Journal of Semitic Studies - recent issues

On Some Alleged Developments of the Proto-Semitic Phoneme /t/ in Iron Age Canaanite Dialects

Bloch, Y. — 2008-04-11

This article takes issue with two proposals made in recent scholarship concerning the development of the Proto-Semitic phoneme /t/ in Iron Age Canaanite dialects: 1) retention of this phoneme in the dialects of Transjordan, and 2) its merger with the phoneme /t/ in the Hebrew of northern Cisjordan. The article argues that both proposals are untenable. Proposal (1) is based on a problematic interpretation of Judg. 12:5–6 and of the spellings of an Ammonite royal name in an Ammonite seal impression (b‘lys‘) and in Jer. 40:14 (Ba‘alîs). Moreover, this proposal is contradicted by the evidence of Neo-Assyrian spellings of Transjordanian proper names, which testify to the merger of /t/ with /s/: uruAs-tar-tu (the city of Ashtaroth) and likely also mBa-a'-sa (a royal name which is argued to derive from the original root b‘t). Proposal (2) is contradicted by the evidence of Hebrew inscriptions from northern Cisjordan, which consistently render the Proto-Semitic /t/ with the letter s. It is possible that the phoneme /t/ was initially retained in the Hebrew of northern Cisjordan, but there is no positive evidence to support such a possibility. Hence, it is more reasonable to uphold the view that the merger of /t/ with /s/ was characteristic of all Iron Age Canaanite dialects.

The Paradigm Root in Hebrew

Rubin, A. D. — 2008-04-11

In grammars of Hebrew, a variety of different roots have been used in order to illustrate the verbal paradigms. The reasons for choosing one root over another are worthy of examination, and ultimately such an exercise leads to the question of which root is ideal for this purpose. In fact, no one root is ideal, and the choice of paradigm root is ultimately connected with the goals of the individual authors.

The Copular Clause in Jewish Zakho Neo-Aramaic

Cohen, E. — 2008-04-11

This is a description of the complex behaviour and interrelationships of the copular system in Zakho. Substantival and adverbial rhemes, compound tenses (perfect and progressive), as well as presentatives, are all part of this system. In addition the compound tenses are opposed to other verbal forms. The component order is highly relevant in differentiating between the different patterns and allo-patterns of the copular system. Included in the description is a treatment of the copular presentative which poses various problems in this language. The description is texteme-sensitive: there are marked differences in both distribution and function of the different copular expressions (even between different persons of the same copula) depending on supra-clausal conditions, that is, narrative or dialogue. In addition, a particular sub-genre, the personal experience narrative (PEN), has all sorts of peculiarities which are accounted for separately.

A Comparison of the References to Muqatil b. Sulayman (150/767) in the Exegesis of al-Tha 'labi (427/1036) with Muqatil's Own Exegesis

Koc, M. A. — 2008-04-11

Muqatil b. Sulayman's work is the oldest surviving exegesis which comments on the entire Qur'an from the beginning to the end. Analytical comparisons between different manuscripts of this exegesis and the quotations made by the exegetes, who greatly benefited from Muqatil, give us important information about the history of Quranic exegesis. al-Tha ‘labi's references to Muqatil offer valuable data illuminating the role of ‘the changing contents’ of the manuscripts in understanding the history of the exegesis. Changing evaluations and criticism about Muqatil's personality and his opinions show that the history of Quranic exegesis needs to be further critically studied.

A Hospital Handbook for the Community: Evidence for the Extensive Use of Ibn Abi 'l-Bayan's al-Dustur al-bimaristani by the Jewish Practitioners of Medieval Cairo

Lev, E., Chipman, L., Niessen, F. — 2008-04-11

Al-Dustur al-bimaristani by Ibn Abi 'l-Bayan forms an important part of the Arabic tradition of hospital dispensatories and has remained well-known to the traditional practitioners of the Middle East. So far, eleven fragments of the Dustur have been identified in the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collections at the Cambridge University Library, of which eight are in Arabic script and three are in Judaeo-Arabic. This article discusses the significance of these fragments, particularly those in Judaeo-Arabic. We also provide editions and translations of two of the fragments.

On the Use of the Aspects, Independent Personal Pronouns, Fillers, and Attention Grabbers in Algerian Arabic Oral Narratives

Kaye, A. S. — 2008-04-11

This paper examines, via microlinguistic or micropragmatic textual analysis, the use of the perfect and imperfect aspects, independent personal pronouns, so-called fillers, and attention grabbers, among other interrelated topics related to information flow, in two Algerian Arabic (AA) oral narratives: the first of a mother, and second a father (both from the city of Tbessa, located south of Constantine and close to the Tunisian border) talking to their daughter describing events that occurred in the past. One conclusion offered from an investigation of these stories is that the imperfect contributes to the ‘immediacy’ of the narratives in that they are ‘made’ to take place in the here and now, although the monologue refers to events which have already taken place. This traditional analysis affirms that it is as if the past in the narrative is brought into the present in which it is being told.¹ This is similar to English: ‘So he says to me — he says ...’, in which ‘says’ really means ‘said’.² Another conclusion is that AA can use the perfect that must be translated, according to the context, with the English present tense: fhmti ‘(Do) you understand?’ = ‘(You) see what I'm saying?’ (and not ‘You saw what I'm saying?’). Repetition is another major ingredient of this discourse³ (see Johnstone [1991], although none of the examples in this book are from colloquial Arabic dialects), and many examples of this phenomenon can be adduced in the AA texts that follow.

YUVAL GOREN, ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN and NADAV NA'AMAN, Inscribed in Clay: Provenance Study of the Amarna Tablets and other Ancient Near Eastern Texts

Campbell, S. — 2008-04-11

JEAN-MARC MICHAUD, La Bible et l'heritage d'Ougarit

Watson, W. G.E. — 2008-04-11

SIGURThUR HAFthORSSON, A Passing Power: An Examination of the Sources for the History of Aram-Damascus in the Second Half of the Ninth Century B.C.

Lipinski, E. — 2008-04-11

RICCARDO CONTINI and CRISTIANO GROTTANELLI (eds), Il saggio Ahiqar: Fortuna e trasformazioni di uno scritto sapienziale. Il testo piu antico e le sue versioni

Watson, W. G.E. — 2008-04-11

ROLF P. KNIERIM and GEORGE W. COATS, Numbers

Watson, W. G.E. — 2008-04-11

STEPHEN L. COOK and CORRINE L. PATTON, Ezekiel's Hierarchical World: Wrestling with a Tiered Reality

Clements, R.E. — 2008-04-11

ALICE M. SINNOTT, The Personification of Wisdom

Crenshaw, J. L. — 2008-04-11

GERHARD TAUBERSCHMIDT, Secondary Parallelism: A Study of Translation Technique in LXX Proverbs

Dines, J. — 2008-04-11

GABRIELE BOCCACCINI (ed.) Enoch and Qumran Origins: New Light on a Forgotten Connection.

Peters, D. M. — 2008-04-11

CATHERINE HEZSER, Jewish Slavery in Antiquity

Harrill, J. A. — 2008-04-11

LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN (ed.), Semitic Papyrology in Context. A Climate of Creativity.

Jackson, B.S. — 2008-04-11

SHMUEL SHEPKARU, Jewish Martyrs in the Pagan and Christian Worlds.

Van Henten, J. W. — 2008-04-11

RA'ANAN S. BOUSTAN, From Martyr to Mystic: Rabbinic Martyrology and the Making of Merkavah Mysticism

Davila, J. R. — 2008-04-11

JOHN F. HEALEY, Leshono Suryoyo: First Studies in Syriac

Greenberg, G. — 2008-04-11

DAVID STEC, The Targum of Psalms

Gillingham, S. — 2008-04-11

JEROLD C. FRAKES (ed.), Early Yiddish Texts 1100-1750: With Introduction and Commentary. * JEAN BAUMGARTEN, Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature. Edited and translated by Jerold C. Frakes.

Dreessen, W.-O. — 2008-04-11

DELIA CORTESE and SIMONETTA CALDERINI, Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam.

Naguib, S. — 2008-04-11

YASIN DUTTON, Original Islam: Malik and the madhhab of Madina

Melchert, C. — 2008-04-11

PATRICIA CRONE, From Kavad to al-Ghazali: Religion, Law and Political Thought in the Near East, c. 600-c. 1100

Newman, A. J. — 2008-04-11

AGUSTINUS GIANTO (ed.), Biblical and Oriental Essays in Memory of William L. Moran

Lambert, W.G. — 2008-04-11

PIETRO MANDER, Canti sumerici d'amore e morte. La vicenda della dea Inanna/Ishtar e del dio Dumuzi/Tammuz

Watson, W.G.E. — 2008-04-11

WILLIAM L. MORAN (Edited by JOHN HUEHNERGARD and SHLOMO IZRE'EL), Amarna Studies: Collected Writings

Lambert, W.G. — 2008-04-11

AGNES TICHIT, Le verbe en hebreu biblique * AGNES TICHIT, Hebreu Biblique: Grammaire de base et introduction aux fetes juives. Textes expliques

Lipinski, E. — 2008-04-11

DOUGLAS A. KNIGHT, Rediscovering the Traditions of Israel3

Brooke, G. J. — 2008-04-11

ROBERT B. CHISHOLM JR., Interpreting the Historical Books: An Exegetical Handbook

Brooke, G. J. — 2008-04-11

CARL S. EHRLICH and MARSHA C. WHITE (eds), Saul in Story and Tradition

Firth, D. — 2008-04-11

WILLIAM G. DEVER, Did God Have a Wife: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel.

Lizius, T. — 2008-04-11

MELVIN K.H. PETERS (ed.), XII Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Leiden, 2004

Brooke, G. J. — 2008-04-11

DAVID T. RUNIA and GREGORY E. STERLING (eds), The Studia Philonica Annual: Studies in Hellenistic Judaism

Brooke, G. J. — 2008-04-11

LARRY W. HURTADO (ed.), The Freer Biblical Manuscripts: Fresh Studies of an American Treasure Trove

Brooke, G. J. — 2008-04-11

CHRISTINE HELMER with the assistance of CHARLENE T. HIGBE (eds), The Multivalence of Biblical Texts and Theological Meanings

Brooke, G. J. — 2008-04-11

HAROLD W. ATTRIDGE and JAMES C. VANDERKAM (eds), Presidential Voices: The Society of Biblical Literature in the Twentieth Century

Brooke, G. J. — 2008-04-11

MICHAEL WALZER (ed.) Law, Politics, and Morality In Judaism.

Jackson, B.S. — 2008-04-11

JEROME ALAN LUND, The Book of the Laws of Countries: A Dialogue on Free Will Versus Fate. A Key-Word-in-Context Concordance.

Healey, J. F. — 2008-04-11

Professor James Barr

2007-09-11

Nouns with Double Plural Forms in Biblical Hebrew

Tubul, M. — 2007-09-11

Most nouns in Hebrew have one plural form. However, a number of nouns have two plural forms: one with the -îm morpheme and the other with the -ôt morpheme. This paper will discuss the nouns with double forms in the plural in Biblical Hebrew. The central question at the focus of this paper is whether both plural forms are used in conditioned or free distribution, and what the variables that influence the choice of each plural form are. It was found that for most nouns the two plural forms are used in complementary distribution. The dominant variables that affect the choice of the plural morpheme are various literary and chronological variables, such as attraction, stylistic variation in adjacent forms and verses, as well as the literary genre of the text–poetry and wisdom literature as opposed to prose. Other variables are a complementary grammatical distribution which is dependent on the status of the word in the sentence and the conditioned distribution in the phrase in which the form appears. The semantic variable, which until now was the dominant variable discussed in studies of these nouns, was found to affect only a small number of cases.

Concerning the Verb SN' in Judaeo-Aramaic Contracts from Elephantine

Nutkowicz, H. — 2007-09-11

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 sn' 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 sn', ‘money of hatred’ and the spouses have to settle financial questions. Secondly the wife has to leave the matrimonial home. Thus although sn' usually means ‘to hate’, in this particular case it may also mean ‘to wish to break an alliance’.

The Distribution of Verbal Forms in Biblical Aramaic

Shepherd, M. B. — 2007-09-11

The standard grammars for Biblical Aramaic treat the verb primarily in terms of tense and Aktionsart. The theory of H.B. Rosén, which is based on a distinction between point aspect verbs and linear aspect verbs, constitutes the one significant alternative to the standard view. The present article interacts with these two proposals and suggests a new approach — distributional analysis. Such analysis has been applied with great success in Hebrew studies, but not in research on the verb in Biblical Aramaic. The thesis here is that Biblical Aramaic has a primary verbal form for narrative (qetal) and a primary verbal form for discourse (yiqtul).

On Some Non-Standard Spellings in the Aramaic Magic Bowls and their Linguistic Significance

Morgenstern, M. — 2007-09-11

In the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic magic bowls we occasionally find spellings that stray from the linguistic standard employed in these texts. It is argued that in many cases these can be explained as phonetic spellings that reflect aspects of the Aramaic spoken by the scribes. Support for this contention may be found in the better manuscripts of Babylonian Rabbinic literature, wherein such spellings are more frequently employed. It is argued that the corrections of these forms in the magic bowls towards the historical spelling indicates the existence of a literary language in which at least some scribes aspired to write, not always successfully. Since these non-standard spellings provide rare evidence for the nature of the Aramaic spoken by these native scribes, and occasionally provide ‘missing links’ of the history of Aramaic, the modern editors of the magic bowls must be wary of unnecessarily emending the texts they publish.

Quranic Furqan

Donner, F. M. — 2007-09-11

The article proposes a new etymology of the word ‘furqan’ in the Qur'an, arguing that in some cases it is derived from the Aramaic/Syriac word ‘purqana’, ‘salvation’, as long assumed by many Western scholars, while in some other cases it goes back to the Syriac ‘puqdana’, ‘commandment’. The implication is that some passages of the Qur'an text must have been transmitted, at some point, only in written form without the benefit of a secure tradition of oral recitation, otherwise the misreading of Syriac ‘puqdana’ as ‘furqan’ could not have occurred.

The Morphology and Significance of Some Imami Shi'ite Traditions

Buckley, R.P. — 2007-09-11

The article seeks to explore a corpus of Imami Hadith featuring an encounter between the Shi‘ite Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq (d. 765 AD) and the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754.75). It does this by employing the methods of structural analysis initially devised by Vladimir Propp in his Morphology of the Folktale (1928) and further developed by later anthropologists and folklorists such as Alan Dundes. The article identifies the repertoire of motifs from which the traditions are composed and studies these in terms of their functional equivalence within the narratives. The wider thematic structure of the traditions is also investigated and is found to provide insights into the cultural significance of the corpus as an articulation of the Imami Shi‘ite view of the relationship between religious and political authority.

New Data on the Delateralization of Dad and its merger with Za' in Classical Arabic: Contributions from Old South Arabic and the Earliest Islamic Texts on D / Z Minimal Pairs

Brown, J. A.C. — 2007-09-11

The history of the phoneme dad and its merger with the phoneme za’ has proven enigmatic. By presenting data from Old South Arabian speech communities and lexical data from the Islamic tradition, this article brackets a period of dad / za’ free variation between the fourth and mid-eighth centuries ce. These data support the theory that the pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabic speech community was divided into two segments in respect to the dad / za’ relationship: a group that pronounced both separately and produced the lettered tradition of the Qur’an, and some that did not distinguish between the two phonemes. This article presents data from the earliest Arabic texts on dad / za’ minimal pairs, those of Abu ‘Umar al-Zahid (d. 345/957) and al-Sahib Isma‘il Ibn ‘Abbad (d. 385/995). These texts also provide glimpses into how the Islamic lexical tradition explained the historical link between the two phonemes.

MIKKO LUUKKO, Grammatical Variation in Neo-Assyrian.

Worthington, M. — 2007-09-11

LAWRENCE J. MYKYTIUK, Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200-539 BCE.

Rollston, C. A. — 2007-09-11

NAVA BERGMAN, The Cambridge Biblical Hebrew Workbook: Introductory Level.

McCarthy, C. — 2007-09-11

S.A. NIGOSIAN, From Ancient Writings to Sacred Texts: The Old Testament and Apocrypha.

Tomes, R. — 2007-09-11

MICHAEL WIDMER, Moses, God, and the Dynamics of Intercessory Prayer: A Study of Exodus 32 24 and Numbers 13 14.

Werline, R. A. — 2007-09-11

ROGER TOMES, 'I have Written to the King, My Lord': Secular Analogies for the Psalms.

Gillingham, S. — 2007-09-11

GARY N. KNOPPERS, 1 Chronicles 1 9: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. * GARY N. KNOPPERS, 1 Chronicles 10 29: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary.

Frydrych, T. — 2007-09-11

JENS BRUUN KOFOED, Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the Biblical Text.

Edelman, D. — 2007-09-11

ANDREW G. VAUGHN and ANN E. KILLEBREW, Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period.

Prag, K. — 2007-09-11

GEORGE J. BROOKE and PHILIP R. DAVIES (eds), Copper Scroll Studies.

Hogenhaven, J. — 2007-09-11

JACOB NEUSNER, Neusner on Judaism volume 1: History.

Unterman, A. — 2007-09-11

DAN BECKER, Arabic Sources of Isaac ben Barun's Book of Comparison between the Hebrew and the Arabic Language.

Shivtiel, A. — 2007-09-11

ABRAHAM IBN 'EZRA', Safah Berurah: La lengua escogida.

Rubin, A. — 2007-09-11

MICHAEL D. SCHWARTZ and JOSEPH YAHALOM, Avodah: An Anthology of Ancient Poetry for Yom Kippur.

Reif, S. C. — 2007-09-11

STEPHEN DESMOND RYAN, Dionysius Bar Salibi's Factual and Spiritual Commentary on Psalms 73 82.

Van Rooy, H.F. — 2007-09-11

IRFAN SHAHID, Byzantium and the Arabs: Late Antiquity I.

Edmund Bosworth, C. — 2007-09-11

T. BAYHOM-DAOU, Shaykh Mufid.

Newman, A. J. — 2007-09-11

ANDREW J. LANE, A Traditional Mu'tazilite Qur>>an Commentary: The Kashshaf of Jar Allah al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144).

Mourad, S. A. — 2007-09-11

DINA LE GALL, A Culture of Sufism: Naqshbandis in the Ottoman World, 1450 1700.

Hagen, G. — 2007-09-11

DAVID A. KING, Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization. Instruments of Mass Calculation.

Samso, J. — 2007-09-11

KEES VERSTEEGH (general editor), MUSHIRA EID, ALAA ELGIBALI, MANFRED WOIDICH, ANDRZEJ ZABORSKI (associate editors), Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics.

Ambros, A. A. — 2007-09-11

WERNER DIEM, Wurzelrepetition und Wunschsatz. Untersuchungen zur Stilgeschichte des arabischen Dokuments des 7. bis 20. Jahrhunderts.

Ambros, A. A. — 2007-09-11

YOUSEF SH'HADEH, Powiesci Formulaassana Kanafaniego: Bohaterowie Ich Swiat, Dramaty I Nadzieje.

Stec, D. M. — 2007-09-11

ISAAC KALIMI, The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles.

Williamson, H.G.M. — 2007-09-11

KATHARINE J. DELL and MARGARET BARKER (eds), Wisdom: The Collected Articles of Norman Whybray.

Tomes, R. — 2007-09-11

CHERYL A. KIRK-DUGGAN (ed.), Pregnant Passion: Gender, Sex and Violence in the Bible.

Jantzen, G. M. — 2007-09-11

SIGMUND MOWINCKEL, He That Cometh: The Messiah Concept in the Old Testament and Later Judaism.

Tomes, R. — 2007-09-11

JUDITH ANNE BROWN, John Marco Allegro: The Maverick of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Wernberg-Moller, P.C.H. — 2007-09-11

JACOB HABERMAN (ed. and trans.), The Microcosm of Joseph ibn Saddiq: Translated with an Introduction and Notes.

Smithius, R. — 2007-09-11

LEWIS GLINERT, Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar3.

Outhwaite, B. — 2007-09-11

RICHARD K. FENN, Dreams of Glory: The sources of apocalyptic terror.

Gribben, C. — 2007-09-11

Books Received

2007-09-11

Index

2007-09-11

The North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects

Khan, G. — 2007-04-25

Aramaic still survives as a spoken language among some Christian and Jewish communities in the Middle East. The dialects can be divided into various groups. The most diverse group is that known as North Eastern Neo-Aramaic. Dialects of this group are spoken by Christian and Jewish communities. Many of these communities, however, have now been displaced and the younger generations no longer speak the dialects. The description of these dialects is of immense importance for Semitic philology. The dialects exhibit linguistic developments that are not only interesting in their own right but also present illuminating parallels to developments in earlier Semitic.

The Affiliation of Sargonic Akkadian with Babylonian and Assyrian: New Insights Concerning the Internal Sub-Grouping of Akkadian

Hasselbach, R. — 2007-04-25

The affiliation of Sargonic Akkadian with Babylonian and Assyrian is still a matter of dispute. It has recently been suggested that Sargonic Akkadian is not related to any of the later dialects but constitutes an independent dialect that died out after the downfall of the Akkadian dynasty. In this article, the author reinvestigates the major phonological and morphological features of Sargonic Akkadian and tries to determine whether isoglosses with later dialects represent shared retentions or shared innovations. The investigation leads to the conclusion that most of the grammatical features that were previously used in favour of a separation of Sargonic Akkadian from Babylonian and/or Assyrian should be considered shared retentions. Consequently, they have no significant value for the sub-grouping of Akkadian. Furthermore, certain sub-corpora of Sargonic Akkadian share significant innovations with Babylonian and should be analysed as an early predecessor of this dialect.

Alleged Derivations of the Dead Sea Scroll Term Serek

Conklin, B. W. — 2007-04-25

There are two principal theories on the origin of the Hebrew term serek in the Dead Sea Scrolls: first, that it is a variant spelling of the Biblical Hebrew root spelled with a sin; second, that it is a Persian loanword. The phonological and lexical analysis presented here lends support to the latter theory. Perhaps more importantly, the methodology used in and results obtained from this study provide wider implications for the improvement of Semitic lexicography in the future.

'If You Appear as a Pig': Another Incantation Bowl (Moussaieff 164)

Levene, D. — 2007-04-25

As more Aramaic incantation bowls are being published the richness of this material in terms of it being a complement to other late antique and early medieval Jewish and non-Jewish Mesopotamian materials that we know of is being realized; Moussaieff 164 is such an example. This incantation is neatly structured and consists of six sections that include an introduction, two sections of adjurations to the demons to leave, two sections of conditional threats and a final section that consists of carefully chosen biblical verses. It includes interesting elements that can be cross-referenced with sections of liturgy, Hekhalot literature and Mishnaic and Talmudic literature. The imagery that is found within the threats to the demons is graphic and extraordinary. One of the most striking aspects of this text is the quote from mShevu. 4:13, an appropriation of oaths from the terrestrial legal sphere to that of the supernatural.

The Relative Pronoun d- and the Pronominal Suffixes in Mandaic

Haberl, C. G. — 2007-04-25

The enclitic pronominal suffixes in Neo-Mandaic are affixed to nouns and prepositions via two separate strategies. Nearly all nouns and prepositions inherited directly from Classical Mandaic take pronominal suffixes directly. All loanwords, and an extremely circumscribed set of original Mandaic words, receive pronominal suffixes after an enclitic particle, –d-. Rudolph Macuch suggested in his Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic that this particle is derived from the Classical Mandaic relative pronoun, d-. The evidence, however, suggests that this particle is an innovation, which ultimately derives from the metathesis of the final two root consonants of Classical Mandaic qam / qadmia ‘to, for’ (Neo-Mandaic qam / qamdi-), from which it spread by analogy to new lexical items.

On the Stylistic Variation in the Quranic Genre

Abdul-Raof, H. — 2007-04-25

Stylistic variation is one of the intriguing linguistic problems of Quranic discourse. It deals with sentences that are structurally similar, yet they are stylistically and semantically dissimilar. Stylistic variation echoes language behaviour and mirrors the stylistic patterns produced by linguistic strategies and ad hoc linguistic tools. Stylistic variation is Qur’an-specific and is context and co-text sensitive. In other words, context and co-text are the linguistic habitat of stylistic variation. Stylistic variation is directly influenced by the surrounding grammatical, lexical, and phonetic environment of a given sentence. To capture the colourful manifestation of this unique phenomenon, a multi-pronged level of Quranic Arabic needs to be investigated. Stylistic variation in Quranic genre occurs at the micro and macro levels. At the micro level, stylistic variation takes place at the morpheme, word, and sentence levels. At the macro level, however, stylistic variation takes place in texts that are far away from each other. The stylistic behaviour of sentences is attributed to a set of linguistic and phonetic factors, such as word order change within the sentence which is due to contextual factors, grammatical co-text, and grammatical differences. The other factors include idioms, case endings, the morphological form of a word, lexical co-text, phonetic co-text, gender, tense, and definiteness.

Lexical and Exegetical Similarities and Differences in North African Judaeo-Arabic Suruh on Genesis

Doron, D. — 2007-04-25

At the end of the nineteenth century, Rabbi Mordekhay Hay Diyyan of Tunis translated the Bible into Arabic in Hebrew characters. In 1937 he published only the translation of Genesis. In his introduction, the author notes the urgent need for this type of translation, as the language customarily used over the centuries for translation of the Bible in Tunisia changed and is no longer understood by most.

This article examines typical features in the fields of lexicography and exegesis with reference to medieval Judaeo-Arabic and modern dialects. Words and phrases from Diyyan’s translation are compared to their equivalents in other Suruh — Judaeo-Arabic translations of the Bible in North Africa — between the fourteenth and the twentieth centuries (several of them evidently current in the Maghreb prior to the expulsion from Spain). This is an attempt to investigate old sources and traditions, linguistic lines and directions of development in the translations discussed.

PIRJO LAPINKIVI, The Sumerian Sacred Marriage in the Light of Comparative Evidence

Mettinger, T. N.D. — 2007-04-25

WALTHER SALLABERGER, KONRAD VOLK and ANNETTE ZGOLL (eds), Literatur, Politik und Recht in Mesopotamien: Festschrift fur Claus Wilcke

Lambert, W.G. — 2007-04-25

JOHANNES RENZ and WOLFGANG ROLLIG, Handbuch der althebraischen Epigraphik Volume II/2: Materialien zur althebraischen Morphologie. Siegel und Gewichte

Davies, G. — 2007-04-25

MARK W. CHAVALAS and K. LAWSON YOUNGER, JR. (eds), Mesopotamia and the Bible. Comparative Explorations

Millard, A. — 2007-04-25

PHILIP C. STINE, Let the Words be Written: The Lasting Influence of Eugene A. Nida

Clark, D. — 2007-04-25

JAMIE A. GRANT, The King as Exemplar: The Function of Deuteronomy's Kingship Law in the Shaping of the Book of Psalms

Gillingham, S. — 2007-04-25

JAN P. FOKKELMAN, Major Poems of the Hebrew Bible: at the Interface of Prosody and Structural Analysis: Volume IV: Job 15-42 * ERIC D. REYMOND, Innovations in Hebrew Poetry: Parallelism and the Poems of Sirach

Watson, W. G.E. — 2007-04-25

STEFAN SCHORCH, Die Vokale des Gesetzes: Die samaritanische Lesetradition als Textzeugnis der Tora. 1. Das Buch Genesis

Kartveit, M. — 2007-04-25

JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP, Treasures Old and New: Essays in the Theology of the Pentateuch

Johnstone, W. — 2007-04-25

JONATHAN A. DRAPER (ed.), Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity

Hezser, C. — 2007-04-25

JOHN M.G. BARCLAY (ed.), Negotiating Diaspora: Jewish Strategies in the Roman Empire

Gruen, E. S. — 2007-04-25

WALTER SELB and HUBERT KAUFHOLD, Das syrisch-romische Rechtsbuch

Brock, S. — 2007-04-25

DANIEL H. FRANK and OLIVER LEAMAN (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy

Lesser, A.H. — 2007-04-25

ABRAHAM IBN 'EZRA', Sefer Moznayim

Rubin, A. — 2007-04-25

REEVA SPECTOR SIMON, MICHAEL MENACHEM LASKIER and SARA REGUER (eds), The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times

Kadish, S. — 2007-04-25

SULIMAN BASHEAR, Studies in Early Islamic Tradition

Van Ess, J. — 2007-04-25

MAWIL IZZI DIEN, Islamic Law: from Historical Foundation to Contemporary Practice

Gleave, R. — 2007-04-25

MUhAMMAD 'ABD AL-RAiIM JAZIM (ed.), Nur al-ma 'arif fi nuzum wa-qawanin waa 'raf al-Yaman fi al- 'ahd al-muzaffari al-warif. Lumiere de la connaissance: Regles, lois et coutumes du Yemen sous la regne du sultan rasoulide al-Muzaffar

Rex Smith, G. — 2007-04-25

M. MAZZAOUI (ed.), Safavid Iran and Her Neighbors

Newman, A. J — 2007-04-25

DIONISIUS A. AGIUS, Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman: the People of the Dhow

Rex Smith, G. — 2007-04-25

GRAHAM DAVIES assisted by J.K. Aitken, D.R. De Lacey, P.A. Smith And J. Squirrel, Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions Vol 2: Corpus and Concordance

Rollig, W. — 2007-04-25

MARJO C.A. KORPEL, The Structure of the Book of Ruth

Hubbard, R. L. — 2007-04-25

CRAIG A. EVANS (ed.), From Prophecy to Testament. The Function of the Old Testament in the New

Clements, R.E. — 2007-04-25

MAYER LAMBERT, Termes massoretiques prosodie hebraique et autres etudes; appendices a la grammaire hebraique

Brooke, G. J. — 2007-04-25

J. OLSZOWY-SCHLANGER, Les manuscrits hebreux dans l'Angleterre medievale

Smithius, R. — 2007-04-25