ARABIC-L: LING: Maimonides response

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 13 Jan 1999
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: Maimonides response

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1)
Date: 13 Jan 1999
From: Michael Fishbein <FISHBEIN at HUMnet.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Maimonides response

The solution is easier and involves no implications about thermophysics!
One should read, "li'anna al-Ta at aama hunaaka aqallu Haraaratan, wa laysa
yaTbakhu ma ramaa (or rumiya) fiihi" -- i.e., "because the food there is
less hot (lit. less in respect to heat, a tamyiiz construction) and does
not cook what he has put (or what has been put) into it."

I would render the entire passage as follows, "So it has been forbidden
to put seasonings into cooking vessels while [the food] is cooking,
because that is cooking [which is forbidden on the sabbath], but if one
puts [the seasonings] into the serving dish, even if [the food] is
boiling, one may put [the seasoning] into it [viz. the food], because
the food there [in the serving dish] is less hot and does not cook what
has been put into it."

Or perhaps the implied subject of yaTbakhu is the person, in which case
one might render, and he [the person who puts the seasonings into the
serving dish] is not cooking what he has put into it [viz. the dish].

I hope this helps.
********************
Michael Fishbein
Dept. of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1511

(310) 206-2229 (office, 389A Kinsey Hall))
(310) 206-6456 (fax)
fishbein at humnet.ucla.edu
********************

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End of Arabic-L: 13 Jan 1999