Traces of the Targum Sources in Greek Bible Translations in the Hebrew Alphabet

Abstract

The Constantinople Pentateuch, which includes the Masoretic text and a translation into Judeo-Greek and Ladino, was published in 1547. This edition is the only complete edition we have of the Pentateuch of the Greek Bible in the Hebrew alphabet (GBHA). There are other books and fragments belonging to the same literary corpus. In addition to providing an overview of the main Greek sources of GBHA, the main aim of this article is to recover traces of the Aramaic translations and rabbinic commentaries in this corpus. Identification of such traces is helpful in determining the early sources of the GBHA and its final editing during the early medieval period. Additional support for this thesis is the arrangement of biblical translation readings from this corpus in the Jewish liturgy, as well as its medieval Greek language vocabulary.