Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01502004
I. Calà, R. Hawley
{"title":"Transliteration versus Translation of Greek Plant Names in the Syriac Medical Writings of Sergius of Reš ʿAynā: On the Tables of Contents in BL Add. 14,661","authors":"I. Calà, R. Hawley","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01502004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01502004","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores some of the translational choices made by Sergius of Res ʿAynā in translating the Greek plant names found in Books VI–VIII of Galen’s treatise On simple drugs into Syriac, and especially as found in the “tables of contents”—or pinakes—which preface these books. These latter took the form of alphabetically ordered lists of Greek phytonyms transliterated into Syriac characters, occasionally followed by a translational gloss in Syriac. After a brief introduction, we discuss the form, function and content of these pinakes, outline a typology, and suggest explanations for selected problematic features.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"155-182"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01502004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01502006
Matteo Martelli
{"title":"Syriac Medicine: Introduction","authors":"Matteo Martelli","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01502006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01502006","url":null,"abstract":"A growing interest in Syriac science and medicine can be observed in scholarship published over the last decades.1 An impressive wealth of new textual discoveries and studies has been produced, often in the framework of important European research projects, which has facilitated fruitful collaborations between scholars.2 Inspired by this vibrant exchange, the present issue was conceived after the conference Medical Translators at Work. Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin Translations in Dialogue, which Oliver Overwien, Cristina Savino and I organized in 2014 at the Humboldt University of Berlin, as part of the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship programme Medicine of the Mind, Philosophy of the Body, directed by Philip van der Eijk. The semantic layers that are potentially hidden in the expression ‘Syriac medicine’—which has been chosen to introduce this special issue—are instrumental in highlighting some key aspects of the subject. In fact, both the term ‘medicine’ and the adjective ‘Syriac’ require further specification. On the one hand, ‘Syriac’ can qualify the cultural milieu in which medicine was practiced, it can indicate the language in which medical texts were composed (or into which they were translated), or it can even specify the kind of script used to copy medical texts in manuscripts. Medicine penetrated different institutions","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"125-131"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01502006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01501002
S. Bhayro
{"title":"An Aramaic Magic Bowl for Fertility and Success in Childbirth: Lisboa, Museu da Farmácia (Lisbon, Pharmacy Museum), Inv. No. 10895","authors":"S. Bhayro","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01501002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01501002","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents the editio princeps of an Aramaic magic bowl housed in the Pharmacy Museum (Museu da Farmacia), Lisbon. It contains a spell that seeks to grant success in conception and childbirth for Mihranahid daughter of Aḥat. The spell includes what may be the earliest attested quotation of Gen. 30.22, as well as the often-quoted Zech. 3.2. It also contains an unambiguous rendering of the ‘Your face is the face’ formula.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"106-111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01501002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-001
E. Fiori
{"title":"A Hitherto Unknown Medical Fragment in Syriac. Evidence of Recipes and Prescriptions from the Qubbet el-Ḫazne of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus","authors":"E. Fiori","doi":"10.1163/17455227-001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-001","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents the first edition of two leaves with medical content discovered at the beginning of the 20th century in the Qubbet el-Ḫazne of the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. The bifolium contains fragments of pharmaceutical recipes in Syriac that are not known from any previously published work. A brief commentary appended to the critical edition situates these fragments in the Syriac medical tradition.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"200-229"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64591401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01501005
Hidemi Takahashi, Naohide Yaguchi
{"title":"On the Medical Works of Barhebraeus: With a Description of the Abridgement of Ḥunain’s Medical Questions","authors":"Hidemi Takahashi, Naohide Yaguchi","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01501005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01501005","url":null,"abstract":"While the Syriac polymath Gregory Barhebraeus (1225/6–86) is better known for his contributions in other fields, his original training was probably in medicine, and he is known to have written a number of works on the subject. No Syriac work on medicine by Barhebraeus is known to have survived, but four such works written in Arabic have, and references to matters related to medicine are also to be found in his works in other fields. In this article, we present a brief overview of what is known about the medical works of Barhebraeus, along with a somewhat more detailed description of one of the surviving works, namely his abridgement of Ḥunain’s Medical Questions.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"252-276"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01501005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01501008
Andrew W. Litke
{"title":"The Lexicon of Targum Song of Songs and Aramaic Dialectology","authors":"Andrew W. Litke","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01501008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01501008","url":null,"abstract":"Targum Song of Songs contains words from several Aramaic dialects which seemingly should not coexist. This paper is an analysis of the Targum’s lexicon with particular attention given to the dialectal status of each word, and by extension the text as a whole. It is argued that the targumist primarily draws upon words from Targums Onqelos and Jonathan. A second layer of influence includes words from targumic Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and while words from the Babylonian Talmud and Biblical Aramaic are attested, they are not as influential on the overall lexicon. Finally, given the Targum’s dependence on literary texts that happen to be written in different dialects, it is argued that some terms only attested in Targum Song of Songs and other Late Jewish Literary Aramaic texts may give evidence to literary texts or traditions that have not survived.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"31 1","pages":"78-105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01501008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01501007
H. Mutzafi
{"title":"Neo-Mandaic as a Source of Hitherto Unattested Mandaic Words","authors":"H. Mutzafi","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01501007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01501007","url":null,"abstract":"Neo-Mandaic (NM) is the least known Neo-Aramaic language, despite recent progress in investigations of its grammar and lexicon. Lexicographical coverage of NM is still particularly replete with lacunae, as many of the language’s lexical items and lexical peculiarities remain beyond common scholarly knowledge. The present contribution discusses several hitherto unknown or misrepresented NM lexemes. Ten of these are inherited from pre-modern Mandaic antecedents that are, as far as can be established, not manifest in classical and post-classical Mandaic textual sources. Most of these inherited lexical items are of Aramaic origin, whereas a few are of ultimate Iranian provenance.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"112-124"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01501007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01502003
S. Bhayro
{"title":"Galen in Syriac: Rethinking Old Assumptions","authors":"S. Bhayro","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01502003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01502003","url":null,"abstract":"This article challenges a series of common assumptions regarding the Syriac translations of Galen: first, about the quality of the sixth-century Syriac translations; second, about the status and role of Syriac as a scientific language; and, third, about economic forces and the motivation for excellence in translation. Finally, the circumstances that produced so many incorrect assumptions, and permitted them to persist for so long, are briefly discussed.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"132-154"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01502003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594596","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01501006
J. Dušek
{"title":"‘Aram’ in the Aramaic Inscriptions from Sefire","authors":"J. Dušek","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01501006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01501006","url":null,"abstract":"Over many decades the references to ‘Aram’ in the Aramaic inscription Sefire I A, 5–6 have been interpreted as referring to a geographical location. Various scholars have proposed different solutions for the identification of this region. Nevertheless, a parallel formula, which appears in some Neo-Assyrian ade-texts, sheds new light on the meaning of ‘Aram’ in the Sefire inscription.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"1-22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01501006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aramaic StudiesPub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.1163/17455227-01501004
D. Tsolin
{"title":"Archaic Verbal Conjugations in Exod. 15.2–18, 21 and Deut. 32.1–43: Their Rendering in the Targums","authors":"D. Tsolin","doi":"10.1163/17455227-01501004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/17455227-01501004","url":null,"abstract":"Rendering Hebrew archaic verbal forms was a challenging task for the targumists who translated biblical poetry into Aramaic. Their translational technique reveals at least three aspects of morphosyntax of the verbs in the poetical discourse in Middle and Late Aramaic: a) diachronic shifts in the use of suffix (qtl) and prefix (yqtl) conjugations; b) an influence of the interpretation and the practice of oral recitation of the targums on the choice of verbal forms; and c) correlation between semantic connotations of the verbal conjugations and their aesthetic functions. In some cases, the authors of the targums simplified the semantic spectrum of the archaic conjugations in the parallel verse structure, but in others they attempted to render these verbal forms correctly. Their choice was caused by both interpretative and aesthetic tasks.","PeriodicalId":41594,"journal":{"name":"Aramaic Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"44-77"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/17455227-01501004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64594409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}