ni3:jni-i xspit^s (p. 23, s. v. '(r-^x, ed. niipowski,
1854) ; and by Dunash Ibn-Librat (born about 920, died about 980), in his polemical work against Menachem b.-Saruk's Hebrew Lexicon, who cites, with great ap- probation, Onkelos s rendering of ^"i? 15Ti1 (Gen.xlviii,
16, in-cixa -(Tajiin^n Dibp:ix uj-iib 2::in a::'ini
'list!'' Na'i •'213:1, ed. Filipowski, 1855, p. 57, s. v. 15^''1 i comp. also ibid. p. 61). Those writers alternate- ly quote the Targum by the name of Onkelos, and sim- ply as the Targum (Dliiiri; comp. Menachem, p. 144, £. V. inS; p. 143, s. V. p3B) and as it is paraphrased (l^iain, comp. ibid. p. 19, s. v. btX). The same is the case with Kashi (born in 1010, died in 1105), who.
though he distinctly quotes the Targum of Onkelos (D1?p3li< CIJ^P.) no less than seventeen times in his Comment, on Genesis alone (comp. Comment, on Gen. vi, 6; xiv, 7; xviii, 23; xx, 13, 19; xxii, 2; xxiv, 21; xxxiii, 12; xxxvi, 4; xxxix, 24; xliii. 18; xlix, 9, 10, 11, 17, 24, 27), yet still more frequently cites it sim- ply as the Targum has it (1?3l3~ri3, comp. Comment on Gen. xi, 6; xii, 17; xiii, 11; xiv, G, 14, 17; xv, 2, 11; xvi, 14 ; xvii, 1 ; xix, 15, 18 ; xx, 17 ; xxii, 3 ; xxiv, 64, al.), because everybody knew and believed that it was the Targum of Onkelos. That class of critics, however, who identify Onkelos with Aquila either ascribe to him both the Chaldee and Greek versions, or maintain that the former was made known by some unknown person or persons after the model of the latter, and therefore ob- tained the name Targum Onkelos, which means nothing else than Aquila -Targum, or a Targum done in the manner of Aquila. The second is the more general view, and is defended by the folloAving arguments: 1. The Jerusalem Talmud {Megilla, i, 9) relates : ''K. Chija bar-Abba said, Akilas the Proselyte made a version under the auspices of R. Eliezer and R. Joshua, and they praised him." 2. This version, which is distinctly quoted by the name o{ the Targum of Akilas, the Pros- elyte ("i;*n CP"'p3' C5"''^r), is Greek, and agrees for the most part with the fragments preserved of Aquila's translation. 3. The description given of 03"^"" = Aquila is almost the same as that given of Cl^pIIX: he is a heathen by birth, a native of Pontus, a relative of the emperor Hadrian {Midrash Tanchuma Parsha, C'i-S'-."C),or, as Epiphanius calls \\\m,TrivQtpiciQ of the emperor {De Pond, et ]\[ens. sec. 12) ; became a convert to Judaism and a disciple and friend of R. Gamaliel II, R. Eliezer, R. Joshua, and R. Akiba (Jerome in lesai- am, vii, 14; Jerusalem Kiddushin, i, 1), and made a ver- sion under the auspices of these heads of the Jewish community, which they greatly praised {Jerusalem Megilla, i, 2 ; Jerusalem Kiddushin, i, 2) ; and, 4. It is submitted that, unless the identity of Onkelos and Aki- las be accepted, we must believe that two men were living simultaneously, of reinarkably similar names, both relatives of the reigning emperor, both converts to Judaism, both disciples of K. Eliezer and R. Joshua, and that both translated the Bible under the auspices and with the approbation of these rabbins. These are the principal reasons which Levi, Frankel, Gratz, (ieiger, Jost, Deutsch, and others adduce for the identification of the two names, and for taking Targum Onkelos to denote a Targum made after the manner of Akilas or Aquila, the Greek translator.
The style of the translation of the Pentateuch makes it almost certain that it was written in the first years of the Christian rera ; another evidence, aside from the characteristics of the language, is its simplicity: it is literal, and not overloaded with the legendary explana- tions so common in subsequent Chaldaic paraphrases. It ma\' be remarked, however, that there are some critics of post - biblical literature who pronounce this translation of Scripture ascribed to Onkelos, in its pres- ent shape at least, as late as the 3d and 4th cen- turies, and attribute the authorship to the Babylonian school. Jahn (Hebrew Antiquities') argues that the style does not authorize a later date than the 2d or 3d century. The Christian fathers Origen and Je- rome do not mention this Targum, and therefore also some have preferred to give it a later origin ; but this want of allusion on the part of these fathers may be accounted for by the circumstance that Origen did not know Chaldee, and that Jerome only learned it late in life. The Targum is said to be composed of the verbal teachings of Hillel, Shammai, and Gamaliel the elder. It is more likely, however, that the author availed himself of the paraphrases, either written or verbal, existing in the synagogues at his time, and that he combined and corrected them. The history
ONLY-BEGOTTEN
378
ONQUENIRA
of the origin and growth of Aramaic versions in gen- eral will be treated under Targum.