TANNAIM. The term tanna is used to refer to an authority of the Mishnah and its related works, in contradistinction to amora, referring to a sage of the gemaraʾ. The word derives from the Aramaic teni ("to repeat") and by extension means "to learn" or "to teach."

The tannaim were the sages of rabbinic tradition who lived immediately before, and then during the century and a half following, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE). This period is traditionally divided into five or six generations. The most prominent authorities of the period included Hillel, Gamliʾel the Elder, Yoḥanan ben Zakkʾai, Gamliʾel of Yavneh, Eliʿezer ben Hyrcanus, ʿAqivaʾ ben Yosef, Meʾir, and Yehuda ha-Nasiʾ. The period ends with the generation of Yehuda ha-Nasiʾ, the editor of the Mishnah (c. 200 CE), although the following generation in Palestine is one of transition. The division...