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Concerning the Verb
N' in Judaeo-Aramaic Contracts from Elephantine
Paris
Knowledge concerning marriage in the fifth century BCE Judaeo-Aramaean community of Elephantine comes mainly from three long. They deal with many points, among them, the dissolution of marriage, which depends on the free will of both spouses. Each may utter a declaration of divorce before a court. In this declaration's formula, the verb employed is
n' which means to hate. In this context it can be asked whether we can translate it by to divorce with a technical meaning and whether it is linked to an emotive context. The papyri add two rules concerning the dissolution of the marriage. Firstly the spouse who utters the declaration has to pay the ksp
n', money of hatred and the spouses have to settle financial questions. Secondly the wife has to leave the matrimonial home. Thus although
n' usually means to hate, in this particular case it may also mean to wish to break an alliance.