A Digital Dictionary of Loanwords in the Yalkut Shimoni

Although of key importance for Rabbinic studies, but also for many other disciplines within the humanities, the study of the cultural interaction of ancient and medieval Judaism with other cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean is a topic that has fallen into oblivion during the 20th century. The Dictionary of Loanwords in the Yalkut Shimoni (DLYS) aims at the creation of a digital online dictionary, and follows the overall aim of providing an efficient tool for further cultural and linguistic analysis not only for the purposes of the Rabbinic and Judaic studies, but also in order to promote the research on the interaction between Jewish literary tradition with other cultures in the Greco-Roman worlds in Late Antiquity and in Byzantium, in theological, philosophical terms as well as through everyday situations. DLYS is conceived as a follow-up project of the Dictionary of Loanwords in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah (DLGenR; FWF P 30785, 2018-2022; https://genr.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/) and deals with the investigation of the predominantly Greek loanwords in the Yalkut Shimoni (hence: Yalkut), a medieval Rabbinic narrative (aggadic) compilation on the books of the Hebrew Bible. While DLGenR involves the earliest Rabbinic Midrash that contains the majority of Greek loanwords, DLYS will deal with a major medieval compilation of Rabbinic literature: in this way the outcome of both projects will cover text samples from a wide range of Ancient and Early Medieval Judaism. The DLYS will comprise almost 2/3 of the Greek loanwords in Hebrew/Aramaic (from the earliest Mishnaic to the latest Rabbinic sources). Compared to print editions, the digital encoding already used in DLGenR makes it possible to easily merge the entries into a single web-client with expansion possibilities for existing and future research by other projects. The use of up-to-date tools of the digital humanities (XML-TEI) and the open access format enhance the usability and accessibility of the data for specialists in the field but also for everyone interest in Jewish Cultural History. The project utilizes recent developments in theoretical and historical linguistics (language contact, historical sociolinguistics and dialectology) as well as novel approaches and encoding in digital lexicography, which can have an impact on the compilation of an up-to-date version of the often criticized but still unique in its kind dictionary of Greek and Latin Loanwords by Samuel Krauss (1898 9). Scholars from various disciplines will collaborate in the project: Ancient & Medieval Judaism, Rabbinic Studies Greek and Semitic linguistics) as well as in digital humanities. DLYS will be hosted at the Center for Jewish Cultural History of the University of Salzburg and at the Center for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage (ACDH-CH) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.