Exploring Etymology and Language Contact Through Digital Lexicographical Encoding: The Dictionary of Loanwords in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah (DLGenR)

Abstract

This paper aims at demonstrating the advantages of the research on predominantly Greek loanwords in the Rabbinic literature, as employed in the Digital Dictionary of Loanwords in the Midrash Genesis Rabbah (DLGenR). This line of research can contribute to further elucidating a number of issues concerning language usage in the cultural context of Graeco-Roman Palestine and relevant lexicographical practiceto the benefit not only of Rabbinic studies but also of linguistics and historical disciplines. In particular, the present survey explores the etymological criteria which should be fulfilled by a historical dictionary specialized in borrowings and attempts to provide a maximal inventory of their deep encoding in electronic dictionaries (according to TEI Lex-0).