“Talmud…means ‘study’…, but also ‘instruction, teaching’…”

Talmud (from lamad, ‘to learn’, or limmad, ‘to teach’) means ‘study’ (a theoretical activity, as opposed to ma’aseh, ‘action’, practising the commandments), but also ‘instruction, teaching’ (thus, already at Qumran: 4QpNah 2.8), especially instruction from Scripture and, hence, Scriptural proof. This occurs in the frequent expressions talmud lomar, ‘There is an instruction from Scripture, where it says…’ or, in short, ‘Scripture teaches’; mai talmuda, ‘What Scriptural proof is there?’; yesh talmud, ‘There is a Scriptural proof.’ Since limmad also means ‘to derive something from Scripture’, ‘Talmud’ can occasionally be synonymous with ‘Midrash’. However, ‘Talmud’ can also designate the entire traditional ‘teaching’, particularly the teaching derived from the interpretation of Mishnah, which is contrasted with Scripture and Mishnah (e.g. Qid 30a).

H.L. Strack and Günter Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, trans. and ed. Markus Bockmuehl, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 164-165.