Phonology and orthography of Targumic Aramaic
The script, the consonant inventory and the regular correspondences with Hebrew are those of Script and phonology. This file gives what is particular to Onkelos and Jonathan: the spelling of the printed and manuscript texts, the reading traditions, and the sound changes since Biblical Aramaic.
References: Dalman 1905, Grammatik des jüdisch-palästinischen Aramäisch (which treats Onkelos and Jonathan as its "Judean" dialect, with paradigms); Berliner 1884, Targum Onkelos, vol. 2; Morag 1988; Fassberg 2012; Sperber 1959–1973. Text: Sefaria PD editions of Onkelos ("Onkelos Genesis" …) and Jonathan ("Mikraot Gedolot"), quoted as printed.
1. Spelling
Matres lectionis are used more than in Biblical Aramaic, less than in the Talmuds.
| feature | Biblical Aramaic | Onkelos (printed) | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| final -ā of the determined state | ־א or ־ה | ־א almost always | שְׁמַיָּא, אַרְעָא (Gen 1:1) |
| internal ī, ē | often defective | often י | רֵיקַנְיָא "empty" (Gen 1:2); מֵימְרָא |
| internal ū, ō | often defective | often ו | חֲשׁוֹכָא "darkness" (Gen 1:2); נְהוֹרָא "light" (Gen 1:3) |
| the divine name | — | יְיָ (two yods with qameṣ) | Gen 1:1 |
| the relative | דִּי | דִּי and ד־ | דִּי רְחַמְתָּ (Gen 22:2); דְּרָחֵשׁ (Gen 1:26) |
The writing of the tetragrammaton as יְיָ is a scribal substitute for יהוה; it is read as the Hebrew name is read (Adonai). It is not an Aramaic word, and a tokenizer should map it to the same lemma as Hebrew יהוה (Targumic Aramaic in Mova: what it would need §3).
2. Vocalisation
Three layers exist (see Script and phonology §1.3):
- Babylonian supralinear vocalisation in Yemenite and Babylonian manuscripts, which reflects the Babylonian reading of Onkelos. It distinguishes fewer vowel qualities than Tiberian: one sign for a/ă, one for e/ē (Morag 1988; Fassberg 2012).
- Yemenite Tiberian (the Taj), a transfer of the Babylonian tradition into Tiberian signs, still read aloud.
- European Tiberian in the printed editions, often influenced by Biblical Aramaic and by Hebrew, and inconsistent.
Typical differences between the printed text and the Babylonian-Yemenite tradition (Dalman 1905; Berliner 1884):
| point | printed Tiberian | Babylonian-Yemenite |
|---|---|---|
| peal perfect 3ms | קְטַל | קְטַל (same) |
| 1 sg. perfect | קְטָלִית (Sefaria) / קְטַלִית (Dalman 1905, p. 402) | qəṭalīṯ (pataḥ: יְהַבִית Gen 9:3 in Berliner's list of "old targum" readings) |
| determined plural | ־ַיָּא | ־ַיָּא, often -ayyā with a single y written |
| shewa after the article-like ה of הָדֵין | הָדֵין | hāḏēn |
| 1 sg. imperfect prefix | אֶ־ (Sefaria: segol) | אִ־ (no segol in the Babylonian system) |
The exact vowels matter little for a model of the consonantal text; they matter for a dictionary and for reading aloud. Mova should keep whatever pointing the source has in FORM and match by consonants.
3. Sound changes since Biblical Aramaic
| change | Biblical Aramaic | Targumic | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| *ḍ > ʿ complete | אֲרַק beside אֲרַע | אֲרַע only | אַרְעָא (Gen 1:1) |
| שׂ → ס in spelling | שַׂגִּיא, עֲשַׂר | סַגִּי, עֲסַר (both spellings occur in prints) | יִסְגֵי "will grow" (Tg Isa 52:13) |
| haphel → aphel | הַ־ | אַ־ | אַפְרֵשׁ (Gen 1:4), אַסְקֵהּ (Gen 22:2) |
| נ assimilation | written (nasalisation): מַנְדַּע, יִנְתֵּן | assimilated, except before ה and ע (and a few roots before ז, צ): יִתֵּן (Gen 28:20) against יִנְהוֹם, יִנְזֵיק (Gen 26:11) | מַנְדְּעָא "knowledge" (Sefaria מַנְדְעֵי Deut 4:42) is from ידע, not an I-n root |
| t of the t-stems | הִתְ־, also with sibilant metathesis | אִתְ־, assimilated to ת, ט, ד, metathesis with ש, ס, צ, ז (צ: ת → ט; ז: ת → ד): אִיטַּמַּר (Gen 3:8, < ʾiṯṭammar) | |
| initial ʾ of the reflexive | ה | א | אִתְאֲמַר; יִתְאֲמַר (Gen 22:14) |
| 2 m. sg. pronoun | אַנְתְּ | אַתְּ (assimilated) | אָן אָתְּ "where are you?" (Gen 3:9) |
| final ־ם of suffixes | ־הֹם, ־כֹם | ־הוֹן, ־כוֹן only | לְוָתְכוֹן (Exod 3:14) |
| diphthong ay | בַּיִת, בַּיְתָא | בֵּית, בֵּיתָא; בַּיְתָא in some forms | בְּבֵיתָךְ (Deut 6:7) |
Checked 2026-10-18 in part: Dalman 1905 §16.1, p. 107 (Onkelos אַתְּ), §16b, p. 109 (only ־הוֹן, ־כוֹן) and Anhang VI.1, p. 403 (aphel with א in all forms). Second pass 2026-10-18: Dalman 1905 §9, p. 53 (the Yemenite Onkelos writes ס for every שׂ except in some proper names; the non-Yemenite targum texts keep שׂ much more: hence both spellings in the prints; the Sefaria Onkelos has סגי 42× but עשר 66× against עסר 17×, counted 2026-10-18), §13.5a, p. 87 (ai survives less in the targum than in Galilean; au is almost always ō), §15.4b α, p. 103 (assimilation and metathesis of the t-prefix, for all the dialects and Onkelos), §66.1, p. 291 (Onkelos leaves נ unassimilated always before ה, ע and sometimes before ז, צ: יִנְהוֹם, יִנְעֵי, יִנְזֵיק Gen 26:11, יִנְצוֹן Exod 21:18), §69.2, p. 308 (the n-insertion in מַנְדַּע belongs to ידע); Berliner 1884, vol. 2, p. 135 (the Babylonian system, the Sabbioneta edition and cod. de Rossi 7 have no segol, so the 1 sg. imperfect is pointed with ḥireq: Gen 6:7, 9:5, 18:26) and p. 147 (words pointed with pataḥ in the "old targum" and with qameṣ later, among them יְהַבִית Gen 9:3). Corrected: the נ-assimilation row (מַנְדְּעָא is not an example) and the t-stem row (assimilation before ת, ט, ד; the sibilants metathesise). Added: the 1 sg. imperfect prefix row. Disagreement: Sefaria points the prefix with segol (196 alef-initial words before shewa, counted 2026-10-18), Dalman 1905 (p. 402: אִכְתּוֹב) and Berliner with ḥireq, Dalman 1894 (p. 330: אַכְתּוֹב) with pataḥ. Still open: the §1 spelling table and the rows on the determined plural and הָדֵין (no grammar statement found); the diphthong row is confirmed only in general (Dalman gives no Onkelos count).
4. Gutturals
Unlike JPA and JBA, Targumic Aramaic keeps the gutturals apart in spelling: ע is not confused with א, ח not with ה. Where the printed Onkelos shows guttural confusion, it is usually a copyist's error from a later dialect (Dalman 1905). This is one of the reasons the targumic text is a reasonable training base for a model that later must cope with the "weak-guttural" spellings of the Talmuds (Phonology and orthography of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic; Phonology and orthography of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic).
5. Variants in the printed editions
The printed texts in the Sefaria PD files carry occasional bracketed or parenthesised variants, e.g. Gen 28:20 "לַחֲמָא (נ''י לְחֵם)": "lḥmʾ (another reading: lḥm)". These are editorial notes marking a variant reading, not text. A tokenizer must remove them from the sentence and keep them in MISC.
The Elamur team
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