Targum Canticles, composed in the dialectally eclectic idiom of Late Jewish Literary Aramaic (LJLA), had immense historic popularity among Jewish communities worldwide. In this work, Paul R. Moore thoroughly analyses several of the Targum’s grammatical peculiarities overlooked by previous studies. Through this prism, he considers its literary influences, composition, and LJLA as a precursor of the highly eccentric Aramaic of the 13th century Spanish cabalistic masterpiece, The Zohar. The study includes transcriptions and analysis of the previously unpublished of fragments of the Targum from the Cairo Geniza, and what is possibly its earliest, known translation into Judaeo-Arabic.
Paul R. Moore, Ph.D. (2021), University College London, is Honorary Research Fellow at that university. His research interests include Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judaeo-Arabic language and linguistics. He has a special interest in the Hebrew Bible.
Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations Symbols, Terminology, and Conventions
1 Introduction
2 Dialect
3 Recensions
1 Critical Editions
4 Date of Composition
1 Arabic Influence
2 The Ishmaelites
3 Olibanum?
7 Gender
1 Feminine Nouns with Masculine Agreement
2 Androgyny: נפש
3 Masculine Nouns with Feminine Agreement
4 Gender Shift: בההיא זמנא
5 Gender Shift: בעידנא ההיא
8 Semantic Anomalies
1 אילולי
2 מאים
3 אן
4 פון
5 √חקקG
6 Summary
9 Argument Marking
1 Synthetic Pronominal Object Constructions
2 Repurposing of mt Argument Markers
3 Alternation between ית and ל
4 Arguments Marked by מן
5 Arguments Marked by ב
6 Mis-readings of TgShir 1.8—the Volitive אי בעיא
7 Mis-readings of TgShir 1.8—the Infinitive למיחי
8 Possible Misreading of TgShir 1.10
9 Use of ב to Encode goal Arguments of Verbs of Motion
10 Marking of Causee in Adjuration Formulae
11 Marking of Comparata
10 Quotative Construction: Verb of Speaking + וכן אמר
13 Geniza Fragment Oxford, Bodleian Library, Heb. f. 56 (folios 105a–113a)
1 Introduction
2 Linguistic Profile of the Judaeo-Arabic Translation
3 Annotated Transcription
Appendix 1: The Isaianic Citation in TgShir 1.1 Appendix 2: The Syntax of TgShir 2.6 Appendix 3: The Text of TgShir 5.3 Appendix 4: The Syntax of TgShir 5.11 Appendix 5: The Lexica of TgShir & Zoharic Literature Bibliography Index of Subjects Index of Lexemes Indexof Primary Sources
Institutes of Biblical and Jewish studies; academic libraries, specialist researchers, graduate and post-graduate students.