Professor Geoffrey Khan

Research

Professor Khan’s current research projects in the field of Hebrew include two volumes relating to Karaite texts, an edition of texts on the Tiberian reading tradition of Hebrew (various versions of Hidāyat al-Qāri) and a linguistic analysis of Karaite Hebrew Bible manuscripts in Arabic transcription (Karaite Bible Manuscripts in Arabic Transcription). He has been commissioned by Oxford University Press to write a grammar of Biblical Hebrew based on the Gesenius-Kautzsch Hebrew Grammar. Apart from these specialist studies, he has a general interest in the Hebrew language of all periods. He is currently working as the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (5 volumes, Brill, in progress), which will include approximately 1,000 articles on all periods and aspects of the Hebrew language.

He also has research interests in Aramaic and Arabic. His Aramaic research concentrates on the Neo-Aramaic dialects, especially the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects. His publications include grammars of the dialects of villages of Qaraqosh and Barwar and of the Jewish dialects of Arbel, Sulemaniyya, Ḥalabja, Urmi and Sanandaj. He is currently working on a grammar of the Assyrian Christian dialect of Urmi. Since 2004 he has directed a research team who have created the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic Database, funded by the AHRC (2004–2009), the Newton Trust and the Golden Web Foundation. His Arabic research concentrates on early Arabic documents. He has published collections of Arabic papyri and Arabic Genizah documents. He is currently working on the following projects in this field: a corpus of Arabic documents from Nubia datable to the Fatimid period excavated at Qasr Ibrim by the Egypt Exploration Society and an introductory handbook for the study of early Arabic documents from the Umayyad to Ayyubid periods.

Professor Khan was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1998 and Honorary Fellow of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 2011. He was awarded the Lidzbarski Gold Medal for Semitic philology by the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft in 2004.

He has supervised Ph.D. students in the fields of Hebrew linguistics, Aramaic linguistics, Karaite studies, Judaeo-Arabic texts, and medieval Arabic Bible translations.

Publications

Key publications:

Studies in Semitic Syntax (Oxford University Press, 1988), 252pp.
Karaite Bible Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah (Cambridge University Press, 1990), 186pp.
Arabic Papyri: Selected material from the Khalili Collection (Oxford University Press, 1992), 264pp.
Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge University Press, 1993), 567pp.
Bills, Letters and Deeds. Arabic papyri of the seventh-eleventh centuries (Oxford University Press, 1993), 292pp.
A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic. The dialect of the Jews of Arbel (Brill, Leiden, 1999), 586pp.
The Early Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought: Including a Critical Edition, Translation and Analysis of the Diqduq of Abu Ya`qub Yusuf ibn Nuh (Brill, Leiden, 2000), 581pp.
Early Karaite Grammatical Texts (Scholars Press, Atlanta, 2000), 357pp.
Exegesis and Grammar in Medieval Karaite Texts (ed.), Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement Series 13, Oxford, 2001, 239pp.
The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh, (Brill, Leiden, 2002), 750pp.
The Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought in its Classical Form: A Critical Edition and English Translation of al-Kitab al-Kafi fi al-Lugha al-`Ibraniyya by Abu al-Faraj Harun ibn al-Faraj (Brill, Leiden, 2003). In collaboration with research assistants Maria Angeles Gallego and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, 1097pp.
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sulemaniyya and Halabja, (Brill, Leiden, 2004), 619pp.
Semitic Studies in Honour of Edward Ullendorff, editor, (Brill, Leiden, 2005), 367pp.
Arabic Documents from Early Islamic Khurasan (Nour Foundation, London, 2008), 183pp.
The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar. 3 vols.Vol. 1 Grammar. Vol. 2 Lexicon. Vol. 3 Texts. (Brill, Leiden, 2008), 2175pp.
Neo-Aramaic Dialect Studies, editor, (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2008), 204pp.
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Urmi (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2008), 624pp.
The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sanandaj (Gorgias, Piscataway, 2009), 631pp.

Other publications:

Catalogues

A Catalogue of the Arabic Papyri in the Michaelides Collection, Cambridge University Library. Cambridge University Library, 2000. [This catalogue contains approximately 1,000 entries]

Bibliographies

Published Material from the Cambridge Genizah Collections: A Bibliography (1896-1980) (Cambridge, 1988), in collaboration with S. C. Reif, S. Hopkins and P. Fenton.

Contributions To Other Monographs

Consulting editor for The Documents from the Bar Kokhba Period in the Cave of Letters: Hebrew, Aramaic and Nabatean-Aramaic Papyri (Jerusalem, 2002, appeared 2001)
Published Material from the Cambridge Genizah Collections: A Bibliography (1980-1997) (Cambridge, 2004), in collaboration with R Jefferson and E. Hunter.

Articles

‘Object markers and agreement pronouns in Semitic Languages’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies XLVII/3 (1984), 468-500.
‘A copy of a decree from the archives of the FŒ‹imid Chancery in Egypt’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies XLIX/3 (1986), 439-53.
‘The Arabic fragments in the Cambridge Genizah collections’, Manuscripts of the Middle East I (1986), 54-60.
‘Vowel length and syllable structure in the Tiberian tradition of Biblical Hebrew’ Journal of Semitic Studies XXXII/1 (1987), 23-82.
‘The relevance of the Genizah documents for the history of medieval North Africa’, The Maghreb Review XIII/1-2 (1988), 128-9.
‘The pronunciation of mah before dagesh in the medieval Tiberian Hebrew reading tradition’, Journal of Semitic Studies XXXIV (1989) [Edward Ullendorff Festschrift], 433-41.
‘A petition to the Fatimid caliph al-Amir’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1990, 44-54.
‘The historical development of the structure of medieval Arabic petitions’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies LIII, (1990), 8-30.
‘The opinions of al-Qirqisani concerning the text of the Bible and parallel Muslims attitudes towards the text of the Qur<Œn’ Jewish Quarterly Review LXXXI (1990), 59-73.
‘Standardisation and variation in the orthography of Hebrew Bible and Arabic Qur’an manuscripts’, Manuscripts of the Middle East V (1990-91), 53-58.
‘A linguistic analysis of the Judaeo-Arabic of late Genizah documents and its comparison with Classical Judaeo-Arabic’, Sefunot XX (1991) [in Hebrew], 223-34.
‘Morphological markers of individuation in the Semitic languages and their function in the Semitic tense system’ Proceedings of the Fifth International Hamito-Semitic Congress, Vienna, 1991, 235-44.
‘A document of appointment of a Jewish leader in Syria issued by al-Malik al-<Afèal >Al¥ in 589 A.H./1193 A.D.’ Documents de l’Islam Médiéval: Nouvelles perspectives de Recherche, Institut Francçais d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo, 1991, 97-116.
‘The syllabic nature of Tiberian Hebrew vocalization’ in A. S. Kaye ed., Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau I, Wiesbaden, 1991, 850-865.
‘Notes on the grammar of a late Judaeo-Arabic text’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam XV (1992) [Festschrift for Professor Joshua Blau], 220-239.
‘The medieval Karaite transcriptions of Hebrew into Arabic script’ Israel Oriental Studies XII (1992), 157-76
‘The function of the shewa sign in vocalized Judaeo-Arabic texts from the Genizah’ in J. Blau and S. Reif eds., Genizah Research after Ninety Years: The Case of Judaeo-Arabic, Cambridge, 1992, 105-111.
‘The importance of the Karaite transcriptions of the Bible for the understanding of the Tiberian reading tradition’ in A. Dotan ed., Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of the International Organization for Masoretic Studies, [Masoretic Studies VII, The Society for Biblical literature], Missoula, Montana, 1992, 17*-22*. [in Hebrew]
‘The pronunciation of minor ga`yaas reflected by Karaite Bible manuscripts in Arabic transcription’) Meħqarim ba-Lashon V-VI [Festschrift for Y. Yeivin], ed. M. Bar-Asher, [in Hebrew], Jerusalem, 1992, 465-479.
‘The orthography of Karaite Hebrew Bible manuscripts in Arabic transcription’, Journal of Semitic Studies XXXVIII (1993), 49-70.
‘On the question of script in medieval Karaite manuscripts: New evidence from the Genizah’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester LXXV (1993), 133-141.
‘The historical background of the vowel serein some Hebrew verbal and nominal forms’, The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies LVII (1994), 133-144.
‘The pronunciation of the verbs haya and úaya in the Tiberian tradition of Biblical Hebrew’, Semitic and Cushitic Studies, ed. G. Goldenberg and S. Raz, JerusalemWiesbaden, 1994, 133-144.
‘An Arabic document of acknowledgement from the Cairo Genizah’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies LIII (1994), 117-124.
‘The pre-Islamic background of Muslim legal formularies’, ARAM (Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies) VI (1994), 193-224
‘An Arabic legal document from the Umayyad period’, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1994, 357-368.
‘The pronunciation of reshin the Tiberian tradition of Biblical Hebrew’, Hebrew Union College Annual LXVI (1995), 67-80.
‘Arabic papyri’ in Y. Dutton (ed.), The Codicology of Islamic Manuscripts, London, 1995, 1-16.
‘A note on the trade argot of the Karaite goldsmiths of Cairo’, Mediterranean Language Review IX (1995-97), 74-76.
‘Remarks on vowels represented by shewa and úa‹ephsigns in the Tiberian vocalization system’ Journal of Semitic Studies XLI (1996), 65-74.
‘The Tiberian pronunciation tradition of Biblical Hebrew’ Zeitschrift für AltHebraistik IX (1996), 1-23
‘The historical depth of two features of the Sephardi reading traditions’, in M. Bar-Asher (ed.), Massorot. Studies in Language Traditions and Jewish Languages (Gideon Goldenberg Festschrift), Jerusalem, 1997, 91-99 [in Hebrew].
‘Tiberian Hebrew phonology’, in A. S. Kaye (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa, Eisenbrauns, 1997, 85-102.
‘Jewish Palestinian Aramaic phonology’, in A. S. Kaye (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa, Eisenbrauns, 1997, 103-113.
‘Al-bardiyyŒt al->arabiyya’ (‘Arabic papyri’) in R. al->InŒn¥ (ed.), DirŒsat al-MaÂ‹´‹Œt al-<IslŒmiyya, London, 1997, 57-76. [In Arabic]
‘The Arabic dialect of the Karaite Jews of H¥t’, Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik XXXIV (1997), 53-102.
‘Abu al-Faraj Harun and the early Karaite grammatical tradition’, The Journal of Jewish Studies XLVIII (1997), 314-334.
‘A Genizah fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic lament for the Holy Land’ [in Hebrew], in Mas<at Moshe. Studies in Jewish and Islamic Cultured Presented to Moshe Gil, ed. E. Fleischer, M.A. Friedman, J.A. Kraemer, JerusalemTel-Aviv, 1998, 184-197.
‘The book of Hebrew grammar by the Karaite Joseph ben Noah’, Journal of Semitic Studies XLIII (1998), 265-286.
‘The opinions of al-Qirqisani concerning the text of the Bible and parallel Muslims attitudes towards the text of the Qur’an’ [in Hebrew], in J. Blau, H. Ben-Shammai, M.A. Friedman, J.L. Kraemer (eds.), Encounters in Medieval Judaeo-Arabic Culture [Te>uda XIV], 1998, Tel-Aviv, 69-80.
‘The Karaite tradition of Hebrew grammatical thought’, in W. Horbury (ed.), Hebrew Study from Ezra to Ben-Yehuda, 1999, Edinburgh, 186-206.
‘The Neo-Aramaic dialect spoken by Jews from the region of Arbel (Iraqi Kurdistan)’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies LXII (1999), 213-225.
‘The early Karaite grammatical tradition’ in J. Targona Borrás and A. Sáenz-Badillos (eds.), Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Proceedings of the 6th EAJS Congress, Toledo, July, 1998. Volume I: Biblical, Rabbinical, and Medieval Studies, 1999, Leiden: Brill, 72-80.
‘The verbal system of the Neo-Aramaic dialect of the Jews of Arbel’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000), 321-332.
‘The study of morphology in the Diqduq of Joseph ben Noah’ in A. Maman (ed.), Language Studies VIII, Jerusalem 2001, 77-94. [in Hebrew]
‘The use of the indefinite article in Neo-Aramaic’, in A. Zaborski (ed.), New Data and New Methods in Afroasiatic Linguistics: Robert Hetzron in Memoriam, 2001, Wiesbaden, 85-94.
‘The Hebrew Bible’, in J. Rogerson (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible, Oxford, 2001, 60-109.
‘The early eastern traditions of Hebrew grammatical thought’, in N. de Lange (ed.), Hebrew Scholarship and the Medieval World, Cambridge, 2001, 77-91.