Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/100

 94 Hebrew Words in Gryphius Horribilicribrifax 5) Chafol^lDH "pledge. " This word appears in Ezra 18, 12, and 33, 15. The transcription of this word shows the charac- teristic interchange of "v" and "f " so common among the Jews of Germany. 6) Chof 2*H "debt" This is a Talmudical word and does not occur in the Old Testament. The interchange of "f" and " v" is again noticeable. 7) Tof 3 ,CO "good." This is a very common Hebrew word. Again we have " f " f or " v ". 8) Col hefel hefalim. This is a slightly corrupt form of the pas- sage in Ecclesiastes 1, 2, where we read: Havel havalim hacol havel ^3P1 b*3n D^DP! bill "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Note again, "f " for " v. " 7) Omer 1 D * ^ " word, " utterance. This word is used only in poetical contexts, as hi Job 22, 28, and is from the root amar OCX) "to say." 8) Chach Pin "hook," "ring," and then "ornamental ring." It is used by Gryphius to denote "necklace." It occurs in Exodus 35, 23. 9) Nifo. This seems to be another corrupt form. It clearly means "word," in the present context, and the closest approxima- tion to this form is the word "niv" HTJ "fruit," used in Isaiah 57, 19, in the expression " the fruit of the lips" with the metaphori- cal force of "speech." Indeed, modern Hebrew knows the word in this meaning. 10) Schilen, with the apparent meaning of " to lend, " may be explained, as the Judaeo-German form of the Hebrew verb "sha'al" b$& " to ask, " " to borrow. " 11) Heed ith. To this Tittmann notes: "ist mir unverstand- lich, vielleicht soil es heissen " scheerith' (Hebrew fVINlitf) 'ein Uebriges,' noch ueber den Werth.' " This explanation of Titt- mann, as he himself seems to have felt, is artificial and rather far- fetched. However, it may be as convenient as any other explana- tion that might be offered. It seems clear that we are again dealing with a misprint or with a linguistic license on the part of Gryphius. An explanation that occurs to me, as hinted from the context, is the Talmudical word "idith" (PPT^), "the best"; the passage then, would mean: "Five silver pence, and that is the very best (I can do for you)." The word "idith" is current in Judaeo-