HEBREW LANGUAGE

Hebrew Language, Semitic language originally adopted by the 'ibhri, or !raelite!, when they too" po!!e!!ion o# the land o# $anaan we!t o# the %ordan Ri&er in 'ale!tine( )he language ha! al!o been called the !peech o# $anaan, and %udean, a#ter the "ingdom o# %udah( Ancient Hebrew, the language o# the Bible, wa! !ucceeded by an intermediary #orm, *i!hnaic Hebrew, about the +rd century B$( *odern Hebrew wa! de&eloped in the ,-th and ./th centurie! #rom the ancient written #orm o# the language( )he language in which mo!t o# the 0ld )e!tament wa! written date!, a! a li&ing language, #rom the ,.th to the .nd century B$, at the late!t( )he territory o# 'hoenicia ad1oined $anaan, and it i! probable that Hebrew in it! earlie!t #orm wa! almo!t identical to 'hoenician2 o# the clo!ely related Hebrew and 'hoenician language group!, howe&er, Hebrew i! decidedly the more important( 3rom about the +rd century B$ the %ew! in 'ale!tine came to u!e Aramaic in both !peech and !ecular writing!( %ew! out!ide 'ale!tine !po"e in the language o# the countrie! in which they had !ettled( Hebrew wa! pre!er&ed, howe&er, a! the language o# ritual and !acred writing and through the centurie! ha! undergone periodic literary re&i&al!( )he original Hebrew alphabet con!i!ted only o# con!onant! 4See also Semitic Language!5 &owel !ign! and pronunciation currently accepted #or biblical Hebrew were created by !cholar! "nown a! *a!orete! a#ter the 6th century A7( )he!e !cholar! are thought al!o to ha&e !tandardi8ed &ariou! dialectal di##erence!( )he &ocabulary o# biblical Hebrew i! !mall( $oncrete ad1ecti&e! are u!ed #or ab!tract noun!( )he paucity o# particle!, which connect and relate idea!, and the limitation to two &erb ten!e! 4per#ect and imper#ect5 cau!e an ambiguity regarding time concept!2 &ariou! !yntactic de&ice! were employed to clari#y relation! o# time( A pa!t action wa! indicated by the #ir!t in a !erie! o# &erb! being in the per#ect ten!e and all #ollowing &erb! in the imper#ect2 #or pre!ent or #uture action the #ir!t &erb i! in the imper#ect ten!e and all !ub!e9uent one! in the per#ect( *i!hnaic or rabbinic Hebrew, dating #rom about A7.//, wa! the language o# the *i!hnah( t wa! !olely a written language but wa! more adaptable to practical u!e than biblical Hebrew( )he &ocabulary and !yntactic inno&ation! were !trongly Aramaic, and word! were borrowed #rom Gree", Latin, and 'er!ian( New meaning! and #orm! were gi&en to biblical Hebrew word!, and the e:pre!!ion! o# time were clari#ied( Hebrew &ocabulary wa! #urther augmented in the *iddle Age! by the Arabic in#luence on philo!ophic writing and through tran!lation! o# Arabic philo!ophical and !cienti#ic wor"!( 3rom the -th century on, the u!e o# Hebrew declined( When %ew! mo&ed to 'ale!tine in the ,-th century, Hebrew wa! re&i&ed a! a !po"en language( *odern Hebrew, Ivrit, wa! declared the o##icial language o# !rael in ,-;<( )he language i! written #rom right to le#t and employ! an alphabet o# .. character!2 the

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&ocabulary i! ba!ed on biblical Hebrew and the !ynta: on *i!hnaic Hebrew( Long &owel! are generally e:pre!!ed in writing by unpronounced con!onant !ound!( Scripture!, children>! boo"!, and poetry u!e the *a!oretic point!, which are dot! or da!he! to indicate &owel!( 'ronunciation i! modeled on that o# the Sephardic %ew! who li&e mainly in )ur"ey, Greece, and Bulgaria( A great number o# new word!, particularly !cienti#ic term!, were needed in order to adapt the ancient written language to contemporary u!e2 the Lithuanian?born !cholar Elie8er ben @ehuda !ingle?handedly coined ;/// new word! #rom biblical Hebrew root!( )he national language! o# !raeli immigrant! and @iddi!h, the language o# the A!h"ena8i, or Ea!tern European %ew!, ha&e al!o in#luenced modern Hebrew( Microsoft Encarta 2008. 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserve .

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