The Role of Aramaic in the Poetry of Samuel the Third

Samuel ben Hoshana, known as Samuel the Third, was a highly intriguing hymnist who lived and worked in Jerusalem around the year 1000. His vast oeuvre of compositions is mostly intended for the Sabbaths of the annual cycle, and includes neologisms and verbal forms based on his extensive knowledge of Aramaic. This is exemplified by two piyyutim discussed in this study, one of which is translated into English for the first time. What stands out are Samuel's lexical inventiveness and linguistic insight into Aramaic, which are at the level of prominent scholars and poets like Saadiah Gaon whose significance for the study of Aramaic is briefly described in the introduction.