Page:A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, Volume 1 (1903).djvu/8

 combats with the Romans. Furthermore, the sparus is a small hunting spear never used in battle to aim against the warrior's shield. As the entire passage in the Midrash quoted conveys the purpose of the interpreters to explain the Biblical text by means of a popular illustration, the Amora reported to have used this expression would have utterly missed his object, had he employed foreign and unfamiliar words, when he might have used plain words like, or their Aramaic equivalents. If, furthermore, it is taken into consideration that editio Buber of Lam. R., in agreement with the Arukh, reads for, thus distinctly referring to Babylonian authorities, the supposition of foreign origin for  and  falls to the ground. But, on the other hand, take as an 'Ispeel' noun of the stem, and it means 'that which is to be cloven', i. e. the log, corresponding to the Hebrew  What is , or , again on the assumption that it is a home word? The root. like means to divide, to split, and burma or rather bor'ma is 'the splitter', i. e. the wedge used to split the log. The Amora quoted in the Midrash therefore means to say that Israel, although the target of hostile attacks, is what the wedge is to the log: the wedge is struck, but the log is split. The other Amora quoted expresses the same idea by a different metaphor: 'as the pole of the arrows', and likewise a third, who lays stress on, 'he caused me to stand', in the sense of enduring. An analogous expression to, is (Pales of ), with which Targum renders the same Hebrew word  that forms the subject of comment in the Midrash just referred to (I Samuel XX, 20).

The following lines are intended to give some specimens of such extension of roots, both Hebrew and Aramaic, as have not been recognized heretofore, or, if recognized, have not been applied to their full extent.

Ithpaal or Ithpeel nouns in Aramaean and Aramaicized Hebrew, and Hithpael nouns in Hebrew are too well known to require more than mere mention. Formations like, , are recognized on their face. Except for the preconceived notions concerning the nature of the Talmudic vocabulary, it would seem no more than natural that the Mishnaic or  (Yoma VII, 1) should be an enlargement of, i. e. an Ithpaal noun of , and  merely a synonym of  in the same Mishnah, meaning 'covering', i. e. a suit of clothes, whereas the plainer form  is used for cloak or sheet. From among the vocables reclaimed for the Semitic store on the same principle, one more may be mentioned here: or  is a derivative of, and, as such, a phonetic and actual equivalent of the Biblical , and the meaning of the Hebrew word should be learned from its well-defined Aramaic representative: 'something which restrains the