Tawḥid. The language and structure of unknown Samaritan poems

In this paper I present several samples of a hitherto unknown type of Samaritan liturgical poem called Tawḥīd. Written in Samaritan Hebrew and Aramaic, the main motif of these poems is "to declare God to be one; to profess belief in the unity of God" (which is one of the uses of the Arabic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Florentin, Moshe 1950- (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
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Published: College 2006
In: Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion
Year: 2006, Volume: 77, Pages: 167-178
IxTheo Classification:RC Liturgy
Further subjects:B Poetics
B Samaritans
Description
Summary:In this paper I present several samples of a hitherto unknown type of Samaritan liturgical poem called Tawḥīd. Written in Samaritan Hebrew and Aramaic, the main motif of these poems is "to declare God to be one; to profess belief in the unity of God" (which is one of the uses of the Arabic word توحيد). Most of the Tawḥīd poems share several marks and characters: 1. each poem carries the title Tawḥīd always written in Samaritan characters: ׳بمبم؛لبمحمء (Hebrew: תוחיד); 2. most of the poems consist of five or six stanzas, each including four feet; 3. each stanza is graphically presented by two lines (rather than four). All the poems of this genre are anonymous and do not include any direct indication as to their date of composition. However, a time which is not earlier than the twelfth century can be deduced from the several language styles of the poems.
ISSN:0360-9049
Contains:In: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual / Jewish Institute of Religion