On the Samaritan Identification of Marqe as 'Creator of Wisdom'

The word in the Tulida spelt bet-dalet-vav-alef-he is an active participle with a definite suffix. The pronunciation of the indefinite is bādo (accented on the first syllable) and the pronunciation of the definite form here is bādū’a (accented on the second syllable). The word spelt dalet-h.et-mem-tav-he means “of wisdom” or “of the wisdom”. The dalet is a prefix. It is pronounced dikmāta (accented on the second syllable).

The connotation of spuriousness in the verb bet-dalet-alef (or he or yod) is not in Western Aramaic. It is only in Eastern Aramaic, i.e. Syriac and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. (It is not attested in Mandaean). In Jewish Palestinian Aramaic it can only mean original invention. This includes made up situations or words for the sake of explaining an argument. Have another look at Jastrow’s examples. (Note that his example from Yerushalmi Megillah does not mean what he reads into it. It does not say the Latin translation was spurious, but rather that it was a new translation without reference to previous translations). In Samaritan Aramaic there is never any bad connotation. It still has its primary meaning of metalworking and other craftwork, but always with the connotation of originality. It is the verb used for the divinely inspired work of Bezalel in crafting the Tabernacle under Moses’s direction on the model of the Heavenly Tabernacle. That ought to set you thinking.

Here is an example from Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, not known to Jastrow. Nu XVI:28. Read the verse in context. Moses says he did not make the Torah up himself. A marginal variant in Targum Neofiti uses this verb, not with any connotation of spuriousness, but instead with the connotation that such originality was beyond the ability of Moses. In Jewish Palestinian Aramaic it also means to make intelligible. There is alternation in Western Aramaic between the roots bet-dalet-yod and vav-dalet-yod. Look this root up. (Note by Ben-Hayyim in his edition of the Tîbat Marqe).

Although all mss. of the Tulida have the verb bet-dalet-he (or yod), it should be borne in mind that dalet and resh are very similar in shape not only in Jewish script but also in the original Hebrew script (Samaritan), and bet-resh-he (or yod) means to create. An original wording with this verb is not impossible.

In Florentin’s critical edition of the Tulida with notes the Hebrew word [bore] bet-vav-RESH-alef meaning “creator” is given by Florentin as the nearest Hebrew equivalent to the exact meaning of the Aramaic term.