Takamitsu muraoka biography of william

Let the festal gongs ring loudly in the streets! The wait is over: Today is International Septuagint Day. That&#;s right, it comes only once a year, and that occasion is today.

In order to celebrate appropriately, I post here an interview with one of the most important scholars in the discipline.

Before introducing my guest, a word about this most joyous of days.

This occasion was instituted in by the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS), at the suggestion of Robert Kraft (here). He pointed out that February 8th is the only date on record that is historically related to the Greek Scriptures. In a document dating to CE, the Emperor Justinian announced his permission for public reading of Jewish Scriptures in the Roman Empire. So in honor of this excellent advice, I recommend that you pick up your copy of Rahlfs-Hanhart and read a few verses, perhaps even aloud to your wife, room mate, or pet rabbit.

If you care to know more, and to look back over the years I&#;ve celebrated LXX Day on this blog, you can check out these posts:

ISD     |    ISD     |    ISD     |    ISD

The subject of my interview today is Dr. Takamitsu Muraoka, Professor Emeritus of Hebrew Language and Literature, Israelite Antiquities and Ugaritic, Universiteit Leiden. It hardly needs to be said that Muraoka is a giant among scholars of ancient languages. He has for many years travelled along &#; even trail-blazed &#; the &#;Via dolorosa of biblical philology,&#; to use his own words.

Interviewing him today is especially fitting as, I am told, Prof. Muraoka will celebrate his 80th birthday tomorrow &#; יום הולדת שמח!

Muraoka&#;s work in this field is as influential as it is voluminous. Just a few of the notable contributions he has made outside of Septuagint scholarship include:

• Emphatic Words and Structures in Biblical Hebrew ()
• Modern Hebrew for Biblical Scholars (, )
• A Greek-Hebrew/Aramaic Index to I Esdras ()

A linguistic introduction to the origins and characteristics of early Mishnaic Hebrew as it relates to Biblical Hebrew

William R. Osborne

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Correspondence

ABSTRACT

Scholarship has failed to clearly establish the linguistic relationship between Mishnaic Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew. This article serves as an introduction to the problem by: (1) discussing the diachronic development of Mishnaic Hebrew, (2) providing a synchronic linguistic analysis of Mishnaic Hebrew in relation to Biblical Hebrew, and (3) offering direction for future research. The discussion highlights the proposal that Mishnaic Hebrew developed alongside Biblical Hebrew as a popular oral language that was later significantly influenced by Aramaic. The present study shows the non-systematic relationship between Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew, and therefore concludes that students of Biblical Hebrew must exercise caution in looking to Mishnaic Hebrew to interpret the Old Testament.

“Full text available only in PDF format”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bar-Asher, Moshe. "A Few Remarks on Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic in Qumran Hebrew." Pages in Diggers at the Well: Proceeding of a Third International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira. Edited by Takamitsu Muraoka and John F. Elwode. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah Leiden: Brill,         [&#;Links&#;]

_____. "Mishnaic Hebrew: An Introductory Survey." Pages in Literature of the Sages: Midrash and Targum Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism Contracts, Inscriptions, Ancient Science and the Language of Rabbinic Literature. Vol. 2. Edited by Shmuel Safrai ï''b, et. al. Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentun b. Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum,         [&#;Links&#;]

_____. "The Study of Mishnaic Hebrew Grammar Ba

A one-day research seminar on the Septuagint within the history of Greek, held on the 20th of April at the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Cambridge, hosted a group of almost 30 participants from both the field of Septuagint studies and Classics. The aim of the seminar was to strengthen the link between the scholars and their research projects as well as to point out the importance of the place of the Septuagint Greek within the history of the Greek language.

First and the longest paper was entitled: &#;The Grammarian Cannot Wait: Thackeray, Muraoka, and the Analysis of Septuagint Syntax&#; was given by Trevor Evans from Macquarie University. The title itself was inspired by words from the famous Thackeray&#;s Grammar. Trevor made a fine analysis of a number of new approaches and methodological issues in Takamitsu Muraoka&#;s approach to the Septuagint Syntax. It is important to say that Muraoka&#;s recent study is methodologically different from the classical work done by Thackeray a century ago. Trevor, who is a world expert in the field of Greek syntax and Koine Papyri after outlining fundamental controversies about Septuagint syntax [relationship of translated Greek to its source text; relationship of the Greek to contemporary non-biblical Greek; relationship between the different segments of the corpus] spoke also about figures for optatives, volitives, lexicographical issues, translation method, style, register and the level of Greek.

After Trevor, Marieke Dhont presented &#;On Septuagint Syntax and Pronominal Competence&#; focusing on the position of pronouns in different Septuagint books (mainly Genesis and Job) and their relationship to both the source language [Hebrew] and the tradition of the history of the Greek grammar.

The third paper &#;The Influence of the Greek of the Septuagint on the Documentary Papyri&#; was given by Patrick James in which he spoke about phonological, morphological and word-formation issues in Classical, post-Class

Septuagint scholars everywhere are rejoicing to finally have a brand new, full grammar of the Greek Old Testament at hand. Although it is still being released in fits and starts from what I hear, Muraoka&#;s A Syntax of Septuagint Greekis finally shipping. Adding to the momentousness of this occasion beyond its significance for LXX studies is the fact that it has also been over a century since any reference grammar on Koine Greek per se has emerged (i.e., Koine beyond the NT).

There are only two other resources in existence that attempt to do what Takamitsu Muraoka has done for the Septuagint. I say &#;attempt&#; because both are incomplete in some sense. Moreover, both are quite old, which while not bad in itself, means that more recent linguistic approaches to grammar are, well, not there.

First, there is H. St. J. Thackeray&#;s A Grammar of the Old Testament in GreekAccording to the Septuagint (). It&#;s a classic work, and usually quite useful. However, Thackeray only ever completed Volume 1: Introduction, Orthography, Accidence.

Secondly, we have F. C. Conybeare and G. Stock&#;s Grammar of Septuagint Greek (, but now in an updated version), which is also helpful. But it is very terse and assumes a significant amount of knowledge on the reader&#;s part, especially of Classical Greek. The actual grammar only runs for the first pages, followed by about more pages of selected readings.

Needless to say, it&#;s likely that no one has attempted to write a grammar of the Septuagint in over a century because of the outrageous enormity of the task.

Except Takamitsu Muraoka.

The paragon of industry, Muraoka started working on this project when he was 74 years old. Ever since his &#;retirement&#; in , Muraoka has steadily produced a range of detailed and technical resources for ancient languages like Syriac, Aramaic, and Greek. Much of his work has focused upon the Septuagint, resulting in a lexicon, Greek-Hebrew/Aramaic i