daf bit: Kiddushin 41

[cellio]

The mishna teaches: a man may betroth a woman directly or through an agent, and a woman may be betrothed directly or through an agent. A man may give his daughter in marriage when she is a na'arah (literally a young girl) but not when she is a minor. The gemara expands this last point: a man must wait until his daughter grows up and says "I want So-and-so". (41a)

I had previously thought that a na'arah was an undifferentiated young girl; now I wonder what the precise definition is with respect to "minor", which I take to be "before the age of bat mitzvah". I think it might be past time for me to acquire a good talmudic dictionary/glossary; any recommendations?

(Today's daf is 43, which is in the middle of a long discussion of agency based on this mishna, which was too complicated to try to summarize or excerpt for a daf bit.)

Comments

[fauxklore]

My recollection is that a girl becomes a na'arah one year before bat mitzvah, but I can't for the life of me remember why I think that.