[Avodah] bracha on tallit

[Micha Berger]

Sidenote: The word "tallis" is a weak raayah for the /s/ pronunciation
of the undotted sav. Here's my case:

There are two etymologiers floating around for it:
1- Aramaic /tll/, meaning "to cover". (Jastrow)
2- Others (e.g. RSM at
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol07/v07n039.shtml>) suggest the origin
is the Greek stole. There are other Greek borrowings into Aramaic
where a leading "as-" gets added ("aspaqlaria", from the root "spect" [to
look], comes immediately to mind) or drops off.

The latter would explain the use of both "tallios" and "tallisos". When we
borrow a word with a Greek "-is" suffix, do we treat it as though it had
the feminine Hebrew "-is" suffix ("tallios") or leave the suffix alone
("tallisos")? Or even the Ashknenazi constructions of "tallis qatan"
and "tallis gadol" -- both of which assume the word is masculine.

BTW, R' Yaakov Kamenicki says that "tallis qatan" refers to a tallis
worn by a qatan, referring to the minimum shiur for tallis -- and not
to the size of the tallis. Thus resolving the gender issue a different
way.

The subject of this thread switches from "tallis" to "tallit", depending
upon the author. But it's quite probable the last letter in the word is
a sigma, and thus /s/. Not /t/ or /th/.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A sick person never rejects a healing procedure
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