Megillah 19A

קנקנתום ⁠— חרתא דאושכפי. דיפתרא ⁠— דמליח וקמיח ולא עפיץ. נייר ⁠— מחקא.

Kankantom is what is called in Aramaic ḥarta de’ushkafei, a black dye used by shoemakers. Diftera is hide that was processed with salt and flour, but not with gallnuts. Neyar is known in Aramaic as maḥaka, paper made from reeds.

עד שתהא כתובה אשורית, דכתיב: ״ככתבם וכזמנם״.

§ It was taught in the Mishnah: He does not fulfill his obligation unless the Megilla is written in Ashurit. The Talmud explains the reason for this: As it is written concerning the Megilla: “According to their writing and according to their time” (Esther 9:27), i.e., the way it was originally written.

״על הספר ובדיו וכו׳״. מנלן? אתיא ״כתיבה״ ״כתיבה״. כתיב הכא: ״ותכתב אסתר המלכה״, וכתיב התם: ״ויאמר להם ברוך מפיו יקרא אלי את כל הדברים האלה ואני כותב על הספר בדיו״.

The Mishnah concludes: He does not fulfill his obligation unless the Megilla is written “upon parchment and with ink.” The Talmud asks: From where do we derive this? The Talmud answers: It is derived by way of a verbal analogy between one instance of writing and another instance of writing. It is written here in the book of Esther: “Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote all the acts of power, to confirm this second letter of Purim” (Esther 9:29), and it is written there: “Then Baruch answered them: He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink on the parchment” (Jeremiah 36:18). Just as there the writing was with ink on parchment, so too here, a Megilla must be written with ink on parchment.

מתני׳ בן עיר שהלך לכרך ובן כרך שהלך לעיר, אם עתיד לחזור למקומו ⁠— קורא כמקומו, ואם לאו ⁠— קורא עמהן.

Mishnah: With regard to a resident of an unwalled town who went to a walled city, where the Megilla is read on the 15th of Adar, and conversely, a resident of a walled city who went to an unwalled town where it is read on the 14th, the following distinction applies: If he is destined to return to his original place, he reads it according to the halakha governing his own place, and if not, i.e., if he is not destined to return to his place, he reads with them, the residents of his current location.