Tosefta
/təˈsɛftə/noun
A major Jewish legal and interpretive compilation of teachings from the Tannaitic period, arranged largely as a supplement to the Mishnah.
Did you know?The Tosefta preserves rabbinic traditions that often parallel, expand, or challenge passages in the Mishnah, giving historians a rare glimpse into debates behind the final edited text.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Semitic
*ysp
“To add, increase, or do again; the reconstructed ancestral root behind later Hebrew and Aramaic forms.”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
יָסַף (yāsaph)
“To add, continue, increase, or do something again.”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
תּוֹסֶפֶת (tōsefet)
“An addition or supplement, formed from the root y-s-p.”
Late Aramaic
Aramaic
תּוֹסֶפְתָא (Tosefta)
“An addition or supplement; the title came to designate a compilation supplementary to the Mishnah.”
3rd–6th Centuries
Rabbinic Hebrew/Aramaic
Tosefta
“A collection of Tannaitic legal and interpretive traditions, associated with the period surrounding the compilation of the Mishnah and its later transmission.”
Modern English
English
Tosefta
“The standard English transliteration of the Jewish rabbinic compilation.”