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In the present article we aim to describe the distribution and functions of preposed and postposed paronomastic infinitives in literary and spoken varieties of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA). In the first part, the syntax and the function(s) of constructions involving a paronomastic infinitive will be described from a typological point of view. Syntactic and functional variation of NENA paronomastic infinitives largely corresponds to what is found in other Semitic languages, as well as in many languages belonging to other families. In the second part of the article we will address the rendering of Biblical Hebrew and Classical Syriac paronomastic infinitives in NENA Bible translations and offer a survey of various constructions found in spoken varieties and in the language of early Christian Neo-Aramaic poetry.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42607393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-12DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602007
H. Mutzafi
Although folk etymology is a common linguistic phenomenon, it has hitherto hardly been touched upon in lexicological and other works related to varieties of Neo-Aramaic. The present article concerns twelve cases of folk etymology selected from some of the dialects of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), the largest and most variegated division of modern Aramaic. Among these are three folk-etymological interpretations that did not induce structural or other changes, as well as nine cases of folk-etymological processes that reshaped NENA lexical items.
{"title":"Folk Etymology in the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects","authors":"H. Mutzafi","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Although folk etymology is a common linguistic phenomenon, it has hitherto hardly been touched upon in lexicological and other works related to varieties of Neo-Aramaic. The present article concerns twelve cases of folk etymology selected from some of the dialects of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA), the largest and most variegated division of modern Aramaic. Among these are three folk-etymological interpretations that did not induce structural or other changes, as well as nine cases of folk-etymological processes that reshaped NENA lexical items.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44682771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-11-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602005
A. Butts
In Aramaic, the productive causative (= C) stem can be reconstructed as *hapˁil- (suffix-conjugation) ~ *yVhapˁil- (prefix-conjugation) with *h as the causative morpheme. There are, however, also traces in Aramaic of what seems to be a non-productive C-stem in which the causative morpheme is š (< Proto-Semitic *s1). This šap̄ˁel, as it is called, was traditionally thought to result from contact with Akkadian, which has a productive C-stem with a causative morpheme š (< *s1), i.e., šaprus (stative) ~ ušapris (preterite). Nevertheless, Rabin convincingly argued, against the traditional interpretation, that many šap̄ˁel forms in Aramaic cannot be loanwords from Akkadian. Different suggestions have been made to explain the Aramaic šap̄ˁel forms that are not loanwords from Akkadian. In this article, I propose an additional option: some Aramaic šap̄ˁel forms are, I argue, backformations from *ˀištapˁal- (suffix-conjugation) ~ *yištapˁal- (prefix-conjugation), which I reconstruct as the Proto-Aramaic CT-stem inherited from Proto-Semitic.
{"title":"The Aramaic Šap̄ˁel in Its Semitic Context","authors":"A. Butts","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In Aramaic, the productive causative (= C) stem can be reconstructed as *hapˁil- (suffix-conjugation) ~ *yVhapˁil- (prefix-conjugation) with *h as the causative morpheme. There are, however, also traces in Aramaic of what seems to be a non-productive C-stem in which the causative morpheme is š (< Proto-Semitic *s1). This šap̄ˁel, as it is called, was traditionally thought to result from contact with Akkadian, which has a productive C-stem with a causative morpheme š (< *s1), i.e., šaprus (stative) ~ ušapris (preterite). Nevertheless, Rabin convincingly argued, against the traditional interpretation, that many šap̄ˁel forms in Aramaic cannot be loanwords from Akkadian. Different suggestions have been made to explain the Aramaic šap̄ˁel forms that are not loanwords from Akkadian. In this article, I propose an additional option: some Aramaic šap̄ˁel forms are, I argue, backformations from *ˀištapˁal- (suffix-conjugation) ~ *yištapˁal- (prefix-conjugation), which I reconstruct as the Proto-Aramaic CT-stem inherited from Proto-Semitic.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46905052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-09-04DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01602003
S. Fassberg
The ethical dative (dativus ethicus) has been attested without interruption in Aramaic dialects from the Official Aramaic period down through Neo-Aramaic. The extent and durability of this linguistic feature is discussed. Though its frequency differs from corpus to corpus, it is alive in some Neo-Aramaic dialects and its distribution in Modern Aramaic suggests that it was more widespread in pre-Modern Aramaic than the written texts show. It is most probably a colloquial feature that penetrated written texts to a limited extent. In the only real evidence we possess of spoken Aramaic, namely, Neo-Aramaic, it has, in different dialects, become an integral part of some verbal forms and does not express any identifiable nuance. Its precise meaning and use in pre-Modern Aramaic remain elusive.
{"title":"The Ethical Dative in Aramaic","authors":"S. Fassberg","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01602003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01602003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The ethical dative (dativus ethicus) has been attested without interruption in Aramaic dialects from the Official Aramaic period down through Neo-Aramaic. The extent and durability of this linguistic feature is discussed. Though its frequency differs from corpus to corpus, it is alive in some Neo-Aramaic dialects and its distribution in Modern Aramaic suggests that it was more widespread in pre-Modern Aramaic than the written texts show. It is most probably a colloquial feature that penetrated written texts to a limited extent. In the only real evidence we possess of spoken Aramaic, namely, Neo-Aramaic, it has, in different dialects, become an integral part of some verbal forms and does not express any identifiable nuance. Its precise meaning and use in pre-Modern Aramaic remain elusive.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01602003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42357960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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