The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

I40 THE BOOKS OF ENOCH
There are about twenty-seven Unes of text to each column. Estimated
height of the scroll, approximately 23 cm.
The alphabet of 4QEn* is quite archaic and is connected with the semicursive
scripts ('semi-formar) of the third and second centuries B.c.^ Our
manuscript probably dates from the first half of the second century. However,
it does not fit very well into the scribal traditions of the Jewish copyists
of Judaea or even Egypt; the scribe would perhaps be dependent upon the
Aramaic scripts and the scribal customs of Northern Syria or Mesopotamia.
Note the use of a particular symbol to indicate a supralinear insertion,
column iii, lines 13 and 21.
The orthography is of the popular type, mainly phonetic. Features relating
to the consonantal system: (i) omission of Aleph or its replacement by Yod:
maa ii 12; ^DD"? iii 21; pnat3 ii 13; n"? ii 14; n^'panx and ^Dnnx iv 8;
(2) Sin marked by Samekh: ''20 and iv 7 and ii 15; ^017 ii 5 and iii 9-13,
''Toy iii 9; ^X0S7 iii 9; (3) weakening of the 'Ain: nOX (corrected to ^057)
iii 10; (4) weakening of the emphatics: ^KD**! (corrected to ^Xp**!) iv 3;
(5) absence of assimilation: pQT i 5; (6) on ^XDST iii 6, as also on a few cases of
the retention of the primitive Sin, see the commentary to column iii, lines
5-12, notes (e), (1), and (o) to the table of the names of the angels. The final
vowel -a of the emphatic singular and plural states is usually marked by
He: nm i 4; nm i 5; nnx i 7; mss? ii 8; mb^'H a 9; nnns; U 10, etc.
(rare exceptions: XIDB? ii 3, XS^HN ii 3, etc.); likewise. He marks the -a of the
infinitives, e.g. that of the Pa'el: HD'^X^ iii 15, etc. The final -e on the other
hand is marked by Aleph: X10S7 iii 9; KTnna ii 2. The use of matres lectionis
O
is very limited: yx\ i i (probably corrected to yX\\ cf. ^Iin on fr. 8); ^X^'fi''
iii 12; ^'ll iii 21 (added above the line), T\T\yDT\ ii 10; b'D passim^ etc.
So far as the grammar of 4QEn* is concerned, we should point out the
hypothetical existence of the demonstrative 'emphatic' pronoun of the
East-Aramaic type, Jm ][1T(] i 4; elsewhere note the usual forms:
iii 2; X'bUy ]13X, and feminine pX iii 15; personal pronouns: HIX i 4;
Xin ii 11; ]n3X ii 12; pronominal suffixes: ^Tll^S? ii 13; TVb'S ii 3 and
iv 8; ny (e.g., rU^D iii 2); ]y and ]7\^ passim (once without He: P103 ii i);
relative pronoun: 1 before nouns (ii 4 and 6, etc.), ""1 before the finite forms
of verbs (iii 5 and 14, etc.); adverbial N^D, i 3, etc. The causative verbal
^ Compare the alphabets traced by Cross, 3, lines i and 2 (Nash papyrus, approximately
p. 137, fig. I, line 3 (4QEx^, mid third cen- 150 B.C., and ostracon Mur. 72, approximately
tury), lines 6 and 7 (4QQoh* and a manuscript 140 B.C.).
of liturgical prayers, 175-125 B.C.); p. 148, fig.