SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

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202 Chapter 5: Writing Practices (c) Inverted nunin. The printed editions of MT present inverted nunin (also named nunin m e nuzarot, ‘separated’ or ‘isolated’ nunin) before and after Num 10:35-36, as well as in Ps 107:23-28 (in codex L before vv 21- 26 and 40), cf. Sof. 6.1. The sign in the manuscripts resembles an inverted nun, though tradition also describes it as a kaph (Lieberman, Hellenism, 40). Actually this sign does not represent a letter, but a misunderstood parenthesis sign (ch. 5c2), as recognized by Lieberman, Hellenism, 38–43 referring to the antisigma and diple. Indeed, in b. Shabb. 115b the nunin are called twynmys, ‘signs.’ Sifre Numbers § 84 (p. 80) to Num 10:35 (cf. b. Shabb. 115b–116a) explains the inverted nunin in Num 10:35- 36 as signs removing this section from the context: When the Ark was to set out . . . There are dots above and below it to indicate that this was not its correct place. Rabbi says, ‘It is because the pericope at hand constitutes a scroll unto itself.’ . . . R. Simeon says, ‘In the written version there are dots above and below it to indicate that this was not its correct place.’ And what ought to have been written instead of this pericope? ‘And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord’ (Num 11:1). However, when their meaning was no longer understood, these signs came to be denoted by the Masoretes as inverted nunin. While the appearance of the inverted nunin in Ps 107:23-28 in codex L is unclear, their occurrence in Num 10:35-36 is in accordance with the scribal tradition of the Judean Desert texts, since this section was described by Sifre as not having been written in ‘its correct place.’ The use of parenthesis signs, reflecting the antisigma and sigma from the Alexandrian scribal tradition, is also documented in Qumran texts; see above, § c2. The section enclosed by parenthesis signs in the Masoretic manuscripts is more extensive than the samples known from the Qumran scrolls, but the principle is the same. While the Masoretic manuscripts use the inverted nunin in Num 10:35-36, according to Sifre Numbers § 84 to those verses (cf. b. Shabb. 115b–116a) these words were dotted. These two traditions are actually not contradictory. Just as the Qumran manuscripts used different systems for canceling elements (cancellation dots, crossing out with a line, parenthesis, erasure), the rabbinic tradition of cancellation dots and the evidence in the manuscripts of parenthesis signs reflect two alternative systems of deletion. (d) The extraordinary points (puncta extraordinaria). In fifteen places in Scripture, all the medieval manuscripts of MT denote dots above certain letters and words and in one place (Ps 27:13) also below them. 266 Ten of these instances are found in the Torah (Sof. 6.3), four in the Prophets, and one in the Hagiographa. The earliest list of these instances is found in Sifre Numbers § 69 to Num 9:10 (the ten instances in the Torah) and the full list is in the Masorah magna on Num 3:39. In each of these instances, the scribes of the original manuscripts, which later became MT, intended to erase the letters, as in the Qumran manuscripts; for the latter, see § 2 above. Although later tradition explained these dots as indicating doubtful letters (see the detailed discussion by Strack, Prolegomena, 88–91; Blau, Masoretische Untersuchungen, 6–40; Ginsburg, Introduction, 318–34; Butin, Nequdoth; Lieberman, Hellenism, 43–6; and S. Talmon, ‘Prolegomenon,’ to Butin, Nequdoth, all quoting rabbinic sources), or as reflecting a hidden meaning in the text, the Qumran parallels (ch. 5c2) leave no doubt that the original intention of these dots was the cancellation of letters. Accordingly, the traditional term wyl[ dwqyn (dot(s) on it, scil. the letter or word) is more appropriate than the term used in scholarship ‘puncta extraordinaria.’ Indeed, the wording in
Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 203 In all but one instance, the texts are indeed feasible without the dotted elements: Gen 16:5, 18:9, 19:33, 33:4, 37:12; Num 3:39, 9:10, 21:30, 29:15; Deut 29:28; Isa 44:9; Ezek 41:20, 46:22; Ps 27:13. In these instances, letters or words were dotted in all the medieval Masoretic manuscripts, with occasional variation. The only instance in which the dotted letters are necessary in the context is 2 Sam 19:20 aóxóyú rça µwyb µlçwrym ˚lmh ynda. The dotting of axy is enigmatic (thus already Blau, Masoretische Untersuchungen, 35) and reminds us of dots in Cambridge MS Add. 465 (Ginsburg, Introduction, 334) in Job 39:15 tyújów in the M e dinh≥a
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SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S R
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DEDICATED TO THE SCRIBES WHO WROTE
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Contents vii CONTENTS Text Editions
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Contents ix Chapter 8: Scribal Trad
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xii Text Editions Sam. Pent (SP) A.
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xiv Periodicals, Reference Works, a
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REFERENCES AND SUNDRY ABBREVIATIONS
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xviii List of Tables 21. Scrolls wi
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xx Preface This book contains thous
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1 INTRODUCTION a. Purpose and natur
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Scribal Practices and Approaches Re
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Copyists, scribes, and soferim 2 SC
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3 WRITING AND WRITING MATERIALS The
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4 TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF SCROLL WRITI
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(4) No indication Scribal Practices
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5 WRITING PRACTICES The writing pra
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252 Chapter 8: Scribal Traditions L
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256 Chapter 8: Scribal Traditions T
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258 Chapter 8: Scribal Traditions h
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260 Chapter 8: Scribal Traditions r
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262 Chapter 8: Scribal Traditions
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264 Appendix 1 3. Scribal markings
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266 Appendix 1 4QJer d gd — n b 1
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268 Appendix 1 4Q256 4QSb y y 3 20
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270 Appendix 1 4Q496 4QpapMf y y y
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272 Appendix 1 Doc/Mish B 4Q322 4QM
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APPENDIX 2 PAPYRUS TEXTS FROM THE J
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APPENDIX 3 OPISTHOGRAPHS FROM THE J
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APPENDIX 4 THE GREEK TEXTS FROM THE
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APPENDIX 5 SCRIBAL FEATURES OF EARL
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CE) P.Oxy. 65.4443 of Esther E and
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P.Antinoopolis 8 of Proverbs 5-20 (
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P.Rylands 1 of Deut 23 (4 CE) P.Oxy
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APPENDIX 6 THE HEBREW TEXTS FROM MA
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SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

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