[Mesorah] Aramaic grammar

[Mandel, Seth via Mesorah]

It was good that you noticed it, but it does not have any significance in the Aramaic of the Targum.  Originally (and in Reichsaramaisch), forms such as malkhu/malkhut/malkhuta were carefully differentiated in meaning, with the first equivalent to a noun without a definite article ("a kingdom"), and the last equivalent to one with ("the kingdom").   But in later Aramaic, the form with the definite article became the standard form, and there was no longer any differenciation between nouns with or with the definite article (as is the case in Russian and most languages, except for the Romance, Germanic, and Hellenic languages, where most have a definite article).
The Targum is partway there.  You will still find forms like malkhu, but for most nouns common in usage, the form with the "definite article suffix" are used.  So the day is always called "yoma d'khippuraya" regardlless of what the Hebrew has.  Just as in English, the form "yomkipper" is always used, and to express the differenciation, one would have to say "one yomkipper" or "this yomkipper."
There are hundreds of such examples in the Targum, such as qur'banya is the normal form, regarless of whether the Hebrew is definite or not.

Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
Rabbinic Coordinator
The Orthodox Union
11 Broadway, New York, NY  10004

Voice (212) 613-8330     Fax (212) 613-0718     e-mail mandels at ou.org
________________________________________
From: Mesorah <mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org> on behalf of Kenneth Miller via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2015 9:38 AM
To: mesorah at lists.aishdas.org
Subject: [Mesorah] Aramaic grammar

Yesterday in Parshas Emor, I noticed two phrases which are similar but NOT identical in the Chumash, yet Onkelos translates them the same way. Namely:

23:27 - yom hakippurim
23:28 - yom kippurim

yet both are: yoma d'khipuraiya

I know that in English, the definite and indefinite articles are pretty distinct, and most of us would translate the first as "the day of" and the second as "a day of".

But I'm really not that familiar with Aramaic. My wild guess is that since both "yoma" and "d'khipuraiya" end with aleph, at least one of those alephs must be the definite article, leading me to suspect that this is a very literal translation for pasuk 27, and a not-so-literal translation for pasuk 28. But for all I know, Aramaic doesn't distinguish between the definite and indefinite articles, in which case both pesukim are being translated bery literally.

Any ideas? Or is this question less about dikduk and more about a girsa error?

Akiva Miller
KennethGMiller at juno.com

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