Songs and prayers from the judeo-provençal siddur (ms. Leeds, Brotherton Library, Roth 32): some linguistic and stylistic considerations
Abstract
Ms. Brotherton Library (Leeds) Roth 32, copied in Avignon during the XV century, is the only witness of a Judeo-Provençal siddur, the daily and festival Jewish prayer-book. It represents an important source of information not only for the liturgy adopted by XV-century Provençal Jews, but also for Judeo-Provençal language. In this essay, I provide the edition of some unpublished songs and prayers from ms. Roth 32 and I carry out some hypothesis concerning this specific variety of Judeo-Provençal. In particular, I examine the method of translation from Hebrew to Judeo-Provençal, explaining the meaning of some rare or otherwise unattested words: they are neologisms, loanwords (even from Judeo-Arabic)
and terms otherwise attested only in Modern Provençal. I also consider the relationship between Judeo-Provençal, as it is attested in the siddur – i.e. the “scholastic” Judeo-Provençal – and some hints of the Provençal which was spoken by XV century Provençal Jews, in order to evidence the diaphasic complexity of this language. Finally, I compare the Judeo-Provençal translation of the Šema‘ Israel to the Judeo-Italian one, in order to introduce new linguistic data in the debate concerning the possible (Judeo-Latin?) common tradition underlying the Judeo-Romance translations of the Bible and the Siddur.
References
Aslanov, C. (2001). Le provençal des Juifs et l’hébreu en Provence. Le dictionnaire Sharshot ha-Kesef de Joseph Caspi. Peeters.
Banitt, M. (1972). Le glossaire de Bâle. Académie nationale des sciences et des lettres d’Israël.
Baricci, E. (2014a). Bendig tu…qui fis me fenna: donne, libri e letteratura nel Medioevo giudeo-provenzale. Altre Modernità (volume speciale Letteratura Ebraica ‘al femminile’) (pp. 222–244). https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/3986
Baricci, E. (2014b). I Ma?a??y-’Est?r: un nuovo testo giudeo-provenzale. Critica del Testo (XVII/1), 9–50.
Baricci, E. (2022a). Il Siddur giudeo-provenzale: lingua, stile e metodo di traduzione tra ebraico e idiomi giudeo-romanzi. In V. Brugnatelli, L. Magini (a cura di). “Suadìti?” Scritti di amici e colleghi in memoria di Francesco Aspesi (pp. 41–55). Centro Studi Camito-semitici.
Baricci, E. (2022b). The Ma‘asé Ester. A Judeo-Provençal poem about Queen Esther. Brill.
Blondheim, D.S. (1925). Les parlers judéo-romans et la Vetus Latina: étude sur les rapports entre les traductions bibliques en langue romane des Juifs au Moyen Âge et les anciennes versions. Champion.
Boeckler, A.M. (2015). The liturgical understanding of Psalms in Judaism: Demonstrated with Samples from Psalms 90-106, with a Special Focus on Psalm 92, Mizmor shir leyom hashabbat. European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe, 48, 2, 70–82.
Bunis, D.M. (2013). Whole Hebrew: a revised definition. In C. Bartal, G. Hasan-Rokem, A. Rapoport-Albert, C. Rosenzweig, V. Shifriss, E. Timm (eds.), A Touch of Grace: Studies in Ashkenazi Culture, Women’s History, and the Language of the Jews – Presented to Chava Turniansky (pp. 37–68). Shazar.
Caffiero, M. (2012). Legami pericolosi. Ebrei e cristiani tra eresia, libri proibiti e stregoneria. Einaudi.
Cassuto, U. (1930). Les traductions judéo-italiennes du Rituel. Revue des Études Juives, 89, 2, 260–280.
Disegni, D. (2009). Tanakh. Bibbia Ebraica. Giuntina.
Einbinder, S. (2009). No place of rest. Jewish Literature, Expulsion, and the Memory of Medieval France. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Ferrer, J. (2002). Les glosses romaniques del manuscrit de la Biblioteca Vaticana Ebr. 413. Estudi general: Revista de la Facultat de Lletres de la Universitat de Girona, 22, 41–50.
Frojmovi?, E., Felsenstein, F. (1997). Hebraica and Judaica from the Cecil Roth Collection. Decorated manuscripts and broadsheets in the Brotherton Library. Brotherton Library, University of Leeds.
Jensen, F. (1986). The syntax of medieval Occitan. Niemeyer.
Jochnowitz, G. (1981). Who made me a woman. Commentary, 71, 4, 63–64.
Kahn, Y. (2011). The three blessings. Boundaries, Censorship, and Identity in Jewish Liturgy. Oxford University Press.
Kaplan, A. (2016). Sefer Yetzirah. Trad.it. M.V. Spina. SpazioInteriore.
Kaufmann, D. (1871). The prayerbook according to the ritual of England before 1290. Jewish Quarterly Review, 4, 20–63.
Lazar, M. (1970). La traduction hébraïco-provençale du Rituel (Manuscrit inédit du XVe siècle). In Mélanges de langue et littérature du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance offerts à Jean Frappier, professeur à la Sorbonne, par ses collègues, ses élèves et ses amis. (pp. 575–590). Droz, vol. 2.
Lazar, M. (1995a). Siddur Tefillot: a woman’s Ladino prayer book (Paris, B.N., Esp. 668; 15th c.). A critical edition. Labyrinthos.
Lazar, M. (1995b). Siddur Tefillot: A Woman’s Ladino Prayer Book. Labyrinthos.
Méjean-Thiolier, S., Notz-Grob, M.F. (1997). Nouvelles courtoises. Librérie Générale Française.
Meyer, P., Neubauer, A. (1892). Le roman provençal d’ Esther par Crescas du Caylar, médecin juif du XIVe siècle. Romania, 21, 194–227.
Mistral, F. (1979). Le trésor de Felibrige ou Dictionnaire provençal-français. Marcel Petit.
Mayer Modena, M. (1999). La composante hebraïque dans le judéo-italien de la Renaissance. In S. Morag, M. Bar Asher, M. Mayer Modena (eds.), Vena Hebraica in Judaeorum Linguis. Proceedings of the 2nd Inter. Conf. on the Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in Jewish Languages (Milan, October 23–26 1995) (pp. 93–107). Università degli Studi, Dipartimento di scienze dell’antichità.
Mayer Modena, M. (2003). Il giudeo-italiano: riflessioni sulle fonti. Materia Giudaica, 8, 1, 65–73.
Reif, S.C. (1993). Judaism and Hebrew Prayer. New perspectives on Jewish liturgical History. Cambridge University Press.
Ryzhik, M. (2008). La lingua dei volgarizzamenti giudeo-italiani: genesi, caratteri e sviluppi. Medioevo Letterario, 5, 155–167.
Ryzhik, M. (2013). Preliminaries to the Critical Edition of the Judeo-Italian Translation of the Siddur. Journal of Jewish Languages, 1, 229–260.
Rothschild, J.P. (2012). Une linguistique des théologiens. In J. Baumgarten, J. Costa, J.P. Guillaume, J. Kogel (éds.). En mémoire de Sophie Kessler-Mesguich (pp. 77–95). Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle.
Saenz-Badillos, A. (1987). Un diccionario hebreo de Provenza (siglo XIII). Edición del manuscrito Vaticano Ebr. 413 con Introducción. Universidad de Granada, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca.
Schwarzwald, R.O. (2012). Sidur para mujeres en ladino, Salónica, siglo XVI. Ben-Zvi Institute.
Sermoneta, G. (1974). Un volgarizzamento giudeo-italiano del Cantico dei Cantici. Olschki.
Sermoneta, G. (1976). Considerazioni frammentarie sul giudeo-italiano. Italia, 1, 1–29.
Sermoneta, G. (1978a). Considerazioni frammentarie sul giudeo-italiano, II: Testi Italiani in caratteri ebraici. Italia, 1, 2, 62–106.
Sermoneta, G. (1978b). La traduzione giudeo-italiana dei Salmi e i suoi rapporti con le antiche versioni latine. In R. Bonfil, D. Carpi, M. Modena Mayer, G. Romano, G.B. Sermoneta (a cura di), Scritti in memoria di Umberto Nahon: Saggi sull’Ebraismo Italiano (pp 196–239). Fondazione Sally Mayer.
Strich, A., Jochnowitz, G. (2017). Judeo-Occitan (Judeo-Provençal). In L. Kahn, A.D. Rubin, Handbook of Jewish Languages. Revised and updated edition (pp. 518–552). Brill.
Studer, P. (1921). Notice sur un manuscrit catalan du XVe siècle (Bodley Oriental 9). Romania, XLVII, 98–104.
Tamani, G. (2004). La letteratura ebraica medievale (secoli X-XVIII). Morcelliana.
Weinreich, M. (1980). History of the Yiddish Language. University of Chicago Press.
Xella, P. (1982). Gli antenati di Dio. Divinità e miti della tradizione cananea. Essedue.
Zuffrey, F. (1987). Recherches linguistiques sur les Chansonniers Provençaux. Droz.
1. SITOGRAFIA
Sito sul piyyu? e la preghiera ebraica (in ebraico) promosso dall’Università ebraica di Gerusalemme: https://web.nli.org.il/sites/nlis/he/song
Sito sui Jewish Languages: https://www.jewishlanguages.org
Sito sui siddurim in linea: https://www.opensiddur.org/shared/siddurim
2. MANOSCRITTI ED EDIZIONI A STAMPA CITATI
Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, ms. Vat. ebr. 413 (testi di grammatica).
Editio princeps del Siddur secondo il rito italiano, Fano, Gershom Soncino, 1506.
Leeds, Brotherton Library, ms. Roth 32 (siddur giudeo-provenzale).
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ms. fr. 22543 (Canzoniere R dei Trovatori)
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ms. fr. 1749 (Canzoniere E dei Trovatori)
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ms. fr. 12472 (Canzoniere f dei Trovatori)
Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, ms. hebr. 969 (siddur secondo il rito italiano).