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A Babylonian Jewish Aramaic Magical Booklet from the Damascus Genizah 15*

In addition to the Babylonian vocalization found sporadically in the
manuscript, its Babylonian origin is manifest in several linguistic features,
which are mostly grammatical. Some of the formulae are more classicizing
than others, but many of the recognizable Babylonian dialectal features
appear both in the spells and in the instructions that accompany them
(insofar as these have been preserved in the original Aramaic).
Representative examples of Babylonian features will be cited here.

Phonology: ‫ותו‬, “furthermore” (1b:9) for ‫תוב‬, showing characteristic

loss of word-final ḇ. ‫דוץ‬, “stick in” (3a:7), from root ‫דע"ץ‬, showing the loss

of the historical ʿ and concomitant shift to II-waw/yod class.F112

Similarly, ‫תריסר‬, “twelve” (4a:7), with loss of ʿ. ‫איבי‬, for ‫אעביד‬, “I ought

do” (4a:3), and ‫אבדנא‬, “I shall do” (4a:3), for ‫עבדנא‬, from the root ‫עב"ד‬,

showing the weakening of the historical ʿ and the elision of word-final ḏ. 13
21F

‫בכצומי‬, “amongst sorcerers” (4a:7), for ‫קסומי‬, showing assimilation of *s to

the pharyngealisation of the q and concomitant dissimilation of the q to k.14
1F3

Nominal plurals employing an –ē morpheme: ‫טורי‬, “mountains,” (1a:3);

‫מלאכי‬, “angels,” (1 a:4 );15 ‫בחרשי‬, “by charms,” (2a:5); ‫בשוקי‬, “in the market
F14

Wort ward jegliches Ding!“ /“Through Thy Word All Things Were Made!” II.
Mandäistische und Samaritanistische Tagung / 2nd International Conference of
Mandaic and Samaritan Studies (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013), 163–79, at 164,
where it is noted that the same order is employed in Demotic magic texts.

12 See M. Morgenstern, Studies in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Based upon Early
Eastern Manuscripts (Harvard Semitic Studies 62; Winona Lake: Indiana, 2011), 64.

13 See Morgenstern, Studies, 66–68.

14 As noted already by H. L. Ginsberg, “Aramaic Dialect Problems II,” The American
Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (1936): 95–103, at 96, such
dissimilation is a Mesopotamian Aramaic feature. kaṣuma is also found in Mandaic
(E. S. Drower and R. Macuch, A Mandaic Dictionary [Oxford: Clarendon, 1963] 200
[hereafter MD]), and we may compare also JBA ‫כמצא‬, “locust” (M. Sokoloff, A
Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the Talmudic and Geonic Periods
[Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 2002], 586 [hereafter DJBA]).

15 Although the absolute form is “retained occasionally following numerals” in JBA
(Morgenstern, Studies, 113), there are numerous exceptions in both Talmudic