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A Babylonian Jewish Aramaic Magical Booklet from the Damascus Genizah 17*

‫מקטלאנא‬, “I kill” (3b:8–9), also showing the exclusively Babylonian tense-

marker ‫;קא‬ 20 ‫דשרינא‬, “that I release” (4a:9). 2 f.s. in qṭlyt pattern: ‫רה]ט[ית‬,

F19

“you shall ru[n],” (2a:5). ‫פרחית ונפלית‬, “you shall fly and fall,” (2a:6).0F221

Infinitives: III-yod on the pattern of miqṭā: ‫ולמשרא‬, “to loosen”

(2 b :7).22
12F

Particles: ‫כי‬, “like” (2a:6, 11). ‫ הכי‬. . . -‫כי היכי ד‬, “just as . . . so,” (2b:5),
both Talmudic forms.2F23 ‫עילויה‬, “upon him” (2b:11). ‫מאי‬, “what” (4a:3
bis).24

23F

Vocabulary: ‫זרנוקא‬, “water pipe” (used euphemistically for penis)
(1b:2). ‫ וחצינא‬. . . ‫נרגא‬, “axe . . . and hatchet” (2a:10). ‫אפותיה‬, “forehead”
(3a:3) is common in JBA and Mandaic but is attested in Syriac only in the
lexica and in the Jewish Targums only in the late Targum of Job (41:12).
‫מעלי שבתא‬, “Fridays” (7b:10) is used only in JBA.

Exceptional in this respect are the spell for the acquisition of
knowledge, fol. 5b–6b, and perhaps the first part of the spell for protection
in 6b–7a, which employ many conservative forms. The following are a few
representative examples:

y- prefix for 3rd person imperfect,42F25 e.g., ‫דישמע וילף‬, “that he shall hear
and learn” (5b:3), etc.

20 See also ‫קא משוינא‬, “I turn (X) into (Y)” (4a:1). Note that in both cases, ‫ קא‬is
written as a separate particle, as is common in the better Babylonian manuscripts. See
Morgenstern, Studies, 172–74.

21 2 f.s. participles in the qṭlyt pattern have been previously found in JBA in the magic
bowl corpus. See Morgenstern, “Linguistic Features,” 45.

22 S. Morag, “Some Notes on the Grammar of Babylonian Aramaic as Reflected in the
Geniza Manuscripts,” Tarbiẕ 42 (1972–73), 60–78, at 70–73.

23 ‫הכי‬, a Talmudic form, already appears in a magic bowl text. See Morgenstern,
“Linguistic Features,” 46.

24 Ibid.

25 Juusola, Linguistic Peculiarities, 175.