A Partially Vocalized Hybrid Judaeo-Arabic Glossary-Translation Fragment of Exodus 14.25–15.25; 21.7–30 from the Cairo Genizah

Abstract While Saʿadia’s Tafsīr may be the most well-known Judaeo-Arabic translation of the Bible from the Middle Ages, it belongs to a much wider world of the ‘phenomenon’ of medieval Judaeo-Arabic Bible translation. Alongside Saʿadia’s Tafsīr, numerous fragments from the Cairo Genizah attest to Judaeo-Arabic translations of the Bible from unknown authors. The fragment T-S Ar. 28.170 + 27.60, which contains portions of a Judaeo-Arabic translation of Exodus 14, 15, and 21, is interesting for several reasons. In terms of format and codicology, it transitions between a columnar glossarial text and a more continuous translation (with Hebrew incipits). Linguistically/scribally, it exhibits classical spelling features for consonants and more phonetic ones for vowels. Translationally, it exhibits features characteristic of the Karaite translation tradition, but in its own specific form. Together, these particular characteristics shed light on both the enterprise of medieval Judaeo-Arabic Bible translation and medieval Arabic dialectology more generally.