Mnemonic Signs Shared by the Rabbinic Literature and the Masorah

The use of mnemonics in both rabbinic literature and medieval texts has been thoroughly explored in the past.

Those found in both Talmuds are the most studied in the rabbinic literature. The mnemonics signs used in the Masoretic notes of the main medieval masoretic texts (those attributed to Ben Asher) have already been addressed in the last years: the mnemonics used in the Masora of the Aleppo codex have been studied by Prof. Ofer (in Megadim 50 [2009] 171-198), and the Aramaic mnemonic signs found in the masora of the Leningrad codex have been studied and explained by Prof. Marcus (Scribal Wit: Aramaic Mnemonics in the Leningrad Codex [2013]).

Although both fields share techniques for creating mnemonic signs (such as simple words used as catchwords, initial letters of words, Biblical or Talmudic phrases, etc.) they widely differ in the prioritized content to be recorded.

This paper aims to present the study of the two mnemonics signs identified in the midrashic literature and their close links with the Masora.