It became increasingly clear to me that ancient scriptural translation had to viewed within the context of a multilingual culture and society. In other words, what work does scriptural translation perform in such a multilingual environment? In short, targum is intended, at least partly, for those with varying degrees of literacy in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Most importantly, among Jews, it never displaced (quote the opposite!) the written Holy Hebrew text that it interpretatively accompanied, as happens eventually with the status of the Septuagint in later Christianity, with some notable exceptions.Notice of a Forthcoming Book: Steven D. Fraade, Multilingualism and Translation in Ancient Judaism. Before and After Babel (CUP, June 2023).
The first part of this essay also amounts to a brief career retrospective for Professor Fraade.
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