The targums are Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Old Testament.The word Targum means 'translation' in Hebrew.
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| 'Targum' means translation in Hebrew |
After the emergence of Aramaic the Hebrew language was continuously loosing ground to it.Aramaic was gradually becoming the common language for the people.
At some point it became clear that Hebrew texts could not be understood by the mass and the need arised for a translation into Aramaic.
Initially the targums were oral translations transferred by the (מְתוּרגְמָן mǝturgǝmān)-translators.
Eventually Hebrew was reduced to being only the language of religion and the Elite in Palestine.
So ,the first targums appeared which where translations ,explanations and paraphrases of the religious Jewish scripts.
The most important targums are the Targums Onkelos and Targums Jonathan.
The Targum Onkelos is the official translation of the Torah.
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| Onkelos |
This version of Aramaic is called Targumic.
Other uses of the word targum.
The word targum is also used by Jews when referring to the Aramaic.
Targum are also called the Aramaic dialects of Northern Iraq and Kurdistan spoken by Jews.