Tîrôš nel Talmud Babilonese: ‘vino’ o ‘mosto’?

Abstract

Among the various terms indicating alcoholic beverages in Biblical Hebrew we find tîrôš, whose etymology and meaning are still uncertain: it is normally translated as ‘must’, but sometimes seems to be used as synonym of Biblical Hebrew yayin or Biblical Aramaic chamrā’, both indicating ‘wine’. This article aims to analyze the attestations of tîrôš within the Babylonian Talmud, in order to understand whether in the Talmud it indicates a drink other than wine or whether it is a synonym of it. Attestations of tîrôš, and Rabbinical exegesis of biblical quotations in which the term appears, clearly testify that in Babylonian Talmud the original meaning of tîrôš has been lost, and it is used as a synonym of the word ‘wine’.