Habshilin

[volgadon]

I recently got a copy of "Traditions About the Early Life of Abraham" by Tvedtnes, Hauglid and Gee.So far, I'm rather pleased with it, more so than I expected. The book contains a lot of material that I've collected independently, but it is nice to have a single volume that also covers Christian, Muslim and other traditions. I can't say that the book is exhaustive, but it is fairly comprehensive.

Haven't really checked out the cross-references to the Book of Abraham yet, so I'll leave them for a future post, but I think that this book would be useful for identifying how the BoA differs from ancient traditions as well as their similarities. Non-LDS studies would also benefit from the large selection of traditions.

I'll be posting some thoughts as they occur to me.

This thread is about a minor issue in one of the footnotes, nothing earth-shattering, but I hope it will remove a mystery from the text.

On page 176, in Tvedtnes' translation of "The Story of Abraham," (Maaseh Abraham), we encounter a curious word.

"My mother, make me pleasent and tasty habshilin, and I shall bring them to the gods of my father..."

The footnote says, "I have not been able to find this word in any dictionary. The -in is an Aramaic plural, and the root indicates some kind of foodstuff."

Tvedtnes was right, habshilin cannot be found in any dictionary. With good reason, too. The word is actually tabshilin, boiled or stewed food.

A quick glance at Jellinek's "Bet ha-Midrasch" 2:118-19 explained what happened. The first occurence of the word in the text has a typo. The letter het is used instead of the very similiar tav. The remaining occurences of the word in the text are spelled correctly. Jellinek's anthology is notorious for its typographical errors, and the text in question contains many more.

I also consulted Eisenstein's "Otzar Midrashim," as he corrected a lot of those errors when reprinting texts from Jellinek's work. Tabshilin appears throughout.

The reading tabshilin, then, ought to be prefered, as not only is it a known and common word fitting the context perfectly, it is also attested multiple times on the same page of Jellinek.

[Calm]

And the pictures are so cool too.

I am very much looking forward to your discussion about the text. I think I will make a hard copy to stuff into the back of my book for future reference (my memory not being sufficient enough).

If you haven't already, I would write the authors with your correction info, so that it can be included in any further revisions just in case it is missed on the board or forgotten to be passed on by Dan or Bill.

[volgadon]

Thanks, Cal, for the kind words. As I've posted a minor criticism, I think I'll post something positive next, seeing as I really don't want to sound negative or nitpicky.

Writing them with the correction is definitely a good idea. Translating and editing is difficult, errors are bound to creep in somewhere..

The pictures are great! I've always been fond of Persian miniatures, so it is nice to see them, and that gold-embossed cover...

[Robert F. Smith]

And the pictures are so cool too.

I am very much looking forward to your discussion about the text. I think I will make a hard copy to stuff into the back of my book for future reference (my memory not being sufficient enough).

If you haven't already, I would write the authors with your correction info, so that it can be included in any further revisions just in case it is missed on the board or forgotten to be passed on by Dan or Bill.

I sent Tvedtnes a copy of Volgadon's helpful comments.

[Maidservant]

Also in the Book of Jasher it speaks of how Abraham's mother cooked "savory meat", according the English version that I read.

[volgadon]

I sent Tvedtnes a copy of Volgadon's helpful comments.

Thank you, much appreciated.

Also in the Book of Jasher it speaks of how Abraham's mother cooked "savory meat", according the English version that I read.

Quite right, the later Jewish Abrahamic legends are very close to each other. I think that Tvedtnes was probably excersizing extra caution and keeping emmendations to an absolute minimum.