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A Judaeo-Arabic Biblical Glossary as a Source for Arabic Historical Dialectology

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Abstract

jats:pMS T-S Ar.5.58 is a translation glossary from the Cairo Geniza that contains a list of Judaeo-Arabic glosses for Hebrew words from the biblical book of Samuel. These Arabic words are fully vocalised with the Tiberian Hebrew pointing system, providing more precise phonetic information about the scribe’s native Arabic dialect than could be expressed with standard Arabic vowel signs. This pointing reveals linguistic features known from modern varieties of vernacular Arabic, including a conditional tendency to raise /a/ to /e/ and a reflex of ǧīm as /g/. The manuscript can be dated between the tenth and twelfth centuries, making it an important source for the history of spoken medieval Arabic and Middle Arabic writing.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4703 Language Studies, 4704 Linguistics, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies

Journal Title

Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0806-198X
0806-198X

Volume Title

20

Publisher

University of Oslo Library

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All rights reserved