<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">.<div>In the few years that I've been learning Chumash with Onkelos, I've become fascinated with his translation style, and I have many conjectures which would be a lot easier to research if I had the right tools.</div><div><br></div><div>For example, consider the Aramaic word "rav" (resh beis), or, with the definite article, "raba" (resh beis aleph). Onkelos seems to use this exact same Aramaic word as a translation of several different Hebrew words. For example, he uses it for a Jewish Nasi (Bemidbar 7:12), an Edomi Aluf (Bereshis 36:15), and a Mitzri Saris (Bereshis 37:36). [Those are just examples; these words appear in many pesukim.]</div><div><br></div><div>Last week I noticed the word Aluf appear many times near the end of Vayishlach, and I wondered about its exact meaning. Then I discovered that in the great majority of cases throughout Tanach, Aluf appears in the context of Edom. Given that Onkelos translates it the same way as Nasi, I'm wondering it Aluf might not be a Hebrew word at all, but a transliteration of the title the Edom gave to their leaders.</div><div><br></div><div>This week, I saw the same thing about many of the Egyptians who Yosef came into contact with. They are described/titled as "s'ris", but Onkelos translates it consistently as some form of the word "rav". So I started to wonder if "saris" might *not* be Hebrew for "eunuch" as I had thought, but simply be the Mitzri equivalent of Aluf. Lo and behold, I was surprised to find that *none* of my Chumash translations have "eunuch" in this parsha, and it seems that I have just now stumbled onto something that most of you already knew. [My memory is awful, but it is likely that in the past, I noticed that "saris" was translated as minister or chief or something similar, but I had shrugged it off as a euphemism. Today I have come to realize that it's not a euphemism for eunuch, but an accurate translation of the Egyptian title.]</div><div><br></div><div>But I'd still love to find a concordance of Onkelos. I'd look for other instances of "rav", "raba", and "rav'rvei" (the plural). After all, Edom and Mitzrayim aren't the only other nations mentioned in the Chumash. And there are lots of other words I'd like to look up also. And if no one knows of a concordance, does anyone know of a website that has an easily-searchable text of Onkelos?</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks!</div><div><br></div><div>Akiva Miller</div><div><br></div><div>PS - I just came across Rashi on Bereshis 41:45, who says that Potiphar and Poti-Fera are the same person, and that he was indeed impotent. But Rashi's description of how he became impotent seems to confirm my suspicion, that referring to him as a saris has less to do with biology, and more to do with politics.</div></div>
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