Targum Neofiti (or Targum Neophyti) is the largest of the Western

Targum A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ''Tanakh'') that a professional translator ( ''mǝturgǝmān'') would give in the common language of the ...

im on the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

, or Palestinian Targumim. The extant copy consists of 450

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

s covering all books of the Torah, with only a few damaged verses. More than a mere

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

translation of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

text, Neofiti offers lengthy expansions on the biblical text at several places. It is often more expansive than

Targum Onkelos Interlinear text of Hebrew Numbers 6.3–10 with British_Library.html"_;"title="Aramaic_Targum_Onkelos_from_the_British_Library">Aramaic_Targum_Onkelos_from_the_British_Library. Targum_Onkelos_(or_Onqelos;_Hebrew_language.html" "title="B ...

, but less so than

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Targum Jonathan is a western targum (interpretation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it w ...

History

In 1587, Andrea de Monte gave the Targum Neofiti to his friend Ugo Boncompagni, who, like him, was a convert from Judaism. De Monte had censored it by deleting most references to idolatry while he owned the manuscript. In 1602 Boncampagni gave what was at that time labeled "Item 1" along with a fragmentary targum to the

College of the Neophytes The College of the Neophytes, in Italian Collegio dei Neofiti (Latin ''Collegium Ecclesiasticum Adolescentium Neophytorum'' or ''Pia Domus Neophytorum'') was a Roman Catholic college in Rome founded in 1577 by Gregory XIII for education of young men ...

, the document's namesake, who preserved it until 1886, when the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

bought it along with other manuscripts when the Collegium closed. At that time Targum Neofiti was titled incorrectly as a manuscript of

, and it remained unremarked until 1949, when Professor Jose Maria Millas Vallicrosa and

Alejandro Díez Macho Alexandro Díez Macho (13 May 1916 in Villafría de la Peña, Palencia – 1984 in Barcelona) was a Spanish Catholic priest and Hebraist. In 1951–52 he invited professor Alexander Sperber of New York to the University of Barcelona to wor ...

noticed that it differed significantly from Targum Onkelos. It was translated and published from 1968-1979 and has since then been considered the most important of the Palestinian Targumim, as it is by far the most complete of the Western Targumim and perhaps the earliest as well.

Dating

Neofiti's date of origin is uncertain. The manuscript's colophon dates the copy to 1504 in Rome. Díez Macho argues that Neofiti dated to the first century CE as part of a pre-

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

textual tradition, based upon anti-

halakhic ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...

material, early geographical and historical terms,

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

parallels,

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

words, and some supposedly pre-

masoretic The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

Hebrew text. Martin McNamara argues that Neofiti originated in the fourth century CE.McNamara, Martin, The Aramaic Bible, Targum Neofiti 1, Michael Glazier, 1992, p. 45. The language of the Targum Neofiti is conventionally known as " Palestinian Aramaic" as opposed to the " Babylonian Aramaic" of the Targum Onkelos.

Text

The Codex itself has many marginal glosses containing corrections and different interpretations, perhaps drawn from Targum Pseudo-Jonathan.

References

External links

Online Targum Neofiti with critical apparatus

Bibliography

* Golomb, David M., ''The Grammar of the Targum Neofiti'' (Harvard, Harvard Semitic Museum, 1985) (Harvard Semitic Monographs - HSM, 34). *McNamara, Martin, ''Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis'' (The Aramaic Bible, Volume 1A) (Collegeville, MN: Michael Glazier, 1992). *Díez Macho, Alejandro, ''Neophyti 1: Targum Palestinense MS de la Biblioteca Vaticana'', Vol. 1: Genesis: Edición Príncipe, Inroducción General y Versión Castellana (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1968). *Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck, ''Judaism in Late Antiquity: Where We Stand, Issues and Debates in Ancient Judaism'', Volumes 40-41 of Handbuch der Orientalistik, BRILL, 1999, , 118f. {{Books of the Bible Targums History of Palestine (region) Jews and Judaism in Palestine (region)