שני עניינים לקסיקליים בלשון השטרות והאגרות ממדבר יהודה

This article investigates two phenomena in Judean Hebrew and Aramaic, both of which concern not only the Judean corpora but also more profound questions of lexicography, dialectology, realia, and language contact.
a. The semantic לקח of taking and receiving (and buying) — לקח was partially replaced by other verbs (נשא, נטל, and קיבל in Hebrew, נסב and נשא in Aramaic), and a semantic dissimilation evolved between קנה ‘acquire’ and לקח/זבן ‘buy’ (Hebrew/Aramaic). Judean Hebrew exhibits significant resemblance to Rabbinic Hebrew on the one hand and the influence of Aramaic legal formulae on the other.
b. The verb עימר/עמר (Hebrew/Aramaic) in the letters – a survey of the various interpretations suggested for this verb leads to the conclusion that the most plausible is ‘gather’ or ‘gather and prepare’.