Biblical Fonts, Searching and Understanding

Transcription

1 Newsletter 2/ Oktober 2013 Nachrichten aus dem Verein Website des Verbands: Vorstand: Christian Rose (1. Vorsitzender), Michael Pietsch, Johannes F. Diehl, Alexander B. Ernst, Jens Kotjatko- Reeb, Reinhard G. Lehmann, Walburga Zumbroich aktueller Mitgliederstand: 84 Nächste Mitgliederversammlung: 9./10. Mai 2014 in Meißen im Rahmen der IÖKH Nächste Vorstandssitzung: voraussichtlich Frühjahr 2014 Termine (links sind aktiv und können angeklickt werden. Hinweise werden gerne entgegengenommen) November 2013, Mainz 11. Mainz International Colloquium on Ancient Hebrew (MICAH). Das Programm der dreitägigen Fachtagung und weitere Informationen unter: mainz.de/204.php Kontakt: mainz.de Nachrichten aus dem www Neuer Zeichensatz: SBL BibLit The Society of Biblical Literature is pleased to announce the newest font in the SBL fonts series, SBL BibLit. This font contains Latin, Greek, and Hebrew characters, including the characters suitable for the transliteration of Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean languages. When combined with appropriate software keyboards, SBL BibLit allows for the use of one font for all biblical languages. This release is of a regular weight only; italic and bold weights will not be released at this time. In addition to the release of the SBL BibLit font, SBL is also making available software keyboards for both Windows and Macintosh OS X operating systems that give easier access to the diacritics necessary for the transliteration of Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean languages. These keyboards, along with the font file and

2 the previously- released SBL fonts, can be downloaded from the SBL website. Instructions for their installation and use are also available in the updated Biblical Fonts FAQ, including platform- specific instructions for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Macintosh OS X. Joining SBL Hebrew and SBL Greek, SBL BibLit is the third font of the SBL font series. All of these fonts were commissioned by the Society of Biblical Literature to assist in the society's mission to foster biblical scholarship. John Hudson of Tiro Typeworks designed each font, ensuring that each one represented the cutting edge of font technology, maintained full Unicode compatibility, and that each would be as beneficial as possible to scholars in biblical studies and related disciplines. SBL is pleased to present this font as the final installment and the culmination of the initial font series. Semitica: A Bibliography of Semitic Linguistics ( ) by Dr. Gregorio del Olmo Lete: It seems obligatory at the beginning of this bibliography to set out its limits and justify its objectives. The aim of the bibliography is to collect and arrange systematically only those studies directly or mainly related to subjects of Semitic linguistics, namely, those centred on the study of languages and their phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic constituents, from both the comparative perspective (close and distant relationship) and the immanent perspective (grammar and lexicon). Consequently, all other studies dealing with the history of the societies which use or used those languages and with everything that is built on them (socio- political history, literature, religion and culture in general), remain excluded. This limitation may seem impossible or at the very least without justification and minimalist, in some way resorting to formalism, giving up the basic element, whose development a language has to perform, namely, the shaping of a universe of social representations, which generates a particular way of communication and creativity. One could say that it means abandoning the context in which every linguistic formulation has its meaning, being at the same time its outcome. Semitica: Semitic Roots Repository This repository is dedicated to documenting and modelling every single aspect of the Semitic languages. The main database holds a record of all known roots that have been entered so far, and gives many means by which to search and compare them. The script used for the roots is the Ancient South Arabian script known as the "Musnad". This script was chosen because it is the only known Semitic abjad that contains graphemes for all of the known Semitic phonemes. As this abjad has only recently been included in the Unicode specification, it's not included on most Operating Systems. Therefore you'll need to download the Musnad font from our downloads section. The script is fairly easy to learn (only took me about a day or two) and it is a much better choice than using Latin characters, with various modified characters to represent those letters not known in Latin- based alphabets. The use of the Musnad for the roots does not mean the roots are necessarily existent in the Ancient South Arabian languages, the script is being used as a general way to represent common Semitic roots. However when the script appears in a word, then it is being used to represent an Ancient South Arabian word. 2

3 Hebräischer Bibeltext: The Hebrew University Bible Project Bible Edition Biblisch- Hebräisch: Beginning Biblical Hebrew. A Grammar and Illustrated Reader, by Robert D. Holmstedt and John A. Cooke. Biblisch- Hebräisch: Semantics of Hebrew Database Mittelalterliches Hebräisch: A Medieval Karaite Pedagogical Grammar of Hebrew. A Critical Edition and English translation of Kitāb al- ʿUqūd fī Taṣārīf al- Luġa al- ʿIbrāniyya. Cambridge Genizah Studies Series Volume 6. Nadia Vidro, University of Cambridge, 2013, karaite- pedagogical- grammar- hebrew In this book Nadia Vidro presents a critical edition and English translation of the first Karaite pedagogical grammar of Hebrew, Kitāb al- ʿUqūd fī Taṣārīf al- Luġa al- ʿIbrāniyya. Composed in Jerusalem in the 11th century, Kitāb al- ʿUqūd is a concise description of Hebrew prepared specifically to cater for the needs of students just beginning their study of the language. The critical edition is accompanied by an historical introduction, a description of manuscripts, and a glossary of grammatical terminology. This publication expands the corpus of available primary sources emanating from the Karaite school of Hebrew grammar, and makes this fascinating and important medieval work accessible to a wide audience of Hebrew linguists, Biblical scholars and those interested in language pedagogy and its history. Judaica: Neues Online- Journal Oqimta. Studies in Talmudic and rabbinic Literature. Oqimta is a digitized research journal devoted to all spheres and types of talmudic and rabbinical literature in Jewish law and exegesis. The articles in this journal undergo academic appraisal and redaction, and are published in the accepted languages in research. Oqimta will be appearing once a year, in digitized form, and is available free of charge to the reading public. Articles that have completed the publication process will be uploaded to the site prior to the finalization of the issue, and can be found on the In Publication page. We are pleased to present the inaugural issue: Issue 1 (5773/2013) containing twelve articles. Judaica: Mapping the Jewish Communities of the Byzantine Empire The aim of the project is to map the Jewish presence in the Byzantine empire using GIS (Geographical Information Systems). All information (published and unpublished) about the Jewish communities will be gathered and collated. The data will be incorporated in a GIS which will be made freely available to the general public on the world- wide- web. Researchers and members of the public will be able to create maps according to their own specifications. Chronologically, the project will begin in 650. This is soon after the Arab conquest of Egypt, Palestine and Syria when these regions, with their substantial Jewish 3

4 populations, were permanently separated from the Byzantine empire. The end- date is fixed by the arrival in the region of large numbers of Jewish immigrants from Spain in Geographically, the core areas of Asia Minor, the southern Balkans and the adjacent islands including Crete and Cyprus will be included for the entirety of the period, Byzantine Italy however, will only be covered down to the Norman conquest. Some smaller territories that were only briefly under Byzantine rule may be excluded. Archaeologica: Emek Shaveh. Archaeology in the Shadow of the Conflict arch.org/index.php Emek Shaveh is an organization of archaeologists and community activists focusing on the role of archaeology in Israeli society and in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. We view archaeology as a resource for building bridges and strengthening bonds between different peoples and cultures, and we see it as an important factor impacting the dynamics of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Our fundamental position is that an archaeological find should not and cannot be used to prove ownership by any one nation, ethnic group or religion over a given place. We believe that the archaeological find tells a complex story which is independent of religious dictates or traditional stories, and that listening to this story and bringing it to the wider public can enrich culture and promote values of tolerance and pluralism. The cultural wealth of the archaeological sites is an integral part of the cultural assets of this country and is the joint property of all the communities, peoples and religious groups living here. Moreover the term archaeological site does not only refer to excavated layers of a site but also to its present day attributes the people living in it or near it, their culture, their daily life and their needs. We, the members of Emek- Shaveh, are dedicated to changing the view according to which the ruins of the past as tools in the service of a national struggle. We oppose attempts to use archaeological finds to legitimize acts that harm disadvantaged communities. We support archaeological practices that benefit the general public as a whole. We promote efforts to include the local residents living in and around a site in archaeological activities such as joint excavations and developing the site. All this can bolster an environmental conscientiousness amongst the local residents, encourage social involvement and even generate a process of real social change. Fachspezifische Mainlinglisten & Blogs (links sind aktiv und können angeklickt werden. Hinweise werden gerne entgegengenommen) Hebrew- T: Eine Mailing- Liste für Neuhebräisch- Lehrer. T&H=LISTS.UMN.EDU To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@LISTS.UMN.EDU with the command (paste it!) in the e- mail message body: SUBSCRIBE HEBREW- T Phoenician- Punic Mailing List: Mail- list for Phoenician/Punic research in the UK. This list is used to disseminate information amongst those currently working on Phoenician and Punic history and archaeology in the UK Higher education and research community; it is also open to those beyond the UK. bin/webadmin?a0=punic- UK 4

5 ANE- 2 is a moderated academic discussion list that focuses on topics and issues of interest in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, from the Indus to the Nile, and from the beginnings of human habitation to the rise of Islam. It is intended to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on these topics between and among scholars and students actively engaged in research and study of the Ancient Near East. Active (on- list) participation in ANE 2 assumes an informed knowledge of the ancient Near East. 2/ Aramaic: A forum for the scholarly discussion of the Aramaic language in its various periods and dialects. This is a linguistic and philological group open to participants from any or no religious persuasion. Knowledge of at least one Aramaic dialect is encouraged but not required. Aramaic / Targumic: Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies Targum.info is the new home of NTCS the Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies. Over the coming months we will be updating the site to include all of the information formally available (targumic texts in translation, news, and bibliography) as well as a searchable bibliographic database, Wiki edited by scholars in the field, and hopefully some images of targumic manuscripts. AWOL - THE ANCIENT WORLD ONLINE: The Agade Mailing List: To subscribe please send a blank to listserv@unc.edu, and write (as subject and in firstline): subscribe agade. Weitere Nachrichten vielleicht findet ja auch jemand Spaß hieran: Hinweise und Informationen für den nächsten Newsletter werden per an die Redaktion gerne entgegengenommen. Redaktion Newsletter: AkDir. Dr. Reinhard G. Lehmann Research Unit on Ancient Hebrew & Epigraphy Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz lehmann@uni-mainz.de 5