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R. Elijah Benamozegh claims that Roman and Greek put in an appearance in the Pentateuch (אם למקרא דברים ל"ג:ב'):

ואין להפלא משם 'דת' אם לא מצאנוהו רק בספרים האחרונים ובל' פרסי, שהרי כמה מלות מצריות וגם יוניות ורומיות מצינו כיוצא בהם בספר תורת משה, ואין לתמוה אם תמצא ג"כ מלה פרסית.

And one should not be astonished regarding the word 'dat' if we only find it in later books and in the Persian language, for we have found several Egyptian, Greek, and Roman words similarly in the Torah of Moses, and it is not surprising if you also find a Persian word.

Anyone know what he is referring to?

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  • I'm not aware of Latin/Roman words, but there are some words in Daniel thought to be Greek.
    – Harel13
    Commented Oct 8 at 18:17
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    Some Greek and Latin words are similar to Semitic. The greek ταυρος and Aramaic תורא, κάμηλος and Hebrew גמל. Some old Latin toponims are also suspiciously Semitic: city Roma (Rome) vs. רום - height, majesty; river Tevere vs. טבור - navel. Etymology goes both ways.
    – Y DJ
    Commented Oct 8 at 18:20
  • perhaps something here judaism.stackexchange.com/a/21918/759
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Oct 9 at 12:54
  • Thanks all. The Peshat commentators don't read it (Vayikra 20:14) like that and I'm not convinced that Rashi/Chazal meant it literally and not midrashically. @DoubleAA I'm not seeing any examples of Greek/Roman in the 5 books of Moses there, but perhaps I skimmed it too quickly. GCT to all.
    – Nahum
    Commented Oct 9 at 13:16

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