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I go to a Gemara shiur, and the rabbi always says "the first aman deamar", "the second aman deamar"... What does it mean exactly? What is the meaning of the different words?

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    JOJO, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks very much for bringing your question here! Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features. – Isaac Moses♦ Dec 16 '14 at 19:45
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    the "man de'amar" is "the one who says" and it is used to introduce a particular opinion (as in "this explanation works according to the one who says X but..." or "the first man de'amar holds that"). – rosends Dec 16 '14 at 19:46
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The words you're actually hearing are "man de'amar", or מאן דאמר in Aramaic.

"Man" here actually has the same meaning in Aramaic as in English - man. "D'amar" is like the Hebrew שאמר. Translated, it means "who says".

The whole phrase together means "the [first/second] one who says".

It's often used as a noun when talking about different opinions - "this man d'amar says x, while the other man d'amar says y". Or: "according to the first man d'amar...".

While not the case you're talking about, aman d'amar (אמאן דאמר) is also an Aramaic phrase. The initial א means "on", so it means "on the one who says". Maybe i'm not listening to the right shiruim, but i haven't heard this used so much in English.

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  • Related: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/5449 – msh210♦ Dec 16 '14 at 19:55
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    "The whole phrase together means 'the [first/second] one who says'." I don't think there's usually a "first/second" implied. It's just "the one who says [such-and-such]". – msh210♦ Dec 16 '14 at 19:56
  • "first/second" is only because the OP talks about "first man d'amar". – Scimonster Dec 16 '14 at 19:57
  • Oh, I see. But that's AFAIK only in its colloquial use as a noun, not in its original use meaning "the one who says". – msh210♦ Dec 16 '14 at 19:58

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