The Hebrew Word hmmd and the Root d-m-m I 379 association with words that denote sound or speech. There are, in fact, precedents for words that denote silence modifying verbs of speech in post-biblical Hebrew and Aramaic (12). For example, in rabbinic Hebrew, one finds yaçjb wtwa μyrmwa whyç wnyqth “they enacted that it should be recited quietly” and the same phrase in Aramaic yaçjb hl yrma (13). Other examples are found in the Aramaic of Targum Jonathan (Isa 26,16) and in Syriac literature (14). The passage from the Targum to Isa 26,16, translates the Hebrew noun çjl. yçjwb ˚tyrwa ˆpla ˆyplm wwh . . . . . . they taught the instruction of your law quietly (15). In addition, Targum Jonathan also attests similar usages in the passages that translate 1 Kgs 19,12 and Ezek 24,17. The Hebrew to these passages includes hmmd and μd, respectively, but these passages are presented not in order to illustrate how the biblical passages were rendered in the various versions, rather in order to demonstrate how a word or root associated with silence can modify a word associated with sound or speech. (12) This is not related to the cases where “silence” seems to be a speechless- ness, as in Ps 32,3: “While I kept silence (ytçrjh), my body wasted away through my groaning all day long” (NRSV). (13) These passages from the Babylonian Talmud (b. Pes 56a) recount the confusion over whether or not one should conclude the shema‘ with a particular blessing attributed to Jacob, but which Moses did not record, Hebrew-English Edition of the Babylonian Talmud (trans. H. FREEDMAN) (London 1967) V, 279. It is clear that the root h≥-π-y denotes silence in Hebrew and Aramaic from other passages in the Talmuds: b. Hag 12b and 13b (Hebrew) and y. AZ 39b (13) (Aramaic). The phrase yaçjb “quietly” is also found in Tannaitic Hebrew, though not in the context of speech or sound (e.g., t. Sheq 2,16). A similar expression, hqytçb, with the same meaning, is also found more frequently, though again not in the context of speech (e.g., m. Zev 2,4). (14) In Syriac the word tY)Yl$ is translated by J.P. SMITH, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary. Founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith (Oxford 1903) s.v.: “silent, quiet; quietly, noiselessly, in a low voice”. Other examples from Syriac include “quiet, tearless weeping” )(Md )Ld )YL$ )YKB (cited SMITH, Thesaurus Syriacus, sub )L$). Similarly, )YL$B is used in the Peshitta to indicate tranquille (Lev 25,18, 19, 2 Sam 3,27, Isa 8,6), in quiete (Job 4;13; Ps 4,10) (ibid.). Also cited in the Thesaurus Syriacus (sub )LYhB) is the phrase )LYh8B )LQ8 defined as “soni quieti h. e. submissi”, i.e., “quiet, gentle sounds” (quoted from Ephrem’s Hymns on the Heresies, no. 40). (15) The Aramaic text is taken from A. SPERBER, The Bible in Aramaic. Based on Old Manuscripts and Printed Texts (Leiden 1962) III, 50.