Aramaic Languages II (Aramaic, Syriac) A [ LGLOR2641 ]

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LGLOR1641 and LGLOR1642.

Mastery of detailed notions of  the grammar of Aramean and Syriac.

Alternately with LGLOR2642, this course deals with the following themes:

1. For Aramean (first term) :
- a  commented translation of extracts of Targums, of papyri from Elephantine and of Qumran texts (22.5 hours of course);
- personal translation of extracts of Targums or Qumran texts (7.5 hours of exercises).

2. For Syriac (first term):
- a commented translation of different historical, hagiographic and exegetic texts; exercises in the decipherment of manuscripts (25.5 hours of course);
- personal translation of texts read during the course (7.5 hours of exercises).

At the end of this course, the student will be capable of:

- translating (with a dictionary) Aramean documents found in Egypt (Hermopolis, Elephantine), at Qumran or extracts of Targums;
- vocalising, translating (with a dictionary), and analysing non-vocalised Syriac texts of different literary genres and epochs.

Evaluation is continuous, but there will be an oral exam at the end of the year: the reading and translation of a text already seen, with grammatical explanations.

The course is not in the form of lectures: students must have prepared the texts; their preparation will be discussed and improved during the course.

The course permits further and deeper study and practice of the language studied in the first cycle. The texts studied vary from year to year and come from different epochs, historical contexts and literary genres.

For Aramean:
- study of papyri  discovered in Egypt, and of Aramean documents discovered at Qumran;
- comparison of different Aramean dialects of the first century B.C. up to the 6th century A.D. (e.g. Targums of Genesis, with analysis of the special forms of Neofiti, of the Pseudo-Jonathan, of fragmentary Palestinian Targums and of the Samaritan Targum).

For Syriac:
- reading of texts of different literary genres (history, hagiography, theology, popular literature) of the third to the 15th century, written by writers in Syria, Irak, the Lebanon, Turkey and Iran;
- grammatical  analysis and study of tools for the criticism of textual editions;
- exercises in the decipherment of different Syriac hands in manuscripts.

Aramean :
- M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumin etc.;
- G. Dalman, Grammatik des jüdisch-palästinischen Aramäisch (surtout pour les tableaux) ;
- J. Hoftijzer - K. Jongeling, A Dictionary of North-West Semitic Inscriptions.

Syriac :
- J. Payne Smith , A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, Oxford 1903;
- M. Sokoloff, A Syriac Lexicon, Gorgias Press 2010;
- J.A. Crichton, Theodor Nöldeke. Compendious Syriac Grammar, Oxford 2001 (= Th. Nöldeke, Kurzgefaßte syrische Grammatik, Leipzig 1977³);
- W.H. Hatch, An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts, Boston 1946.

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