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and scholastic redaction, is known by the name of Targum Onkelos.
The origin of this name is derived from the Babylonian
Talmud (Meg. 3a), where the Targum to the Torah is attributed
to the proselyte *Onkelos, who is said to have composed
it (literally, “spoke it,” “declaimed it”) under the guidance of R.
Eliezer and R. Joshua (An anonymous statement (ibid.) goes
so far as to say that the original targum was given at Sinai,
subsequently forgotten, and then restored by Onkelos.) The
Palestinian Talmud, however (Meg. 1:11, 71c), contains the
statement: “Aquila the proselyte translated (tirgem) the Pentateuch
in the presence of R. Eliezer and R. Joshua,” in a context
which shows that a translation into Greek is meant. These accounts
are obviously related: in the Babylonian Talmud only
the name Onkelos occurs, while Aquilas (= Akylas, the Greek
adaptation of the Latin Aquila) alone is found in the Jerusalem
Talmud. The latter is historically reliable – Aquila did compose
a scrupulously exact and literal Greek translation of the
Bible, and Targum Onkelos, however, is almost a literal Aramaic
translation of the Pentateuch. In addition to this, a great
deal of what is revealed about Onkelos in Babylonian sources
is attributed to Aquila in the Jerusalem ones. Important works
that discuss the identity of Onkelos and Akylas (= Aquila) are
those of M. Friedmann, A.E. Silverstone, and D. Barthélemy.
Silverstone argues that Aquila was identical with Onkelos, and
that this one individual produced both a Greek and an Aramaic
translation. Friedmann believes that they were two different
personalities. Barthélemy argues that the Babylonian
Jewish scholars possessed an anonymous Aramaic translation
to which they gave the name Targum Onkelos. This was based
on mistakenly transferring the western tradition of Aquila’s
Greek translation of the Torah into Greek to the Aramaic Targum
of the Torah that the Babylonians possessed.
The Aramaic of this Targum exhibits a mixture of the
Western (e.g., yat as nota accusativi) and Eastern (e.g., ḥzy,
“to see”) features. This combination gave rise to a variety of
opinions about the Targum’s place of origin. A. Berliner, T. Noeldeke,
G. Dalman, and E.Y. Kutscher believe that it originated
in Palestine, while its final redaction took place in Babylonia.
The opposing view is held by P. Kahle and his followers, who
consider this Aramaic version to have originated entirely in
Babylonia. Adherents of Palestinian origin have argued from
the content of the Targum that it was composed in Palestine
(particularly in Judea) sometime in the second century C.E.,
since both the halakhic (legal) and aggadic (non-legal) portions
betray the influence of the school of Akiva. In addition,
they have maintained that the western Aramaic elements, e.g.,
preservation of the absolute state, are much stronger. Kutscher
(11–13) argued that the Aramaic of Onkelos is quite close to
that of the Genesis Apocryphon found at Qumran in Palestine;
and Greenfield, in the same vein classified both as examples
of Standard Literary Aramaic. After the destruction
of the Second Temple and the suppression of the Bar Kokhba
revolt, which destroyed the cultural centers of Judea, Targum
Onkelos disappeared from Palestine. The old Standard Literary
Aramaic was superseded by the local Western Aramaic
dialects, and since the center of Jewish life shifted to Galilee,
a new Targum in the Galilean dialect evolved in the course of
time. At the beginning of the Amoraic period (end of second
century C.E.), before it had disappeared from Palestine, Targum
Onkelos was imported, the argument continues, along
with the Mishnah to Babylonia. There it underwent final revision
during the third century C.E. and was recognized as
the authoritative Aramaic version of the Pentateuch for the
local Jewish population. In the Babylonian Talmud (Kid. 49a)
it is mentioned as “our Targum” or by the expression “as we
translate.” A special masorah prepared for it contains statements
concerning the divergencies between the Babylonian
academies of *Sura and *Nehardea. More recently, however,
Mueller-Kessler has argued that the similarity between the
language of the targums and the Aramaic literary dialect of
the Mesopotamian Jewish Aramaic magic bowls of the fourthseventh
centuries C.E. points to a Babylonian origin of both
the Targum Onkelos and Jonathan.
This Targum Onkelos is the most literal translation of
the Pentateuch. The text from which it was prepared was in all
essentials the masoretic one. The principal objective was to
conform the Targum as closely as possible to the original
text, and the grammatical structure of the Hebrew was thus
followed closely. One prominent example of this is the use of
the particle yat as a sign of the accusative for the corresponding
Hebrew particle ʾet. Yet there are numerous exceptions
where the Targum does not adhere to the original. Paraphrase
occasionally takes the place of translation: in the poetic portions
(e.g., Gen. 49) there are aggadic (non-legal) supplements
of moderate size, while halakhic (legal) regulations are often
read into the legal portions (e.g., Ex. 21:16). Offensive or disagreeable
material is paraphrased or rendered by some sort of
circumlocution (e.g., Gen. 20:13; Ex. 24:11). The paraphrastic
style of translation affected by the Targums in general, in order
to obviate anthropomorphisms and anthropopathisms in
reference to God, is quite prominent in the Targum Onkelos.
Thus, the embarassing Genesis 20:13 “when the gods (elohim)
caused me to wander” (plural verb hitʿû following elohim) is
rendered “when the gentiles (ţʿô with tet) strayed after the
works of their hands.” The rhetorical Exodus 15:11, “Who is like
you among the gods Yahweh?” is translated as “There is none
other than you, you are God, Adonai.” Nonetheless, Onkelos
has no problem with the plurals in Genesis 1:26, “let us make
the human in our image.” Figurative language, as a rule, is not
translated literally but is explained (e.g., Gen. 49:25; Ex. 15:3,
8, 10; 29:35). Geographical names are sometimes replaced by
those current at a later time (e.g., Gen. 10:10; Deut. 3:17). Apart
from Megillah 3a (previously mentioned), all the references
to Onkelos as the author of the Aramaic translation of the
Pentateuch originated in the post-talmudic period, although
they are all based on this passage in the Babylonian Talmud.
The earliest of those is in the late midrashic work known
as Pirkei de-R. Eliezer (38), where the targumic passage on
Genesis 45:27 is cited in the statement “Onkelos has translated.”
The ninth-century gaon *Sar Shalom (Sha’arei Teshu-
590 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3