The database of Jewish Translation and Cultural Transfer in Early Modern Europe (JEWTACT) (https://aranne5.bgu.ac.il/jtact/index.php) offers a general bibliography of translations of texts from European to Jewish languages that appeared between 1450 and 1830. It aims to cover translations that were produced throughout Europe, in both manuscript and print, and that drew on sources in languages as varied as Latin, German, Italian, Dutch, English, French, and Greek. The database’s primary focus is on translations of contemporary works from Latin to Hebrew script. Translations of ancient and medieval works are also included, but the database does not presume to offer an exhaustive survey of such translations. Translations produced by missionaries or Hebraists are also included, but here again, the database makes no claim to be exhaustive. Excluded are translations of works between Jewish languages (such as Yiddish translations of Hebrew works), except in those cases in which a mediating text in a non-Jewish language was used.¹ The database includes both wholesale translations and translated fragments of a few lines, but focuses only on texts that can be shown to have drawn directly on previous written sources. Suspected translations and works that may have been based either on written sources or on oral traditions (as is the case with many Yiddish story booklets) are not included.

The database aims to provide the most complete bibliographic information possible for the translations and their sources. It provides publication details and information on the creators of both the target and source texts and, where relevant, on any mediating texts used by the translators. Where available, information on library holdings, digital versions, and previous studies of the translations’ relationship with their sources is also included. Creation dates are often only estimates—particularly in the case of manuscripts. In the statistical figures that feature in this book, where estimated date ranges exist, I have selected the earliest possible date as the estimated date of creation or publication.

For reasons of convenience, the database categorizes its target texts according to four basic European Jewish languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Italian. More nuanced language categories, such as Jüdisch-Deutsch, western or eastern Yiddish, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Tuscan, and Hebrew-Aramaic, are subsumed under these larger categories. Where possible, these languages are identified as additional languages in the individual entries.

In determining whether a translation is acknowledged, unacknowledged, or partially acknowledged, the following considerations apply. A translation is considered to be acknowledged if it identifies its source in full or if it identifies as a translation and provides at least one further detail about its source (e.g., source language, title, author name, etc.). A partially acknowledged translation is one that presents as a translation but does not provide any identifying details about its source, or one that does not acknowledge that it is a translation but does retain the title of its source. An unacknowledged translation is a text that does not identify as a translation and does not provide any indication of a foreign source. As is the case for many distinctions drawn in the database, the boundaries between these categories are often muddied. In Yiddish, for instance, it must have been common knowledge that any work titled historye relied on a foreign source; however, many such works do not explicitly identify as translations. While only a handful of translations of this kind appear in the database, those that do are considered to be unacknowledged or partially acknowledged.² In other cases, a text will identify as a translation and cite a source, but will not acknowledge its use of a mediating text. In the database, such translations are considered acknowledged, even though they do not acknowledge their sources in full.³ A discussion of the particular nature of each translation and, where needed, the considerations employed in its classification is provided for each individual entry in the database.

The database is the collaborative work of five editors and (at present) five principal contributors. At the time of writing, it includes 640 translations, and it is presumed that it will continue to grow as further translations are discovered. The number of translations in the database reflects the number of translated sources, meaning that a given Hebrew or Yiddish work that includes more than one translated source may occupy several entries. Such compound translations are referred to in the database as macrotexts. Macrotexts are particularly ubiquitous in manuscripts, which often bind together several distinct translations. An example of one particularly prominent macrotext that appears in the database is the Wallich collection of manuscripts housed at the Bodleian library in Oxford, which is dated c. 1600. Comprising an unusually large number of translated ballads, hymns, folk songs, and even a play, the Wallich collection accounts for no fewer than forty-two entries in the database.⁴ While the collection may have been the endeavor of more than one translator, it is treated in the database as a single macrotext. Other large macrotexts include maskilic anthologies,⁵ preacher guides,⁶ works of history,⁷ and works of science and medicine.⁸ In the statistical analysis and figures that are featured above, where such macrotexts are liable to skew the statistics, I have counted each macrotext as a single text and made a note of this in the captions (see Figures 4 and 8). Note that all percentage values in the figures in this book have been rounded.

The database’s digital interface features a wide range of search and browse options, from free-text-based search to advanced search options that enable users to conduct their own, independent research. In its wide historical, linguistic, spatial, and literary scope, the database aims to speak across the disciplines and to offer a powerful research tool not only to users within the fields of Jewish history, literature, and thought but also to researchers in such fields as translation studies, European history, comparative literature, cultural studies, philology, linguistics, folklore, and the history of science.