This might sound like a strange question, but was the Talmud written with diacritics? The MT today is written with critical marks that were added in the middle of the first millennium. But the Talmud was written before then. And are the copies of the Talmud today written with or without these marks? Thanks!
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2I'm going to say no but I don't have a copy of the first time the Talmud was written to prove it.– robevApr 13, 2022 at 7:22
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1The Talmud was transmitted orally until about the mid-eighth century. (See "Orality and the Babylonian Talmud" by Elman), so the Talmud was written after the middle of the first millennium. And it was even transmitted mostly orally even after. I don't 100% know if there were. But if you look at later Talmudic manuscripts, no. And modern printings, mostly no. There are some outliers that are helpfully printed with.– josh waxmanApr 13, 2022 at 13:16
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1Are you asking about Nikkud (vowels) or Te'amim (cantillation)?– Double AA ♦Apr 13, 2022 at 13:55
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And are you asking for Mishnah or Gemara ?– koutyMay 15, 2022 at 11:35
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1 Answer
There are some versions of Gemara with vowelization. Some also add English punctuation marks (? ! . ,) to the text. But the generally accepted method is to leave the page as is and add a running commentary on facing pages. See Artscroll and Mesivta Talmuds.
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That is the method of Artscroll and Mesivta, which are the two most popular examples I know of.– N.T.Apr 19, 2022 at 23:20
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ArtScroll, or any modern publisher, is hardly an authority on what is "generally accepted"– ezraMay 15, 2022 at 17:02
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The authority is that they are what people use. It's more of a vox populi.– N.T.May 15, 2022 at 21:41