The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

226 THE BOOKS OF ENOCH
and the sections of paragraphs: i xxii 3, xxvi 18, 4 i 21. The actual copying
of the text was very careful: there are few scribal errors (cf. i xxvi 16, note)
and few corrections: []in]*'QTa^ and i xxvii 20 and 21.
The orthography is of the traditional type, relatively defective, but not
very regular.
Defective forms: e.g. XDtt^p i xxvi 21; "^niD^p 16; fl2S7 xxvii 21;
and pn^D 4 i 20 and 12. Too full, on the other hand: ]*'''*?DnS7 i xxvii 11,
and especially a superfluous Aleph at the end of a word which ends in a vowel
(see the introduction to En^): KIH 4 i 17 (cf. ]imi2 4 ii 3) and a phonetic
spelling, an intervocalic -y- becoming in ]''OXp 4 i 19 (as against in
4 iii 19, corresponding to DXT in En 2 ii 27).
The definite article is marked by Aleph, with the exception of n!nS7
4 i 20 (but Sa*1S7 twice in line 15 of the same column) and n3S7 4 iii 21.
The final vowel -a of feminine nouns in the indefinite state, of derived
infinitives, of the 3rd person singular masculine of the perfect, etc., is marked
by He, with the exception of X^H, *he threw', 4 i 12; p i xxvi 20. The
final is spelled with He: participle HTn 4 i 16 and 18. The etymological
Aleph and Sin are retained: KplQlZ? and V^'W 1 xxvi 20; K''K''1B? 4 i n;
XnXD I xxvi 5; yyyj) 4 ii 2 (cf. ^DO in BibUcal Hebrew). In a verbal
reflexive form the dentals are not assimilated: ]T^T\'^ i xxii 2; note in addition
that this is the 3rd person plural feminine of the imperfect.
The system of personal independent pronouns and suffixes is normal,
with the exception of one phonetic form: omission of the consonant -A- in
the suffix of the 3rd person plural masculine in ]Kn>31S7 i xxii i. The
demonstrative pronoun for an object close at hand is ]1, for an object at
a distance NIH. Relative pronoun ''T is used, in conjunctions, before verbs,
etc., T before nouns: ]1DT and ]aT i xxii 6. Worthy of note is the archaic
form in 4 ii 13 and iii 16; it goes back to the actual period of the composition
of this part of the Book of Enoch, towards the middle of the second
century B.C.; see my remarks on Mur 72 {DJD ii, p. 174).
A similar alternation of older and more recent orthography (and pronunciation)
is recorded in the verbal preformatives: causative passive Hophal in
n*?ain of i xxvi i8, and probably in n^'QiriD (infinitive) of xxvii 20, and
likewise in the reflexive forms: [lX12?]nn 4 ii 17 (instead of 1KlDB?n);
inriDnn iii 17. Elsewhere npmX and m3S7K i xxvi 20, DD^^nX 19 and 21,
n^'THN xxvii i and 21.
Finally, a doubtful attestation of the adverbial afformative -dyit
n*'[?D''pn] of 4 ii 21 should be pointed out.
in