Hebrew–Aramaic Dictionary with Targum Verses: the Shortest Road From the Hebrew You Know to the Aramaic You Read
Targum Onkelos is the first Aramaic textbook ever written: the same content in two languages, line beside line. Set the Hebrew verse against its Aramaic rendering and the Aramaic word is no longer memorised — it is decoded out of what you already understand. From there the same vocabulary carries you into the language of the Talmud itself.
Why learn Aramaic from the Targum first
A student who meets a new Aramaic word on the page of Talmud is in a hard position: no context, no parallel, no way to test a guess. In the Targum the situation is reversed — the Hebrew verse stands in front of you and the Aramaic is its mirror image. Every word gets an exact counterpart without a dictionary at all.
So this page works in two directions at once: a table that moves from the Hebrew word to the Aramaic term the Gemara actually uses, and beside it Targum verses where you can watch that same Aramaic operate inside a whole sentence. From there the links continue to the verse in our Tanakh reader, to the entry in the dictionary, and to the sugya itself.
Hebrew–Aramaic dictionary: from the Hebrew word to the Aramaic of the Targum
First column — the Hebrew word or concept. Second column — the Aramaic that translates it. Third column — where it comes back in Talmud study.
| Hebrew | Aramaic | Where it returns |
|---|---|---|
| אֶרֶץ — eretz (land) | אַרְעָא — ar'a | From the Targum straight into the Gemara — one root in both languages (Genesis 1) |
| שָׁמַיִם — shamayim (heaven) | שְׁמַיָּא — shemaya | Shows the Aramaic definite ending: a final alef instead of the Hebrew article (Genesis 1) |
| בְּרֵאשִׁית — bereshit (in the beginning) | בְּקַדְמִין — bekadmin | A time expression that returns in the sugya as me'ikara, 'originally' (Genesis 1) |
| מְדַבֵּר — medaber (speaks) | מְמַלֵּל — memalel | The central verb of speech, frequent in Talmudic Aramaic too (Genesis 2) |
| אִישׁ — ish (man) | גַּבְרָא — gavra | One of the most common nouns in the entire Talmud (Bava Metzia 2a) |
| אֶחָד — echad (one) | חַד — chad | Both the numeral and 'one of them' in the language of the sugya (Deuteronomy 6) |
| אַיֵּה — ayeh (where) | אָן — an | The interrogative behind the Talmudic heicha, 'where' (Genesis 4) |
| אָחִיךָ — achicha (your brother) | אֲחוּךְ — achuch | The Aramaic possessive suffix: a final kaf carries 'your' (Genesis 4) |
| עֵדוּת — edut (testimony) | סָהֲדוּתָא — sahaduta | Aramaic written inside the Torah itself, and the root behind sahadei in the laws of witnesses (Genesis 31) |
| עַכְשָׁו — achshav (now) | כְּעַן — ke'an | A time word; Babylonian Aramaic fills the same slot with hashta (Genesis 45) |
Targum verses: Hebrew beside Aramaic, line beside line
Each verse is given with the Aramaic of Targum Onkelos, an English rendering, words linked to their dictionary entries, and a link to the verse itself in our Tanakh reader.
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
בְּקַדְמִין בְּרָא יְיָ אֵת שְׁמַיָּא וְאֵת אַרְעָא
'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' Three words are enough to see the system: shamaya and ar'a carry the Aramaic definite ending, and bekadmin replaces bereshit with a plain word for 'at first'.
- שְׁמַיָּאthe heaven
- אַרְעָאthe earth
- בְּקַדְמִיןin the beginning
וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
וַהֲוָת בְּאָדָם לְרוּחַ מְמַלְּלָא
'And the man became a living soul.' Onkelos renders 'living soul' as a speaking spirit — memalela, from the root of memalel, 'speaks'. The same verb runs through the language of the Talmud.
- מְמַלְּלָאspeaking
- רוּחַspirit
אֵי הֶבֶל אָחִיךָ
אָן הֶבֶל אֲחוּךְ
'Where is Abel your brother?' Two of the most useful pieces of Aramaic grammar in one short question: an as the interrogative 'where', and the final kaf of achuch meaning 'your'.
- אָןwhere
- אֲחוּךְyour brother
וְלָבָן קָרָא לוֹ יְגַר שָׂהֲדוּתָא
וְלָבָן קְרָא לֵיהּ יְגַר סָהֲדוּתָא
'And Laban called it Yegar Sahaduta' — 'the mound of witness', in Aramaic, inside the Hebrew Torah itself. The root s-h-d is the same one behind sahadei in the Talmudic laws of testimony.
- סָהֲדוּתָאtestimony
- לֵיהּto him, to it
הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי
הַעַד כְּעַן אַבָּא קַיָּים
'Is my father still alive?' Ke'an means 'now'; in Babylonian Aramaic the same job is done by hashta. Kayam keeps the Hebrew root intact, which shows how close the two languages really are.
- כְּעַןnow
- אַבָּאfather
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ ה׳ אֶחָד
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְיָ אֱלָהָנָא יְיָ חַד
'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.' Elahana shows the Aramaic plural possessive (-ana, 'our'), and chad is exactly the word you will meet in the Gemara's chad amar, 'one said'.
- חַדone
- אֱלָהָנָאour God
How to use Targum verses as a dictionary
- Step 1
Read the Hebrew verse first
Before you look at the Aramaic, make sure you understand what the verse says. That understanding is what turns the Aramaic into a parallel instead of a riddle.
- Step 2
Line the words up one against one
Go through the Aramaic verse and find the Hebrew counterpart of every word. Wherever the Targum departs from the plain sense, that is where the commentary is hiding.
- Step 3
Extract the recurring rules
A final alef marks the definite article, a final kaf marks 'your', the letter dalet joins clauses. Three rules like these already unlock hundreds of words in the Gemara.
- Step 4
Test the word on the page of Talmud
Open the word in the dictionary and follow it to the sugya where it appears. One verification on a real page is worth ten repetitions.
The Targum is not a substitute for study — it is the tool that makes translation unnecessary
There is a difference between using a translation and leaning on one. A student who sets the verse against the Aramaic and extracts rules from it is building an ability that will hold up on a page with no translation at all. A student who reads only the result stays dependent.
That is why this page is arranged as a work map and not as a list of answers: every verse leads to words, every word to a dictionary entry, and every entry to the sugya where it operates. It is the same Aramaic — only in the Targum it is lit from both sides, while in the Gemara it has to be read.
A good tool is not the one that answers the most questions — it is the one you need to ask less and less.
Frequently asked questions about the Hebrew–Aramaic dictionary and Targum verses
- What is a Hebrew–Aramaic dictionary based on Targum verses?
- A dictionary in which the Aramaic counterpart is not presented as a definition but inside a verse: the Hebrew and the Aramaic side by side, so the meaning is learned from context rather than memorised.
- Is the Aramaic of the Targum the same as the Aramaic of the Talmud?
- Not entirely. Targum Onkelos is written in biblical/Palestinian Aramaic, while the Babylonian Talmud uses Babylonian Aramaic. But the vocabulary and the grammatical rules overlap in most cases, which makes the Targum a comfortable gateway.
- How many verses do I need before it makes a difference?
- A few dozen. After a few dozen verses the recurring rules become visible — definiteness, possession, connecting words — and that is what moves a student from decoding single words to reading whole sentences.
- Where do I continue from here into the Gemara?
- On the Gemara sources page and the theoretical sources page: there the same words appear inside real sugyot, each linked to its dictionary entry and to the folio itself.
Hebrew–Aramaic dictionary — where to continue
Sources in the Gemara
Every folio by tractate, with dictionary and verse links.
Theoretical sources
Tractate, folio, verse and passage — with dictionary links.
Hebrew–Aramaic dictionary
From the Hebrew concept to the term in the sugya.
Aramaic–English dictionary
Targum verses in Hebrew, Aramaic and English.
Translating Aramaic
A step-by-step translation method, tested on the page.
The full dictionary
Two-way search in English, Hebrew and Aramaic.
The Tanakh reader
The verses themselves, with a direct link to each verse.