# Aramaic: וְשִׁנְתֵּ֖הּ נַדַּ֥ת עֲלֹֽוהִי



## zaw

Hi,

Daniel 6:19 says

אֱ֠דַיִן אֲזַ֨ל מַלְכָּ֤א לְהֵֽיכְלֵהּ֙ וּבָ֣ת טְוָ֔ת וְדַחֲוָ֖ן לָא־הַנְעֵ֣ל קָֽדָמֹ֑והִי וְשִׁנְתֵּ֖הּ נַדַּ֥ת עֲלֹֽוהִי׃

Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.

If שִׁנְתֵּ֖הּ means his sleep (because שנה means sleep) and נַדַּ֥ת means fled (because n-d-d means fled), then why is the preposition עֲלֹֽוהִי used? It means upon, not from. Is it possible for the word שנה to mean a year here instead?

Toda raba


----------



## Glasguensis

Prepositions can have a range of meanings. Since there is no doubt that the overall meaning is that he couldn’t sleep, I don’t see how it could be “year”.


----------



## Abaye

In Hebrew we have a similar or identical pattern with expressions like שנתו נדדה עליו and דעתו גסה עליו. The addition of עליו, the equivalent of Aramaic עלוהי, modifies the action to be somewhat reflexive. I guess it's the same in Aramaic, although I don't know if it's an Aramaism in Hebrew, Hebrewism in biblical Aramaic, or independent phenomena.


----------



## Ali Smith

אֱ֠דַיִן אֲזַ֨ל מַלְכָּ֤א לְהֵֽיכְלֵהּ֙ וּבָ֣ת טְוָ֔ת וְדַחֲוָ֖ן לָא־הַנְעֵ֣ל קָֽדָמֹ֑והִי וְשִׁנְתֵּ֖הּ נַדַּ֥ת עֲלֹֽוהִי׃

My translation: Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting and did not bring (lit. 'cause to enter') concubines before himself, and his sleep fled from him (lit. upon him).

שִׁנְתֵּהּ can only be 'his sleep'. If it were 'his year' the first syllable would contain a פתח, i.e. שַׁנְתֵּהּ. In fact, the nun would assimilate to the following letter, giving us שַׁתֵּהּ with a דגש חזק. Cf Pseudo-Jonathan Lev27:18 : עד שתא דיובלא‏ 'until the year of the jubilee'. I have no idea why the nun did not assimilate in שִׁנְתֵּהּ 'his sleep'. Also, one would have expected there not to be a דגש קל in the ת, because the schwa is a medial schwa, i.e. it used to be a vowel. For some reason the Masoretic text exhibits דגש קלs were you would not expect them. See pg. 17 of Rosenthal's _A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic_ (attached).

By the way, נַדַּת could be parsed:

vb. 3f.s. SC G נדד 'to flee'

but it might also be parsed

vb. 3f.s. SC G נוד 'to shake rapidly, quiver (int.)'

וְשִׁנְתֵּ֖הּ נַדַּ֥ת עֲלֹֽוהִי could then be translated 'and his sleep quivered over him', i.e. it kept coming and going. Cf Dan 4:11

קָרֵ֨א בְחַ֜יִל וְכֵ֣ן אָמַ֗ר גֹּ֤דּוּ אִֽילָנָא֙ וְקַצִּ֣צוּ עַנְפֹ֔והִי אַתַּ֥רוּ עָפְיֵ֖הּ וּבַדַּ֣רוּ אִנְבֵּ֑הּ תְּנֻ֤ד חֵֽיוְתָא֙ מִן־תַּחְתֹּ֔והִי וְצִפְּרַיָּ֖א מִן־עַנְפֹֽוהִי׃
(דניאל ד יא)


----------



## Abaye

Ali Smith said:


> but it might also be parsed
> 
> vb. 3f.s. SC G נוד 'to shake rapidly, quiver (int.)'
> 
> וְשִׁנְתֵּ֖הּ נַדַּ֥ת עֲלֹֽוהִי could then be translated 'and his sleep quivered over him', i.e. it kept coming and going. Cf Dan 4:11


We don't have to be creative about the bible, there are many resources like H5075 - nᵊḏaḏ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) where Strong and Gesenius prefer נדד while BDB point to נוד (although not clear to me whether they mention it as a similar root, or suggest it as the root in our Daniel verse).


----------

