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Late Antiquity —⟶ tag: Late Antiquity Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? “Elimelekh G’la” is a Byzantine-era Western Aramaic poetic retelling of the Book of Ruth. It was probably originally used as part of the liturgy for Shavuot, perhaps as a poetic addition to the recitation of a Targumic interpretation of the Book of Ruth. (The verses from Ruth and Psalms appended to the coda of the piyyuṭ would suggest such a Sitz im Leben.) But in any case, it has a great acrostic structure and rhyme scheme, and ought to be preserved! Here is included a vocalized text, largely based on the unvocalized text compiled in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity (ed. Yahalom and Sakaloff, 1999) where it’s the tenth poem recorded. ‘ve added a rhyming poetic translation that preserves the Hebrew acrostic. Credit to Laura Suzanne Lieber’s literal translations of these poems (in Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity: Translations and Commentaries, 2018), which have served as a very helpful resource for the project. . . . Categories: Tags: acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aramaic, Late Antiquity, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Ruth, תרגום targum, Western Aramaic Contributor(s): A variation of the prayer Ribon ha-Olamim from the section of prayers preceding Psukei d’Zimrah/Zermirot. . . . Categories: Tags: confession, English Translation, Kohelet, Late Antiquity, L'Olam Yehei Adam, ne'ila, געולה ge'ulah (redemption), רבון העולמים Ribon haOlamim, Romaniote, שמע shemaŋ, וידוי vidui, Yom Kippur Contributor(s): Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. Probably not this one though, seeing as it was written almost a thousand years after the Sabaic language became extinct. But Sabaic, a South Semitic language somewhere between Arabic and Ge’ez, is worth studying for any Jewish scholar because of the light it sheds on the history of the Semitic languages and the Middle East as a whole. (Not to mention that it was a lingua franca of the Yemenite Jewish kingdom of Himyar!) This is a Sabaic translation, transcription, and hypothetical vocalization of Ḥad Gadya. . . . Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., alternate timeline, Aramaic, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, Himyar, Late Antiquity, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, Sabaic translation, salvation, Yemenite Jewry, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): A “redemptive translation” of Aleinu emphasizing universalist Jewish values. . . . | ||
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