An Attempt to Date
the Torah, the Talmud, and the Pentateuch
G.D.O'Bradovich III
July, 2015
TORAH
Forms:
Also Sepher Torah; pl. Sifrei Torah.
Etymology:
< Hebrew sēper tōrā book of (the) Law; compare Torah n.
1650 E. Chilmead tr. L. Modena Hist. Rites of Jews x. 29
And there are in this Ark, or Chest, sometimes Two, sometimes Four..of these Books: and they are called..Sepher torah, The Book of the Law.
1893 I. Zangwill Ghetto Trag. 9
The Sepher Torah is to the Jew at once the most precious and the most sacred of possessions.
Forms:
Also Simchas, Simchath, Simhat, and hyphened.
Etymology:
< Hebrew śimḥat tōrā < śimḥat , construct case of śimḥa simchah n. + tōrā Torah n.
The final day of the festival of Succoth, on which the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah reaches its completion.
1891 M. Friedländer Jewish Relig. 480
Twice a year we have special occasion for the fulfilment of this duty, viz., onSimchath-torah and on the Seder-evening.
Etymology:
Hebrew, ‘study of the (Jewish) Law’; compare Talmud n., Torah n.
The study of the Jewish Law. Also freq. used attrib. and absol. to designate a school run by the community for the instruction of children in the Jewish religion (see also quot. 1962). Cf. chedar n.
1844 Jewish Chron. 18 Oct. 7/1
Mr. L. A. Green..received the rudiments of his education at the ‘Talmud Torah School’, Bell Lane, Spitalfields.
1881 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 686/2
Besides the schools of the Alliance, there are 2287 pupils in the wretched Talmud Torah schools.
Forms: 15, 18 thora, 16 tora, 16, 18 thorah, 18 torah.
Etymology:
Hebrew tōrāh ‘direction, instruction, doctrine, law’, < yārāh ‘to throw’, in Hiphil ‘to show, direct, instruct’.
The teaching or instruction, and judicial decisions, given by the ancient Hebrew priests as a revelation of the divine will; the Mosaic or Jewish law; hence, a name for the five books of the law, the Pentateuch.
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. i. i. sig. A.v/2,
The lawe of Moses, which is in deede the Lawe of God, & is moste properly called Thora, as it were the guide, and rule of faith.
1842 A. A. Bonar & R. M. McCheyne Narr. Mission to Jews (1843) iv. 215
The [Samaritan] priest agreed to shew us the copy of the Torah, or five books of Moses..so famed for its antiquity.
1875 M. Arnold God & Bible iv. 188
Thus the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, stood alone as the ‘Thora’.
1890 P. H. Hunter After Exile xiv. 273
The word Torah..signifies doctrine, instruction. This wider sense is lost in the usual translation by νομος or law.
Attrib. and Comb., as Torah scroll; esp. denoting ornaments or accoutrements of the parchment scrolls of the Torah, as Torah breastplate, Torah crown, Torah curtain, Torah finial, Torah mantle, Torah pointer, Torah wrapper.
No citations before the year 1900.
The following citations are courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary. Secondary sources are in red and citations after the 1900 are omitted.
TALMUD
Forms:
Also 15 Thalmood, 15–17 Thalmud.
Etymology:
< late Hebrew talˈmūd instruction (c130 a.d.),
< lāˈmad to instruct, teach. So medieval Latin, French, German, etc. talmud.
From its primary sense of ‘teaching, instruction, learning’, the word was applied to the teaching or instruction contained in a biblical text, and to the body of traditional learning possessed by a particular Rabbi; but it came to be applied distinctively to the discussion, explanation, and illustration of the body of traditional law contained in the Mishnah, and so to the concrete collection of this teaching.
In the wide sense, The body of Jewish civil and ceremonial traditionary law, consisting of the Mishnah n. or binding precepts of the elders, additional to and developed from the Pentateuch, and the later Gemara n. or commentary upon these, forming a complement, explanatory, illustrative, and discursive, to the Mishnah. The term was originally applied to the Gemara, of which two recensions exist, known respectively as the Jerusalem (or Palestinian) and the Babylonian Talmud; to the latter of which the name is in strictest use confined.The precepts of the Mishnah were collected and codified about 200 a.d.; the redaction of the Jerusalem Talmud had reached almost its present form by 408 a.d.; that of the Babylonian Talmud extended from 400 to 500 a.d.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 679/2
As the Iewes had set vp a boke of their Talmud to destroye the sense of the scripture.
1579 G. Gilpin tr. P. van Marnix van Sant Aldegonde Bee Hiue of Romishe Church i. xii. f. 71v,
The Iewes Rabbines..with their Caballa, & with their Thalmood.
1636 J. Weemes Treat. Degenerate Sons 349
They say that the text of the Scriptures is like water, and Mishna like wine, and the Talmud like spiced wine... So they compare the Law to salt, Mishna to pepper, and the Talmud to spices.
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. v. vii. sig. Ll5,
He must devour the tedious and voluminous Rhapsodies that make up the Talmud, in many of which he can scarce learn any thing but the Art of saying nothing in a multitude of words.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
'Tis the Thalmud of Babylon that is usually read, and that is most consulted among the Jews; so that when they say simply the Thalmud, they always mean this.
1867 Deutsch in Q. Rev. Oct.
Between the rugged boulders of the law which bestrew the pass of the Talmud there grow the blue flowers of romance and poetry, in the most catholic and Eastern sense.
attrib.
1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto I. 123
Mr. Moggid, you're a saint and a Talmud sage.
Also 15 Thalmood, 15–17 Thalmud.
Etymology:
< late Hebrew talˈmūd instruction (c130 a.d.),
< lāˈmad to instruct, teach. So medieval Latin, French, German, etc. talmud.
From its primary sense of ‘teaching, instruction, learning’, the word was applied to the teaching or instruction contained in a biblical text, and to the body of traditional learning possessed by a particular Rabbi; but it came to be applied distinctively to the discussion, explanation, and illustration of the body of traditional law contained in the Mishnah, and so to the concrete collection of this teaching.
In the wide sense, The body of Jewish civil and ceremonial traditionary law, consisting of the Mishnah n. or binding precepts of the elders, additional to and developed from the Pentateuch, and the later Gemara n. or commentary upon these, forming a complement, explanatory, illustrative, and discursive, to the Mishnah. The term was originally applied to the Gemara, of which two recensions exist, known respectively as the Jerusalem (or Palestinian) and the Babylonian Talmud; to the latter of which the name is in strictest use confined.The precepts of the Mishnah were collected and codified about 200 a.d.; the redaction of the Jerusalem Talmud had reached almost its present form by 408 a.d.; that of the Babylonian Talmud extended from 400 to 500 a.d.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 679/2
As the Iewes had set vp a boke of their Talmud to destroye the sense of the scripture.
1579 G. Gilpin tr. P. van Marnix van Sant Aldegonde Bee Hiue of Romishe Church i. xii. f. 71v,
The Iewes Rabbines..with their Caballa, & with their Thalmood.
1636 J. Weemes Treat. Degenerate Sons 349
They say that the text of the Scriptures is like water, and Mishna like wine, and the Talmud like spiced wine... So they compare the Law to salt, Mishna to pepper, and the Talmud to spices.
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. v. vii. sig. Ll5,
He must devour the tedious and voluminous Rhapsodies that make up the Talmud, in many of which he can scarce learn any thing but the Art of saying nothing in a multitude of words.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),
'Tis the Thalmud of Babylon that is usually read, and that is most consulted among the Jews; so that when they say simply the Thalmud, they always mean this.
1867 Deutsch in Q. Rev. Oct.
Between the rugged boulders of the law which bestrew the pass of the Talmud there grow the blue flowers of romance and poetry, in the most catholic and Eastern sense.
attrib.
1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto I. 123
Mr. Moggid, you're a saint and a Talmud sage.
PENTATEUCH
Forms:
α. lME Pentacheuke (transmission error), lME Pentateuchon, lME Pentatewke, lME Pentatheuke, lME Penteteuke, 15Pentateuke, 15 Penthatheuke, 16– Pentateuch.
β. 15 Pentatychon.
Etymology:
< Anglo-Norman pentateuke (14th cent. or earlier as pentatenke ) and Middle French Penthateucon (c1430 in the source translated in quot. a1500 at sense 1; French Pentateuque ) and its etymon post-classical Latin pentateuchus (masculine), pentateuchum(neuter) the first five books of the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian)
< Hellenistic Greek πεντάτευχος , feminine (2nd cent. in Ptolemaeus Gnosticus Epistula ad Floram, cited in Epiphanius adv. Haereses 33. 4), use as noun (short forπεντάτευχος βίβλος ) of πεντάτευχος (adjective) of five books
< ancient Greek πεντα- penta- comb. form + τεῦχος implement, vessel, in Hellenistic Greek also book (see -teuch comb. form). Compare Spanish Pentateuco (1275 as penthateuco), Italian pentateuco (a1565).
In β forms perhaps after post-classical Latin diptycha (plural) diptych n., although this is etymologically unrelated.
1. The first five books of the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), taken together as a group.The books of the Pentateuch are traditionally ascribed to Moses, and hence are sometimes called ‘the five books of Moses’.
a1425 (▸a1382) Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) 68
Hider to Moyses, hider to Pentateuchon.
a1450 (▸c1405) J. Purvey On Transl. Bible (Trin. Cambr.) 177 (MED),
Wane he haþ rehersiþd al þe bookis of þe Bibel, þane he seiþ in þe prolog of Penteteuke [v.r. Pentatewke]: ‘I preie þe dere broþer.’
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 23 (MED),
She bar..an olde booke..the Pentacheuke [v.r.Pentatheuke] of Moyses, which was the figure and the shadowe of the feithe.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 343/2
That after these bokes well learned, we bee mete for Tyndales pentateukes, and Tyndales testamente.
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 15
Long before his time was the Pentateuch turned into Greek.
1671 Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 90
All knowledge is not couch't in Moses Law, The Pentateuch or what the Prophets wrote.
1724 A. Collins Disc. Grounds Christian Relig. 139
It was indifferent to him whether you said Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, or Esdras re'established it.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature (1777) III. iii. 273
The Israelite had nothing more to do than open his Pentateuch [printedPeutateuch].
1818 G. S. Faber Horæ Mosaicæ (ed. 2) I. 350
It is found impossible to ascribe the uninterpolated Pentateuch to any author save Moses.
1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle Lands viii. 210
They were shown the oldest known copy of the Pentateuch.
2. In extended use. Something comprising five parts; esp. a volume consisting of five books or sections. Now rare.
1656 T. Blount Glossographia
Pentateuch, a volume of five Books.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Pentateuch,..also any volume consisting of five books.
1842 R. Dunglison Med. Lexicon (ed. 3) (at cited word),
By analogy, some surgeons have given the name Surgical Pentateuchto the division of external diseases into five classes:—wounds, ulcers, tumours, luxations, and fractures.
1891 W. Blades (title)
The Pentateuch of Printing, with a Chapter on Judges.
α. lME Pentacheuke (transmission error), lME Pentateuchon, lME Pentatewke, lME Pentatheuke, lME Penteteuke, 15Pentateuke, 15 Penthatheuke, 16– Pentateuch.
β. 15 Pentatychon.
Etymology:
< Anglo-Norman pentateuke (14th cent. or earlier as pentatenke ) and Middle French Penthateucon (c1430 in the source translated in quot. a1500 at sense 1; French Pentateuque ) and its etymon post-classical Latin pentateuchus (masculine), pentateuchum(neuter) the first five books of the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures (early 3rd cent. in Tertullian)
< Hellenistic Greek πεντάτευχος , feminine (2nd cent. in Ptolemaeus Gnosticus Epistula ad Floram, cited in Epiphanius adv. Haereses 33. 4), use as noun (short forπεντάτευχος βίβλος ) of πεντάτευχος (adjective) of five books
< ancient Greek πεντα- penta- comb. form + τεῦχος implement, vessel, in Hellenistic Greek also book (see -teuch comb. form). Compare Spanish Pentateuco (1275 as penthateuco), Italian pentateuco (a1565).
In β forms perhaps after post-classical Latin diptycha (plural) diptych n., although this is etymologically unrelated.
1. The first five books of the Old Testament and Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), taken together as a group.The books of the Pentateuch are traditionally ascribed to Moses, and hence are sometimes called ‘the five books of Moses’.
a1425 (▸a1382) Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) 68
Hider to Moyses, hider to Pentateuchon.
a1450 (▸c1405) J. Purvey On Transl. Bible (Trin. Cambr.) 177 (MED),
Wane he haþ rehersiþd al þe bookis of þe Bibel, þane he seiþ in þe prolog of Penteteuke [v.r. Pentatewke]: ‘I preie þe dere broþer.’
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 23 (MED),
She bar..an olde booke..the Pentacheuke [v.r.Pentatheuke] of Moyses, which was the figure and the shadowe of the feithe.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 343/2
That after these bokes well learned, we bee mete for Tyndales pentateukes, and Tyndales testamente.
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 15
Long before his time was the Pentateuch turned into Greek.
1671 Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 90
All knowledge is not couch't in Moses Law, The Pentateuch or what the Prophets wrote.
1724 A. Collins Disc. Grounds Christian Relig. 139
It was indifferent to him whether you said Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, or Esdras re'established it.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature (1777) III. iii. 273
The Israelite had nothing more to do than open his Pentateuch [printedPeutateuch].
1818 G. S. Faber Horæ Mosaicæ (ed. 2) I. 350
It is found impossible to ascribe the uninterpolated Pentateuch to any author save Moses.
1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle Lands viii. 210
They were shown the oldest known copy of the Pentateuch.
2. In extended use. Something comprising five parts; esp. a volume consisting of five books or sections. Now rare.
1656 T. Blount Glossographia
Pentateuch, a volume of five Books.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Pentateuch,..also any volume consisting of five books.
1842 R. Dunglison Med. Lexicon (ed. 3) (at cited word),
By analogy, some surgeons have given the name Surgical Pentateuchto the division of external diseases into five classes:—wounds, ulcers, tumours, luxations, and fractures.
1891 W. Blades (title)
The Pentateuch of Printing, with a Chapter on Judges.
MISHNAH
Forms:
16 Mischnaios (plural), 16 Misna, 16–17 19– Mischna, 16– Mishna, 18– Mishnah. Also with capital initial.
Etymology:
< post-biblical Hebrew mišnāh teaching or learning by repetition (in biblical Hebrew ‘repetition, instruction’), something taught in this way, oral law (plural mišnāyōṯ) < šānāh to teach or learn oral tradition (in biblical Hebrew ‘to repeat’).
The collection of precepts and customs which forms the basis of the Talmud and is held to embody the oral tradition of Jewish law. Also: a paragraph of this.
1610 T. Fitzherbert 2nd Pt. Treat. Policy & Relig. xiv. 191
The first collection was made by Iudas, the sonne of Simon,..and this was called Misna.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 169
The Mischnaios, and Gemara made vp the whole Talmud.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 170
Their Mischna or Talmud text.
1636 J. Weemes Treat. Degenerate Sons 349
They say that the text of the Scriptures is like water, and Mishna like wine, and the Talmud like spiced wine.
1723 S. Mather Vindic. Holy Bible v. iii. 300
The Jews affirm that the most remarkable copies of the Mischna, written in the second age after Christ, were marked with points.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature (1777) III. iv. 467
Drawn from the Fathers, the Councils, or the Mishna.
1867 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 281/1, 524
chapters (Perakim), which contain the single Mishnas.
1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 503/2
A mishnah, if genuine, never begins with a passage of the Pentateuch.
16 Mischnaios (plural), 16 Misna, 16–17 19– Mischna, 16– Mishna, 18– Mishnah. Also with capital initial.
Etymology:
< post-biblical Hebrew mišnāh teaching or learning by repetition (in biblical Hebrew ‘repetition, instruction’), something taught in this way, oral law (plural mišnāyōṯ) < šānāh to teach or learn oral tradition (in biblical Hebrew ‘to repeat’).
The collection of precepts and customs which forms the basis of the Talmud and is held to embody the oral tradition of Jewish law. Also: a paragraph of this.
1610 T. Fitzherbert 2nd Pt. Treat. Policy & Relig. xiv. 191
The first collection was made by Iudas, the sonne of Simon,..and this was called Misna.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 169
The Mischnaios, and Gemara made vp the whole Talmud.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 170
Their Mischna or Talmud text.
1636 J. Weemes Treat. Degenerate Sons 349
They say that the text of the Scriptures is like water, and Mishna like wine, and the Talmud like spiced wine.
1723 S. Mather Vindic. Holy Bible v. iii. 300
The Jews affirm that the most remarkable copies of the Mischna, written in the second age after Christ, were marked with points.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature (1777) III. iv. 467
Drawn from the Fathers, the Councils, or the Mishna.
1867 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 281/1, 524
chapters (Perakim), which contain the single Mishnas.
1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 503/2
A mishnah, if genuine, never begins with a passage of the Pentateuch.
CITATIONS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
The previous citations in chronological order.
1425a (▸a1382) (1850) ...hider to Pentateuchon.
1450a (▸c1405) (MED), ... þe prolog of Penteteuke [v.r. Pentatewke]...
1500a (1974) (MED), ...the Pentacheuke [v.r.Pentatheuke] ...
1532 ... for Tyndales pentateukes, and Tyndales testamente.
1532 ... their Talmud to destroye the sense of the scripture.
1577 ... called Thora, as it were the guide...
1579 ... i. xii. f. 71v, ...their Thalmood.
1610 ,..and this was called Misna.
1613 The Mischnaios, and Gemara made vp the whole Talmud.
1613 Their Mischna or Talmud text.
1614 Long before his time was the Pentateuch turned into Greek.
1636 ...and Mishna like wine, and the Talmud like spiced wine.
1636 ... the Law to salt, Mishna ... and the Talmud to spices.
1650 ...: and they are called..Sepher torah, ...
1656 Pentateuch, a volume of five Books.
1658 Pentateuch,..also any volume consisting of five books.
1665 , ... make up the Talmud, in many of which he can scarce learn ...
1671 All knowledge is not couch't in Moses Law, The Pentateuch ...
1723 ... the Mischna, written in the second age after Christ,...
1724 ... of the Pentateuch, or Esdras re'established it.
1728 'Tis the Thalmud of Babylon ... simply the Thalmud...
1774a (1777) ... than open his Pentateuch [printed Peutateuch].
1774a (1777) Drawn from the Fathers, the Councils, or the Mishna.
1818 ...the uninterpolated Pentateuch to any author save Moses.
1842 (1843) ... the Torah, or five books of Moses...
1842 ...n the name Surgical Pentateuchto the division ...
1844 ...t the ‘Talmud Torah School’, Bell Lane, Spitalfields.
1867 chapters (Perakim), which contain the single Mishnas.
1867 .... of the Talmud there grow the blue flowers of romance and poetry...
1867 They were shown the oldest known copy of the Pentateuch.
1875 Thus the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, ... as the ‘Thora’.
1881 ... the wretched Talmud Torah schools.
1883 A mishnah, if genuine, never begins with a passage of the Pentateuch.
1890 The word Torah..signifies doctrine, instruction. ...
1891 ... on Simchath-torah and on the Seder-evening.
1891 The Pentateuch of Printing, with a Chapter on Judges.
1892 Mr. Moggid, you're a saint and a Talmud sage.
1893 The Sepher Torah is to the Jew at once the most precious ...
1425a (▸a1382) (1850) ...hider to Pentateuchon.
1450a (▸c1405) (MED), ... þe prolog of Penteteuke [v.r. Pentatewke]...
1500a (1974) (MED), ...the Pentacheuke [v.r.Pentatheuke] ...
1532 ... for Tyndales pentateukes, and Tyndales testamente.
1532 ... their Talmud to destroye the sense of the scripture.
1577 ... called Thora, as it were the guide...
1579 ... i. xii. f. 71v, ...their Thalmood.
1610 ,..and this was called Misna.
1613 The Mischnaios, and Gemara made vp the whole Talmud.
1613 Their Mischna or Talmud text.
1614 Long before his time was the Pentateuch turned into Greek.
1636 ...and Mishna like wine, and the Talmud like spiced wine.
1636 ... the Law to salt, Mishna ... and the Talmud to spices.
1650 ...: and they are called..Sepher torah, ...
1656 Pentateuch, a volume of five Books.
1658 Pentateuch,..also any volume consisting of five books.
1665 , ... make up the Talmud, in many of which he can scarce learn ...
1671 All knowledge is not couch't in Moses Law, The Pentateuch ...
1723 ... the Mischna, written in the second age after Christ,...
1724 ... of the Pentateuch, or Esdras re'established it.
1728 'Tis the Thalmud of Babylon ... simply the Thalmud...
1774a (1777) ... than open his Pentateuch [printed Peutateuch].
1774a (1777) Drawn from the Fathers, the Councils, or the Mishna.
1818 ...the uninterpolated Pentateuch to any author save Moses.
1842 (1843) ... the Torah, or five books of Moses...
1842 ...n the name Surgical Pentateuchto the division ...
1844 ...t the ‘Talmud Torah School’, Bell Lane, Spitalfields.
1867 chapters (Perakim), which contain the single Mishnas.
1867 .... of the Talmud there grow the blue flowers of romance and poetry...
1867 They were shown the oldest known copy of the Pentateuch.
1875 Thus the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, ... as the ‘Thora’.
1881 ... the wretched Talmud Torah schools.
1883 A mishnah, if genuine, never begins with a passage of the Pentateuch.
1890 The word Torah..signifies doctrine, instruction. ...
1891 ... on Simchath-torah and on the Seder-evening.
1891 The Pentateuch of Printing, with a Chapter on Judges.
1892 Mr. Moggid, you're a saint and a Talmud sage.
1893 The Sepher Torah is to the Jew at once the most precious ...
APPENDIX: THE CABBALA OR KABBALAH
Forms:
Also 15– cabala (16 caballa, 18 kabbala).
Etymology:
< medieval Latin cabbala,
< Rabbinical Hebrew qabbālāh ‘tradition’,
< (the biblical) qbl (in Piel) qibbēl ‘to receive, accept, admit’.
1 a. The name given in post-biblical Hebrew to the oral tradition handed down from Moses to the Rabbis of the Mishnah and the Talmud.
b. Towards the beginning of the thirteenth cent. a.d. applied to the pretended tradition of the mystical interpretation of the Old Testament.
1521 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 332
Cabala..is derived fro man to man by mouth only and not by wrytynge.
1521 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 336
Also theyr Cabala that is to say their secrete erudycyons not wryten in the byble.
1653 H. More Second Lash Alazonomastix (1713) Pref. i,
The Jewish Cabbala is conceived to be a Traditional doctrine or exposition of the Pentateuch, which Moses received from the mouth of God.
1693 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 17 801
The real Cabala they make Two-fold, i.e. The Doctrine of Sephiroth, and the Doctrine of the Four Worlds.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. iii. 280
In the class of traditional theology..we must place the Jewish Cabbala.
2. gen. †a. An unwritten tradition. Obs.
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper i. 47
H[enry] 8. of whom a Cabala or tradition goes, that on his death-bed, he confessed, hee had never spared man in his wrath, nor woman in his lust.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. iv. §4
Though the Jews would fain make the gift of Prophecy to be a kind of Cabala too, and conveyed in a constant succession from one Prophet to another.
1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 36
To bereave us of..all History and Letters..by making the whole Gospel a mere Tradition and old Cabala without certainty, without authority.
b. Mystery, secret or esoteric doctrine or art.
1665 J. Glanvill Scepsis Scientifica Addr. Royal Soc. sig. b,
Branches of a dangerous Cabbala.
1678 J. Norris Coll. Misc. (1699) 59
Nor is it He to whom kind Heaven A secret cabala has given.
1795 E. Burke Let. in Wks. (1842) II. 241
Magisterial rabbins and doctors in the cabala of political science.
1810 Scott Lady of Lake iii. 105
Eager he read whatever tells Of magic, cabala, and spells.
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. II. iv. ii. 226
Visible signs of some native cabbala.
†3. of cabbala with: in the secrets of. Obs.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. iii. 11
Astrologers, which pretend to be of Caballa with the starres.
†4. = cabal n.1 Obs. rare.
1671 H. Stubbe Reply Def. Royal Soc. 13
Though an entire cabala of the R.S. did consult upon this responsory letter.
The Cabbala in chronological order.
1521 (1876) Cabala..is derived fro man to man by mouth only and not by wrytynge.
1521 (1876)Also theyr Cabala that is to say..erudycyons not wryten in the byble.
1641 H[enry] 8. of whom a Cabala or tradition goes,...
1646 Astrologers, ..to be of Caballa with the starres.
1653 (1713) The Jewish Cabbala is conceived to be a...
1662 ... a kind of Cabala too...
1665 Branches of a dangerous Cabbala.
1671 Though an entire cabala of the R.S. did consult ...
1678 (1699) Nor is it He to whom kind Heaven A secret cabala has given.
1693 The real Cabala they .... The Doctrine of Sephiroth...
1693 ... the whole Gospel a .. and old Cabala without certainty...
1795 (1842) Magisterial rabbins and doctors in the cabala of political science.
1810 Eager he read whatever tells Of magic, cabala, and spells.
1839 In the class of ..we must place the Jewish Cabbala.
1851 Visible signs of some native cabbala.
Also 15– cabala (16 caballa, 18 kabbala).
Etymology:
< medieval Latin cabbala,
< Rabbinical Hebrew qabbālāh ‘tradition’,
< (the biblical) qbl (in Piel) qibbēl ‘to receive, accept, admit’.
1 a. The name given in post-biblical Hebrew to the oral tradition handed down from Moses to the Rabbis of the Mishnah and the Talmud.
b. Towards the beginning of the thirteenth cent. a.d. applied to the pretended tradition of the mystical interpretation of the Old Testament.
1521 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 332
Cabala..is derived fro man to man by mouth only and not by wrytynge.
1521 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 336
Also theyr Cabala that is to say their secrete erudycyons not wryten in the byble.
1653 H. More Second Lash Alazonomastix (1713) Pref. i,
The Jewish Cabbala is conceived to be a Traditional doctrine or exposition of the Pentateuch, which Moses received from the mouth of God.
1693 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 17 801
The real Cabala they make Two-fold, i.e. The Doctrine of Sephiroth, and the Doctrine of the Four Worlds.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. iii. 280
In the class of traditional theology..we must place the Jewish Cabbala.
2. gen. †a. An unwritten tradition. Obs.
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper i. 47
H[enry] 8. of whom a Cabala or tradition goes, that on his death-bed, he confessed, hee had never spared man in his wrath, nor woman in his lust.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. iv. §4
Though the Jews would fain make the gift of Prophecy to be a kind of Cabala too, and conveyed in a constant succession from one Prophet to another.
1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 36
To bereave us of..all History and Letters..by making the whole Gospel a mere Tradition and old Cabala without certainty, without authority.
b. Mystery, secret or esoteric doctrine or art.
1665 J. Glanvill Scepsis Scientifica Addr. Royal Soc. sig. b,
Branches of a dangerous Cabbala.
1678 J. Norris Coll. Misc. (1699) 59
Nor is it He to whom kind Heaven A secret cabala has given.
1795 E. Burke Let. in Wks. (1842) II. 241
Magisterial rabbins and doctors in the cabala of political science.
1810 Scott Lady of Lake iii. 105
Eager he read whatever tells Of magic, cabala, and spells.
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. II. iv. ii. 226
Visible signs of some native cabbala.
†3. of cabbala with: in the secrets of. Obs.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. iii. 11
Astrologers, which pretend to be of Caballa with the starres.
†4. = cabal n.1 Obs. rare.
1671 H. Stubbe Reply Def. Royal Soc. 13
Though an entire cabala of the R.S. did consult upon this responsory letter.
The Cabbala in chronological order.
1521 (1876) Cabala..is derived fro man to man by mouth only and not by wrytynge.
1521 (1876)Also theyr Cabala that is to say..erudycyons not wryten in the byble.
1641 H[enry] 8. of whom a Cabala or tradition goes,...
1646 Astrologers, ..to be of Caballa with the starres.
1653 (1713) The Jewish Cabbala is conceived to be a...
1662 ... a kind of Cabala too...
1665 Branches of a dangerous Cabbala.
1671 Though an entire cabala of the R.S. did consult ...
1678 (1699) Nor is it He to whom kind Heaven A secret cabala has given.
1693 The real Cabala they .... The Doctrine of Sephiroth...
1693 ... the whole Gospel a .. and old Cabala without certainty...
1795 (1842) Magisterial rabbins and doctors in the cabala of political science.
1810 Eager he read whatever tells Of magic, cabala, and spells.
1839 In the class of ..we must place the Jewish Cabbala.
1851 Visible signs of some native cabbala.