L D , T D ishan iDan argum iDan neo-aramaic sTuDies 3 series eDiTor Geoffrey Khan Lishan Didan, Targum Didan Translation Language in a Neo-Aramaic Targum Tradition m r argo ees gorgias Press 2008 First Gorgias Press Edition, 2008 Copyright © 2008 by Gorgias Press LLC All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. Published in the United States of America by Gorgias Press LLC, New Jersey ISBN 978-1-59333-426-0 gorgias Press 180 Centennial Ave., Suite A, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA www.gorgiaspress.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rees, Margo. Lishan didan, targum didan : translation language in a neo-Aramaic targum tradition / Margo Rees. -- 1st Gorgias Press ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Manuscript Barzani. 2. Barzani, Sason ben Zakay. 3. Bible. O.T. Syriac, Modern--Versions--Rawandoz. 4. Syriac language, Modern--Dialects--Iraq-- Rawandoz. 5. Jews--Iraq--Rawandoz--Languages. 6. Rawandoz (Iraq)--Lan- guages. I. Title. BS315.S9R44 2008 221.4’3--dc22 2007047018 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standards. Printed in the United States of America TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents............................................................................................v Preface...........................................................................................................ix On terminology......................................................................................ix Acknowledgments.......................................................................................xiii Abbreviations................................................................................................xv Journals and periodicals......................................................................xvi General Introduction.......................................................................................1 1. Prolegomena.......................................................................................1 2. Background.........................................................................................2 2.1 The Barzani family............................................................................2 2.2 The Jewish Neo-Aramaic targum tradition.......................................4 2.3 The language of msB.........................................................................6 3. Description of msB............................................................................12 4. Phonology and orthography.............................................................15 5. A note on the structure of this analysis............................................17 I. Morphology................................................................................................19 1. Pronouns...........................................................................................19 1.1 Independent personal pronouns.....................................................19 1.2 Pronominal Suffixes........................................................................22 1.3 Demonstrative Pronouns.................................................................25 1.4 Interrogative pronouns...................................................................26 1.5 Reflexive pronouns.........................................................................26 1.6 The relative pronoun h©t..................................................................27 2. Verbs.................................................................................................30 2.1 Verbal stems...................................................................................30 v vi LISHAN DIDAN 2.2 Inflection of the present base.........................................................32 2.3 Inflection of the past base..............................................................34 2.4 Inflection of the imperative base....................................................37 2.5 Stem I weak verbs..........................................................................37 2.6 Irregular and defective verbs..........................................................43 2.7 Infinitives in stem I........................................................................48 2.8 Weak and irregular verbs in stem II...............................................50 2.9 Infinitives in stem II.......................................................................52 2.10 Semantic distinction between stems I and II................................54 2.11 Quadriliteral verbs.......................................................................55 2.12 Usage of the verbal affix ³uu- (-wa) and v(cid:104)k³³uu- (-wale)......................56 2.13 Compound Verbs..........................................................................58 2.14 Verbal negation............................................................................60 2.15 Predication of Existence...............................................................61 2.16 Expression of the pronominal object............................................61 3. Nouns...............................................................................................66 3.1 Remarks..........................................................................................66 3.2 v¨- 't(cid:107)- inflection..............................................................................67 3.3 t¨,- inflection..................................................................................72 3.4 The diminutive suffix.....................................................................75 3.5 The abstract suffix t(cid:107)kU-...................................................................75 3.6 The t²b(cid:108)- suffix..................................................................................76 3.7 The v(cid:104)- nominal ending...................................................................77 3.8 Unadapted loanwords.....................................................................77 3.9 Nominal gender..............................................................................79 3.10 Nominal plurals............................................................................79 3.11 Nominal annexation.....................................................................82 4. Adjectives.........................................................................................84 4.1 Remarks..........................................................................................84 4.2 “Passive participle” forms..............................................................84 4.3 CoCa, CuCta, CoCe.........................................................................85 4.4 Other patterns................................................................................85 TABLE OF CONTENTS vii 4.5 Adapted loanwords.........................................................................86 4.6 Unadapted loanwords.....................................................................86 5. Adverbs.............................................................................................88 5.1 Remarks..........................................................................................88 5.2 Adverbial forms of Aramaic origin.................................................88 5.3 Adverbial forms of non-Aramaic origin..........................................89 6. Prepositions and uninflected particles..............................................90 6.1 Prepositions....................................................................................90 6.2 Other particles................................................................................93 7. Numerals...........................................................................................95 II. Translation Technique..............................................................................97 Introduction..........................................................................................97 1. Point of Departure..........................................................................105 2. Translation Technique in Biblical Scholarship...............................109 3. Translation Technique Analysis......................................................117 3.1 Segmentation / Division...............................................................118 3.2 Quantitative correlation to source text.........................................126 3.3 Lexical Equivalents.......................................................................129 3.4 Word-relationship Indicators........................................................142 3.5 Accuracy: Level of semantic information.....................................160 3.6 Inaccuracy.....................................................................................177 III. Comparative analyses............................................................................181 1. Jewish languages and the “calque” tradition.................................181 1.1 Jewish languages..........................................................................181 1.2 Is Jewish Neo-Aramaic a Jewish language?.................................184 1.3 The “calque” tradition among Jewish languages..........................186 2. The spoken versus the translation language: relationship and interaction..................................................................................195 2.1 Word order...................................................................................196 2.2 Conservatism and Hebraism.........................................................198 2.3 Interaction and affectation...........................................................200 2.4 Jewish language communities and the issue of diglossia.............203 viii LISHAN DIDAN 3. Form and function: Bible translation and the Jewish education setting.........................................................................................211 3.1 The historical precedent for use of targum in education.............212 3.2 Education and the context of the JL calque translations..............218 3.3 Conclusions..................................................................................226 4. Textual comparison........................................................................233 4.1 Genesis 1:16.................................................................................235 4.2 Segmentation / division...............................................................237 4.3 Quantitative correlation to source text........................................237 4.4 Lexical equivalents.......................................................................239 4.5 Word-relationship indicators........................................................243 4.6 Accuracy.......................................................................................245 Concluding remarks....................................................................................253 Bibliography...............................................................................................261 Appendix: Manuscript Barzani—Sample Pages...........................................275 Glossary of Neo-Aramaic from msB............................................................277 Glossary of Verbs................................................................................278 General glossary.................................................................................289 PREFACE On terminology In referring to the manuscript which is the subject of this research, I have chosen to call it Manuscript Barzani, after the rabbi who wrote it. I shall abbreviate this title “msB.” In reference to Barzani himself, I have chosen to use the term metargem, which is the Jewish Neo-Aramaic (and modern He- brew) form of the Middle Aramaic term meturgeman. Barzani refers to him- self, in the various colophons throughout the manuscript, as c,ufvu odr,nv (the metargem [or, “translator”] and the writer). I have chosen to use this term, not only because it is the term he chose to identify himself, but also because the terms “translator,” “writer” or “author” are not adequate to ex- press his role in the transmission of the tradition. In speaking about other translations (in languages other than Neo-Aramaic), I shall use the term “translator” for the sake of clarity, though it may be inadequate in those cases for the same reasons. In the same vein, I use the term “targum” to re- fer to the Neo-Aramaic translations, and the term “calque” to refer to other, non-Aramaic literal translations of the Bible. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic term šar‛ is also used by some to refer to the Neo-Aramaic translations, but I have chosen to use “targum” consistently. I have had to refer quite frequently to the Hebrew text of the Bible throughout my work, and for the sake of clarity have chosen to refer to that text as the Masoretic text (MT). I realise that this term is somewhat inade- quate; however, I find lengthy phrases such as “preserved Hebrew text,” and the like, to be cumbersome when used frequently in scholarly discourse. ix x LISHAN DIDAN The history of the Aramaic language is very lengthy and involves many shifts and changes. Attempts to order this history according to designated time periods have been many and varied. There is some disagreement as to how to divide and name these time periods. In more recent times, J. A. Fitz- meyer and E. Y. Kutscher both divide these eras in roughly the same man- ner, as follows: Old Aramaic (10th–8th centuries B.C.E.); Official or Imperial Aramaic (8th–3rd/2nd centuries B.C.E.), Middle Aramaic (3rd century B.C.E.–3rd century C.E.), Late Aramaic (3rd–8th century C.E. [the Muslim conquest]) and Modern Aramaic (Islamic era–present).1 According to this division, which is perfectly suitable for our purposes here, the period of Middle Aramaic in- cludes, among much other literature, the language of Targum On- qelos/Jonathan as well as what is elsewhere referred to as “Standard Liter- ary Aramaic.”2 Kutscher notes that while the documents of this period show attempts to imitate Official Aramaic, “they also contain elements of Late Aramaic.”3 I depart from these designations somewhat, however, in my use of the term “Old Aramaic” (OA). Y. Sabar uses this term in his Jewish Neo- Aramaic dictionary to indicate—much more generally—“old classic literary (Jewish) Aramaic … as listed in dictionaries (… M. Jastrow, Levy, Sokoloff …) a convenient general term vs. Neo-Aramaic.”4 In this usage, in other words, “OA” is really meant to encompass Old Aramaic, Official Aramaic and Middle Aramaic. While this level of generality is not always ideal, when speaking about derivations of Neo-Aramaic it is usually a sufficient (and simpler) term, by contrast. For these reasons, I use “Old Aramaic” in the 1 See E. Y. Kutscher (1971) and J. A. Fitzmeyer (1979: 60–63; see ff for a recapitulation of the debate over period division). For alternative discussion, cf. J. C. Greenfield (1974), (1978). 2 See J. C. Greenfield (1974). 3 1971: 260. 4 Y. Sabar (2002: 73).