The Pressing Plates, the Screws, and the Nuts: Aramaic as a Contact Language in the Oil-Pressing Industry of the Holy Land
This article examines Aramaic as a contact language in oil-pressing terminology in the Holy Land as documented for nearly two millennia. It focuses on three obscure Rabbinic Hebrew (RH) terms from the Baraita concerning the oil and wine press: dfyn dpyn "plates," lṿlvyn lwlbyn lit. &...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Aramaic studies
Year: 2025, Volume: 23, Issue: 2, Pages: 194-246 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Aramaic language
/ Olive oil production
/ Semitic languages
/ Semitic studies
/ Palestine
/ Lexicography
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| Further subjects: | B
Palestinian Arabic
B language contact B loanwords B Semitic linguistics B Rabbinic Hebrew B traditional agriculture B Jewish Babylonian Aramaic B Material Culture B oil press B Talmud B Christian Palestinian Aramaic B substrate B Tosefta |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This article examines Aramaic as a contact language in oil-pressing terminology in the Holy Land as documented for nearly two millennia. It focuses on three obscure Rabbinic Hebrew (RH) terms from the Baraita concerning the oil and wine press: dfyn dpyn "plates," lṿlvyn lwlbyn lit. "palm fronds," and ʿdshyn ʿdšyn lit. "lentils." These are clarified through comparison with Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) oil-press terms lwlybʾ "screw" and ṭwlwpḥtʾ lit. "lentil," meaning "nut board," and with Palestinian Arabic (PA) lōlab "screw" and ṭlēfḥa "nut board." The PA terms provide crucial evidence for interpreting the CPA lexemes, which, in turn, shed light on the original RH usage. From the perspective of material culture, the CPA terms likely relate to parts of a lever-and-screw press, with the screw and nut board forming a cross. The Baraita likely refers to any type of screw press, in which all three components—dfyn dpyn "pressing plates," lṿlvyn lwlbyn "screws," and ʿdshyn ʿdšyn "nuts, nut boards"—were wooden, and thus shared halachic purity regulations. A diachronic analysis shows lwlb was borrowed from Akkadian into Aramaic, then into Hebrew and Arabic, though in the latter, only with the meaning "screw, coil." The PA ṭlēfḥa "nut, nut board" likely reflects an inherited Aramaic substrate word. This study contributes to Semitic lexicography, early Christianity, Talmudic scholarship, and the history of material culture in the Holy Land. This article examines Aramaic as a contact language in oil-pressing terminology in the Holy Land as documented for nearly two millennia. It focuses on three obscure Rabbinic Hebrew (RH) terms from the Baraita concerning the oil and wine press: דפין dpyn "plates," לולבין lwlbyn lit. "palm fronds," and עדשין ʿdšyn lit. "lentils." These are clarified through comparison with Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) oil-press terms lwlybʾ "screw" and ṭwlwpḥtʾ lit. "lentil," meaning "nut board," and with Palestinian Arabic (PA) lōlab "screw" and ṭlēfḥa "nut board." The PA terms provide crucial evidence for interpreting the CPA lexemes, which, in turn, shed light on the original RH usage. From the perspective of material culture, the CPA terms likely relate to parts of a lever-and-screw press, with the screw and nut board forming a cross. The Baraita likely refers to any type of screw press, in which all three components—דפין dpyn "pressing plates," לולבין lwlbyn "screws," and עדשין ʿdšyn "nuts, nut boards"—were wooden, and thus shared halachic purity regulations. A diachronic analysis shows lwlb was borrowed from Akkadian into Aramaic, then into Hebrew and Arabic, though in the latter, only with the meaning "screw, coil." The PA ṭlēfḥa "nut, nut board" likely reflects an inherited Aramaic substrate word. This study contributes to Semitic lexicography, early Christianity, Talmudic scholarship, and the history of material culture in the Holy Land. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-5227 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Aramaic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/17455227-bja10063 |
