Forgotten Aramaic Torah translation behind Onkelos

This article describes an entity that is not directly attested as an extant recoverable earlier translation; it is inferred from source-citation traces and should not be read as ordinary documentation of a surviving pre-Onkelos Targum manuscript.

Epistemic status

Draft article. Megillah 3a directly says an ancient Aramaic translation was forgotten and reestablished, but the earlier layer is not independently extant here.

Summary

Megillah 3a attributes the Torah translation to Onkelos through rabbinic teaching and also says an ancient Aramaic translation was forgotten and reestablished. Inferpedia treats this as a pre- or behind-Onkelos translation layer.

What is being inferred

The inferred entity is the forgotten Aramaic Torah translation layer behind Onkelos's reestablishment.

What is attested

The passage attests the translation domain, the rabbinic teaching chain, and the forgotten/reestablished claim.

Why infer this entity

The source distinguishes an earlier translation from the later act of reestablishment.

Evidence ledger

• E1, Megillah 3a: primary trace for the Aramaic Torah translation.
• E2, Megillah 3a: primary trace for the rabbinic teaching channel.
• E3, Megillah 3a: primary trace for forgotten and reestablished status.

Counterarguments

The notice may harmonize later Onkelos attribution with an Ezra-era translation tradition rather than preserve an independent earlier text.

Confidence scores

Direct attestation: 56. Existence warrant: 78. Specificity: 72. Reconstruction dependence: 80. Counterevidence: 22.

What would change the score

Specialist work on Targum Onkelos, Ezra reading traditions, and Megillah 3a would change the score.