למשמעותם של שמות פרטיים בפתגמים מן החכתיה

A corpus of Hakitic proverbs was used in the authors' research in order to examine the correlation between personal names and proverbs. They offer a model for analysis and typology of personal names in proverbs which presents two main categories and some subcategories. I. The first category concerns names that signify actual people: a) names with regular historical reference; b) names with communal reference, further subdivided into general Jewish historical names and local names. II. The second category refers to fictitious names that specifically exist only in proverbs and folktales: a) names of literary characters; b) non-names, such as unique synthetic names and common nouns which function as personal names. On the synchronic level, the two main categories are related, functioning simultaneously and in multi-dimensional ways in the consciousness of both the proverber and the responder. From the diachronic aspect, the semantic development of the personal name was examined in three stages: a) the biographical stage; b) the literary stage; c) the lexicalization stage. In order to exemplify the application of the three-stage model and the typological characterization of the personal name, a detailed analysis of two provnames was presented: "Rahel swore by/for Menahem" and "ʿAisha went to the bath and brought back what to tell for a whole year." Hakitia is an intermediate form between Judezmo and Judaeo-Arabic. This is expressed not only by the linguistic traits but also by Hakitic culture, including the proverbs and their literary format. The relatively numerous use of Arabic names amongst Hakitic provnames also points to the Moroccan Judaeo-Arabic influence. Another common feature of both the Judeo-Arabic and Hakitic cultures is expressed by the non-existence of provnames of historical context in these repertoires, as opposed to the Judezmo repertoire. The Hakitic provnames are one of the channels through which the uniqueness of this community, as a distinct member of the Judaeo-Sephardic group, is expressed.