an introductory grammar of rabbinic hebrew

AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR OF RABBINIC HEBREW BY MIGUEL PEREZ FERNANDEZ TRANSLATED BY JOHN ELWOLDE BRILL LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KOLN 1997 Published with financial support from the Direccion General del Libro y Bibliotecas del Ministerio de Cultura, Spain. Originally published in 1992 as La kngua de los sabios, I. Morfosintaxis, by Editorial Verbo Divino, Estella, Spain. © Copyright of the Spanish edition: Editorial Verbo Divino, 1992 and lnstitucion Sanjeronimo, 1992. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Ruslan Khazarzar bamascha.narod.ru khazarzar. skeptik.net Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Perez Fernandez, Miguel: An introductory grammar of rabbinic Hebrew I by Miguel Perez Fernandez. Trans!. by John Elwolde Leiden; New York; Koln: Brill, 1997 ISBN 90-04 1 0890-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is also available ISBN 90 04 10890 4 © Copynght 1997 by Konmklyke Bnll, Lczden, The Netherlands All nghts reserved. No part if" thiS publtcalton may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retneval ~stem, or transmitted m a'9' form or by any means, eltctronic, mechanical, photocopymg, recording or otheru:ise, u;zthout pnor u,ntten permiSSion from the pubhsher. Authon-eatton to plwtocopy zttms for rnttrnal or personal use IS granted by Konmklyke Bnll provrded that the appropnate fies are paid direct!JI to The Copynght Cltarance Center, 222 Roseu:ood Drwe, Suztt 910 DaiWtTs 1\UI 01923, USA. Fees are sullject Ia change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERL>JIIDS FOREWORD This practical teaching grammar for students who already have a reasonable knowledge of Biblical Hebrew was initially developed over the period 1990 to 1992 as a handbook for courses in Rabbinic Hebrew at the University of Granada. Each unit concludes with vocabulary and twenty exercise texts re- lating to the grammatical point at issue in the unit. The exercises are gener- ally drawn from tannaitic literature. and the student should find everything required to deal with them in the book. Many of the early exercises come from Abot, which. although not typical of the Mishnah, is more accessible to the beginner in rabbinic language and thought. Each unit is divided into six sections: Introductory text, Morphology (including a presentation of diachronic matters). Grammar and usage, Phraseology, Vocabulary, and Exercises. The introductory texts and short explanations are designed to introduce the student to the language and con- cepts of the tannaim. Each introductory text exhibits the linguistic feature covered by the unit, although it serves primarily as a starting-point for dis- cussion of literary, theological, historical, and methodological issues. Overall, the work is divided into four parts: Nouns (including pronouns and adjectives), Verbs, Particles (including prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs). and Clauses. The part dealing with clauses includes sentence syn- tax. and the use of the conjunctions, but excludes the syntax of the noun and of the verb, which are dealt with in the first two parts. The Introduction gives an account of the present state of Rabbinic He- breW' research. including a discussion of (1) the relationships of early-or tannaitic-Rabbinic Hebrew to its later-or amoraic-variety, to classical and later Biblical Hebrew, and to the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and (2) the nature of Rabbinic Hebrew as a spoken language in the light of mod- em studies in phonetics, vocabulary, and dialect. The Bibliography at the close of the book should be helpful to readers wishing to pursue particular is- sues further, although it is not exhaustive. It is not only the pedagogical orientation of this book that clearly sets it apart from M.H. Segal's A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew (Oxford, 1927), but also its use of manuscripts-rather than printed editions-of the Mishnah (notably Codex Kaufmann), its general avoidance of later-amoraic-Rab- binic Hebrew, and its inclusion of texts from the early midrashim. Texts from the Mishnah follow either C. Albeck's edition or, if preceded by 'K', Codex Kaufmann. For the Tosefta, the editions of M.S. Zuckerman- dei and S. Lieberman are followed, and for the Mekhilta, Sifra, Sifre to Num- bers, and Sifre to Deuteronomy, those of J .S Lauterbach, I.H. Weiss, H.S. Horovitz. and L. Finkelstein, respectively. ACKNO~DGEMENTS I owe a large debt of gratitude to everyone who helped me during the two years I spent preparing the original volume, in particular to Professor Giin- ter Sternberger of the University of Vienna and Professor Luis Gir6n, of the Complutensian University, Madrid, who read and annotated the first draft in detail. to my colleagues Jose Ram6n Ayaso and Lola Ferre, who helped me with the indices, and to my niece. Esther, for her assistance in computing matters. Dr J.F. Elwolde of the Dept. of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield, brought the Spanish original to the attention of scholars through his review in The Society for Old Testament Study Book List of 1993. His English version incorporates many minor additions and corrections as well as an improved bibliography and a greatly expanded set of indices. We are extremely grateful to Anne Lee, a student in Dr Elwolde's department, who entered the vast bulk of the exercises into the computer, and who, with Rosemarie Kossov. a graduate student, helped with the proofreading; thanks are due as well to Martin F .J. Baasten of the University of Lei den. for his help with the passage from Contini on p. 186, and Kate Dove Davis, a colleague of Dr Elwolde, who helped with the production of the camera-ready copy. We should also like to record our thanks to the publishers, E.J. Brill, especially in the persons of Hans van der Meij, who oversaw the commissioning and progress of the translation, and Anne Folkertsma and her successor, Mattie Kuiper, for their helpfulness at the beginning and end of the publishing process. The publica- tion has been funded in large measure by a grant to the publishers from the Direcci6n General del Libro y Bibliotecas of the Ministerio de Cultura in Madrid and was undertaken as part of a research project, Lengua y Literatura del Judaismo Clt:isico, sponsored by the Ministerio de Educaci6n y Ciencia (PB93/1161). Miguel Perez Fernandez Granada, March 1997 CONTENTS Foreword v Acknowledgements vi Abbreviations xxi Introduction 1 1. The language of the Torah by itself, the language of the wise by itself. 2. Tannaitic Hebrew (RH1) and Amoraic Hebrew (RH2). 3. RHl. a spoken language. 4. Foreign in- fluence in vocabulary and the legacy of Biblical Hebrew (BH). 5. BH and RH1-two different languages. 6. RH1, LBH (Late Biblical Hebrew), and the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 7. Influence of BH on RHl. 8. Differences be- tween manuscripts and printed editions. 9. Rabbinic He- brew (RH) phonetics. 10. Traditions and dialects of RH1. 11. Conclusion. Part/ Nouns Unit I Personal pronouns 11 1-2. Abot 1.1: transmission of the Torah. 3. BH and RH personal pronouns. 4. The variations ·~t:m~. 1J~/1Jn~/ 1JnJ, n~mn~. ~IJn~. Cil!Jil. 5. Suffixed pronouns; use of -rl_!;. 6. Suffixed pronouns with r~- 7. Emphatic function of pronouns. 8. Pronoun as copula in nominal clause. 9. Pro- leptic pronoun before subject. 10. Demonstrative usage (~~iliJ, etc.). 11. Proleptic pronoun before object. 12. ~~il ,o;~ il:iJ. 13. ,o;~ ~~il p1. 14. n iltj~ ·1o. Unit 2 Demonstratives 21 1-2. SNm 84.2: fulfilment and harmonization of Scripture. 3. BH and RH demonstratives. 4. Strengthened forms. 5. Pronominal and adjectival uses. 6. Repetition of demon- strative to express movement or reciprocity. 7. Deictic function of -n~. 8. C~~ as demonstrative. 9. -~,P ,~. 10. Demonstrative use of personal pronoun (~~iliJ, etc.). 11. ilftJ c'(il'~. ~~iJ c'(il''(. 12. -e~,p ?~. viii CONTENTS Unit 3 Article 25 1. Abot 1.17: study and practice. 2. The article in AH and BH. 3. The article's originally deictic function. 4. Article as vocative. S. Article with adjectives and participles. 6-7. Attributive adjective without article. 8. Noun with article and attributive adjective without (equivalent to circumstan- tial clause). 9. Semantically determined phrases without article. 10. Article in proverbs and aphorisms. 11. Absence of article when noun is already determined by proleptic suffix. 12. ',,v ,~'?1 :nrifiJ ~~- Unit 4 Possessive pronouns and the genitive particle shel 29 1-2. SNm 78.4: proselytes and Israelites. 3. ,Qin)',j? (,01m '?'lp ). 4. BH and RH possessive suffixes. 5. Inde- pendent possessive pronouns ('7~. etc.). 6. Composition, orthography, and history of~- 7. Table of independent possessive pronouns. 8. ~ and Aramaic '"f. 9. Independent possessive pronoun as noun (e.g. ·~ m> or in place of pronominal suffix (e.g.·~ ,~":y). 10-13. Use of~ com- pared with construct chain. 14. ~ following proleptic suf- fix (e.g.c~~inm). ts. ~0.1~0. Unit 5 Interrogatives 34 1. ARN 4: the temple cult and love for one's neighbour; C',onnt/'o~. 2. •o and ilO; vocalization ofiTO. 3. New RH int~~gativ~s: iTt'~. ir·~:1',·~. 4. Semantic ·evolution of ill·~. S. •o and iTQ as pronouns and adjectives. 6. ~'!liT ilQ/ !JiTQ. 7. Indefinite pronouns -tP. •o and -tP. ilQ. 8. iTQ in gez- erah shawah comparisons. 9. ilQ as part of adverbial ex- pressions (e.g. il~:;;l). 10. !Jilt'M. •ilir~. nr~. ir~. ~-~ as pronouns and adjectives. 11. iTt'~. it·~. !J',•~ conveying choice. 12. ilQi"'T ,~liJ ilQ'?; structure of meshalim. 13. ~l ilQ, m1 iTQ. t;i't:\l iTQ. Unit 6 Indefinite expressions 39 1. Abot 3.9: wisdom and works. 2. Indefinite pronoun C~:;>. 3. Other forms found in indefinite expressions. 4. C~. 01~-':l;>, C1~ 1'~· ,~l· ~o:y-',;>. ,~l l'~· ',;> as indef- inite expressions. S. (Nflil!P ':l~. ~·iJw '7;>. Ji"J¢ ',;> as indef- inite expressions. 6. Statements of universal validity with -',~and participle. 7. Interrogatives 'l;l and ilQ as indefinite expressions. 8. (Nfl~. (Nf~,O. TiJfl!O as indefinite ex- pressions. 9. Use ofC~:;>.10.~Q. 11. Partitive Jl;l in in- definite expressions. 12. mr~"e. 13. Indefinite statements CONTENTS ix of general application. 14. C'"'))i~ W:.1- 15. CipQ-':l~. Unit 7 Reflexive and reciprocal structures 44 l. Pea 1.1: eschatological retribution; ,~p. ill'Wi 1-!0'?t:J. 2. Reflexive and reciprocal devices in RH. 3. -7 with pro- nominal suffix; conveying 'middle' or 'ingressive' sense. 4. C~l'. iO~~',, 10~~:;1. iO~~O; 1~'?~l,;); iO~~ r::)', iJ":!). 5. Expressions using C IJ, ~.and r:")~ll. 6. Reflexive value of 1~'?~ ',:;1p. 7. Expressions of reciprocity: repetition of de- monstrative; l?.! w·~; i"1::)rj? r~; 1p~rq. 8. :mt;"Q iiDDp. 9. iO~~ r:;:~'? iJ~:!l. 10. 1''?-t' ',:!)p. ll. Clt$ ,~~ ~', ;,:;m'?. Unit 8 The relative pronoun she- 49 l. Abot 3.17: wisdom and works. 2-4. Historical develop- ment of BH ,~~and RH -U:'· 5. Meanings and uses of -W. 6. -W as relative. A. With retrospective determination via suffixes (e.g. C"i) iJ1,~f?rD iT"!~)- B. With retrospective de- termination via adverbs of place (e.g. c!p', 1'?vi'D cip~iJ). C. Without retrospective determination. D. With ~r.;~. ilQ, ~as antecedent. E. ',I'D. F. -arrna;. 7. ~as conjunction. A. Introducing 'object clause'; introducing indirect speech. B. Introducing direct speech, especially in oaths. C. With ex- planatory or exegetical function. D. -tP ,~, -¢~~o. -¢:::>. -fPC; .¢ as causal conjunction. 8. -:!1 ~~ intr<Xlu~ing cir- cumstantial clause; - ',~ ~~ -7ti 9. -!Q li~l. -¢ ~1ill as adversative conjunctions. 10. -" i:::>,1rttn~ 11. ~~- 12. -~ ~~tP.l -~. 41 r::)1 ~ r:;1. - Unit 9 Noun patterns 56 l. Ber 1.5: the justification of halakhah through Scripture; '1:!1! as particle of 'amplification'. 2. Noun types ofRH and BH. 3. RH's capacity for creating new nouns. 4. Nouns of type i'f?'t!!p. 5. Nouns of type ',lSp~P 6. Nouns of type ~P.~h~piJiil'?tw.iJ. 7. Nouns of type ',~P 8. Nouns of type T'xlipJ1'?t!!P 9. il'?~~p,. ',~p. i'f?tppiJ in place of in- finitive construct. 10. Semantic development of il'{t;!p, type. ll. Nouns of type m',·~p. 12. iltGiJ ,1~ 1110~. 13. ,~iJ ilJ~. ill:;:I.P. ,gen. 14. ~ ,1:!1-p. IS. C/il'iJ 11f'n ·~r.;~. Unit 10 Gender and number of nouns 62 1. SNm 112.4: the exegetical methods of Akiba and Ish- mael; nio'?il'. 2. Gender and number in BH and RH. 3. Masculine singular. 4. Feminine singular. 5. Masculine X CONTENTS plural. 6. Feminine plural. 7. Dual. 8. RH forms not at- tested in BH. 9-11. Different meanings associated with masculine and feminine forms of a word. 12. Increased use of dual. 13. ·o~P. 1'0.~0. 14. ,.D~iJ1'1'1~':!11iJT11- IS. i:f1? c~'?J!. Unit 11 Absolute and construct 68 1. Abot 6.2: the al tiqra principle. 2. semikhut-determi- nant and determined noun. 3. Inflectional changes to de- termined noun. 4A-B. Different types of determinative re- lationship. C. Passive participles determined by agent. D. Determinative relationships with 1~· n~. ',l]~. S. Plural forms of construct chains. 6. ',tzi in place of semikhut. 7. Prepositions and conjunctions r:;l. -~·~. not:~. '1Ql'. ·~'?. -CP. ':J:;l'?, ~ '!.~. -¢ ,l!, etc. as determined forms; -Ui '1:;>; ~ f1P-iiJ:!l. 8. C1tq:;l, c~-·~::!1. 9. ',;p-~. 10. c~ ~~ ll'1· Unit 12 Greek and Latin words 74 l. Mek 19.4: the midrashic function of parables. 2. Trilin- gual nature of tannaitic Palestine; Hellenism. 3-4. Tran- scription and morphological patterning of Greek and Latin words. S. Inflection of Greek and Latin words. 6-8. Social and literary contexts evidencing Greek or Latin influence. 9. Greek- and Latin-based verbs; syntactic effect of Greek and Latin vocabulary. 10. t;i~ i'F-l:. ll. t!li'!i} lit::>. Unit 13 Adjectives 80 l. SOt 277: rabbinic argumentation in dialogue form. 2. Adjective types of RH and BH. 3. Predicative and attribu- tive uses, number and gender agreement, particularly with collective nouns. 4. Interchangeability of adjectives and participles. S. Comparative and superlative forms. A. With comparative 10. B. With 10 iDi'. C. With ?l] in:. D. Adjec- tive + -~ expressing superlative. E. Superlative with "mo. F. Expression of superlative through repetition of noun in construct chain. 6.1~~ "1Di'. 1~~ n~~- Unit 14 Numerals 85 1. SOt 329: scriptural proofs of resurrection. 2. Table of cardinal numbers in RH. 3. Gender agreement of numbers one to ten. 4. Ordinal numbers; it~~ for BH n•J!Zl. S. Syn- tax of cardinal numbers. 6. Syntax of ordinal numbers; dates; n·~ •three-year old",·~! •four-year old'. 7. Dis- tributives. 8. Fractions. 9. Cl]~. C'o.ye expressing repeated CONTENTS or multiple acts. 10. Denominative verbs based on numer- als. n. ,~, -n:r~- 12. ,~::;,. nr:r~:>. 13. c·~~iJ. Part II Verbs xi Unit 15 Conjugations (binyanim) 95 1. ~g 1.8: the relationship of oral law to Scripture. 2. Table of BH binyanim; prefix. suffix, participial, impera- tive, jussive, cohortative forms and moods. 3. The RH verb. A. Disappearance of Pu 'a/. B. Replacement of Hitpa 'el by Nitpa 'al; Nittaf' al. C. Nuf'al. D. Saf' el, Shaf- 'el. E. Pi'lel, Pi/pel, Pir'el, Pi'les. 4. Morphology of RH binyanim. A. Nif'al: loss of intervocalic , __ B. Pi'el: as- similation to triradical pattern in ayin-waw and -yod verbs; ,~tV > , _!Q. C. Pu 'a/: loss of preformative mem in partici- ple. D. Nitpa 'al: vocalization as Nitpa 'el; metathesis/as- similation of -rn prefix. E. Hif'il: loss of preformative -il in infinitive. F. Hof'al: Hof'al becomes Huj'al; "1tii}, ~- G. Quadriliteral conjugations: inflected on model of Pi'el: 5. Meanings of binyanim. 6. Qat loss of stative meaning. 7. Nif'al. A. Passive. B. Reflexive: ~~OJ •turn out'. C. Reciprocative: ,.,',m. D. Middle. 8. Pi'el. A. Expressing repeated action. B. Inchoative. C. Replacing Qal; as denominative. D. Declarative: ,tr~. ~~. il~i. ::J.".n; t!l,P.'O, il;t',. 9. Hif'il; causative; inchoative; expressing change of state. 10. Hitpa'el,Nitpa'al. A. Reflexive/passive of Pi'el. B. Reflexive use expressing passivity. toleration, giving of permission. C. Inchoative. D. Middle. E. Reciprocative. 11. Saf'el. Shaf'el as causatives; other quadriliterals as in- tensive-causatives. 12. ~~~~,, ~~~0~1. C".P-l;lt:l~~r.l~1- 13. fl;ll?10Q rnJ-!"119 n10. il;t1"11';) ::J.itsiJ mo. 14. c·~~~ c•c:;>~. r,n ·~!l. C"c:;>~. Unit 16 Tenses and moods 104 1. PRE 12: deeds of mercy. 2. Tenses and moods in BH. 3. Forms missing from RH. 4. RH differences from BH in the perfect. A. ill;l'?~ for l;l~P B. n:v for ilt)~iJ. etc.; l~P for ~~p. 5. RH differences from BH in the imperfect. A. ~j?t:'l. 1~p· for itpt!lprct B. Disappearance ofr',w.r,. c. ',it!lp' for ',t!lp'. 6. RH differences from BH in the partici- ple. A. n~ for it~. B.T- for C 7. RH differences from BH in the imperative: 1~p for iti(t!lp; ',it!lp for ~i?. 8. RH dif- ferences from BH in the infinitive. A. Absence of infinitive absolute. B. Infinitive construct based on imperfect. 9. xii CONTENTS Summary paradigm of Qat of regular verb. 10. 'Tense' and 'aspect' in BH. 11. Disappearance of waw-consecutive, etc. in RH. 12. Emergence of a 'tense' system in RH. A. Perfect relates to past (sometimes present). B. Participle re- lates to present and future; imperative, facultative/jussive. C. Imperfect relates to future; command, intention (aspect), jussive (mood). 13. Periphrastic forms. A. n:v + participle. B. -7 i't:i-t' + infinitive; contrasted with imperfect and par- ticiple; indicating eschatological future. 14. i~~:;l. iM:p replaced by t~~;r.t?P. 15. Auxiliary verbs. A. Follo~"oo by -7 and infinitive. B. Followed by fQ. C. ',•I'Jt:iiJ 'begin'. D. ;'?.im + participle to indicate continuous or progressive ac- tion. 16. iOi', 11o',r, <""n), iOi', i11:l',r,-ilo. 17. 1•nv', .,. - - ·- - ., tll1:::1.:. Unit 17 Peifect 113 1. Naz 3.6: rna 'a8iyyot in the Mishnah. 2. RH differences from BH in the perfect: il~j? for t;'I~P., n~j? for if?~, 1~~ for ~i?. 3. Qat perfect forms ~P., ~P.; ',bj? ab- sent; ',t:>:. 4. Ayin-waw and -yod verbs. A. Qat: Cj?, ~. IZii!l; Nif'al: 1ii¥ji"1·~. B. Pi'el (etc.): c-•p. ~~~~. ',·~~. 1r:>; i"tP (< iMIZi). C. Po'lel: ij_il1; Pitpel: JPt. S. Lamed-ale! and -he verbs. A. Lamed-ale! verbs inflected like lamed-he: •n·-,P.· 1J'ij?.1T~. B. Third person feminine singular Qal inn-;: n:v. nt;J~. C. Third person feminine singular Nij'al: n•',J~. nt~~~OJ. D. Suffixed forms of lamed-he verbs in- flected like lamed-alej: 1mtli~.V. 1~tpv. 6-7. Perfect ex- presses action that took place at specific point in past; dis- tinguished from general or atemporal statements; effect of disappearance of ',bp"1 construction; use of perfect to be- gin meshalim. 8. Perfect with pluperfect significance; in combination with n:v + participle/noun. 9. Perfect with present reference. A. In dialogues and colloquial speech: t;'liO~. 1'1iJ 10 'n?t ~',. ~'? ct)tll~. B. Expressing a state or condition that arose in past but persists in present ip~J n~ 'r:JltP~iJ. 10. Perfect in declarations of general va- lidity: tio tll~ .r~ opJ. 11-12. Perfect in protasis of condi- tional/temporal sentence, in halakhic formulations and nar- rative; distinguished from liturgical atemporal present. 13. Future perfect, expressing future event regarded as already having taken place. 14. il~l} il~-t'tltiTO. '0'~-t''t:i'~l}~ expressing irreversibility. 15. 1'"1iJ 10 'n'~! ~',. 16. t;liOt$. 17. M~~',]. [...]... LBH RH RH1 RH2 Archaic Hebrew (of early biblical poetry and of inscriptions) ('Classical') Biblical Hebrew (especially of pre-exilic prose) Late Biblical Hebrew Rabbinic Hebrew Rabbinic Hebrew of the tannaim ('Mishnaic Hebrew' ) Rabbinic Hebrew of the amoraim INTRODUCTION I The language of the Torah by itself, the language of the wise by itself The student who reads a Rabbinic Hebrew text for the first... writings; and post-exilic, or Late Biblical, Hebrew (LBH), whereas RH naturally divides into Early Rabbinic Hebrew (RHI), the language of the tannaim; and Late Rabbinic Hebrew (RH2), the language of the amoraim This study will focus on RHI 2 Tannaitic Hebrew (RH1) and Amoraic Hebrew (RH2) In political terms, the tannaitic period is that of the •restoration' of Judaism after the disasters of 70 and 135... Complete disappearance of the wow-consecutive; Loss of the infinitive absolute and of special forms for the cohortative and jussive Nowadays, Rabbinic Hebrew is generally treated as an historically distinct phase of the Hebrew language, and the saying attributed to Rabbi Jo~anan in AZ 58b-the language of the Torah by itself, the language of the wise by itself-reflects early awareness of its distinctiveness... the development of Hebrew, four major periods are discernible: BH (Biblical Hebrew) , RH (Rabbinic Hebrew) , MH (Mediaeval Hebrew) , and IH (Israeli, or Modem, Hebrew) This wide-ranging classification allows for further subdivision and transitional phases Thus, BH can be subdivided into Archaic Hebrew (AH), the Hebrew of archaic poetry; Biblical Hebrew (BH) proper, the standard language of pre-exilic prose... in RHI many features of vocabulary and grammar from the surrounding languages Recent studies suggest that about half the vocabulary of RH I coincides with that of BH while of the remainder, a large proportion is shared with Aramaic with a significant number of Greek-and to a lesser extent Latin-loanwords, as well as words of Akkadian or Persian origin 4.1 The legacy of Hebrew We begin with an obvious... traditions of the Mishnah and place them in a sociolinguistic context For the Mishnah Bar-Asher distinguishes a Palestinian and a Babylonian branch with the Palestinian variety represented by manuscripts of the Mishnah alone that is without the Gemara of the Babylonian Talmud whereas the Babylonian branch is represented by the text of the Mishnah incorporated within manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud... less Palestinian than the eastern ones as indicated by numerous Greek transcriptions and the oral tradition of different communities INTRODUCfiON 15 In conclusion, both textual and pronunciation differences signal the existence of dialect variants within the spoken Hebrew of tannaitic Palestine and the need for further detailed analysis of texts in order to advance our understanding of this subject... Pharisaic revolution and one of the keys to its success-the ascent of the common people and their language to the realm of religious discourse and debate There is an obvious analogy here with similar phenomena in the western world, where the introduction of vernacular languages into the Roman Catholic liturgy has marked the conclusion of a centuries-long struggle 6 RH1, LBH, and the Hebrew of the Dead Sea... influence of Babylonian Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud, but might instead be genuinely Palestinian as indicated by the use of 1~'il and ~1;l'il, rn·~;,"o and ~~10 in the Dead Sea Scrolls; Babylonian ~followed by participle (without an intermediate pronoun) is also found in LBH (Ec 9.12; 10.5: Ps 133.2-3) There is an interesting re-evaluation of 'Palestinian' and 'Babylonian' characteristics in Friedman... language of his teacher'; however this is to be understood exactly it clearly functions as a guarantee of fidelity of transmission of rabbinic statements, and in the light of this it comes as no surprise that the Mishnah itself records sayings of Hillel in Aramaic (Abot 1.13 ), doubtless because they were originally formulated in that language Finally, without denying the technical nature of most tannaitic . amoraic-variety, to classical and later Biblical Hebrew, and to the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and (2) the nature of Rabbinic Hebrew as a spoken language in the light of mod- em studies in. record our thanks to the publishers, E.J. Brill, especially in the persons of Hans van der Meij, who oversaw the commissioning and progress of the translation, and Anne Folkertsma and her successor,. Archaic Hebrew (of early biblical poetry and of inscriptions) BH ('Classical') Biblical Hebrew (especially of pre-exilic prose) LBH Late Biblical Hebrew RH Rabbinic Hebrew RH1 Rabbinic