| 释义 |
‖ Masora(h, Massora(h|məˈsɔərə|
Also Mas(s)oreth |məˈsɔərɛθ|.
[More correctly Masoreth, repr. Heb. māsṓreth, a word occurring in Ezek. xx. 37, where (by those scholars who do not regard the text as corrupt) it is interpreted ‘bond (of the covenant)’, and referred to the root 'sr to bind. In post-biblical Heb. the word became common in the sense of ‘tradition’, being apprehended as from the root msr to deliver, hand down; on this view of its etymology the normal punctuation would be massṓreth, which many modern scholars have adopted, though without ancient authority. The mod.Heb. māsōrāh (whence mod. Latin Masora, F. Massora, Massore, G. Masora, Eng. Masora, Masorah), is said to date only from the 16th c., and (with this vocalization) is an abnormal formation from the root msr.]
The body of traditional information relating to the text of the Hebrew Bible, compiled by Jewish scholars in the tenth and preceding centuries; the collection of critical notes in which this information is preserved. Also occas. used as a collective name for the scholars whose opinions are embodied in the Masorah, and to whom is ascribed the constitution of the present Hebrew text and the addition of the vowel-points, etc.
1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 179 That most profitable Treasure, which is called Masoreth. 1632B. Jonson Magn. Lady i. (1640) 15 She could the Bible in the holy tongue: And reade it without pricks: had all her Masoreth. 1659Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 263 The Masora..was not written all at one time, nor the work of one man, or perfected in one age. 1723S. Mather Vind. Bible 60 These sections of the law are quoted by the Masorah, instead of chapters. 1870F. J. Smith Ewald's Heb. Gram. (ed. 3) 37 Since..the Massôra, or the grammatical doctrine of the schools, could not venture to alter the letters of the text. 1904Athenæum 13 Aug. 205/2 This rather abstruse little treatise will be studied eagerly by specialists in Hebrew grammar and Masorah.
¶ Milton seems (misled by the rendering ‘tradition’) to have supposed the word to be applicable to the exegetical traditions of the Rabbis, by which the severity of the Law was increased.
1643Milton Divorce Introd., Wks. 1851 IV. 11 He who hedg'd in from abolishing, every smallest jot and tittle of precious equity contain'd in that Law, with a more accurate and lasting Masoreth, then either the Synagogue of Ezra, or the Galilean School at Tiberias hath left us. |