The Babylonian Aramaic in Tractate Karetot according to MS Oxford

This article describes the Aramaic of Tractate Karetot of the Babylonian Talmud according to MS Oxford Bodl. heb. b. 1. Tractate Karetot is one of the tractates which exhibit a special kind of Babylonian Aramaic. The first part of the article contains a description of this kind of Aramaic, with an attempt to define its unique features and their origin. MS Oxford Bodl. heb. b. 1 is the oldest dated manuscript of the Babylonian Talmud (BT) to have reached us. The second part of the article describes the features found in this manuscript which are different from the type of Aramaic known from the printed editions of the Babylonian Talmud. This is the first comprehensive description of a manuscript of the Babylonian Talmud outside the Yemenite manuscripts.