ספרי זוטא בקטעי גניזה – תצורת הכינויים והפועל

This study is a chapter in a linguistic analysis of the two Genizah fragments of the halakhic midrash Sifre Zuta on Numbers: MSS St. Petersburg (Firkovich) and Oxford. It discusses the morphology of pronouns (demonstrative pronouns, independent personal pronouns, and pronominal suffixes) and verbs as found in these manuscripts. The pronominal data reveal that the two fragments are comparable with the best manuscripts of rabbinic literature, for example, in the distribution of the second-person masculine singular pronouns את—mainly before participle predicates—vs. אתה—mainly for marking contrast. One feature was found to match the Hebrew in use in southern Palestine (the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira): בם (alongside בהם) ‘among them’. The verbal data similarly correspond to reliable rabbinic literature manuscripts, for example, in the formation of the verbal and nominal infinitive forms. The small number of distinctive features that were detected, like the nifˁal form ניצול in the phrase ניצול בצמיד ופתיל ‘protected by a fastened cover’, are not strictly morphological, but rather pertain to the lexical and stylistic aspects of the text.