The dictionary is the fruit of a three-decade long research on the vocabulary distinctive of the contemporary Georgian-Jewish language, and especially its Hebrew component. This research is based on ongoing field work performed in various places in Georgia and in Israel. The vocabulary reflects the uniqueness of the language and culture, and to a large extent also the anthropology and history of the community of Georgian Jews.

This volume presents twelve scholarly chapters by Prof. Ilan Eldar, discussing ancient Hebrew vocalization methods and reading traditions (pronunciation and configuration) among Jewish communities, especially among ancient Ashkenazi communities. These chapters have been published over the years as separate essays, and are compiled here for the first time. This volume contains the following chapters: Chapter 1: The Palestino-Tiberian Vocalization Chapter 2: The Vocalization of the Passover Haggada in Mahzor Vitry Chapter 3: The Sources of the Hebrew Reading Traditions in the Middle Ages Chapter 4: The Research of Oral Reading Traditions of Hebrew Chapter 5: The Hebrew Reading Traditions of the Baghdadi Community Chapter 6: Doublets in the Language Traditions of Hebrew Chapter 7: The Pre-Ashkenazi Reading Tradition Chapter 8: The Sources of Ashkenazi Reading Tradition Chapter 9: Vocalization Systems and Pronunciation Traditions of Hebrew Chapter 10: The Contribution of Prof. Shlomo Morag to the Study of the Hebrew Language Heritage of the Yemenite Jews Chapter 11: Neologisms in the Piyyutim of the Ashkenazi Mahzorim Chapter 12: Post-Biblical Forms in the Ashkenazi Tradition as Reflected by the Vocalization of the Worms Mahzor

This dictionary is the outcome of a over 20 years fieldwork. It presents over 4000 entries and over 12000 subentries of the Hebrew component in Jewish languages, most of which were recorded from the mouth or informants. The research was focused on languages that were not studied at all or poorly studied: Judeo-Arabic of North Africa, Yemen and Iraq, Judeo-Georgian, Judeo-Persian and some Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects. The dictionary refers to thel literature relevant to this field and has systematic references to a dictionary on the Hebrew component in Judeo-Italian in the making by Prof. Maria Mayer-Modena. In some entries the dictionary functions merely as a bibliographical index. The examples are transliterated and translated into Hebrew. In parenthesis are given the intitals of the informants. Based on Shlomo Morag's records.

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This volume of essays is dedicated to the memory of Moriah Libson, an outstanding woman and gifted teacher, a true lover of the Hebrew language, whose untimely death was a great loss to her family, students, and friends. The book’s seventeen original articles relate to Hebrew literature, to Jewish sources and to the different strata of the Hebrew language. Authored by the finest scholars and teachers of Jewish Studies and the Hebrew language, they address such varied topics as the different strata of Mishna Sanhedrin, the poetic style of the paytan Samuel the Third, Judeo-Arabic in Maimonidean works, reading translated Hebrew literature—theory and practice, reciprocal structures in Hebrew, and clarification of different words, terms, and formulas found in the sources, such as “Hoshava,” “adbereh,” “Nechemata,” “Levarech et Amo Yisrael Beahava,” and “Iqvot Meshicha.”

Language Studies 11-12 is dedicated to Prof. Avi Hurvitz, who has taught for over four decades in the Depts. of Bible and Hebrew Language at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Many of his scholarly contributions have become classics of research. Twenty-four friends, colleagues, and former students have contributed articles on linguistic aspects of topics relevant to Hurvitz’s academic career: Hebrew of the First Temple Period, Hebrew and Aramaic of the Second Temple Period, language borrowings, dating of biblical texts, wisdom literature, Akkadian, and Ugaritic.