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Diphteria in the Talmud (1)

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05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore
11 Language, communication, libraries and education




 		Keywords
Jews
medicine
Period
No period specified 		Channel
Jewish philosophers and scholars

Text
The Aramaic term in the Babylonian Talmud Git. 69a bšwly is probably a corruption of Akkadian būšānu “diphteria” which affects mouth and nose: ‘if a man is affected by būšānu-disease in his nose and mouth’ (šumma amēlu pâšu u nahīrišu ṣabit). The context of bšwly within tractate Gittin, occurring as it does together with symptoms of the nose and mouth, supports the association with būšānu-disease.

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 69a

Bibliography

Geller 2000, 22Geller, Mark J. “An Akkadian Vademecum in the Babylonian Talmud.” In: S. Kottek and M. Horstmanshoff (eds.). From Athens to Jerusalem. Medicine in Hellenized Jewish Lore and in Early Christian Literature. Rotterdam: Erasmus Publishing 2000, 13-32.

Mark Geller


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000961.php

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