MLK DUD 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤃𐤅𐤃

In the Aramaic Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 1:5 there is a preposition connected to a noun that left me quite confused. Here is the whole verse:

והוה סכום כל נפשתא נפקי ירכא דיעקב שובעין נפשתא עם יסי ובנוהי דהוה במצרים

“And the number of all the souls coming from the thigh of Jakob, seventy souls, with Joseph and his sons, who were in Mizraim.”

Exodus 1:5 (Sefaria.org English Translation)

What I want to focus on here is: דיעקב

This word is suppose to translate in english as “of Jacob” with “of” being the Aramaic prefix -ד and “Jacob” being the latter part יעקב. The problem here is that when you look in most dictionaries and lexicons what we find is the prefix -ד can be used as a preposition (“of”), conjunction (“that”), or a pronoun (“who, which, that, what”). To clear the confusion, this would require the reader to have an expertise in Aramaic resulting in the ability to properly discern based on the context.

Extensive research provided me with an older usage of this preposition in a different form which is in Old Aramaic (OA) -זי . Overtime this form evolved into -די then -ד which is Modern Aramaic (MA). What is interesting is that with all of the research I performed, I landed back in the same spot, but in a different generation of Aramaic. I say this because even if the form is different the use case scenario is still the same.

Links:

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%93%D6%BE#Aramaic

https://cal.huc.edu/oneentry.php?lemma=dy%20p&cits=all (Preposition)

https://cal.huc.edu/oneentry.php?lemma=dy%20c&cits=all (Conjunction)

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.31826/hug-2018-200109/pdf (Pg 5)