Editing Gemara (section)

==Origins of the word==

In a narrow sense, the word {{Transliteration|he|gemara}} refers to the mastery and transmission of existing tradition, as opposed to {{Transliteration|he|sevara}}, which means the deriving of new results by logic.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://benyehuda.org/dict/24412/40175 |title=גְּמָרָה}}</ref> Both activities are represented in the {{Transliteration|he|Gemara}} as one literary work.

The Aramaic noun ''gemar'' (and ''gemara'') was formed from the verb that means "learn." This substantive noun thus designates what was learned, and the learning transmitted to scholars by tradition, though it connotes in a more limited sense to exposition of the Mishnah. The word therefore gained currency as a designation of the Talmud.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bacher |first=Wilhelm |date=1906 |title=Talmud |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14213-talmud |website=Jewish Encyclopedia |quote=For further details see Bacher, "Gemara," in "Hebrew Union College Annual," pp. 26-36, Cincinnati, 1904, where the word is shown to have been used for "Talmud" from the geonic period (see also idem, "Die Terminologie der Amoräer," pp. 31 et seq., Leipsic, 1905).}}{{source-attribution |inline=y}}</ref> In the modern editions, the term ''gemara'' occurs frequently in this sense—but in nearly every case it was substituted at a later time for the objectionable word ''talmud'', which was [[Talmud#Middle Ages|prohibited by the Christian censors]]. The only passage in which ''gemara'' occurs with the meaning of "Talmud" in the strict sense, and not censored, is [[Eruvin (Talmud)|''Eruvin'']] 32b, where it is used by [[Rav Nachman|Rav Nahman]], a Babylonian amora (3rd C.).<ref name=":2" /> Later editions of the Talmud frequently substitute for the word "Gemara" the Aramaic abbreviation for "the six orders of the Mishnah," pronounced as "Shas," which has become a popular designation for the Babylonian Talmud.<ref name=":2" />