SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Or. 4445 (Brit. Mus.) is a Tiberian Pentateuch copy, vocalized and annotated by a certain Nissi B. Daniel at the beginning of the 10th century C.E. The vocalization and accents are accurately marked, reflecting in the main the norms and tendencies of Aaron Ben-Aser in the model Aleppo Codex. Vowel-switches and omissions are of very sporadic occurrence. The specific character is in certain features of the metheg-marking - notably in the omission of metheg in certain normative closed-syllable instances - and in the economy in its use of the penultimate Pasta-sign. In one metheg-class, there is a more 'regular' employment of the sign in Or. 4445 than in the Aleppo Codex. The general overall picture is one of a slightly less-developed stage than that reflected in the Aleppo and Leningrad Codices. The masora is profuse: masora parva, enumerative masora magna and cumulative masora are recorded throughout. The style and form of some annotations resemble Babylonian Masora (but no direct influence can be assumed); the cumulative lists are specifically Tiberian. Despite the occasional technical errors, masora-switches and other obscurities, the apparatus proves to be relatively accurate - the numerative and descriptive masoras apparently surpass (somewhat) those of the Leningrad' Codex, but in their precision fall short of their counterparts in the Aleppo Codex. The cumulative masora-1ists, which contain several errors and problems, can in the main be collated with those in 'Okhla W'Okhla'. My detailed comparison of the materials - highlighting the thematic and textual differences between Or, 4445 and Okhla - led to the conclusion that the 1ist-corpuses in the two respective sources, as they stand, cannot be treated as variant recensions of a single compendium. The collation is presented in the form of a condensed-data table (Chapter 12), which, together with the appended commentary, sets a frame for further researches in the Cumulative Masora. Or. 4445 is a well-produced Massora-Codex, constituting an important document of Tiberian Vocalization and Masora.