which the Chaldee nearly accords with the old Phenician and Hebrew. Note 1. On the connexion of Chaldee with Syriac, see Michaelis Abhandl. von der syr. Sprache, pp. 12 seq. Note 2. A full consideration of Chaldee ground-forms would be out of place here. I shall only notice the change of letters for others of somewhat different sounds, in such words as the Chaldee has in common with the Hebrew. In consequence of that flat pronunciation which characterises the Aramean dialects, we frequently find substituted for the Hebrew and ; e. g. seed, to break in pieces, ז and ♬ to offer (sacrifices), 77 an ox; and gold, for y, as a rock, & counsel. Besides these, & is used almost constantly instead of final, is sometimes changed into, as 8 [778]. (On the cause of this change, compare Gesenius Heb. Lex. letter "); into, as a widow. Finally, it is scarcely necessary to remark, that letters of the same organ may be interchanged; e. g. 2 [Heb. to [תָּעָה .Heb] טְעָא a helmet [כּוֹבַע .Heb] קוֹבַע,brimstone [גְפְרִית wander. Note. 3. In respect to grammatical forms, the Chaldee shares the following peculiarities in common with the Syriac. (1) The same forms of words are pronounced with fewer vowels than in Hebrew, so that the consonants predominate in grammati : קְטִיל, מְלֵךְ, קְטַל cal formations; as (2) The emphatic state (of nouns) equivalent to the article in Hebrew and Arabic. (3) as a mark of the Accusative. (4) The termination 7 for the plural of masculines. (5) Distinction of genders in the 3d p. plur. Pret. of verbs. (9) Two participles in the Actives of the second and third Conj. (10) The use of the participles with pronouns for a separate tense. (11) The preference of to as a termination of words; e. g. Na queen, and the consequent confusion of verbs and . (12) The use of pleonastic suffixes before the Genitive. (13) The use of the 3d p. pl. of Actives in a Passive sense. Note 4. Peculiarities of the Chaldee, in which it differs from the Syriac, and more nearly resembles the Hebrew. (1) Preference of the clearer-sounding vowels. Thus a is often substituted for the Heb. and Syr. o; e. g. n, Syr. 1'; b, Syr, fά; ≥y, Heb. CHALDEE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 15 Diy; way, Heb. way; bp, Heb. 3ip; p, Syr. ; the plural termination of feminines 7 instead of Syr. So the Chaldee often ” has where occurs in Syriac, e. g.,; and for the Syr. —; e.g. bupn Syr. Wapo.-(2) Avoiding diphthongs; compare Niɩ with so, const. st. with, This withSo, also otiant letters; compare with, with letters not guttural; as p, with my king with, p .—(3) The possibility of doubling .—(4) The tone regularly on the ultimate;,.—(5) The formation of the Inf. except in Peal without the prefix 72, &c.—In respect to orthography, it may be remarked here that the scriptio plena, or full mode of writing quiescents, is decidedly prevalent in Chaldee. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE PRINCIPAL HELPS TO THE STUDY OF CHALDEE. I. LEXICONS. J. Buxtorfii (+1629) Lexicon Chaldaico-Talmudico-Rabbinicum. Basil. 1640. fol. Edm. Castelli Lexicon Heptaglotton. London 1669. fol. (This work contains a complete Chaldee Vocabulary). M. J. Landau Rabb. Aram. Deutsch. Wörterbuch zur Kenntniss des Talmud., der Targum. u. s. w. Prag. 1819. II. GRAMMARS. (a) of the Shemitish dialects generally, or at least of the Aramean dialects. J. Buxtorf. Gram. Chald. et Syr. Basil. (1615) 1650. 8vo. Lud. de Dieu (†1642) Grammatica Ling. Orient. Heb. Chald. et Syr. inter se collatarum. L. B. 1628. 4to. Frcf. a. M. 1683. 4to. J. H. Hottinger (†1667) Gramm. quatuor linguar. Heb. Ch. Syr. et Arab. Tigur. 1649. 4to. Heidelb. 1658. Andr. Sennert (+1689) Hypotyposis harmonica ling. Or. Chald.Syr. et Arab. cum matre Heb. Viteb. 1653. 4to. Car. Schaaf (+1729) Opus Aram. complec. Gram. Chald. Syr. &c. L. Bat. 1686. 8vo. Ign. Fessler Instt. Ling. Orient. Heb. Ch. Syr. et Arab. Vratisl. 1787, 89. 2 vols. 8vo. † The obelisk designates, throughout this list, the year of an author's decease. J. Gottfr. Hasse (†1806) Prakt. Handb. der aram. Sprache. Iena 1791. Svo. J. Jahn (†1817) Aram. oder chald. u. syr. Sprachlehre. Wien 1793. 8vo.-Elementa Aram. s. Ch. et Syr. ling. lat. reddita et accessionibus aucta ab Andr. Oberleitner, Vindob. 1820. 8vo. J. S. Vater, Handbuch der hebr. syr. ch. und arab. Grammatik Leipzig. (1802) 1817. 8vo. (b) of the Chaldee language only. Chph. Cellarii (†1707) Chaldaismus sive Grammatica nova Linguae Chaldaicae. Cizae. 1685. 4to. Henr. Opitii (†1712) Chaldaismus targ. talm. rabb. Hebraismo harmonicus. Kil. 1696. 4to. J. Dav. Michaelis († 1791) Grammatica Chald. Goett. 1771. 8vo. Wilh. Fr. Hezel Anweis. zum Chald. bei Ermangelung alles mündl. Unterrichts, Lemgo. 1787. 8vo. N. W. Schröder (†1798) Instt. ad fundam. Chaldaismi bibl. brevissime concinnata (1787) ed. 2. aucta et emend. Ulm. 1810. 8vo. (a proper appendix to the Hebrew grammar of this author. See Eichhorn's Bibl. VIII. 694.) F. Nolan, An Introduction to Ch. Grammar. Lond. 1821. 12mo. W. Harris, Elements of the Chaldee language, Lond. 1822, 24 pp. 8vo. (republished at N. York.) G. B. Winer, Grammatik des biblischen und targumischen Chaldaismus, Leipz. 1824. 8vo. (the basis of this work.) III. CHRESTOMATHIES AND READERS. Geneseos ex Onkelosi paraphr. Chald. quatuor priora capita unà cum Dan. c. 2. Chald. Ed. W. Fr. Hezel. Lemgo 1788. 8vo. Geo. Lor. Bauer (†1806.). Chrest. e paraphras. Chald. et Talmude delecta c. nott. et ind. Nürnb. 1792. 8vo. (See Eichhorn's Bibl. IV. 895, seq.) J. Jahn, Ch. Chrestomathie grösstentheils a. Handschrift. Wien 1800. 8vo. (without a vocabulary.) H. Adolf. Grimm (+1813.) Chald. Chrestomathie mit einem vollständigen Glossar. Lemgo. 1801. 8vo. G. B. Winer, Chal. Lesebuch, aus den Targ. d. a. T. ausgewählt, Leipz. 1825. 8vo. The Hebrew Lexicons generally contain also the Chaldee words which occur in Daniel and Ezra. The older Hebrew Grammars, (compare those of Alting and Danz,) contained also brief instructions for the Chaldee. CHALDEE GRAMMAR. PART I. ORTHOGRAPHY AND ORTHOEPY. § 1. Consonants. THE Chaldee is written with the same characters as are employed in Hebrew; and, so far as we can trace its ancient history, was never expressed by any others. With much more certainty has it been decided, after unprejudiced critical investigation, that the square character, now termed Hebrew by way of distinction, belonged originally to the Chaldeans [Babylonians,] and first took the place of the old Hebrew character among the Jews in the age succeeding the Babylonish exile. For a full account of the age and origin of the square character, see Gesenius Gesch. d. Heb. Spr. u. Schr. (Leipzig. 1815. 8vo) p. 140 seq. Eichhorn (Einl. ins A. T. 4th Ed. Pt. I. p. 204 seq.) exhibits a result somewhat different. 2. Punctuation. 1. The vowel-points, which are employed in Hebrew, have been transferred to the Chaldee, and appear in many manuscripts, and most editions of the Chaldee text. Since it is evident that these points are the work of the Jews, and were invented several centuries after Christ, it is plain that the Chaldee must originally have been written without vowel-points. Thus the Palmyrene inscriptions exhibit no vowel-marks. But the letters [matres lectionis] were earlier employed, in doubtful cases, as a guide in reading. The last mentioned fact is clear from such orthographical phenomena as N, Na, na, Dan. 2: 35, etc. and from the abundant use of the scriptio plena throughout. 2. The transfer of the Hebrew vowel-points to the Chaldee took place in an age when the vowel system of the Jews was yet in an imperfect state; and in later times, the pointing of the Chaldee text, especially that of the Targums, did not receive the same attention which was devoted to the Hebrew. These circumstances exhibit clearly the reason why the punctuation of the Chaldee writings appears, at present, far less regular than that of the Hebrew. This irregularity is indeed so great that not only do different copies and editions, (especially those of London and Venice,) differ widely from each other, but there prevails throughout an extreme variableness in the use of the long and short vowels. On the variable punctuation of the Targums, see Eichhorn Einl. ins A. T. Part 2. p. 24 seq. 3. Long vowels sometimes occur in a mixed syllable without the tone, and vice versa, short vowels in a simple syllable. (Especially are and employed altogether promiscuously, to which usage only a slight tendency is noticeable in Hebrew. See Gesenius Lehrgebäude p. 60.) .Jer אַיְתִינוּן .16 :23 .Deut תּוֹנִינָה .For examples of the former comp 49: 19.7 [allin] Dan. 4: 4.; of the latter 4. The violation of the rule of Qamets Hhateph, in such cases as is only apparent. The is only a superfluous mater lectionis and is by no means to be regarded as quiescing in Qamets Hhateph, or as a consonant [Hhāvchma] since it is written without Sheva. In general however Qamets Hhateph seldom occurs in Chaldee words. |