Geniza Lab

Small fragment of an account in Western Arabic numerals and what may be Ladino. May be part of CUL Or.1081 2.75.8.

Sermon for Palm Sunday (headed Turjām ʿĪd al-Saʿānīn). In Garshuni (Arabic language in Syriac script). There is a drawing of a box at the bottom of verso. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

A few words in Garshuni (Arabic language in Syriac script): al-r[abb?] (=God) and jamīʿ al-bilād ("all the lands"). Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Small fragment containing a few words in Arabic script, possibly a name. Probably late.

One or two words in cursive Latin script: P Nicolas(?).

Sermon (or at least a literary text) in Garshuni (Arabic language in Syriac script). On recto, mentions Banū Isrāʾīl, on verso quotes John Chrysostom. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

A note in Hebrew in a late hand, "The sum of what this book cost, the writing and the paper and the binding. . ."

Syriac Memro for Palm Sunday. 14 lines, with a catchword at the bottom and the Garshuni heading yuqraʿ turjām ʿīd al-saʿānīn. This was edited by Siam Bhayro. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Sermon in Garshuni (Arabic language in Syriac script). Repeatedly mentions al-ghafrān (forgiveness). There is a line about tears flowing from eyes (l. 5). Mentions the Gospel (injīl) in l. 12. Information in part from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Garshuni sermon (?) and/or supplication to the Virgin Mary. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Syriac pre-Anaphora rite with rubrics in Garshuni. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Sermon in Garshuni. Mentions the flood (al-ṭūfān), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra (...wa-amṭara ʿalayhim al-rabb... wa-kibrīt wa-l-jamr al-hamīm...), and Moses and the sons of Israel. Some sections are repeated. Information in part from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Syriac alphabet exercises and Psalms 1:6–2:3. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Garshuni poem rhymed on -nī (e.g., al-awṭānī, insānī, ikhwānī), each section punctuated by a refrain (qufl). Cf. Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Syriac alphabet exercises and Psalms 8:1a. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Recto: portion of the beginning of a Syriac hymn ‘My bones shall cry out’. This hymn is also found in the Book of Beth Gazo. It belongs to the Qolo ‘The father has written a letter,’ melody no. 2. While the rest of the Syriac fragments at the classmark Or.1081 2.75 are clearly Syriac-Orthodox based on content, this hymn is particularly anti-Nestorian, as it starts, ‘my bones shall cry out from the tomb, “The Virgin gave birth to God”.’ The hymn then goes on to state that ‘if I have any doubt’ about this, may I be thrown into Gehenna with Nestorius’. Verso: alphabetical writing exercise in Syriac, repeating ‘in the name of the Father, the Son and the Living Holy Spirit’. Dating: ca. 16th or 17th century. (Information from CUDL and Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt.")

Small fragment preserving a few words in Ladino.

Two Syriac hymns. These are writing exercises of a pupil. Written on a bifolium. 3b: "The Virgin gave birth to a wonder.” 3f: "The pure and exalted one."

"The text of the Makherzonutho or Proclamation that a deacon chants prior to the reading of the Gospel. . . [from] the Book of Anaphora, the priest's manual rather than the Tekso deacon manual." George Kiraz, "A Young Syriac Pupil in the Cairo Genizah: Or.1081 2.75.30," (Fragment of the Month, August 2018). Described as "Book of Anaphora, pre-Anaphora preparatory rite and Liturgy of the Word (with a Gospel reading from Mt, Ch. 1)" in Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."

Psalm 1:1–2a in Syriac. Information from Kiraz, "Learning Syriac and Garshuni in Early Modern Egypt."