An oath formula is a linguistic structure composed of two elements. The first expresses authentication by oath, while the second conveys the oath’s actual content. Two categories of oaths must be distinguished in Rabbinic Hebrew: legally binding oaths, having judicial consequences and used also in court, and a variety of vernacular and informal oaths.

Oaths of the first category, peculiar to Rabbinic Hebrew, are formed by the noun שבועה šeḇuʿa ‘[I hereby take an] oath’, (+ -ש še- ‘that’) + a clause expressing the oath’s content, for example,שבועה שלא אוכל šeḇuʿa šel-lo ʾoḵal ‘I swear t…