Language

Yet it is impossible to hold that the Targum of Onkelos was the only representative of Targum tradition that existed among the Jews down to the 7th century A.D., the period to which the internal evidence compels us to assign the Targum Jerushalmi as used by the Fragmentary Targum and the pseudo-Jonathan. We must rather assume that a tolerably fixed Targum tradition existed in Palestine from quite early times. The language em ployed in the Targum of Onkelos is, admittedly, Palestinian or Judaean, and we may conjecture that the current Judaean ex egesis, which, in part at least, must go back to the 2nd century A.D., was not without its influence on the Babylonian translation. This old Targum tradition, however, never received official recog nition in Palestine, and was unable, therefore, to hold its own when the new Babylonian version was introduced. We may infer that, as time went on, a reaction in favour of the older render ings made itself felt, with the result that these were collected in the form of variants and appended to Onkelos. But the au thority enjoyed by the latter rendered it secure against any en croachments ; hence any later expansions, especially those of a popular Haggadic character, naturally found their way into the less stereotyped Targum Jerushalmi.

II. Targums on the Prophets.

The official Targum on the Prophets is stated by the Babylonian Talmud to have been "said" by Jonathan ben Uzziel, the disciple of Hillel, and is usually known, therefore, as the Targum Jonathan. Elsewhere in the Talmud, however, the quotations from this Targum are given under the name of Joseph bar Chijah, head of the school at Pumbadita in the 4th century A.D. Both in language and style it closely resembles the Targum of Onkelos, and appears to have been modelled on that translation: in certain passages, indeed, it appears to have made use of it. Probably, like Onkelos, it did not assume its final form in Babylon before the 5th century A.D. It naturally follows from the character of the original that the rendering of this Targum is less literal than that of Onkelos, espe cially in the prophetic books, but, when due allowance is made for the difficulty of the Hebrew, it may be described on the whole as a faithful reproduction of the original text. Its peculiarities of rendering are due to the same principles which were noted as underlying the translation of the Pentateuch. Anthropomor phisms, as a rule, are avoided by means of the same expedients as those employed by Onkelos, expressions derogatory to the dignity of God, or of the heroes of the nation, are softened down, while figurative language is either boldly transposed, or its char acter clearly shown by the introduction of the particle "as" or "like." There is, further, a tendency to narrow down the scope of the prophetic utterances, and to limit their application to Israel and its immediate enemies. Lastly, in the obscurer passages the Haggadic method of interpretation is employed to its fullest extent, while the translation throughout shows a marked tendency to explanatory additions.

Of a Targum Jerushalmi to the Prophets but little is known, though it is hardly doubtful that such a Targum existed, if only in oral form. Traces of this version have been discovered by Bacher in the variants attached to the margin of the Codex Reuch linianus, and printed by Lagarde in his edition of Prophetae Chaldaice (1872). The quotations in tArfik from Kings, Ezekiel, Proverbs and Lamentations point to the existence of a Targum Jerushalmi to those books.

III. Targums to the Hagiographa.

These Targums possess but little interest for the student of Jewish literature as they are almost entirely the work of individuals, made in imitation of the older Targums.

( ) Targums to the Psalms and Job.—These Targums present certain features in common and may therefore be treated under the same heading. Like all the later Targums they exhibit a large amount of explanatory addition, chiefly Haggadic in character. At the same time the translation of the original is not neglected; and, when separated from the later accretions, this is found to follow the Hebrew tolerably closely. Peculiar to these Targums are the double translations, which they give to many verses, one of which is usually Haggadic in character, while the other is more literal. They cannot be earlier than the 7th century A.D., and

possibly are of a considerably later date.

(2) The Targum to the Proverbs stands apart owing to the peculiarity of the language in which it is written. The influence of the Peshitta version is so clearly marked, that Dalman de scribes it as a Jewish revision of that version. But setting aside the Syriasms due to the use of the Peshitta, the Targum shows affinity to the Targums to the Psalms and Job. The translation is literal and almost entirely free from Haggadic additions.

(3) The Targums to the Megilloth.—The chief characteristic of these Targums is their exaggerated use of paraphrase. They mark the final stage in the development of Haggadic interpretation, in which the translation of the text has practically disappeared in a mass of fantastic and irrelevant matter. The Targum of Esther is known to us in three recensions (f ) that of the Antwerp Polyglot, almost a literal translation ; (2) that of the London Polyglot, which gives practically the same text with many addi tions of a Haggadic character; (3) the so-called second (sheni) Targum, a much larger work, containing a collection of later Midrashim to this book. According to Zunz this "second" Targum is quoted by Rashi (to Deut. iii. 4) as a Jerusalem Targum, and also (I Kings x. 19) as the "Haggada" of the Megilloth Esther. The Targum to Canticles is of a similar character to that of the "second" Esther. Dalman assigns these Targums to a date half way between the Babylonian Targums (Onkelos and that to the Prophets) and the Jerusalem Targums to the Pentateuch and those to the greater Hagiographa. The British Museum possesses three important Yemen manuscripts for the five Megilloth and the "second" Esther Targum in mss. Or. 1302, 1476 and (4) The Targum to the Chronicles was first edited from an Erfurt manuscript by M. F. Beck, 168o-1683. A more complete and accurate edition from a Cambridge manuscript was edited by D. Wilkins in 1715. In the translation, which at times is fairly literal, use appears to have been made of the Jerusalem Targums to the Pentateuch, and of the Targums to the books of Samuel and Kings. The text represented by the Erfurt manuscript is assigned to the 8th, that of the Cambridge manuscript to the 9th century A.D.

No Targums have so far been discovered to Daniel and Ezra and Nehemiah. (J. F. S.) See bibliog. on p. 39 of W. 0. E. Oesterley and G. H. Box, Short Survey of Lit. of . . . Judaism (1920). See also P. Churgin, Tar gum Jonathan (Yale, 1927).

a town of Transylvania, Rumania, cap ital of the department of Mures, 79 m. E. of Cluj by rail. Pop. (193o) 38,116. It is situated on the left bank of the Mures, and is a well-built town, once the capital of the territory of the Szeklers. On a hill dominating the town stands the old fortress, which contains a beautiful church in Gothic style built about 1446, where in 1571 the diet was held which proclaimed the equality of the Unitarian Church with the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches. The Teleki palace contains the Teleki collections, which include a library of 70,000 volumes and several valuable manuscripts (e.g., the Teleki Codex), a collection of old Hungarian poems, and a manuscript of Tacitus, besides a collection of antiquities and another of minerals. Targu-Mures has also an interesting Szekler industrial museum. The trade is chiefly in timber, grain, wine, tobacco, fruit and other products of the neighbourhood. There are manufactures of sugar, spirits and beer.

a town in the department of Neamtu, Rumania, situated among the lower slopes of the Carpathians, and on the left bank of the Neamtu, an affluent of the Moldova. Pop. (1930) 9,127, about half being Jews. A branch railway runs to Jassy. Nearby is the ruined fortress of Neamtu, con structed early in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights against the Cumans (q.v.), and the monastery of Neamtu, founded in the 14th century, and containing two churches and many ancient and interesting relics. Before the secularization of the monastic lands in 1864, it was one of the richest and most important of the Rumanian monasteries. Baltatesti, 10 m. W. by S. of Neamtu, is locally famous for its mineral springs and baths.