שֶׁמָּא

שֶׁמָּא(= שַׁלָּמָּה, v. דִּילְמָא I) (for why, 1) lest, perhaps. Ab. II, 4, v. פָּנָה. Y.Ab. Zar. I, 39c top (read:) אי לי ש׳ מי שכתוב … עקב יבוא לנשכיני woe is me, (I am afraid,) lest he of whom it is written (Gen. 3:15) … come to bite me; Bab. ib. 8a אוי לי ש׳ בשבילוכ׳ woe is me, lest the world grow dark around me, because I have sinned. Keth.12a וניחוש ש׳ תחתיווכ׳ but must we not consider the possibility that she may have prostituted herself while she was engaged to him?; a. fr. 2) שמא m. apprehension, doubt, possibility, Ib. 14a התם ברי הכא ש׳ there she asserts a certainty, here a possibility (as she cannot be certain about it herself). Ib. וקיל ליה ש׳וכ׳ and he regards this statement of a possibility so lightly that Ib. אפי׳ בש׳ נמי מכשיר even with her uncertain assertion he declares her fit for marriage, Ib. 12b, a. fr. ברי וש׳, v. בָּרִי; a. fr.