A study of the Late Jewish Literary Aramaic of Targum Canticles, demonstrating how grammatical anomalies can be informative of literary influences, composition process, and Aramaic diachrony.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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? -- 5 Nominal State -- 6 Verbal Stems -- 1 Phonological Development? -- 2 Recalibration of Semantic Ranges -- 3 Non-normative Infinitives -- 4 Summary -- 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 √חקק G -- 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 -- 11 Conclusions -- 12 Geniza Fragments Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, T-S B11.81 & T-S NS 312 -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Annotated Transcription -- 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.

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.

Description based on print version record.