ASSOMBRAÇÕES [E] REP̲Ā´ÎM: um contato (e um reconhecimento mútuo?) entre dois conceitos provindos dos imaginários brasileiro e bíblico-judaico

Abstract

This dissertation deals with two areas of investigation aiming to examine possibilities of convergence: the establishment of semantic outlines of the word assombração [apparition, haunting] and the analysis of occurences of the Hebrew word REP̲Ā´ÎM to confirm its two meanings that are of practically general consensus in the Jewish Bible.The Dissertation is divided into three chapters. The first chapter examines the etimology of the word assombração, carries out a survey of lexicons and dictionaries of the Portuguese language between the 18th and 19th centuries so as to verify when and where the word assombração is put in the dictionary for the first time and does a review of dictionaries and lexicons published throughout the last century and beginning of this century, in order to observe the semantic growth of the word assombração. The goal of this last activity is to establish assombração as a hermeneutic concept. It is observed that assombração can be: 1) The effect of terror provoked by supernatural manifestations; 2) The cause of the effect of terror; 3) A supernatural being which can cause the effect of terror. The second chapter addresses three endeavors: 1) Survey of all the occurrences of the word REP̲Ā´ÎM in the Jewish Bible; 2) A panoramic presentation of the research of the term REP̲Ā´ÎM in biblical and extra-biblical materials; and 3) An analysis of the biblical occurrences of REP̲Ā´ÎM as an ethnonym and a toponym. The third chapter of the Dissertation examines the 8 occurrences in which REP̲Ā´ÎM refers to the dead. The occurrences are analyzed obeying the following methodological outline: 1) Delimitation of the minimum literary unit for analysis; 2) Translation of the literary unit; 3) Discussion of the problems of the textual criticism and 4) Commentary on the possibilities of approximating the REP̲Ā´ÎM to the concept assombração in each occurrence.