tJ

I
fl Grammar of
PALESTINIAN JEWISH
ARAMAIC
BY

Wu. B. STEVENSON, D.Ltrr

SECOND EDITION
WITH ÀN
APPENDIX ON THE NUMERALS
BY

J. A. EMERTON

CLARENDON PRESS OXFORD

 Oxford Unioenity Press, Vahon Street, Oxford oxz 6r'tt'
Oxford Neu York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Cakuua Madras Karachi
PealingJaya Singapore Hong Kong Tohyo NOTE ON THE SECOND EDI'TION
Nairohi Dar es Salaam Cape Tmsn
Melbourae Auckland
IN this second edition Dr. Stevenson's text remains unchanged,
and associaud companies in
but it has been thought right to repair a long-standing omission
Berlin Ibadan by the addition of an Appendix on the Numerals, which has
kindly been supplied by the Rev. J. A. Emerton, Lecturer in
Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford Unioerity Press Divinity in the University of Cambridge.
ISBN o-r9-8r5419-4

@ Oxford Unioersity Press 196z PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

First published r9z4 Tnrs introduction to Palestinian Jewish Aramaic presupposes
Second edition 196z
Seomth impression t99t
a general knowledge of Hebrew or of some other Semitic lan-
guage, such as Syriac or Arabic. It is intended primarily to
All righx reseroed. No pan of this publiation may be reproduceil, equip students for the reading of the Targums (OJ) and the
stored in a rëtrieoal »)stem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, Aramaic portions of the Palestinian Talmud and Midrashim
electronic, mechanieal, photocopying, recording, or othenDise, without (PTM), and to provide a help to the study of the Aramaic ele- l"rr
the prior permission of Oxfmd Unio*sity Press
ments contained in the writings of the New Testament.
Pinud in Great Bitain by The Aramaic of the books of Ezra and Daniel is perhaps best
Anony Rrute Ltd, Iearned after a study has been made of one of the dialects just
Chippenham named. Its forms and uses, therefore, are noted in a supplemen-
tery way throughout the grammar. At the same time those who
choose to begin with Old Testament Aramaic (OTA) may do so
with the help of the special paradigms at the end of the book and
by concentrating chiefly on the notes marked OTA, which have
been placed towards the close of most of the sections into which
the grammar is divided.
The pioneer work of Gustaf Dalman is everywhere presupposed
and made use of. His grammar of OJ and PTM formulates the
now accepted principles of their treatment (see p. 9) and provides
an inexhaustible store-house of material for further investigation.
In accordance with his conclusions the punctuation of the supra-
linear MSS. is taken as a standard, although transliterated uni-
formly into the familiar sublinear system and so, in some
particulars, made more precise (see § z).
i\l LTTERATU RE
BEnllrrn, A. Targum Onkelos (text, with introduction and notes).
Berlin, r 884.
I\Íassorah zum Targum Onkelos. Leipzig, r877. PALESTINIAN JEWTSH ARAMAIC
Bunrrv, C. F. Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel. Oxford, r9zz.
Deruer<, Guster.
Grammatik des Jildisch-Palàstinischen Ara-
màisch. Auflege. Leipzig, r9o5.
Zrveire § r. INTRODUCTION
Àramàisch-Neuhebràisches Handwörterbuch zu Targum,
Talmud und Midrasch. Zrveite verbesserte und vermehrte Drruer's Gramnar o/ Jewish'Palcshnian Aranaic (Leipzig,
Auflage. Frankfurt a. I\Íain, r9ez. 1894) opened a new period in the study of the Aramaic dialects.
Aramàische Dialektproben . . . mit Wörterverzeichnis. Leipzig, It separated clearly for the first time the dialects of the Targums,
r 896. Talmuds, and Midrashim, and it supplied a coherent and correct
Worte Iesu. Leipzig, r898. (English trans., T. & T. Clark, vocalization oí the grammatical forms of the Targum of Onkelos
r 9oz.) and of the related tiialect used in the Palestinian Talmud. The
Drrrrnrcs. Grammatische Beobachtungen zu drei ... Hand- vocalization was based upon Yemenite 1\ISS., which employed
schriÍten des Onqelostargums. ZLTW xx rgoo (pp. r+8- supralinear vowel signs. The second edition of Dalman's grammar
5e)' (r9o§), along with his dictionary (r9or), supplemented and revised
Krxrr, Prur. l\[asoreten des Ostens-die àltesten punktierten
his early work, but did not change its fundamental character.
Handschriften des Alten Testaments und der Targume
It was now made clear that the Targums of Onkelos (Penta-
(in Kittel's Beitràge, HeÍt r5). Leipzig, I9r3.
teuch) and Jonathan (Prophets) were written in practically the
LlceRor, Plur or. Prophetae chaldaice. Leipzig, r872.
same Aramaic dialect (OJ), somervhat modified by the influence
Lenoeunn, S. Studien zu Merx' Chrestomathia targumica. In
Zeitschrift ftirAssyriologie, vol. iii, r888 (pp. 263-9z\.
of the Hebrew originals, and that the Palestinian Talmud and
Midrashim preserved the remains oí another dialect (PTM), closely
Mrnx, Aoeratnt. Chrestomathia Targumica (rvith cridcal notes
related to the former. Because of this relationship Dalman sup
and Latin glossary). Berlin, r888.
plied the unvocalized texts of PTM with vowels determined for
Pnerronrus, Fnexz. Targum zu Josua in Jemenischer Uberliefe-
rung. Berlin, r 899. the most part by the analogy of the supralinear tradition of the
Targum zum Buch der Richter in Jemenischer Uberlieíerung. Targums. In this whole literature he sarv, with good reason, the
Berlin, r9oo, best avenue of approàch to the Aramaic speech of Palestine in
Sta,rcx, H. L. Grammatik des Biblisch-Àramàischen, mit the time of Christ and a valuable help to the study of the language
Texten und einem Wörterbuch. 6te Auflage. I\Íunich, and thought of the New Testament.
r921. The origin, character, and variations of the supralinear NISS. oÍ
IO § r. INTRODUCTION
the Targums have been greatly elucidated by the patient
extensive researches of Paul Kahle (published in r9r3). His
conclusions may be summarized as follows. The oldest and best
tradition of the Aramaic of the Targums is contained in MSS. of
Babylonian (i.e. Mesopotamian) origin. The Yemenite MSS.
represent this tradition modified by the principles of the school of
Tiberias in Palestine. The measure of Palestinian in8uence in-
creased as time went on, so that the older Yemenite MSS. are
nearer to the Babylonian tradition than the later. The sublinear
vocalization of Berliner's edition oÍ Onkelos goes back ultimately
to a MS. which used the supralinear system. The forms of
Berliner's edition are not real Aramaic forms, but through them
we ntay reach a supralinear tradition similar to that of the MSS.
which employ a supralinear vocalization.
The texts of PTI\{ are to a large extent stories written in a
simple popular style. The language, according to Dalman, is that
of Galilee in the third and fourth centuries A.D. Part of what is
contained in the I\Iidrashim may be dated as Iate as the sixth
centur)'. There are some differences of rocabulary between the
Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, but no very obvious differences
of grammar. The Aramaic of these Targums has a more literary
character than the language of the Galilean stories, and is supposed
to have been moulded first in Judea. The Targums themselves
may not have received their final literary form beíore the fifth
century, but the idiom in which they are l'ritten probably goes
back at least to the second century and perhaps earlier. Dalman's
interprótation of the phraseology of the New Testament in the
light of Aramaic usage proceeds on the view that we have in OJ
and PTM, respectively, close approximations to the literary and
popular forms of the language oí Palestine in the time oí Christ.t
I See crpecirlly Dalman's Lízonls of r[csus, Introduction, section
Eost Íccent attemPt to show the infllcnce oÍ Àramaic upon a NT writer is
II
and § z.'
ORTHOGRAPHY
l. In unvocalized texts (PTM) tt, it, l, and r are freely used to
indicate vowels. Waw and yodh Írequently denote short vowels,
as well as long vowels. Typical examples are: n5tD.- nlD,
lDrN - plx, Sopia : 5ppp, *5t'y - x!)!, pn,x = l.ll§, 1'!'1's -
,..1T0..,r{trll - §'JJl., ntSt) - n.h, !{Dln :Np!, xr?hor NPF. The
srem vowel of the inflected forms of seghotate nouns (*51'!) and
the preformative vowel of verbal reflexives 1'r'5rntx) are commonly
indicated in this way. The insertion of vowel signs into textsoriginally
unvocalized accounts for the existence of íorms like i1!'§, 5pfp,4".
In unvocalized texts 'tl and n may be rvritten íor consonantal waw
and yodh in the middle of a ,rord (e. g. pr5'5 : nf'h, and rr for
diphthongal ai or for t pronounced as a double consonant, with
daghesh (e.g. D"P: D:P). N and n both represent a final long
vowel, especially ,à. In PTI\Í and OJ x is the more commonly
used. In OTA N is preferred in some cases, e.8. to rePresent the
emphatic ending t{ (§ 8), il in other cases, e.g. in the feminine
termination i1,. In ltm (who ?) anC 5xy (he entered) N denotes
the short d, in order to distinguish these words from the preposi-
tions l? and 5y. But lP ana 5U are generally used. Final diph-
thongal ar is often denoted bY iN'
2. The punctuation of the I\ISS. of Babylonian origin published
by Kahle is by no means uniform, varying through several stages
from a quite simple system to one which is highly complex. The
system of the Yemenite I\ÍSS. is a variation of the simple Babylonian
system, and the resemblances and differences of these two are,
principally, what is explained in the follorving notes.
C. F. Bumey's Aranaie Origitt o/thc Fourth Goslcl (tgzz)- It gives a most
valuable synopsic of tbe Aramaic idioms and consuuctiol)s rvbich may be
Iooked for in the Greek oÍ NT.
t This section may bc omitted when the gtammar is being rcad for the 6rst
viii. The
time. A knowledge of the ordinary llebrew alphabet is pre'upposed.