Vestiges of Qaraite Translations in the Arabic Translation(s) of the Samaritan Pentateuch
edition published: 2019-10-21Z
availability: Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

Gregor Schwarb, Vestiges of Qaraite Translations in the Arabic Translation(s) of the Samaritan Pentateuch, https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/6VKB5WN8, https://www.zotero.org/groups/biblia_arabica/items/6VKB5WN8, https://www.zotero.org/groups/538215/items/6VKB5WN8, 10.1163/2212943X-20130106, Intellectual History of the Islamicate World, 2013, 115-157, 1, A seminal study exploring the influence of the Qaraite Arabic translation tradition on Samaritan Arabic translations of the Pentateuch. Having perused different Qaraite sources, the author arrives at the conclusion that apart from many general phenomenological affinities, the most relevant parallels to the Samaritan versions are to be found in the translations of Yefet b. ʿEli and Yeshuʿah b. Yehuda. Those parallels mostly consist of smaller textual units and specific interpretative elements which are present to varying degrees in manuscripts of the earlier type of Samaritan translations and in the revised text of Abū Saʿīd. To demonstrate this findings, the author presents the two main Samaritan translation types (according to Shehadeh’s edition https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/IZFNRHBX) alongside the translations of Yefet (according to Zawanowska’s edition https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/RSWDR8MW), Yeshuʿah (drawing on unpublished manuscripts), and Saadiah. The largest text sample, Gen 24:1-34, is appended in a synoptic table (pp. 145-151) which includes a variant apparatus and different kinds of underlines that highlight the agreements and peculiarities of the different versions; other verses compared within the article proper are Gen 2:17, 11:2, and 26:1-3. The author also draws attention to the importance of glossography and lexicography for the emergence of the Samaritan and Qaraite translation traditions and occasionally makes reference to David b. Abraham al-Fāsī’s lexicon (see the edition of Skoss https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/5TQHYL9Q) and the Samaritan glossary ha-Meliṣ. Schwarb tentatively suggests that the textual agreements with Yefet b. ʿEli and Yeshuʿah b. Yehudah may be interpreted as vestiges of Qaraite influence on the Samaritan translations during a protracted period of time from the 11th century onwards. However, he also remarks that in some cases, especially with regard to Yeshuʿah, the opposite direction of influence should not be ruled out. As an appendix to the article (pp. 143-144), the author lists the manuscript fragments in section IIa of the Samaritan Firkovich Collection as compiled by Jamgotchian https://biblia-arabica.com/bibl/YRQT8RMC.

Schwarb, Gregor. “Vestiges of Qaraite Translations in the Arabic Translation(s) of the Samaritan Pentateuch.” Intellectual History of the Islamicate World 1, no. 1–2 (2013): 115–57.