Talk:Marcus Jastrow

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It is written in the article: "In the preface to this work, Jastrow sharply criticized those linguistic and etymological scholars who claimed that obscure terms in Talmudic literature are primarily derived from Greek. Jastrow held that Greek influence on Talmudic Aramaic was minimal, and that most obscure terms could be much more simply be traced to Hebrew origins"

Does anyone who has utilized "The Jastrow" find this ironic, as the vast majority of his dictionary's entries contain Greek. I'm serious; is this something that merits inclusion in the article? [[User:Valley2city|Valley</span-2city 05:32, 23 November 2007 (UTC) [reply]

- In Response to the Above -

Of course many words in the Talmud and Midrashim do have Greek and Latin roots and Jastrow lists them as the root of the word when applicable. His main complaint was directed to the school of thought that any unkown word in these books must be of foreign influence. He delivered a lecture (which was later edited and published) that contrary to this school of thought, the Jews of that era were actually capable of language evolution, and that many of these words not found in other locations can be traced to semitic roots of Hebrew or Aramaic. He emphasized that when approaching the etymology of a word one must first consult the commentaries, which are like an oral tradition of the Talmud just as the Gemara once was to the Mishnah. And by taking this approach he lists many words that other scholars tried to tie with the most minimal connection to Greek or Latin with a logical Hebrew or Aramaic root, which when observed is a far more logical etymology, and displays the phenomenon of evolution of original semitic language among the Jews despite the dominant languages of the controlling governments during those eras.

201.223.133.13 (talk) 02:19, 19 June 2008 (UTC) [reply]