Biblical Hebrew language

This article refers to the Biblical Hebrew dialect,

the Hebrew dialect that flourished between the 12th and 6th centuries BCE and comprises much of the Hebrew Bible

The term Biblical Hebrew can also refer to other dialects of Hebrew,

all dialects found in the Hebrew Bible, including Archaic Biblical, Biblical and Late Biblical Hebrew dialects
only the corpus of the Hebrew Bible itself, not including other texts that use the Biblical Hebrew dialect, such as inscriptions
the medieval dialect of Tiberian Hebrew, also called Masoretic Hebrew, used to vocalize the Hebrew Bible

As Biblical-Hebrew vocalization is derived from the Masoretic system applied to ancient texts, Biblical Hebrew is somewhat a mixture of these elements. It is the mixed language that is discussed in this article.

Biblical Hebrew, sometimes called Classical Hebrew, is the original form of the Hebrew language, in which the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh was written, and which the ancient Israelites spoke.

It is not spoken in its pure form today, although it is studied by religious Jews – as well as Christian theologians, linguists and Israeli archaeologists – for practical application and deeper understanding in their studies of the Torah and its commentaries. Jews usually learn it when studying ancient scriptures. Although it can mostly be read and is taught in all public schools in Israel.

Modern evolutions, or adaptions, of Classical Hebrew are in active use today, mostly in the form of various modern Jewish dialects of Hebrew, as well as Samaritan Hebrew language, which is used primarily by the Samaritans.

From a linguistic point of view, the Classical Hebrew language is usually divided into two periods: Biblical Hebrew, and Roman Era Hebrew, having very distinct grammatical patterns.

Biblical Hebrew is further divided into the so called 'Golden Age' Hebrew (1200 BCE to 500 BCE) and 'Silver Age' Hebrew (500 BCE to 60 BCE). Silver Age Hebrew has many borrowings from Aramaic, for example the use of the conditional particle illu (אִלוּ) replacing lū (לוּ). Another shibboleth between the two, is the use of the relative pronoun ʾšr (אשר) (introducing a Restrictive clause, 'that') in the earlier period, being replaced with the prefix š- (-ש) in the later, both being used in Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew.

Roman Era Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew, was further influenced by the Greek and the Parsi, mainly through the dialect of Aramaic which was the Lingua franca of the area at the time.

Biblical Hebrew is easily read by anyone familiar enough with modern day Hebrew. The differences come mainly through grammar and the Biblical Hebrew's distinct writing style, which sometimes make it a difficult task interpreting its meaning. Although by modern Hebrew's grammar laws and standards, Biblical Hebrew does everything wrong, it is sometimes considered as a higher level of writing when incorporated wisely into a text. Because it is unchanging, it remains a symbol of certain nostalgia for ancient times in Modern Hebrew. Elements of biblical Hebrew are often used in conversation and the Israeli media.

Descendant languages

Samaritan Hebrew language (liturgical)
Mishnaic Hebrew language (Jews)
Tiberian Hebrew language (liturgical)
Yemenite Hebrew language (liturgical)
Sephardi Hebrew language (liturgical)
Ashkenazi Hebrew language (liturgical)
Modern Hebrew (State of Israel)

Phonology

The phonology as reconstructed for Biblical Hebrew is as follows (from Lambdin, with modifications):

Name	Letter	Phoneme(s) (IPA)


gîmel

hē		, zero
wāw		, zero
zayin


		, zero
	,

mēm	,
nûn	,

''
pēh	,
	,
qōp		(or possibly )
rēš
śîn/šîn
tāw

Biblical Hebrew had a vowel system based on the cardinal vowels , which occurred in short, long, and extra-long forms. Some follow Lambdin's use of macrons to mark long vowels and circumflexes to mark extra-long ones. Aside from these vowels, there were also four "reduced" ones, ə, ă, ĕ, and ŏ (all but the schwa, seem to have been allophonic).

Historical sound changes

Consonantism

As Biblical Hebrew (BH) evolved from Proto-Semitic (PS) it underwent a number of mergers,:

PS * and * merged as BH
PS * and * merged as BH
PS *, *, and * merged as BH
PS * and * merged as BH (but were spelled with different letters, samekh and sin respectively)
PS * and * merged as BH ¹⁾
PS * and * merged as BH ¹⁾
PS * and * merged as BH in word-initial position; > Ø between vowels
PS * > BH Ø (with compensatory lengthening) in the syllable coda (e.g. PS * "head" > BH רֹאס .
PS * > BH in the ending of the feminine; not in the status constructus).
PS * > BH Ø between vowels in the pronominal suffix (with contraction, see below).

1) Greek transcriptions (see also "Various names in Hebrew and Greek".) provide evidence that Biblical Hebrew maintained the proto-Semitic consonants , for longer than the writing system might suggest. Thus ' (עֲמוֹרָה) is transcribed as ' () in Greek, whereas ' (עֵבֶר) is transcribed as ' () with no intrusive g; since comparative Semitic evidence shows that proto-Semitic * and * both became `ayin (ע) in later Hebrew, this suggests that the distinction was still maintained in Classical times. Similarly ' (רָחֵל) is transcribed as ' (), whereas ' (יִצְחָק) becomes ' ().

Vocalism

PS * > BH ; in word-final position >
PS * > BH
PS * > BH or, before ה ח ע, ();

in word-final position regularly >

PS * > BH or, before ה ח ע, ()
PS * > BH
PS * > BH ;

in an open syllable before a following * > BH

PS * > Ø in word-final position
PS * in open unstressed syllables > Ø ("") two or more syllables before the stressed syllable;

before or after א ה ח ע > ("") or, if the adjacent syllable has or , ("") and ("") respectively;

in verbs also in the second syllable of the word if the following syllable is stressed;

in nouns in the second syllable of status constructus > (the consonant carrying the is marked with "" or the following consonant is fricative, indicating that it was preceded by a vowel).

PS * > BH in open syllables (sometimes , )
PS * > BH Ø;

immediately before the stress > (””);

in closed syllables >

PS * > BH or, before ה ח ע, ("");

in closed syllables in verbal forms > or, before ה ח ע, ;

in syllables that were closed already in Proto-Semitic > ("Philippi’s law")

PS * > BH or, before or after ה ח ע, ;

immediately before the stress > ("")

PS * > BH Ø ("") or (””);

in closed syllables > ("") or, before a geminated consonant,

PS * > BH
PS * > BH
PS * > BH or in an open syllable, or, in word-final position,
PS * > BH
Contractions after loss of PS * in the pronominal suffix:

* >

Resources

Hoffman, Joel M. In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language New York: NYU Press. 2004. ISBN 0814736548.
Kautzsch, E. (ed.) Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. Eng. ed. A. E. Cowley. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
Lambdin, Thomas O. Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971.
Würthwein, Ernst. The Text of the Old Testament. (trans. Erroll F. Rhodes) Grand Rapids: Wm.B.Eardmans Publishing. 1995. ISBN 0802807887.

Notes

G. Bergsträsser. (1983). Introduction to the Semitic Languages. Translated by Peter T. Daniels. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns.
ISBN 1565632060 Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon by Francis Brown, S. Driver, C. Briggs

External links

History of the Hebrew Language
Grammar

Canaanite languages | Hebrew language | Ancient languages | Old Testament topics

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