לופרין
Grammatical information: noun m. pl.
Translation: meaning uncertain
ויוקשן ילד את שבא ואת דדן ובני דדן היו אשורים ולטושים ולאומים. ר' שמואל בר נחמן אמר אפעלגב דאינון מתרגמין ואמרין תגרין ואנפרין1 וראשי אומין כולהם ראשי אומות הם.
1ואנפרין - Vat1: ולו מפרין K V: לופרין Ox1: ולפרין Ox2: ולפדין
61,5 [II 663: 6]
“And Jokshan begot Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim and Leumim” (Gen 25,3). R. Shemuʾel bar Naḥman said: Although they [the meturgamanin in the Synagogues] translate and say: “merchants” [for Asshurim], “traders” [for Letushim] and “heads of peoples” [for Leumim], yet they were all heads of peoples. (cf. Freedman / Simon II 565)
אנפרין
= Yalq 109 [II 500: 16] (ואפרין); Yalq 1 Chr 1 1073 [516c: 52-53] (ולופרין); SekhT (Buber) Ḥayye Sarah 25,3
Different explanations for this difficult word have been suggested, e.g. from Gr. λάφυρον „Beuteaufseher, Häscher“ (Güdemann 1859: 66, AC IV 53a); from Gr. ληπτήρ „Häscher, Scherge“ (Levy II 490a, also Fürst [1890]: 132); corrupted Gr. λογχοφόρος/δορυφόρος „spear-bearer, guardsman, satellite“ (Jastrow II 700 [לופר 〈lwpr〉 |lupar|]). Nachmanides in his commentary on Gen 25,3 adopts the reading לפדין (〈lpdyn〉 |lapidin|, torches). Wiener 1857: 106 and after him Rahmer 1861: 40 explain לופרין as derived from Gr. φύλαρχοι (after metathesis 〈pwl〉 → 〈lwp〉) acc. to Hieronymos (e.g. also MY ad loc.). However, the reading in Yalq (Ms Oxford) ואפרין allows to suggest that לופרין is nothing but a corruption of אנפרין (due to similarity of א and לו in the ashkenazic script). Krauss, LW II 312a seems also to consider לופרין as a corruption.
How to cite: Art. לופרין in: Dictionary of Loanwords in Rabbinic Literature. Eds. . https://lrl.acdh.oeaw.ac.at/luparin.html. 2024.
