“Computer Assisted Translation of Ancient Texts: The Babylonian Talmud Case Study.”

The article introduces some of the features characterizing the Computer Assisted Translation web application developed to support the translation of the Babylonian Talmud (BT) in Italian. The BT is a late antique Jewish anthological corpus, which, as other ancient texts, presents a number of hurdles related to its intrinsic linguistic and philological nature. The article illustrates the solutions adopted in the system, with particular emphasis on the Translation Memory and the translation suggestion component

Judeo-arabic commentary on the Song of Songs. A digital edition

Questa ricerca propone uno studio sul giudeo-arabo, varietà linguistica di particolare rilievo, considerando l’importante produzione di testi redatti in giudeo-arabo nell’ambito della cultura letteraria delle comunità ebraiche che vivevano nei paesi di lingua araba. La ricerca si è basata sull’analisi di un testimone inedito (ms. 5491, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York) del 15° secolo. Il testo è trilingue, e contiene il Cantico dei Cantici, la sua traduzione aramaica (targum), la traduzione del Cantico in giudeo-arabo, ed un commentario, sempre in giudeo-arabo. Oltre ad un'indagine linguistica, si è prodotta un'edizione digitale del testo contenuto in JTS, ms. 5491, in formato TEI

Searching for Dead Sea Scribes:a study on using Artificial Intelligence and palaeography for writer identification in correlation with spelling and scribal practices, codicology, handwriting quality, and literary classification systems for Dead Sea Scrolls

My study explores the Dead Sea Scrolls through the lens of individual scribes. Specifically, the practices of individual scribes responsible for penningtwo or more of the Oumran manuscripts. It utilises innovative digital palaeographic methods alongside traditional palaeographic approaches for scribalidentification. It gathers previously un-gathered data on the handwriting, spelling practices, codicological features and literary content of individual scribes. The study explores how this data on scribes both supports and challenges various aspects of theories in the field of Dead Sea Scroll studies, which accept a a sectarian origin for the Qumran manuscripts

Studies in Rabbinic Hebrew

"This volume presents a collection of articles centring on the language of the Mishnah and the Talmud – the most important Jewish texts (after the Bible), which were compiled in Palestine and Babylonia in the latter centuries of Late Antiquity. Despite the fact that Rabbinic Hebrew has been the subject of growing academic interest across the past century, very little scholarship has been written on it in English. Studies in Rabbinic Hebrew addresses this lacuna, with eight lucid but technically rigorous articles written in English by a range of experienced scholars, focusing on various aspects of Rabbinic Hebrew: its phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics and lexicon. This volume is essential reading for students and scholars of Rabbinic studies alike, and constitutes the second in a new series, Studies in Semitic Languages and Cultures, in collaboration with the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Sources for the investigation of meaning in the Hebrew Bible

Many linguistic tools and methods are applied to Biblical texts to gain meaning from them. Such applications do not always take into account the perspective of the investigators, the presuppositions of the method being used, and the nature of the material to which it is applied. These factors all influence the meaning obtained from the text. It is vital therefore to consider the available data in Hebrew, the development and transmission of the Masoretic Text, and the nature of the language contained therein (Chapter 1). The main section of the thesis provides a critical survey of the application of various tools and methods. Chapter 2 provides a summary of the Comparative Method with its presuppositions, a brief overview of Barr’s criticisms of its application to Biblical texts, and guidelines for its use. Chapter 3 looks at the Versions, the influence of the language, theology and motivation of the translators on their production, and the validity of using translations for obtaining meaning from Hebrew. Chapter 4 examines the presuppositions of Lexical Semantics and surveys some applications of this method to Classical Hebrew. Chapter 5 examines Text Linguistics and some applications of Tagmemics to Hebrew narratives, assessing its contribution to the investigation of meaning. The text is like a multi-faceted diamond which can be viewed from any number of angles, both synchronically and diachronically, reflecting potentially innumerable meanings. Each of the tools and methods surveyed here approaches the text from a different perspective and when appropriately applied can be combined to gain as much meaning as possible from the Hebrew Bible. This results in illustration of an integrated approach to the investigation of meaning in Classical Hebrew. Nonetheless, it remains possible to construct a complete linguistic analysis of the text at every level and still not quite understand what it means

Luke’s use of the Old Testament in Luke 22-23

While Luke understands Jesus' suffering and death as the fulfillment of OT prophecy, he does not use many OT quotations or allusions to express this fact in his passion narrative. The question arises: How does Luke use the OT in his passion narrative, especially to show prophetic fulfillment?This study seeks to answer this question through an identification and analysis of the OT quotations, allusions, ideas, and stylistic elements in Luke 22-23. The criteria for identification and critical analysis are gathered from studying the history of scholarship on the subject from the Reformation to 1972.Our findings are that Luke presents the fulfillment of the key OT prophecy in his passion narrative, Is. 53:12/Lk. 22:37, through a thematic development of various aspects of its message. Other OT quotes, allusions, ideas, and stylistic elements contribute to the development of this theme. Luke's approach to the OT is Christocentric both in the sense that all the quotations and most of the allusions occur in the reported words of Jesus, and in the sense that most of Luke's OT material refers to the OT promises of a suffering and glorified Messiah. OT ideas also occur mainly in the reported words of Jesus and the OT stylistic elements are best understood as examples of LXX style imitation. We found that Luke's lack of allusions and quotations was probably due to his desire to have his readers relive the fulfillment events of the Passion as they unfold in the narrative without being distracted by editorial fulfillment proof~texts. Yet, at the same time Luke, the Christian theologian to the Gentiles, did make extensive use of the OT. With a Christocentric interpretational approach to understanding OT prophecy and theological content within a salvation history framework, Luke shows how the OT was important to Gentile Christians

Sex Rewarded, Sex Punished

A masterful intersection of Bible studies, gender studies, and rabbinic law, Diane Kriger explores the laws pertaining to female slaves in Jewish law. Comparing biblical strictures with later rabbinic interpretations as well as contemporary Greco-Roman and Babylonian codes of law, Kriger establishes a framework whereby a woman’s sexual identity also indicates her legal status. With sensitivity to the nuances in both ancient laws and ancient languages, Kriger adds greatly to our understanding of gender, slave status, and the matrilineal principle of descent in the ancient Near East

Diversity and Rabbinization

"This volume is dedicated to the cultural and religious diversity in Jewish communities from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Age and the growing influence of the rabbis within these communities during the same period. Drawing on available textual and material evidence, the fourteen essays presented here, written by leading experts in their fields, span a significant chronological and geographical range and cover material that has not yet received sufficient attention in scholarship. The volume is divided into four parts. The first focuses on the vantage point of the synagogue; the second and third on non-rabbinic Judaism in, respectively, the Near East and Europe; the final part turns from diversity within Judaism to the process of ""rabbinization"" as represented in some unusual rabbinic texts. Diversity and Rabbinization is a welcome contribution to the historical study of Judaism in all its complexity. It presents fresh perspectives on critical questions and allows us to rethink the tension between multiplicity and unity in Judaism during the first millennium CE. L’École Pratique des Hautes Études has kindly contributed to the publication of this volume.

Coptic SCRIPTORIUM: Digitizing a Corpus for Interdisciplinary Research in Ancient Egyptian

Coptic, having evolved from the language of the hieroglyphs of the pharaonic era, represents the last phase of the Egyptian language and is pivotal for a wide range of disciplines, such as linguistics, biblical studies, the history of Christianity, Egyptology, and ancient history. The Coptic language has proven essential for the decipherment and continued study of Ancient Egyptian and is of major interest for Afro-Asiatic linguistics and Coptic linguistics in its own right. Coptic manuscripts are sources for biblical and extra-biblical texts and document ancient and Christian history. Coptic SCRIPTORIUM will advance knowledge in these fields by increasing access to now largely inaccessible texts of historical, religious, and linguistic significance. The project designs digital tools and methodologies and applies them to literary texts, creating a rich open-access corpus