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When talking about shapes, the Gemara often uses Greek gamma (e.g., Peshachim 8b). Why doesn't it use reish, dalet or chaf sofit instead?

Peter Mortensen
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    I'd guess if we knew what these four letters commonly looked like back then it would be apparent somehow why they chose that one – Double AA Dec 01 '20 at 02:08
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    This opens up the big question as to why the Sages used foreign words at all -- Sanhedrin, prozbul and many others. – Maurice Mizrahi Dec 01 '20 at 02:25
  • Maybe it has to do with the language of that discipline, since they are referring to a shape and geometry which is a Greek subject they use that terminology – sam Dec 01 '20 at 03:06
  • @maurice see my answer below – רבות מחשבות Dec 02 '20 at 12:15
  • Precise letter forms from Talmudic-era Babylonia can be seen on incantation bowls, as https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/IncantationBowl.jpg – Argon Dec 02 '20 at 15:32

2 Answers2

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According to Rabeinu Manoach (a 13th century Rishon) in his Sefer Menucha on Suka 4:2:2 it's because the letters of the Alef-Bet are too holy to be used to describe mundane things such as shapes.

כתב הרב היו לה שתי דפנות זו בצד זו כמין גאם כלומר גימ"ל יונית שהיא עשויה כדל"ת שלנו. ומה שאמרו רבותינו כמין גאם ולא אמרו כמין דל"ת שלא רצו לתאר לאותיות הקדש שום דבר של חול וזה מהפלגת הגדולים קדושת התורה וכבודה:‏

As to why (ancient) Greek and not any other alphabet? I think that's because of the Bracha that Yefet ben Noach received:

יַפְתְּ אֱ-לֹקים לְיֶפֶת וְיִשְׁכֹּן בְּאָהֳלֵי שֵׁם, שֶׁיִּהְיוּ דְּבָרָיו שֶׁל שֵׁם נֶאֱמָרִין בִּלְשׁוֹנוֹתָיו שֶׁל יֶפֶת,

That the language of Yefet shall be found in the learning houses of Shem.

This idea is found in multiple places in classic sources, like the Medrash Rabba that I pasted, and in Megila 9b

Danny Schoemann
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    Are you sure this is exhaustive in the Talmud? I seriously doubt it. see https://www.sefaria.org.il/search?q=%D7%9B%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9F%20%D7%93%D7%9C%22%D7%AA&tab=text&tvar=1&tsort=chronological&svar=1&ssort=relevance – Al Berko Dec 01 '20 at 16:16
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    @AlBerko all four sources in your search refer to tefillin, where the intention is not there for a mere shape similar to a dalet, but to have an actual dalet knotted on the tefillin. – Harel13 Dec 02 '20 at 04:37
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    @AlBerko - I don't understand your comment. Your link describes 4 cases of the Daled on the Tefillin knot. Hardly "describing mundane shapes"... ??? – Danny Schoemann Dec 02 '20 at 13:13
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    @DannySchoemann while I agree with your point, the Talmud definitely uses Greek letters in "holy"-ish contexts - sukkah, anointing oil, etc... – רבות מחשבות Dec 02 '20 at 13:39
  • @Harel13 That's not necessarily true. – Double AA Dec 02 '20 at 14:01
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    @רבותמחשבות - Correct. Seems there an aversion to treating them as "shapes". They are Holy Letters, not mere "shapes". – Danny Schoemann Dec 02 '20 at 14:01
  • @DoubleAA How so? – Harel13 Dec 02 '20 at 14:02
  • @Harel13 Is this an actual dalet https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k5sbbxR9T1M/WPjc_Xz9gSI/AAAAAAAAAKE/k8ZjO4kYV6E6h5UcGB940yOKk4uaM1bdwCLcB/s1600/doubledalet.png ? That's how all Geonim and Rishonim tied their tefillin knots. The other knot-versions you've probably seen were invented by Acharonim to try to be even more dalet-like. – Double AA Dec 02 '20 at 14:03
  • @DoubleAA - though it seems that that specific Dalet is part of the Shin-Dalet-Yud shapes we create with the tefillin straps, so it's not a mere shape, it's a letter describing a letter. (With artistic imagination) – Danny Schoemann Dec 02 '20 at 14:03
  • Though arguably if that knot was what they thought was dalet-like, and reish is curved, maybe they didn't think there was a good example in Hebrew of a right angle to use to describe things. – Double AA Dec 02 '20 at 14:08
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This forum discussion adds one possible answer:

The Mishnah in Shekalim 3:2 brings the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael that some things in the Beit Hamikdash had Greek letters written on them. Tiferet Yisrael explains that at that time, the Jews may have been more familiar with Greek than with Hebrew. Thus, if the original sources listed above were from a time period where many Jews were very familiar with the Greek alphabet, the Mishnah/Talmud would certainly use those "Greek letter" examples rather than to something more Jewish ("Hebrew letters"), which would be less understood.

(sources)

רבות מחשבות
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    Even if this did apply to your average Jew, it seems hard to say that it would apply to someone learning Mishnah or Talmud? – MichoelR Dec 02 '20 at 14:39