Introduction to the Dialects of Jewish Aramaic

AMA 509
Instructor: Adam C. McCollum
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Cincinnati, Ohio
Summer 2006

“Die Syrische und Chaldäische Sprache sind unter allen morgenländischen die leichtesten, so
wie die Hebräische unter ihnen die schwerste ist” (Michaelis 1768: 15-16).
“Syriac and Aramaic are the easiest of all the eastern languages, as Hebrew is the hardest among
them.”

Purpose and Method

Since so much of Jewish literature was written in various dialects of Aramaic, there is a
striking lacuna in the education of a student who is interested in Judaica, if the curriculum does
not introduce him or her to a scientific study of that language. Granted, acquiring a working
knowledge of Hebrew--biblical, rabbinic, and modern--is a formidable task in and of itself, but to
throw students into an Aramaic text, perhaps with the assumption that Aramaic is some divergent
dialect of Hebrew (!), is highly questionable on linguistic, historical, and pedagogical grounds.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to Aramaic in its manifestations in Jewish
communities of the ancient and mediaeval worlds (ergo, Jewish neo-Aramaic dialects are absent
from the material in this course). The course objectives are more fully as follows:
1) show the the broad use of Aramaic throughout Jewish history
2) nurture a foundational acquaintance with Aramaic grammar and vocabulary
3) make students sensitive to the key differences among the Jewish Aramaic dialects
4) guide students through reading several different kinds of texts in the Jewish
Aramaic dialects
5) make students aware of the best resources to use when studying these texts
The textual subject of the course will be several passages from the main sources of
Jewish Aramaic texts, namely biblical Aramaic, Qumran Aramaic, Targums, Midrash, the two
Talmuds, and some prayers and songs. Grammatical instruction will take place through text
study, i.e. inductively. You will always see texts in the first place with pointing and, time
permitting, some texts will afterwards be given as they are usually seen, without pointing, in
order to maximize the utility of the course in genuinely practical ways while at the same time
fortifying grammatical ability, which rests so much in paying attention to and knowing the
vowels to be read.
Since you are expected to be familiar with Hebrew and since you will constantly be
continuing to read Hebrew, it makes good sense to teach Aramaic in this context in light of the
Hebrew that you know. I will, therefore, spend time explaining the sound correspondences
between Hebrew and the dialects of Jewish Aramaic. Grammatical explanation too will always
appear over against Hebrew, not because Aramaic comes from Hebrew or vice versa, but simply
because you will be expected to know at least some Hebrew whereas you might know very little
or no Aramaic.
The summer courses only last four weeks and so it seems like there is really very little
time to cover a lot of material. The purpose of this course, however, is to overview the place of
Aramaic in Jewish texts and to learn its essential details, rather than any kind of comprehensive
mastery of Aramaic, which will, however, be much more possible to you after having completed
the course and having become familiar with basic grammar, dialect differences, and useful and
accurate guides and resources. As mentioned above, recognizing the differences between the
dialects is a concern of this instruction and so I will present these differences as they are relevant
for each point of teaching. It is hoped that you will know, by the end of the four weeks, the
basic differences between the dialects of Jewish Aramaic.
The three hours per day in class will be focused on a number of texts which will be both
the source and the target of the grammatical topic for that day. An afternoon assignment of
another text or texts will help solidify the student’s understanding of the instruction for the day
as well as help review material previously covered. The next day, any questions related to the
previous day’s homework assignment will be treated, but the instructor will in any case look over
all the assignments and, after marking them, return them to the students.
Another purpose of the course is to get students familiar with the field of Aramaic studies
and so a few articles or chapters will be assigned as required reading each week (see below). I
will give a few questions based on the readings and students are to hand in their answers by the
beginning of the following week. At the end of the fourth week I will give an outside of class
final examination.

Texts
I will provide you with the texts that we will study. In most cases I will have retyped the
text and vocalized it as well as added glosses and grammatical notes. I will send these files to
you via email in .pdf; then you can print them or read them from your laptop. We will study the
texts according to dialect beginning with biblical Aramaic and ending with Jewish Babylonian
Aramaic. We have 15 days of class and will proceed according to the following schema:
1. Biblical Aramaic (1 day)

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2. Genesis Apocryphon, Bar Kochba letters, and Avot (1 day)
3. Onqelos read with Palestinian Targums and Pseudo-Jonathan; Jonathan (4 days)
4. Palestinian Talmud, Midrash (4 days)
5. JBA (5 days)

Abbreviations
These abbreviations will appear rather frequently in some materials that I give you.
AIOA Kaufman 1974
BA Biblical Aramaic
CPA Christian Palestinian Aramaic
DJA Michael Sokoloff 2003
DJBA Michael Sokoloff 2002
DJPA Michael Sokoloff 2002b
GJPA Dalman 1981
HALOT Koehler and Baumgartner 2001
JBA Jewish Babylonian Aramaic
JPA Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
LJLA Late Jewish Literary Aramaic
LS Brockelmann 1928
LSP Schultess 1903
OJ The Aramaic of Targums Onqelos and Jonathan
QA Qumran Aramaic

Books in Reference and on Reserve

Reference
HALOT Reference PJ 4833 K6 .1813 1994
Klein 1986 Reference folio BS 1224 A7.7 G4.6 1986
Levy 1867-68 Reference PJ 5255 L4
Sokoloff 2002 Reference PJ 5305 S5 2002

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Sokoloff 2002b Reference PJ 5205 S6 2002
Strack and Stemberger 1996 Reference BM 504 S7.313 1991

Reserve
Cook 1986 BS 1224 A7.5 C6.5 1986a
Dalman 1981 Freidus CZ D13 1905
Epstein 1960 Freidus CZ E 64
Fassberg 1990 PJ 5252 F3.7 1990
Fitzmyer 1997 BS 2395 F5.73 1997
Greenfield 2001 PJ 3003 .G675 2001
Kaufman 1974 PJ 5205 K3
Klein 1980 BS 1224 A7.3 K5.5
Kutscher 1976 PJ 5257 K8.13
Margolis 1910 Freidus CZ M31M
Rosenthal 1995 PJ 5213 R6.5 1995
Schlesinger 1928 PJ 5302 S3 1928
Sokoloff 1975 PJ 5309 S6
Stevenson 1962 PJ5252 .S8 1962

Final Examination Assignment (Take-home)

Due July 25, 2006
Choose one of the following passages, translate the text into English, and give a philological
commentary on it. This commentary should include remarks about the lexical and grammatical
features of the chosen text and it should be clear that you have consulted the tools we have
learned to use in this course (cite them!) and any other pertinent helps that you know of. The
secondary sources you have consulted might be of some help too; if so, be sure to interact with
them in your commentary. Things you have learned in this course should be evident in your
commentary, that is, I should be able to see how this course has enabled you to read and
understand an Aramaic text accurately. I can assist you, if you need help locating any of these
texts. Please confirm your text choice with me by 7/11.
a. Genesis Apocryphon: (1QapGen) col. II: 1-26, col. 20: 2-32

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b. Tobit (Qumran): 4Q196--fr. 2, fr. 14 col. II; 4Q197--fr. 4, coll. I-III
c. Two chapters in Onqelos, Neofiti, Pseudo-Jonathan, the Fragment Targums (where available),
and the Genizah Targums (where available)
d. Four chapters from Targum Jonathan
e. Palestinian Talmud, Berakot 5a and 9a (Rosenthal 1967, I/1 pp. 67-68)
f. Babylonian Talmud, Qiddushin 70a-70b (Rosenthal 1967, II/1 pp. 43-44)
g. Geonic literature from Sokoloff 1975: 39-40, selection ‫ ה‬or ‫ו‬

A Final Word
I designed this course less than one year ago and it has never been taught. I am
consequently sailing uncharted waters as I teach it. Your cooperation and enthusiasm are much
appreciated and I heartily welcome your criticism along the way. I look forward to reading
Aramaic with you and thank you for enrolling in the course. May it be a fruitful blessing for all
of us!
Adam C. McCollum
mccollac@fuse.net

Calendar
week 1
Readings (questions due 6/26)
Kaufman 1992 (Reference BS 440 A5.4 1992)
Greenfield 1978a (in Greenfield 2001, Reserve PJ 3003 .G675 2001)
Kutscher 1971b: cols. 259-67, 282-83 (Reference DS 102.8 E4.96)
Greenfield 1995 (in Geller, Greenfield and Weitzman 1995, Reserve PJ 5208 E6S7.8
1995)
Flesher 2005 (Reference BM 50 E6.3 2005)
6/19 Introduction
BA: Gen 31:47, Jer 10:11, Dan 7:9-10
6/20 Early Palestinian Aramaic: Genesis Apocryphon (selected sentences)
Bar Kochba letter 15
Avot 1:13, 2:6, 5:20

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 Hammath-Gadara Synagogue Inscription I
6/21 Targ
6/22 Targ cont.5

week 2
Readings (questions due 7/3)
Alexander 1992 (Reference BS 440 A5.4 1992)
Kutscher 1971b: cols. 267-69 (Reference DS 102.8 E4.96)
Fassberg 1990: 1-5 (Reserve PJ 5252 F3.7 1990)6
Klein 1980: 14-26 (Reserve BS 1224 A7.3 K5.5)
Cook 1986: 107-110, 266-82 (Reserve BS 1224 A7.5 C6.5 1986a)
6/26 Targ cont.
6/27 Targ cont.
6/28 JPA (various texts)
6/29 JPA cont.

week 3
Readings (questions due 7/10)
Strack and Stemberger 1996 (pp. 180-5, 280-2) (Reference BM 504 S7.313 1991)
Kutscher 1971b: cols. 269-75 (Reference DS 102.8 E4.96)
Kutscher 1976 (pp. 1-10) (Reserve PJ 5257 K8.13)
Sokoloff 2002b (pp. 3-7) (Reference PJ 5205 S6 2002)
7/3 JPA cont.
(7/4) Holiday
7/5 JPA cont.
7/6 JBA (various texts)

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week 4
Readings (questions due 7/17)
Kutscher 1971b: cols. 275-82 (Reference DS 102.8 E4.96)
Sokoloff 2002 (pp. 13-24) (Reference PJ 5305 S5 2002)
Boyarin 1983 (Stacks DS 41 J6)
Strack and Stemberger 1996 (pp. 207-13) (Reference BM 504 S7.313 1991)
McCollum 2005 (I will provide this paper to you)
7/10 JBA cont.
7/11 JBA cont.
7/12 JBA cont.
7/13 JBA cont.

Selected Bibliography with Annotations (a searchable bibliography is available at the CAL

Project site: see below)
David H. Aaron 1999. "Judaism's Holy Language." In Jacob Neusner, ed. Approaches to
Ancient Judaism. New Series, vol. 16. Atlanta: Scholars Press. [For our purposes, interesting
for its presentation of the way Jews looked at and used Aramaic over against Hebrew.]

Philip S. Alexander 1988. "Jewish Aramaic Translations of Hebrew Scriptures." In Martin Jan
Mulder and Harry Sysling, eds. Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading & Interpretation of the
Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism & Early Christianity. Assen: Van Gorcum.

Philip S. Alexander 1992. "Targums." Anchor Bible Dictionary.

Lewis M. Barth. 1973. An Analysis of Vatican 30. Cincinnati: HUC-JIR.

Klaus Beyer. 1984. Die aramäischen Texte vom Toten Meer. Vol. 1. Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht.

Klaus Beyer. 1994. Die aramäischen Texte vom Toten Meer. Ergänzungsband. Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht.

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Klaus Beyer. 2004. Die aramäischen Texte vom Toten Meer. Vol. 2. Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht.

Daniel Boyarin 1981. "An Inquiry into the Formation of the Middle Aramaic Dialects." In Yoël
Arbeitman and Allan Bomhard, eds. Bono Homini Donum: Essays in Historical Linguistics in
Memory of J. Alexander Kearns. Amsterdam: John Benjamins B. V.

Daniel Boyarin. 1983. [Review of Marcus 1981]. JNES 42: 297-98.

Carl Brockelmann 1928. Lexicon Syriacum. Halle: Niemeyer. [A Syriac-Latin dictionary. For
our class, useful especially with regard to JBA and LJLA.]

Edward M. Cook 1986. Rewriting the Bible: The Text and Language of the Pseudo-Jonathan
Targum. Ph.D. UCLA. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms. [See especially ch. 4 for the
language of Pseudo-Jonathan.]

Edward M. Cook 1992. "Qumran Aramaic and Aramaic Dialectology." Abr-Nahrain

Supplement 3.

Edward M. Cook 1994. "A New Perspective on the Language of Onqelos and Jonathan." In D.
R. G. Beattie and M. J. McNamara, eds. The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical
Context. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 166. Sheffield: Journal
for the Study of the Old Testament.

Edward M. Cook 1997. "Aramaic Language and Literature." The Oxford Encyclopedia of
Archaeology in the Near East. Edited by Eric M. Myers. New York: Oxford University Press.

Edward M. Cook 1998. "The Aramaic of the Dead Sea Scrolls." In Peter Flint and James
VanderKam, eds. Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years. Leiden: Brill.

Gustaf Dalman 1981. Grammatik des jüdisch-palästinischen Aramäisch [originally 1905].

Aramäische Dialektproben [originally 1927]. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

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[Be sure to read this work in light of Kutcher 1971b and 1976.]

Amos Dodi 1983. “A Morphological Study of the Weak Verbs in Targum Onqelos” [in
Hebrew]. Leshonenu 47: 187-207.

Amos Dodi. 1989. “A Morphological Study of Verba Primae Alef in Targum Ongelos” [in
Hebrew]. Massorot 3-4: 73-86.

Amos Dodi 1989b. “Pausal Forms in Aramaic” [in Hebrew]. In Kaddar, M. and Sharvit, S.,
eds., Studies in the Hebrew Language and the Talmudic Literature [in Hebrew]. Ramat Gan,
Bar-Ilan University Press [pp. 63-74].

Amos Dodi. 1991. “Forms in Pausal Positions in the Masora of Targum Onqelos” [in Hebrew].
Leshonenu 55: 203-219.

J. N. Epstein 1960. ‫דקדוק ארמית בבלית‬. Edited by E. Melamed. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
[Read with the review in Kutscher 1962.]

Stephen E. Fassberg 1990. A Grammar of the Palestinian Targum Fragments from the Cairo
Genizah. Harvard Semitic Studies. Atlanta: Scholars Press.

Stephen E. Fassberg 2002. "Qumran Aramaic." Maarav 9: 19-31.

Joseph Fitzmyer 1997. The Semitic Background of the New Testament. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans. [This is a collection of several essays. Especially of interest to us are ch. 3, 7 and 14
in part 1, and the majority of part 2.]

Joseph Fitzmyer and Daniel J. Harrington 2002. A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts.
Biblica et Orientalia 34. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. [Includes material in various genres
from Qumran up to the early rabbinic text ‫מגלת תענית‬. Bibliography and glossary are
included.]

Paul V.M. Flesher 2005. “Aramaic in Judaism, History of.” Encyclopedia of Judaism, ed. J.

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Neusner, A. J. Avery-Peck, and W. S. Green. 2d ed. Vol. 1: 85-96.

Stephen D. Fraade 1992. "Rabbinic Views on the Practice of Targum, and Multilingualism in
the Jewish Galilee of the Third-Sixth Centuries." In L. Levine, ed. The Galilee in Late
Antiquity. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

M. J. Geller, J. C. Greenfield, and M. P. Weitzman, eds. 1995. Studia Aramaica: New Sources
and New Approaches. Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement 4. N.p.: Oxford University Press.

Louis Ginzberg 1909. Yerushalmi Fragments from the Genizah. Vol. 1. New York: Jewish
Theological Seminary of America.

Jonas C. Greenfield 1978a. "Aramaic and its Dialects." Greenfield 2001 I: 361-75.

Jonas C. Greenfield 1978b. "The Languages of Palestine, 200 B.C.E.-200 C.E." Greenfield
2001 I: 376-87.

Jonas C. Greenfield 1995. "Aramaic and the Jews." In M. J. Geller, J. C. Greenfield, and M. P.
Weitzman, eds. Studia Aramaica: New Sources and New Approaches. Journal of Semitic
Studies Supplement 4. N.p.: Oxford University Press.

Jonas C. Greenfield 2001. 'Al Kanfei Yonah: Collected Studies of Jonas C. Greenfield on Semitic
Philology. Edited by Shalom M. Paul, Michael E. Stone and Avital Pinnick. Two volumes.
Leiden: Brill; Jerusalem: Magnes Press.

Jonas C. Greenfield and Joseph Naveh 1984. "Hebrew and Aramaic in the Persian Period."
Greenfield 2001 I:232-46.

Shai Heijmans 2005. ‫תורת הצורות של הארמית שבתלמוד הירושלמי על פי קטעי גניזה‬.
Thesis. Tel-Aviv University.

Marcus Jastrow 1903. Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Yerushalmi and Midrashic
Literature. New York. [Many reprintings]. [Use only for texts not included in Sokoloff 2002a,

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2002b.]

Isaac Jerusalmi 1982a. The Aramaic Sections of Ezra and Daniel: A Philological Commentary
with Frequent References to Talmudic Aramaic Parallels and a Synopsis of the Regular Verb. 2d
rev. ed. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Isaac Jerusalmi 1982b. The Talmud is in Aramaic: Non-Halakhic Passages in Aramaic Selected
from the Babli. Rev. ed. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Hannu Juusola 1999. Linguistic Peculiarities in the Aramaic Magic Bowl Texts. Studia
Orientalia 86. Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society.

Menahem Zevi Kaddari. 1971. ‫דקדוק הלשון הארמית של הזוהר‬. Jerusalem: Qiryat-Sefer.

Stephen A. Kaufman. 1974. The Akkadian Influences on Aramaic. Assyriological Studies 19.
Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

Stephen A. Kaufman. 1983. "The History of Aramaic Vowel Reduction." In Michael Sokoloff,
ed. Arameans, Aramaic and the Aramaic Literary Tradition. Bar-Ilan Studies in Near Eastern
Languages and Cultures. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press.

Stephen A. Kaufman. 1992. "Aramaic." Anchor Bible Dictionary.

Stephen A. Kaufman. 1993. ‫התרגום המיוחס ליונתן והארמית היהודית הספרותית‬

‫המאוחרת‬. In ‫גוטשטיין‬-‫ספר זיכרון למשה גושן‬. Edited by Moshe Bar-Asher, et al. ‫עיוני‬
‫מקרא ופרשנות ג‬. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1993.

Stephen A. Kaufman. 1997. "Aramaic." In Robert Hetzron, ed. The Semitic Languages. New
York: Routledge.

Michael L. Klein 1980. The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch according to their Extant
Sources. 2 vols. Analecta Biblica 76. Rome: Biblical Institute Press.

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Michael L. Klein 1986. Genizah Manuscripts of Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch. 2 vols.
Cincinnati: HUC Press.

Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner 2001. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old
Testament. Study Edition. 2 vols. Translated and edited by M. E. J. Richardson. Leiden: Brill.
[The Aramaic portion begins on p. 1805 of vol. 2.]

E. Y. Kutscher 1957. “The Language of the Genesis Apocryphon: A Preliminary Study.”

Scripta Hierosolymitana 4: 1-34. Reprinted in E. Y. Kutscher, Hebrew and Aramaic Studies, ed.
Z. Ben-Hayyim, A. Dotan, and G. Sarfatti. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1977, pp. 3-36.

E. Y. Kutscher 1962. ‫מחקר דקדוק הארמית של התלמוד הבבלי‬. Leshonenu 26. [A review
of Epstein 1961 and a look at the state of research on Jewish Babylonian Aramaic.]

E. Y. Kutscher 1971a. "Aramaic." In T. Sebeok, ed. Current Trends in Linguistics VI. The
Hague: Mouton.

E. Y. Kutscher 1971b. "Aramaic." Encyclopedia Judaica. [Especially helpful in this overview

is Kutscher's treatment of the grammatical details of Galilean Aramaic, i.e. Jewish Palestinian
Aramaic.]

E. Y. Kutscher 1976. Studies in Galilean Aramaic. Translated by Michael Sokoloff. Bar-Ilan

Studies in Near Eastern Languages and Literature. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University. [Notes on
the worth of MS Vatican 30 of Bereshit Rabba and points of grammar in Jewish Palestinian
Aramaic. Merits a look by anyone even casually interested in this dialect.]

Theodore Kwasman 2003. "'Look it up in...'? Aramaic Lexicography: Some General

Observations." Aramaic Studies 1.2.

Caspar Levias 1971. A Grammar of the Aramaic Idiom Contained in the Babylonian Talmud
with Constant Reference to Gaonic Literature. Cincinnati: Bloch, 1900; Reprint, Farnborough.

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Étan Levine 1996. "The Targums: Their Interpretive Character and their Place in Jewish Text
Tradition." In Magne Sæbø, ed. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: The History of its Interpretation.
Vol. 1. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Jacob Levy 1867-68. Chaldäisches Wörterbuch über die Targumim und einen grossen Teil des
rabbinischen Schriftthums. Leipzig: Baumgärtner, 1881. [An older dictionary, but still has
value for OJ and LJLA; practically nothing has been done lexically specifically related to these
dialects on a comprehensive scale since then.]

Moses Lewin 1895. Aramäische Sprichwörter und Volkssprüche. Berlin: H. Itzkowski.

Jerome Lund 1981. ‫תיאור התחביר של החלקים הלא מתורגמים על פי קודכס ניאופיטי א‬.
M.A. Hebrew University.

Jerome Lund. 1987. “The First Person Singular Past Tense of the Verb ‫ הוה‬in Jewish
Palestinian Aramaic.” Maarav 4: 191-200.

Rudolph Macuch 1965. Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic. Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter.

Rudolf Macuch 1982. Grammatik des samaritanischen Aramäisch. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Rudolf Macuch 1989. "Samaritan Languages: Samaritan Hebrew, Samaritan Aramaic." In Alan
D. Crown, ed. The Samaritans. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

David Marcus 1981. A Manual of Babylonian Jewish Aramaic. Lanham, MD: University Press
of America. [See the important review Boyarin 1983.]

Max L. Margolis 1910. A Manual of the Aramaic Language of the Babylonian Talmud. Clavis
Linguarum Semiticarum. München: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. [Notable for its
syntax sections and that mss. rather than the Vilna edition of the Bavli were used in compiling
the chrestomathy.]

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John T. Marshall 1929. Manual of the Aramaic Language of the Palestinian Talmud. Leiden:
Brill. [Useful as a list of text selections, but merely by virtue of its date lagging behind with
reference to its view of Palestinian Aramaic.]

Adam C. McCollum 2005. “Research on Babylonian Aramaic since the publication of Epstein’s
grammar (1960).” Unpublished paper.

Shelomo Morag 1988. ‫ לשון התלמוד הבבלי‬:‫ארמית במסורת תימן‬. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi
Institute. [Morag has also made several more studies of this and other reading traditions of
Babylonian Aramaic.]

Chaim Rabin 1976. "Hebrew and Aramaic in the First Century." In S. Safrai and M. Stern, eds.
The Jewish People in the First Century. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Franz Rosenthal 1939. Die aramäistische Forschung seit Th. Nöldeke's Veröffentlichungen.
Leiden: Brill.

Franz Rosenthal, ed. 1967. An Aramaic Handbook. Porta Linguarum Orientalium. Wiesbaden:
Otto Harrassowitz. [Very useful to get an overview of the several Aramaic dialects from
antiquity to the neo-Aramaic dialects; research in that field has, however, advanced considerably
since 1967. The book has interesting texts and glossaries for the most important dialects.]

Franz Rosenthal 1995. A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. 6t rev. ed. Porta Linguarum
Orientalium. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. [The standard grammar for the Aramaic in the
Bible, with the possible exception of Bauer and Leander's larger Aramaic grammar written in
German; the latter is more difficult to come by as well.]

Michael Schlesinger 1928. Satzlehre der aramäischen Sprache des Babylonischen Talmuds.
Veröffentlichungen der Alexander Kohut-Stiftung 1. Leipzig: Verlag der Asia Major. [A
detailed syntax of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic; well worth studying.]

Moïse Schuhl 1878. Sentences et proverbes du Talmud et du Midrasch. Paris: Imprimerie

Nationale.

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Frederick Schultess 1903. Lexicon Syropalaestinum. George Reimer: Berlin. [A CPA-Latin
dictionary. For our class, useful with regard to JPA.]

Avigdor Shinan 1992. "The Aramaic Targum as a Mirror of Galilean Jewry." In L. Levine, ed.
The Galilee in Late Antiquity. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Avigdor Shinan 1994. "The Aggadah of the Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch and Rabbinic
Aggadah: Some Methodological Considerations." In D. R. G. Beattie and M. J. McNamara, eds.
The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context. Journal for the Study of the Old
Testament Supplement Series 166. Sheffield: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament.

Michael Sokoloff 1975. ‫בבלית‬-‫חוברת עזר בארמית‬. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University. [A

short skeleton grammar of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic together with several texts from the Bavli
and from Geonic literature; an Aramaic-Hebrew glossary is included, but it is no longer of use
since the publication of Sokoloff 2002.]

Michael Sokoloff 1976. “{a∑mar ne∑qeœ}, ‘Lamb’s Wool’ (Dan. 7:9).” JBL 95: 277-79.

Michael Sokoloff 2000. "Qumran Aramaic in Relation to the Aramaic Dialects." In L.

Schiffman, E. Tov, and J. VanderKam, eds. The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years After their
Discovery. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

Michael Sokoloff 2002. A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan

University Press; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. [Easily the standard lexicon for
this dialect. Very easy to use and helpful; it includes an index of passages cited and an
orientation to the research in this field in the introduction.]

Michael Sokoloff 2002b. A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. 2d ed. Ramat-Gan: Bar-
Ilan University Press; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. [Easily the standard lexicon
for this dialect. Very easy to use and helpful; it includes an index of passages cited and an
orientation to the research in this field in the introduction.]

Michael Sokoloff 2003. A Dictionary of Judean Aramaic. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University

Press. [Covers a rather small corpus of texts. Unfortunately QA is not included. See the review

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by E. Cook in Maarav 11.1 (2004).]

W. B. Stevenson 1962. Grammar of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. 2d ed. Oxford: Clarendon

Press. [Essentially an abridgement and translation of Dalman 1981. It goes without saying that
much has been done since then. It is, however, easily obtainable--it was recently reprinted by
Wipf and Stock--and easy to use. Fortunately this book is currently being revised and brought
up to date ably by Edward M. Cook.]

H. L. Strack and Günther Stemberger 1996. Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. 2d ed.
Translated by Markus Bockmuehl. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. [For our purposes the sections
on manuscripts of the relevant texts are especially helpful.]

Gerhard Svedlund 1974. The Aramaic Portions of the Pesiqta de Rab Kahana. Uppsala.
[Contains useful comparison of certain features in Palestinian and Babylonian Aramaic dialects
as well as a translation of the Aramaic parts of the work in question.]

Abraham Tal 1988. "The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch." In Martin Jan Mulder and
Harry Sysling, eds. Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading & Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in
Ancient Judaism & Early Christianity. Assen: Van Gorcum. [A treatment of both the language
and content of the Samaritan Targum.]

Abraham Tal 2000. A Dictionary of Samaritan Aramaic. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Erste
Abteiling, Der Nähe und der Mittlere Osten 50. Leiden: Brill. [Samaritan Aramaic-Hebrew and
English. The format is not always easy to read, but it is the only up to date lexical treatment of
Samaritan Aramaic.]

Ernestus Vogt 1971. Lexicon linguae aramaicae Veteris Testamenti documentis antiquis
illustratum. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. [Yes, it is Aramaic-Latin, but, if you can use
Latin, it is certainly worth taking advantage of, since it brings in many relevant quotations as
comparative examples from Old, Imperial and Middle Aramaic.]

Werner Weinberg 1993. “Language Consciousness in the Hebrew Bible.” In Essays on Hebrew,
edited by Paul Citrin. Atlanta: Scholars Press.

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Electronic Resources
Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project (http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/)
Targums on Accordance and Bibleworks (www.accordancebible.com,
www.bibleworks.com)
Targums on Logos software (http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/2068)
Kaufman MS (Mishnah) on Accordance (www.accordancebible.com)
‫( אוצר כתבי יד התלמודיים‬http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/talmud/index.htm)

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