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ספיקולא

GenR
ספיקולא 〈spyqwlʾ〉 |spequlaʾ|

Grammatical information: noun f

Variant: ספיקולה 〈spyqwlh〉 |spequlah|

Translation: death sentence

Translation equivalent: specula(Latin)

Usage:

Domain: law

Socio-cultural norm: cultural borrowing

Normativity: standard

Meaning type: lit.

חמה חד צייד קאי צייד ציפרין וכד הוה שמע ברת קלא אמרה מן שמיא הוות פשגה ספיקולה1 הוות מיתצדה

1ספיקולה - Ox1: ספיקולא Ox2: ספיקולא

79,6 [II 942: 1]

At the end of this period he [R. Shimʿon] saw a hunter engaged in catching birds. Now whenever he [R. Shimʿon] heard a heavenly voice exclaim from heaven “released!” it escaped; if it exclaimed “death sentence!” it was caught.

= yShev 9 (38d [209]) (-); bShab 33b (-); PesK be-Shalaḥ 11,16 (-); MKoh 10,8 (ספיקלא); MTeh 17,13 (ספיקלא); MachTeh 17,25 (ספיקלא); EstR 3,7 (ספיקלא); Yalq 133 (42b: 15) (ספקולא)

Etymology (borrowing): source language Latin (via Post-Classical Greek), derivation: *specula (nominal derivation f) “death sentence”, from speculator (noun m.) “executioner”, cf. LSJ σπεκουλάτωρ, 1.

Acc. to Sperber the lemma is derived from Lat. speculator “executioner” (not in GenR). Cf. Krauss, LW II 407. Levy III 572: - Gr. σφάκελος = φάκελος “bunch”, fig. “(scourging) rod, order to scourge”, but cf. Fleischer I 442; Jastrow II 1014: - Lat. speculum “dart, javelin”, fig. “to call for judgment, to sentence”.

Bibliography:

Sperber 1984, 131-132.

How to cite: Art. ספיקולא in: Dictionary of Loanwords in Rabbinic Literature. Eds. Susanne Plietzsch, Christina Katsikadeli, Vladislav Slepoy, Thomas Klampfl. https://lrl.acdh.oeaw.ac.at/spequla.html. 2024.