A Dictionary of Loanwords in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah

The project deals with the investigation of the - predominantly Greek - loanwords in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah (GenR). Its objective consists in the compilation of a dictionary both in digital and in book format, and follows the overall aim of providing an efficient tool for further cultural and linguistic analysis not only for the purposes of the respective midrash and the Rabbinic Studies, but also in order to promote the research on the interaction between the Jewish literary tradition with other cultures in the Greco- Roman worlds in Late Antiquity. GenR is the earliest rabbinic commentary on the Book of Genesis, compiled during the 5th c. CE in Roman Palestine. It represents the first realization of the rabbinic genre of aggadic (narrative) midrash. Built as a continuous interpretation of the book of Genesis (with lacunae) it derives central concepts of rabbinic thought from the biblical text. GenR is the first rabbinic midrash that post-dates the Christianization of the Roman Empire. It marks an important starting point for investigations regarding references of the Palestinian rabbinic literature to its Roman imperial context. More than other rabbinic sources GenR is characterized by its frequent use of Greek loanwords and of concepts and metaphors from Greco-Roman culture. It is rich in foreign words, especially Greek or Latin transmitted via Greek (about 400 types), the study of which will be the main objective of the project. Greek loanwords, which total over two thousand items stemming from various dialects, make up the largest group of non-native words not only in GenR but also in the totality of the Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon. The transliterations of Greek words in rabbinic literature do not only constitute evidence for cultural and linguistic contact between Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek, but also make up the most important secondary evidence of Hellenistic Greek together with the primary sources, such as the New Testament. Therefore, GenR is an ideal source for the study of cultural and linguistic interaction of rabbinic thought and Jewish everyday life with other traditions of late antiquity due to its innovative theological content, its place in the rabbinic corpus, and its unique engagement with its Greco-Roman and Christian cultural context. Along the lines of recent studies the project intends to provide an up-to-date digital supplement to the lexicography of rabbinic literature, which still remains an unfulfilled desideratum, especially due to the interdisciplinary character of the research.

The project team of The Dictionary of Loanwords in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah (hence: DLGenR) managed to fulfil the main goals of the initial project proposal, namely the compilation of a digital-born, corpus-based and open access dictionary encoded according to the specifications of the baseline encoding TEI Lex-0 for electronic dictionaries that covers a great part of Krauss wordlist (Griechische und Lateinische Lehnwörter in Talmud, Midrasch und Targum from the years 18989). Based on findings stemming from DLGenR, the team was able to demonstrate how recent developments in theoretical and historical linguistics (language contact, historical sociolinguistics and dialectology) as well as novel approaches and encoding in digital lexicography (TEI Lex-0) can have an impact on the compilation of an up-to-date version of the often criticized but still unique in its kind dictionary by Samuel Krauss (18989): The revision of the linguistic material contained in DLGenR in connection with the potential of digital tools could lead to promising new results for research areas beyond the Judaic studies, in particular for the study of the diatopic and diaphasic variation in the diachrony of Greek, but also for other historical languages in general. It is noteworthy that Krauss dictionary is still the only specialized dictionary that covers the linguistic evidence of predominantly Greek, but also Latin, loanwords attested in the vast corpus of the Rabbinic literature. Of co urse, major progress has been made since then but the desideratum of a New Krauss still remains unfulfilled. One further important outcome of the DLGenR-project will be an up-to-date overview on the adaptation phenomena of Greek borrowings in Aramaic, since the main references on this subject are restricted for the time being to the few examples to be found in another monumental work, namely Dalmans Grammar of Jewish-Palestinian Aramaic from the year 1905 (1894). The project was executed at the Center fo r Jewish Cultural History, University of Salzburg and at the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage (ACDH-CH), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna for the period 2018 -2022. The target language of the dictionary is English and the main lexicographic editor used is the VLE (Viennese Lexicographic Editor, https://www.oeaw.ac.at/acdhools/vle>.).