Onkelos Resources

The following are excellent aides in studying Onkelos, the Aramaic translation of the Torah:

• Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner's book Onkelos on the Torah: Understanding the Bible Text. I only have the Bereshit volume of this English translation of Onkelos (there is also a Shmot edition), but it is very helpful for my work. It includes an English translation of the Torah text, based on Onkelos. Where Onkelos deviates from the plain meaning of the text, the English words are highlighted in bold. There is also an extensive commentary, explaining the reasons behind the Onkelos translation, as well as a comparison with other translations and commentaries.
  
  
• Dov Rappel's work "Targum Onkelos". This Hebrew book is a complete study of the approach of Onkelos, with such chapters as "The Theology of Targum Onkelos", "Targum Onkelos and the Midrash", "The Halacha and Targum Onkelos" and "The Literary Aspect of Targum Onkelos". While the book is meant to be studied straight through, there is an index of all verses mentioned, so you can find out if there is any interesting commentary on a particular translation. Dov Rappel was a professor at Bar-Ilan university, and a member of Kibbutz Yavne. I sat behind him in the Beit Knesset when I lived there, and found him to be a tremendous talmid chacham and a uniquely humble individual. He died in 2003 at the age of 87.
  
  
• Yein HaTov by R' Alter Vein. This book (as described here) "highlights every place where a Targum differs from the literal translation, translates the Targum back into Hebrew and sometimes explains the significance of the difference." A good resource, but it would be nice if the number of the chapter, as well as the name of the parasha appeared on every page.
  

Ben-Yehuda - Dictionary

Thanks to the readers of this site, I was able to purchase the entire 17 volume set of Ben-Yehuda's dictionary. It's a great resource with examples for every word from Biblical, Talmudic and later sources. It also includes etymological information, and refers to words that Ben-Yehuda himself coined.

not (yet) on the bookshelf

As you may have noticed, I have added a new section to the sidebar - "My Bookshelf". While this does not include every book I own, or even every book I use for this blog, it has the main sources I use for research here. The links are actually blog posts - so feel free to leave questions or comments about the books.

I am also going to add here a list of books I don't have - yet. I will add to the list any time I come up with a new resource I'm lacking, and hopefully remove from the list when I acquire new (or used) books.

Here too, feel free to let me know where to access/ acquire them or provide any other information about them in the comments. (Of course just because I want them, doesn't mean I can currently afford them or have shelf space...)

• Even-Shoshan Dictionary - full six volume set
• Sefer Shorashim - Radak
• Sefer Shorashim - Ibn Janach
• A History of the Hebrew language - Yechezkel Kutscher
• A Dictionary of Greek and Latin Legal Terms in Rabbinic Literature (Dictionaries of Talmud, Midrash, and Targum) - Daniel Sperber
• Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language - Klein
• A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the Talmudic and Geonic Periods - Michael Sokoloff
  
• The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament - Ludwig Koehler
• Arukh HaShalem - Kohut
• Musaf HaArukh
  
• Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (BDB)
• Etymological Dictionary of Hebrew-English - Mayer Schacter-Haham
• Kenaani Dictionary of Piyutim
• Higiya Zman Lashon - Avshalom Kor
• Od Mila B'Rega - Mordechai Rozen
• Kuntres Tal Hayyim - Ya'akov Hayyim Sofer
• יהושע בלאו, תורת ההגה והצורות

Stahl - Arabic Etymological Dictionary in Hebrew

I'm very excited to write that I recently acquired a new book (actually a two-volume set) by Avraham Stahl:

מילון דביר דו-לשוני אטימולוגי לערבית מדוברת ולעברית

Bilingual Etymological Dictionary of Spoken Israeli Arabic and Hebrew

(Dvir, 1995)

This really helps my library of etymological resources. The book has around 7000 entries for Arabic words, and etymological background for most of them. This helps understand the development of words in modern Hebrew (particulary slang) and to find Hebrew cognates for Arabic words that entered English.

Stahl is also the author of Motza HaMilim, which I often refer to. In general, I will refer simply to "Stahl", but when necessary, I will mention which book provides the information.

Melamed - Aramaic-Hebrew Dictionary

I don't use Rabbi Ezra-Zion Melamed's Aramaic-Hebrew Dictionary of the Babylonian Talmud very often, but I certainly should try to more. It is limited in that it only has words from the Babylonian Talmud (unlike Jastrow, who includes the Midrashim and Targumim). But it does have notes with etymological information for many of the entries. Maybe what's putting me off is that if the word is from Persian or Greek, he writes the original word in the actual script, which I can't read (yet).

Almagor-Ramon - Rega Shel Ivrit

Ruth Almagor-Ramon, the language adviser at Israel Radio, is the editor of the radio feature "Rega Shel Ivrit." In 2001, a book was published based on these segments, and is reviewed here:

Ruth Almagor-Ramon. A Moment of Hebrew (Rega shel Ivrit). Tzivonim Publishing. Jerusalem , 2001

Everyone who listens to the radio in Israel recognizes the dulcet tones of Menahem Peri, the fellow who comes on for one minute a day to tell us about words newly sanctioned by the Hebrew Language Academy , older words whose meanings may be lost on us, and words and expressions that have tickled the fancy of Ruth Almagor-Ramon, the editor of Kol Yisrael's program Rega shel Ivrit. If you've ever longed for a copy of the script of these pieces, then you're in luck. Slightly edited for the printed page, this new book contains the text of 300 of these programs. The selections are brief enough to be read when you have only a moment to spare. They are meaty enough to stay with you the whole day. By the way, as Almagor-Ramon reminds us, that one minute a day is, as they say, "not exactly." At times it means, "the blink of an eye"; at others it means "as long as it takes to say the word "rega." On the radio it means "as long as it takes to perform a segment of Rega shel Ivrit. And then there's Sallah Shabbati, the fictional character who made famous the expression for "Hold it a second," Rega, hoshvim.

While much of the book focuses on prescriptive grammar and pronunciation, there is a good deal of etymological information as well.

Even-Shoshan - Dictionary and Concordance

Abraham Even-Shoshan published two very important works in the field of linguistics:

"A New Concordance of the Bible" and "HaMilon HaIvri" - a Hebrew-Hebrew dictionary.

While the Concordance certainly is a helpful way to find all the locations of a word in the Tanach, it may seem to only be of technical use. However, Even-Shoshan does provide brief definitions of the words, and creates groups of words based on connotation and meaning. While the information he provides may be subtle, it is possible to learn about the connection (or lack thereof) between words based on a listing in the concordance.

As far as the dictionary, the full six-volume edition is full of etymological information, but unfortunately, I don't have it (yet). But even in the one volume abridged edition, there are symbols to indicate whether the origins of words are Biblical, Talmudic, Medieval, Modern or Foreign.

JPS Torah Commentary

The JPS Torah Commentary is an English language, excellent source of information about the five books of the Torah.

From the JPS site:

Written by four outstanding Torah scholars, the JPS Torah Commentary represents a fusion of the best of the old and new. Utilizing the latest research to enhance our understanding of the biblical text, it takes its place as one of the most authoritative yet accessible Bible commentaries of our day.

The JPS Torah Commentary series guides readers through the words and ideas of the Torah. Each volume is the work of a scholar who stands at the pinnacle of his field.

Every page contains the complete traditional Hebrew text, with cantillation notes, the JPS translation of the Holy Scriptures, aliyot breaks, Masoretic notes, and commentary by a distinguished Hebrew Bible scholar, integrating classical and modern sources.

Each volume also contains supplementary essays that elaborate upon key words and themes, a glossary of commentators and sources, extensive bibliographic notes, and maps.

The scholars are:

Nahum Sarna - Genesis and Exodus
Baruch A. Levine - Leviticus
Jacob Milgrom - Numbers
Jeffrey H. Tigay - Deuteronomy

Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud

One of the nice features of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud are the side notes on various subjects - biographies, animal and plant identification, geographical notes, historical and archaeological information, and of course for me - language notes.

Many difficult or unfamiliar words, particularly from Aramaic, are explained on the page of the Talmud. A short etymology is also usually given.

Each tractate has an index in the back of all the words explained, called "Luach Lashon". My only wish would be of a master index of words mentioned in all tractates to date, because it can be difficult to know where to find a particular entry.

Daat Mikra

The Daat Mikra series on all the books of the Tanach provides an excellent source of etymological material. Each book's commentary is written by a different scholar:

Yehuda Kiel - Bereshit, Yehoshua, Shmuel, Melachim, Hoshea, Ovadia, Mishlei, Daniel (with Shmuel HaCohen), Divrei HaYamim

Amos Chacham - Shmot, Yishayahu, Yoel, Amos, Tehilim, Iyov, Shir HaShirim, Ester

Mordechai Zer-Kavod - Hagai, Zecharia, Malachi, Mishlei, Kohelet, Ezra, Nechemia

Menachem Bula - Vayikra, Yirmiyahu, Nachum, Habakuk, Tzefania

Yechiel Tzvi Moskowitz - Bamidbar, Yechezkel, Eicha

Elyakim Ben-Menachem - Yona

Feivel Meltzer - Rut

Yehuda Elitzur - Shoftim

Moshe Zeidel - Micha

Aharon Mirsky - Devarim

One thing that's always impressed me about the Daat Mikra series is the way they've made all the commentaries fit well, even though they're by different authors over the course of many years. When I'm trying to find the meaning or origin of a word, I'll often look at the Daat Mikra commentary on every instance of the word. I can't recall one example where I could say that one author had approach A, and a different author had approach B.

Rosenthal - Dictionary of Israeli Slang

Review in Hebrew

Rosenthal, a columnist for the newspaper Maariv, has put together a very comprehensive dictionary of Israeli slang. Each term has examples with citations, and when possible an etymology is provided as well.

Stahl - Motza HaMilim

Bookme link

This Hebrew book by Avraham Stahl ("The Origin of Words") was published in 1999 shortly before his death the following year.

The book is divided into sections (food, clothing, recreation, etc) with a running text - this is not a dictionary - discussing the origins of the Hebrew words and phrases of that type. There are no direct sources for each claim, but there is an extensive bibliography.

Horowitz - How the Hebrew Language Grew

Amazon link

Edward Horowitz wrote this book in 1960. I don't know much about his credentials - he was a teacher of Hebrew in junior and senior high schools in New York. And the book can be read by such students. It therefore isn't really a research book - no sources, no index.

But he does have some interesting ideas, and most seem to make sense. It's a nice light read, and does give a good background to the development of Hebrew words in general.

Jastrow - Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Bavli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature

Marcus Jastrow (1829-1903) was a rabbi in Philadelphia. Despite the fact that there have been new discoveries in linguistics since his time, and that he was a Reform rabbi, his work is still widely used, even in Orthodox circles.

One of his main points is that many Aramaic words have Semitic origins, and are not borrowed from Greek (as others claim).

Amazon link

Kaddari - Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew

Description from Eisenbrauns:

The is the first book of its kind - a comprehensive academic dictionary of Biblical Hebrew written in modern Hebrew. Until today no such dictionary has been published in the Hebrew language, thus forcing Hebrew-speaking students and scholars to rely on English or German dictionaries.

This book will appeal to a broad educated public interested in the Bible as the foundation of Jewish culture, and especially to students and teachers of Biblical Studies and Semitic languages including Hebrew. They will benefit particularly from the comparison of biblical words with their parallels in other Semitic languages, as well as the clarification of difficult, seemingly irregular forms in biblical Hebrew. All this enables the student to discover the simple meaning of the text: What did the author mean and why did he choose a particular form of expression? The entries are accompanied by copious notes commenting on the etymology and the roots of words and presenting opinions of biblical and linguistic scholars on grammatical issues.

Prof. Menachem Zevi Kaddari is one of today's leading scholars in Hebrew Linguistics, and has specialized in the study of the Hebrew language for close to 50 years. His research encompasses all periods from biblical to modern Hebrew, and deals with most aspects of linguistic study: syntax, semantics, diction and stylistics, lexicography and stylistics. (One of his special interests is in defining the principles underlying the process of the internal organization of today's language.)

Klein - Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language

Official book description:

A clear and concise work on the origins of the Hebrew words and their sense development. Each of the c. 32,000 entries is first given in its Hebrew form, then translated into English and analysed etymologically, using Latin transcription for all non-Latin scripts. An indispensable source of biblical, Jewish, modern Hebrew and Near Eastern studies.

Amazon link

This very important dictionary was complied by Ernest Klein (1899-1983), a rabbi who was born in Romania and later moved to Canada. It is one of the primary sources I use for my research.

Steinberg - Milon HaTanach

Yehoshua Steinberg, Milon HaTanach (Mishpat HaUrim)
יהושע שטיינברג מלון התנ"ך - משפט האורים
1960, Izreel Publishing House

R' Yehoshua Steinberg (1830-1916) was a Rav in Vilna, and a prominent Hebrew linguist. He prepared Mishpat HaUrim from 1891-1895. It was republished with corrections as Milon HaTanach by a group of Israeli Hebrew scholars - Avraham Avronin, Menachem Dor, Meir Medan, Baruch Sapir, Yaakov Adini and Avraham Aryeh Akavia.

Kutscher - Milim V'Toldotehen

Yechezkel Kutscher, "Words and Their History" מלים ותולדותיהן
Published by Kiryath-Sefer Ltd. Jerusalem, Israel
1974

Collection of articles on Hebrew Etymology, almost all written in 1958.

Professor E. Y. Kutscher was aProfessor of Hebrew Philology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a member of the Hebrew Language Academy.

An article of his in English can be found here.