Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il>]

Ian,
Memra is Aramaic for "word, saying". It occurs nowhere in the Tanakh, 328
times in the Babylonian Talmud, once (!) in the Palestinian Talmud and 56
times in the Aggadic literature, at times as a noun, and at times as an
element in the infinitive lemeymra'.(I only looked up the orthography
mymr').
It's a cognate of Hebrew ma'amar (<'mar), and is sometimes its semantic
equivalent in Mishnaic Hebrew.
Sincerely,
Jonathan D. Safren
Editor of the English Section
Mehqere Hag - A Journal of Jewish Studies
Center for Jewish Holiday Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office
44905 Israel
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Goldsmith" <iangoldsmith1969 AT yahoo.co.uk>
To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 12:38 PM
Subject: 'Memra'?


> Hi. Just a quick question.
> I've been reading A. Edersheim lately and he refers,
> in a discussion of the hypostasation of the 'Word',
> 'Logos' of God, to 'Memra'.
> Can someone please enlighten me as to the meaning of
> this word? I can't find an appropriate hebrew match
> and am starting to feel it may be an LXX term.
> Apparently it is also mentioned in the targums
> Onkelos, Jerusalem and Pseudo Jonathan, but I haven't
> got the material to look through for these.
> I'm sure it's a simple question.
> Look forward to your help.
>
> Ian.
>
>
>
> =====
> Ian Goldsmith.
> England.
>
> Dibrah Torah kilshone bnei-adam
> 'The Torah spoke in the language of ordinary men.'
> Berakot 31b
>
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