Geniza Lab

Judaeo-Arabic literary work, discussing the daughters of Zelafhad.

Calendrical text. Dating: 929–30.

Calendrical text. Dated: 1241 Sel. (929–30 CE). This copy: late 10th/11th c. Part of a longer calendrical work; the passage preserved on this fragment sets out to correct the Christian calendar dates of Lent and Easter for 1241–44 Sel. The 19-year Alexandrian Easter cycle, instituted in the 4th century, synchronizes the lunar months with the Coptic solar years; but the discrepancies from astronomical reality became progressively more pronounced over the centuries (hence the Gregorian reform in the 16th c). The use of the Coptic months in this text locates the author beyond a doubt in Egypt. It is one of the earliest Jewish texts that discusses the Easter computation. Such Jewish texts are attested in the Latin West from the twelfth century onward, and somewhat more common from the 14th-15th c on, but this is early even for the Islamicate Jewish material. It may also be the earliest known attestation of the Seleucid era that can be firmly traced to Egypt. There are earlier instances of the Seleucid calendar from the geniza, but they originated outside Egypt; see Halper 331, dated 1182 Sel. (870/71 CE). The next earliest attestation of the Seleucid era in the geniza is dated to the 1260s Sel. (950s CE). This is a paper bifolio, one of the outer pages of a quire; the texts on the other side are unrelated. (Information from Stern and Vidro, "Tenth-Century Jewish Correction") The date of this text may be significant for another reason: it's possible that Jews were more aware of the functioning of calendar cycles and/or discrepancies between calendars in the wake of the Great Calendar Controversy of 921/22. (MR)

Judaeo-Arabic treasure hunting manual. Needs further examination.

Mathematical word problem in Judaeo-Arabic: you have an 8-measure vessel full of honey, and you have empty 5-measure and 3-measure vessels, and you wish to divide the 8 measures of honey in half. Each side presents a different solution for ending up with 4 measures each in the 8-measure and 5-measure vessels. ASE.

Faded page in calligraphic Hebrew, likely poetry.

Fragment of a bifolium in late Hebrew script, in Hebrew, possibly glosses on the story of Joseph.

Fragment of a bifolium with recipes in Judaeo-Arabic, probably alchemical.

Fragment in Judaeo-Arabic, probably literary.

Late Judaeo-Arabic rendition of the story of Yūsuf.

Very faded text in Hebrew, probably literary.

Pharmacological text including various recipes for drugs mostly based on vegetable ingredients and aimed at curing the digestive system. A page from an Arabic literary work on medical recipes. The first full recipe begins with three dirhams of murda-sang (litharge).

Bifolium filled with Judaeo-Arabic poetry. There is some earlier text from Psalms.

Bifolium from a halakhic treatise.

Mostly Arabic with some Judaeo-Arabic. Drafts of literary text, either philosophical or poetic or both.

Drafts of piyyutim.

Leaf 1: In Hebrew characters, the beginning of the same poem by al-Waʿīẓī/al-Baghīḍī (ليس المقام بدار الذل من شيمي) that appears in BL OR 5565G.40 + T-S NS 224.170. The fragment then continues in Arabic characters and may be the beginning of a letter to "wālidī." Leaf 2, at 180 degrees, contains an account in Judaeo-Arabic and some pen trials. ASE.

Fragment in Aramaic, probably literary, perhaps poetry.

Literary. Poetic epithets of God, in Judaeo-Arabic. The opening basmala is in Arabic script. Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.

Piyyutim.