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By this term we understand that form of the Hebrew language in which the principal Scripture commentators among the rabbins wrote, as Kimchi, Aben-Ezra, Abrabanel, Rashi, together with the Mishna, the Jewish Prayer- books, etc. Books in this dialect are generally printed in a round character, more resembling writing than the ordinary square Hebrew letters; but the power, value, and pronunciation of the letters are precisely the same as in Biblical Hebrew. The Rabbinical characters are given below. Although substantially Hebrew, yet this dialect has so many peculiarities as to require a separate study. The scholar who is well versed in the pure or classic Hebrew of the Holy Scriptures would be unable to read the first two lines in the Talmud without an especial indoctrination in its grammatical forms, aside from the difficulty of explaining words derived from the Greek, Latin, French, Arabic, and the like. The orthography, too, of this dialect has, to the reader of pure Hebrew, often an uncouth, and at first sight unintelligible, appearance. This is caused by the habit of inserting the letters é å à , instead of using the corresponding vowelpoints, and thus à stands for or-, as ùàðé for îàé ùָðé for îִé ; å stands for or T as ëåìí : for ìôåúøå ëֻìí for ìôָúøå ;for .. or .., as ôéøåù for ôֵּøåּùׂ , àéôùø for àֶôְùִׁø ; also for or dagesh, as ìéîéðåú for ìְîéðåֹú , ëéñä for ëַñָּä . Sometimes a radical in verbs is dropped either at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. It drops the first, as çã for ðù àçã for ðà àðù : for ðï àðà for ëì îø àðï for àëì . It drops the second, as àé for ÷ñ àåé : for ÷ãí , ùä for úìéí ùòä for úåú úäìéí for úçåú ; or it drops the third, as àéèåֹø áé àéïèåֹø ðéï , áé for ëé áéú for ùá ëéï for ùë ùáú for úå ùëò for úåá Parts of words are often prolonged, as by doubling letters, or inserting double Yod; and to this and many other peculiarities must be added the use of numerous abbreviations, requiring a study in itself-thus e.g. àà ‘ may be àçã àîø àäã àîø àìéäå àãðé àáé àåîø àðé ààòä àåîøéí àéï àé àîøú àùú àéù àîï àîï àé àôùø àåôï stands for äùìåí àáøäí àáéðå òìéå We give a list of such works as will help the student in this branch of literature.
(I.) Grammars. — J. H. Mai, Grammatica Rabbinica (Giessen, 1712); Mercer, ìåçé ã÷ãå÷é ëùøàä àå àøîàä , Tubulce in Gr. L. Chald. quce et Syr. dicitur: multa intesrim de Rabbinico et Talmudico Stilo traduntur (Paris, 1560); Reland, Analecta Rabbinica (Ultraj. 1723); Millius, Catalecta Rabbinica (ibid. 1728); Alting, Synopsis Institutionumz Rabbinorum (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1701); Danz, ñâìúà ãøáðï , sir e Rabbinismus E'nucleatus (Jena, 7th ed. 1735); Cellarius, Rabbinismus sive Inst. Gram?. Rabbisnorunm Scriptis, Legendis, et Intellig. acconmodata (Zeiz, 1684); Genebrard, Isacgoge cad Leqenda et Intellic gendica Rabbinorum Comment. (Paris. 1563); Tychsen, Elem. Dialect. Rabb. (Bitzow, 1753) , Dukes, Die Spirache der Mischlna, lexicogr. und gramman t. betrachtet (Esslingen, 1846); Geiger, Lehr- u. Lesebuch zur Sprache der Mischna (Breslau, 1845); Landau, Geist und Spirache der lIebraer nach demn zweiten Tempelbau (Prague, 1822); Luzzatto, Elemnenti Granmmaticali del Caldeo Biblico e del Dialetto Talmudico Babilonese (transl. into German by KrUiger [Breslau, 1873]); Faber. Alnzerkuungenz zuir Erlerungu des Talmudischen und Rabbinischen (Gottingen, 1770); Weiss, Studien uber die Sprache der Mischna (Heb. [Vienna, 1867]); Nolan, An Introduction to Chaldee Grammatr, etc. (Lond. 1821).
(II.) Rabbinical Lexicons and Word-books. — Buxtorf. Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum, et Rabbinicum (Basle, 1640, fol. [new ed. by Fischer, Leips. 1866 sq.]); id. Lexicon Breve Rabbinico-Philosophicum (ibid. 1607, and often since); Hartmann, Supplementa ad J. Buxtorfii et W. Gesenii Lexicon (Rostock, 1813); id. Thesaurus Linguce Hebraicce e Mishna augend. (ibid. 1825-26); ìùåï çëîéí , Worterbuch enthaltend hebr. Worter u. Redensarten, die sich im Talmud befinden (Prague, 1845- 47, 2 pts.); Nathan ben-Jechiel, HaAruch (Rome, 1515); Dessauer, Leshon Rabbanan (Erlangen, 1849); Stern, Ozar ha-Millin (Vienna. 1864); Levy, Neuhebraisches und chaldaisches Worterbuch (Leips. 1875 sq.); Rabinei, Rabbinisch- aramaisches Worterbuch (Lemberg, 1857); Young, Rabbinical Vocabulcary, etc. (Edinb. s. a.).
(III.) Miscellaneous. — For the abbreviations, comp. Wolf (Bibl. Hebr. vols. ii, iv), and also Buxtorf (ed. Fischer), where at the end of each letter the abbreviations of the respective letter are given. (B. P.)