Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew | |
---|---|
Classical Hebrew | |
שְֹפַת כְּנַעַן, יְהוּדִית, (לָשׁוֹן) עִבְרִית, לְשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶשׁ | |
liturgical language for Judaism) | |
Era | attested from the 10th century BCE; developed into Mishnaic Hebrew after the Jewish–Roman wars in the first century CE |
| |
Standard forms | |
Samaritan alphabet | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:hbo – Ancient Hebrewsmp – Samaritan Hebrew |
hbo | |
smp | |
Glottolog | anci1244 Ancient Hebrewsama1313 Samaritan |
Biblical Hebrew (עִבְרִית מִקְרָאִית ʿīḇrîṯ miqrāʾîṯ or לְשׁוֹן הַמִּקְרָא ləšôn ham-miqrāʾ ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea. The term ʿīḇrîṯ "Hebrew" was not used for the language in the Hebrew Bible, which was referred to as שְֹפַת כְּנַעַן śəp̄at kənaʿan "language of Canaan" or יְהוּדִית Yəhûḏîṯ, "Judean", but it was used in Koine Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts.[1]
The Hebrew language is attested in inscriptions from about the 10th century BCE,
The language of the Hebrew Bible reflects various stages of the Hebrew language in its
Biblical Hebrew has several different
Biblical Hebrew possessed a series of emphatic consonants whose precise articulation is disputed, likely ejective or pharyngealized. Earlier Biblical Hebrew possessed three consonants that were not distinguished in writing and later merged with other consonants. The stop consonants developed fricative allophones under the influence of Aramaic, and these sounds eventually became marginally phonemic. The pharyngeal and glottal consonants underwent weakening in some regional dialects, as reflected in the modern Samaritan Hebrew reading tradition. The vowel system of Biblical Hebrew changed over time and is reflected differently in the ancient Greek and Latin transcriptions, medieval vocalization systems, and modern reading traditions.
Biblical Hebrew had a typical Semitic morphology with
Nomenclature
The earliest written sources refer to Biblical Hebrew as שפת כנען "the language of Canaan".[4][5] The Hebrew Bible also calls the language יהודית "Judaean, Judahite"[6][5] In the Hellenistic period, Greek writings use the names Hebraios, Hebraïsti[7] and in Mishnaic Hebrew we find עברית 'Hebrew' and לשון עברית "Hebrew language".[8][5] The origin of this term is obscure; suggested origins include the biblical Eber, the ethnonyms ʿApiru, Ḫabiru, and Ḫapiru found in sources from Egypt and the Near East, and a derivation from the root עבר "to pass", alluding to crossing over the Jordan River.[5][9] Jews also began referring to Hebrew as לשון הקדש "the Holy Tongue" in Mishnaic Hebrew.[5]
The term Classical Hebrew may include all pre-medieval dialects of Hebrew, including Mishnaic Hebrew, or it may be limited to Hebrew contemporaneous with the Hebrew Bible. The term Biblical Hebrew refers to pre-Mishnaic dialects (sometimes excluding Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew). The term Biblical Hebrew may or may not include extra-biblical texts, such as inscriptions (e.g. the Siloam inscription), and generally also includes later vocalization traditions for the Hebrew Bible's consonantal text, most commonly the early medieval Tiberian vocalization.[citation needed]
History
The archeological record for the prehistory of Biblical Hebrew is far more complete than the record of Biblical Hebrew itself.[10] Early Northwest Semitic (ENWS) materials are attested from 2350 BCE to 1200 BCE, the end of the Bronze Age.[10] The Northwest Semitic languages, including Hebrew, differentiated noticeably during the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), although in its earliest stages Biblical Hebrew was not highly differentiated from Ugaritic and the Canaanite of the Amarna letters.[11]
Hebrew developed during the latter half of the
The kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.
Aramaic became the common language in the north, in Galilee and Samaria.[13] Hebrew remained in use in Judah; however the returning exiles brought back Aramaic influence, and Aramaic was used for communicating with other ethnic groups during the Persian period.[13] Alexander conquered Judah in 332 BCE, beginning the period of Hellenistic (Greek) domination.[13] During the Hellenistic period Judea became independent under the Hasmonean dynasty, but later the Romans ended their independence, making Herod the Great their governor.[12] One Jewish revolt against the Romans led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the second Bar Kokhba revolt in 132–135 led to a large departure of the Jewish population of Judea.[12]
Biblical Hebrew after the Second Temple period evolved into Mishnaic Hebrew, which ceased being spoken and developed into a literary language around 200 CE.[17] Hebrew continued to be used as a literary and liturgical language in the form of Medieval Hebrew, and Hebrew began a revival process in the 19th century, culminating in Modern Hebrew becoming the official language of Israel. Currently, Classical Hebrew is generally taught in public schools in Israel, and Biblical Hebrew forms are sometimes used in Modern Hebrew literature, much as archaic and biblical constructions are used in Modern English literature. Since Modern Hebrew contains many biblical elements, Biblical Hebrew is fairly intelligible to Modern Hebrew speakers.[18]
The primary source of Biblical Hebrew material is the Hebrew Bible.[11][19] Epigraphic materials from the area of Israelite territory are written in a form of Hebrew called Inscriptional Hebrew, although this is meagerly attested.[19][20] According to Waltke & O'Connor, Inscriptional Hebrew "is not strikingly different from the Hebrew preserved in the Masoretic text."[20] The damp climate of Israel caused the rapid deterioration of papyrus and parchment documents, in contrast to the dry environment of Egypt, and the survival of the Hebrew Bible may be attributed to scribal determination in preserving the text through copying.[21] No manuscript of the Hebrew Bible dates to before 400 BCE, although two silver rolls (the Ketef Hinnom scrolls) from the seventh or sixth century BCE show a version of the Priestly Blessing.[21][22][23] Vowel and cantillation marks were added to the older consonantal layer of the Bible between 600 CE and the beginning of the 10th century.[24][nb 1] The scholars who preserved the pronunciation of the Bibles were known as the Masoretes. The most well-preserved system that was developed, and the only one still in religious use, is the Tiberian vocalization, but both Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations are also attested.[24] The Palestinian system was preserved mainly in piyyutim, which contain biblical quotations.[24]
Classification
Proto-Semitic | Hebrew | Aramaic | Arabic | Examples | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hebrew | Aramaic | Arabic | meaning | ||||
*/ð/ *ḏ | */z/ ז | */d/ ד | */ð/ ذ | זָהָב זָכָר |
דְּהָב דְּכָר |
ذَهَب ذَكَر |
'gold' 'male' |
*/z/1 *z | */z/ ז | */z/ ز | מֹאזְנָיִם זְמָן |
מֹאזְנָיִן זְמָן |
مَوَازَيْن زَمَن |
'scale' 'time' | |
*/s/ *s | */s/ ס | */s/ س */ʃ/ ش |
סַכִּין סַהַר |
سِكِّين شَهْر |
'knife' 'moon/month' | ||
*/ɬ/ *ś | */s/ שׂ | */ʃ/ ش | עָשָׂר | عَشْر | 'ten' | ||
*/ʃ/ *š | */ʃ/ שׁ | */ʃ/ שׁ | */s/ س | שָׁנָה שָׁלוֹם |
שָׁנָה שְׁלָם |
سَنة سَلام |
'year' 'peace' |
*/θ/ *ṯ | */t/ ת | */θ/ ث | שָׁלוֹשׁ שְׁתָּיִם |
תְּלָת תְּרֵין |
ثَلاث اِثْنان |
'three' 'two' | |
*/θʼ/1 *ṱ | */sˤ/1 צ | */tˤ/ ט | */ðˤ/ ظ | צֵל צָהֳרָיִם |
טְלָה טֹהֶר |
ظِلّ ظُهْر |
'shadow' 'noon' |
*/ɬʼ/1 *ṣ́ | */ʕ/ ע | */dˤ/ ض | אֶרֶץ צָחַק |
אֶרַע עֲחַק |
أَرْض ضَحِكَ |
'land' 'laughed' | |
*/sʼ/1 *ṣ | */sˤ/ צ | */sˤ/ ص | צָרַח צַבָּר |
צְרַח צַבָּר |
صَرَخَ صَبْر |
'shout' 'water melon like plant' | |
*/χ/ *ḫ | */ħ/ ח | */x~χ/ خ | חֲמִשָּׁה צָרַח |
חַמְשָׁה צְרַח |
خَمْسة صَرَخَ |
'five' 'shout' | |
*/ħ/ *ḥ | */ħ/ ح | מֶלַח חָלוֹם |
מֶלַח חֲלָם |
مِلْح حُلْم |
'salt' 'dream' | ||
*/ʁ/ *ġ | */ʕ/ ע | */ɣ~ʁ/ غ | עוֹרֵב מַעֲרָב |
עוֹרָב מַעֲרָב |
غُرَاب غَرْب |
'raven' 'west' | |
*/ʕ/ *ʻ | */ʕ/ ع | עֶבֶד שֶׁבַע |
عَبْد سَبْع |
'slave' 'seven' |
Biblical Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language from the Canaanite subgroup.[28][29]
As Biblical Hebrew evolved from the Proto-Semitic language it underwent a number of consonantal mergers parallel with those in other Canaanite languages.[25][30][31][nb 2] There is no evidence that these mergers occurred after the adaptation of the Hebrew alphabet.[32][nb 3]
As a Northwest Semitic language, Hebrew shows the shift of initial */w/ to /j/, a similar independent pronoun system to the other Northwest Semitic languages (with third person pronouns never containing /ʃ/), some archaic forms, such as /naħnu/ 'we', first person singular pronominal suffix -i or -ya, and /n/ commonly preceding pronominal suffixes.[30] Case endings are found in Northwest Semitic languages in the second millennium BCE, but disappear almost totally afterwards.[30] Mimation is absent in singular nouns, but is often retained in the plural, as in Hebrew.[30]
The Northwest Semitic languages formed a dialect continuum in the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), with Phoenician and Aramaic on each extreme.[30][33] Hebrew is classed with Phoenician in the Canaanite subgroup, which also includes Ammonite, Edomite, and Moabite.[30] Moabite might be considered a Hebrew dialect, though it possessed distinctive Aramaic features.[33][34] Although Ugaritic shows a large degree of affinity to Hebrew in poetic structure, vocabulary, and some grammar, it lacks some Canaanite features (like the Canaanite shift and the shift */ð/ > /z/), and its similarities are more likely a result of either contact or preserved archaism.[35]
Hebrew underwent the Canaanite shift, where Proto-Semitic /aː/ tended to shift to /oː/, perhaps when stressed.[30][36] Hebrew also shares with the Canaanite languages the shifts */ð/ > /z/, */θʼ/ and */ɬʼ/ > /sʼ/, widespread reduction of diphthongs, and full assimilation of non-final /n/ to the following consonant if word final, i.e. בת /bat/ from *bant.[30] There is also evidence of a rule of assimilation of /y/ to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic.[37]
Typical Canaanite words in Hebrew include: גג "roof" שלחן "table" חלון "window" ישן "old (thing)" זקן "old (person)" and גרש "expel".[30] Morphological Canaanite features in Hebrew include the masculine plural marker -ם, first person singular pronoun אנכי, interrogative pronoun מי, definite article ה- (appearing in the first millennium BCE), and third person plural feminine verbal marker ת-.[30]
Eras
Biblical Hebrew as preserved in the Hebrew Bible is composed of multiple linguistic layers. The consonantal skeleton of the text is the most ancient, while the cantillation and modern vocalization are later additions reflecting a later stage of the language.[19] These additions were added after 600 CE; Hebrew had already ceased being used as a spoken language around 200 CE.[38] Biblical Hebrew as reflected in the consonantal text of the Bible and in extra-biblical inscriptions may be subdivided by era.
The oldest form of Biblical Hebrew, Archaic Hebrew, is found in poetic sections of the Bible and inscriptions dating to around 1000 BCE, the early
Later pre-exilic Biblical Hebrew (such as is found in prose sections of the Pentateuch,
Biblical Hebrew from after the Babylonian exile in 587 BCE is known as 'Late Biblical Hebrew'.[39][40] Late Biblical Hebrew shows Aramaic influence in phonology, morphology, and lexicon, and this trend is also evident in the later-developed Tiberian vocalization system.[46][nb 4]
Qumran Hebrew, attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls from ca. 200 BCE to 70 CE, is a continuation of Late Biblical Hebrew.[40] Qumran Hebrew may be considered an intermediate stage between Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew, though Qumran Hebrew shows its own idiosyncratic dialectal features.[47]
Dialects
Dialect variation in Biblical Hebrew is attested to by the well-known shibboleth incident of Judges 12:6, where Jephthah's forces from Gilead caught Ephraimites trying to cross the Jordan river by making them say שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת šibboleṯ ('ear of corn')[48] The Ephraimites' identity was given away by their pronunciation: סִבֹּ֤לֶת sibboleṯ.[48] The apparent conclusion is that the Ephraimite dialect had /s/ for standard /ʃ/.[48] As an alternative explanation, it has been suggested that the proto-Semitic phoneme */θ/, which shifted to /ʃ/ in most dialects of Hebrew, may have been retained in the Hebrew of the trans-Jordan[49][nb 5] (however, there is evidence that שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת's Proto-Semitic ancestor had initial consonant š (whence Hebrew /ʃ/), contradicting this theory;[48] for example, שִׁבֹּ֤לֶת's Proto-Semitic ancestor has been reconstructed as *šu(n)bul-at-.[50]); or that the Proto-Semitic sibilant *s1, transcribed with šin and traditionally reconstructed as */ʃ/, had been originally */s/ while another sibilant *s3, transcribed with sameḵ and traditionally reconstructed as /s/, had been originally /ts/;[51] later on, a push-type chain shift changed *s3 /ts/ to /s/ and pushed s1 /s/ to /ʃ/ in many dialects (e.g. Gileadite) but not others (e.g. Ephraimite), where *s1 and *s3 merged into /s/.
Hebrew as spoken in the northern Kingdom of Israel, known also as
The guttural phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/ merged over time in some dialects.[55] This was found in Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew, but Jerome attested to the existence of contemporaneous Hebrew speakers who still distinguished pharyngeals.[55] Samaritan Hebrew also shows a general attrition of these phonemes, though /ʕ ħ/ are occasionally preserved as [ʕ].[56]
Orthography
Name | Paleo-Hebrew | Block | Samaritan
|
Phonetic value (Pre-Exilic)[57][58] (IPA) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Aleph | א | ࠀ | [ʔ] | |
Beth | ב | ࠁ | [b], [β] | |
Gimel | ג | ࠂ | [ɡ], [ɣ] | |
Daleth
|
ד | ࠃ | [ d], [ð ]
| |
He | ה | ࠄ | [h] | |
Waw | ו | ࠅ | [w]/wᶹ | |
Zayin | ז | ࠆ | [z̄] | |
Heth | ח | ࠇ | [ħ] or [χ] | |
Teth | ט | ࠈ | [tˤ] | |
Yodh | י | ࠉ | [j] | |
Kaph | כ, ך | ࠊ | [k], [x] | |
Lamedh | ל | ࠋ | [ l ]
| |
Mem
|
מ, ם | ࠌ | [m] | |
Nun | נ, ן | ࠍ | [ n ]
| |
Samekh | ס | ࠎ | [s] | |
Ayin | ע | ࠏ | [ʕ] or [ʁ][59][60] | |
Pe | פ, ף | ࠐ | [p], [ɸ] | |
Tsade | צ, ץ | ࠑ | [sˤ] | |
Qoph | ק | ࠒ | [qˁ] | |
Resh | ר | ࠓ | [ r ]
| |
Shin | ש | ࠔ | [ʃ] or [ɬ͡s] | |
Taw | ת | ࠕ | [ t], [θ ]
|
The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, found at
The Israelite tribes who settled in the land of Israel used a late form of the
By the end of the First Temple period the
The Phoenician script had dropped five characters by the 12th century BCE, reflecting the language's twenty-two consonantal phonemes.
The original Hebrew alphabet consisted only of
The Hebrew Bible was presumably originally written in a more defective orthography than found in any of the texts known today.[73] Of the extant textual witnesses of the Hebrew Bible, the Masoretic text is generally the most conservative in its use of matres lectionis, with the Samaritan Pentateuch and its forebearers being more full and the Qumran tradition showing the most liberal use of vowel letters.[75] The Masoretic text mostly uses vowel letters for long vowels, showing the tendency to mark all long vowels except for word-internal /aː/.[74][nb 10] In the Qumran tradition, back vowels are usually represented by ⟨ו⟩ whether short or long.[76][77] ⟨י⟩ is generally used for both long [iː] and [eː] (אבילים, מית), and final [iː] is often written as יא- in analogy to words like היא, הביא, e.g. כיא, sometimes מיא.[76][77] ⟨ה⟩ is found finally in forms like חוטה (Tiberian חוטא), קורה (Tiberian קורא) while ⟨א⟩ may be used for an a-quality vowel in final position (e.g. עליהא) and in medial position (e.g. יאתום).[76] Pre-Samaritan and Samaritan texts show full spellings in many categories (e.g. כוחי vs. Masoretic כחי in Genesis 49:3) but only rarely show full spelling of the Qumran type.[78]
Presumably, the vowels of Biblical Hebrew were not indicated in the original text, but various sources attest to them at various stages of development. Greek and Latin transcriptions of words from the biblical text provide early evidence of the nature of Biblical Hebrew vowels. In particular, there is evidence from the rendering of proper nouns in the
All of these systems together are used to reconstruct the original vocalization of Biblical Hebrew.At an early stage, in documents written in the paleo-Hebrew script, words were divided by short vertical lines and later by dots, as reflected by the Mesha Stone, the Siloam inscription, the Ophel inscription, and paleo-Hebrew script documents from Qumran.
While the Babylonian and Palestinian reading traditions are extinct, various other systems of pronunciation have evolved over time, notably the
Phonology
The phonology as reconstructed for Biblical Hebrew is as follows:
Consonants
Labial | Coronal | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dental | Alveolar | Lateral | ||||||||
Nasals
|
m | n
|
||||||||
Stops
|
voiceless
|
p | t
|
k | q | ʔ | ||||
voiced
|
b | d
|
ɡ | |||||||
emphatic | tˤ[59][60] | |||||||||
Fricatives
|
voiceless
|
ɸ2 | θ2 | s | ɬ 1
|
ʃ | x2 | χ1 | ħ | h |
voiced
|
β2 | ð2 | z | ɣ2[59][60] | ʁ1[59] | ʕ | ||||
emphatic | sˤ[59] | |||||||||
Approximants
|
w/ʋ | l
|
j | |||||||
Trill | r
|
- Consonants lost during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew.
- Consonants gained during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew
The phonetic nature of some Biblical Hebrew consonants is disputed. The so-called "emphatics" were likely
Some argue that /s, z, sˤ/ were affricated (/ts, dz, tsˤ/),[88] but Egyptian starts using s in place of earlier ṯ to represent Canaanite s around 1000 BC. It is likely that Canaanite was already dialectally split by that time, and the northern Early Phoenician dialect that the Greeks were in contact with could have preserved the affricate pronunciation until c. 800 BC at least, unlike the more southern Canaanite dialects (like Hebrew) that the Egyptians were in contact with, so that there is no contradiction within this argument.
Originally, the Hebrew letters ⟨ח⟩ and ⟨ע⟩ each represented two possible phonemes, uvular and pharyngeal, with the distinction unmarked in Hebrew orthography. However the uvular phonemes /χ/ ח and /ʁ/ ע merged with their pharyngeal counterparts /ħ/ ח and /ʕ/ ע respectively c. 200 BCE.
This is observed by noting the preservation of the double phonemes of each letter in one Sephardic reading tradition, and by noting that these phonemes are distinguished consistently in the Septuagint of the Pentateuch (e.g. Isaac יצחק Yīṣḥāq = Ἰσαάκ versus Rachel רחל Rāḫēl = Ῥαχήλ), but this becomes more sporadic in later books and is generally absent in translations of Ezra and Nehemiah.[91][92]
The phoneme /ɬ/, is also not directly indicated by Hebrew orthography but is clearly attested by later developments: It is written with ⟨ש⟩ (also used for /ʃ/) but later merged with /s/ (normally indicated with ⟨ס⟩). As a result, three etymologically distinct phonemes can be distinguished through a combination of spelling and pronunciation: /s/ written ⟨ס⟩, /ʃ/ written ⟨ש⟩, and /ś/ (pronounced /ɬ/ but written ⟨ש⟩). The specific pronunciation of /ś/ as [ɬ] is based on comparative evidence (/ɬ/ is the corresponding
Allophonic
The Dead Sea scrolls show evidence of confusion of the phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/, e.g. חמר ħmr for Masoretic אָמַר /ʔɔˈmar/ 'he said'.[96] However the testimony of Jerome indicates that this was a regionalism and not universal.[55] Confusion of gutturals was also attested in later Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic (see Eruvin 53b). In Samaritan Hebrew, /ʔ ħ h ʕ/ have generally all merged, either into /ʔ/, a glide /w/ or /j/, or by vanishing completely (often creating a long vowel), except that original /ʕ ħ/ sometimes have reflex /ʕ/ before /a ɒ/.[56]
Proto-Semitic
|
Language | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Hebrew | Aramaic | Arabic | ||
Jewish | Samaritanּ | |||
*/p/ | */ɸ/ (normally) פף
*/p/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) פּ |
*/f/ ࠐ | */ɸ/ (normally) פף
*/p/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) פּ |
*/f/ ف |
*/b/ | */β/ (normally) ב
*/b/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) בּ |
*/b/ ࠁ | */β/ (normally) ב
*/b/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) בּ |
*/b/ ب |
*/t/ | */θ/ (normally) ת
*/t/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) תּ |
*/t/ ࠕ | */θ/ (normally) ת
*/t/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) תּ |
*/t/ ت |
*/θ/ ṯ | */ʃ/ שׁ, ࠔ | */θ/ שׁ | */θ/ ث | |
*/ʃ/ š | */ʃ/ שׁ | */s/ س | ||
*/ɬ/ ś | */s/ שׂ | */ʃ/ ࠔ | */s/ שׂ | */ʃ/ ش |
*/θʼ/ ṯ̣ | */sˤ/ צץ, ࠑ | */tˤ/ ט | */ðˤ/ ظ | |
*/sʼ/, */t͡sʼ/ ṣ | */sˤ/ צץ | */sˤ/ ص | ||
*/ɬʼ/ ṣ́ | */ʕ/ ע | */dˤ/ ض | ||
*/d/ | */ð/ (normally) ד
*/d/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) דּ |
*/d/ ࠃ | */ð/ (normally) ד
*/d/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) דּ |
*/d/ د |
*/ð/ ḏ | */z/ ז | */ð/ (normally) ד | */ð/ ذ | |
*/z/, */d͡z/ z | */z/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) ז | */z/ ز | ||
*/k/ | */x/ (normally) כך
*/k/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) כּ |
*/k/ ࠊ | */x/ (normally) כך
*/k/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) כּ |
*/k/ ك |
*/χ/ ḫ | */ħ/ ח | silent (normally) ࠇ
*/ʔ~ʕ/ (syllable-initially) ࠇ |
*/ħ/ ח | */χ/ خ |
*/ħ/ ḥ | */ħ/ ح | |||
*/g/ | */ɣ/ (normally) ג
*/g/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) גּ |
*/g/ ࠂ | */ɣ/ (normally) ג
*/g/ (syllable-initially, after closed syllables, geminated) גּ |
*/d͡ʒ/ ج |
*/ʁ/ ġ | */ʕ/ ע | silent (normally) ࠏ
*/ʔ~ʕ/ (syllable-initially) ࠏ |
*/ʕ/ ע | */ʁ/ غ |
*/ʕ/ ʻ | */ʕ/ ع | |||
*/w/ | */w ~ ʋ/ (normally) ו
*/j/ (word-initially, except in ו- "and") י |
*/b/ (normally) ࠅ
*/j/ <(word-initially, except in ࠅ- "and") ࠉ |
*/w/ ו | */w/ و |
Vowels
The vowel system of Hebrew has changed considerably over time. The following vowels are those reconstructed for the earliest stage of Hebrew, those attested by the Secunda, those of the various vocalization traditions (Tiberian and varieties of Babylonian and Palestinian), and those of the Samaritan tradition, with vowels absent in some traditions color-coded.
Proto-Hebrew[99] | Biblical Hebrew[99] | Secunda Hebrew[100] | Tiberian, Babylonian, and Palestinian Hebrew[101][102][103] | Samaritan Hebrew[104] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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Sound changes
The following sections present the vowel changes that Biblical Hebrew underwent, in approximate chronological order.
Proto-Central-Semitic
Proto-Semitic is the ancestral language of all the Semitic languages, and in traditional reconstructions possessed 29 consonants; 6 monophthong vowels, consisting of three qualities and two lengths, */a aː i iː u uː/, in which the long vowels occurred only in open syllables; and two diphthongs */aj aw/.[111][112] The stress system of Proto-Semitic is unknown but it is commonly described as being much like the system of Classical Latin or the modern pronunciation of Classical Arabic: If the penultimate (second last) syllable is light (has a short vowel followed by a single consonant), stress goes on the antepenult (third to last); otherwise, it goes on the penult.
Various changes, mostly in morphology, took place between
The morphology of Proto-Central-Semitic shows significant changes compared with Proto-Semitic, especially in its verbs, and is much like in
Broken plural forms in Arabic are declined like singulars, and often take singular agreement as well. Dual and "strong plural" forms use endings with a long vowel or diphthong, declined in only two cases: nominative and objective (combination accusative/genitive), with the objective form often becoming the default one after the loss of case endings. Both Hebrew and Arabic had a special form of nunation/mimation that co-occurred with the dual and masculine sound plural endings whenever the noun was not in the construct state. The endings were evidently felt as an inherent part of the ending and, as a result, are still used. Examples are Arabic strong masculine plural -ūna (nominative), -īna (objective), and dual endings -āni (nominative), -ayni (objective); corresponding construct-state endings are -ū, -ī (strong masculine plural), -ā, -ay (dual). (The strong feminine endings in Classical Arabic are -ātu nominative, -āti objective, marked with a singular-style -n nunation in the indefinite state only.)
If Hebrew had at some point had the broken plural, any vestigial forms that may remain have been extended with the strong plural endings. The dual and strong plural endings were likely much like the Arabic forms given above at one point, with only the objective-case forms ultimately surviving. For example, dual -ayim is probably from *-aymi with an extended mimation ending (cf. Arabic -ayni above), while dual construct -ē is from *-ay without mimation. Similarly, -īm < *-īma, -ōt < *-āti. (Expected plural construct state *-ī was replaced by dual -ē.)
Feminine nouns at this point ended in a suffix /-at-/ or /-t-/ in case endings. When the ending was final because of loss or non-presence of the case ending, it is replaced with/-ah/ and then /-aː/ in both Hebrew and Arabic. The final /t/ consonant therefore is silent in the absolute state, but becomes /t/ again in the construct state and when these words take suffixes, e.g. תֹורָה /toːraː/ "law" becomes תֹורַת /toːrat/ "law of", and תֹורָתְךָ /toːraːtəxaː/ "your law", etc. (This is equivalent to the Arabic letter Tāʼ Marbūṭah ة, a modified final form of the letter He ه which indicates this same phoneme shifting, and only its pronunciation varies between construct and absolute state.)
Potential Canaanite shift
Hebrew shows certain aspects of the Canaanite shift whereby */aː/ often shifted to /oː/; the conditions of this shift are disputed.[36][nb 20] This shift had occurred by the 14th century BCE, as demonstrated by its presence in the Amarna letters (c. 1365 BCE).[114][115]
Proto-Hebrew
As a result of the Canaanite shift, the Proto-Hebrew vowel system is reconstructed as */a aː oː i iː u uː/ (and possibly rare */eː/).[99] Furthermore, stress at this point appears to have shifted so that it was consistently on the penultimate (next to last) syllable, and was still non-phonemic. The predominant final stress of Biblical Hebrew was a result of loss of final unstressed vowels and a shift away from remaining open syllables (see below).
Loss of final unstressed vowels
Final unstressed short vowels dropped out in most words, making it possible for long vowels to occur in closed syllables. This appears to have proceeded in two steps:
- Final short mood, etc. markers dropped in verbal forms.
- Final short case markers dropped in nominal forms.
Vowel lengthening in stressed, open syllables occurred between the two steps, with the result that short vowels at the beginning of a -VCV ending lengthened in nouns but not verbs. This is most noticeable with short /a/: e.g. *kataba ('he wrote') > /kɔˈθav/ but *dabara ('word' acc.') > /dɔˈvɔr/.
The dropping of final short vowels in verb forms tended to erase mood distinctions, but also some gender distinctions; however, unexpected vowel lengthening occurred in many situations to preserve the distinctions. For example, in the suffix conjugation, first-singular *-tu appears to have been remade into *-tī already by Proto-Hebrew on the basis of possessive -ī (likewise first singular personal pronoun *ʔana became *ʔanī).[citation needed]
Similarly, in the second-singular, inherited *-ta -ti competed with lengthened *-tā -tī for masculine and feminine forms. The expected result would be -t or -tā for masculine, -t or -tī for feminine, and in fact both variants of both forms are found in the Bible (with -h marking the long -ā and -y marking the long -ī). The situation appears to have been quite fluid for several centuries, with -t and -tā/tī forms found in competition both in writing and in speech (cf. the
The exact same process affected possessive *-ka ('your' masc. sing.) and *-ki ('your' fem. sing.), and personal pronouns *ʔanta, *ʔanti, with the same split into shorter and longer forms and the same ultimate resolution.
Short vowel lengthening (esp. pretonic), lowering
The short vowels */a i u/ tended to lengthen in various positions.
- First, short vowels lengthened in an open syllable in pretonic position (i.e. directly before the stressed syllable).
- Later, short vowels lengthened in stressed open syllables.[116][nb 21]
In the process of lengthening, the high vowels were lowered. In the Secunda, the lengthened reflexes of /a i u/ are /aː eː oː/; when kept short they generally have reflexes /a e o/.[117][nb 22][nb 23]
Reduction of short open stressed syllables
Stressed
The previous three changes occurred in a complex, interlocking fashion:
- Shift of stress to be universally penultimate.
- Loss of final short vowels in verbs, pre-stress lengthening in open syllables. Pre-stress lengthening/lowering becomes a surface filter that remains as a rule in the language, automatically affected any new short vowels in open syllables as they appear (but ultra-short vowels are unaffected).
- Stress movement from light syllable to following heavy syllable when not in pausa, with newly unstressed light syllable reducing the schwa.
- Tonic lengthening/lowering in open syllables.
- Loss of final short vowels in nouns.
Examples:
'killing/killer (masc. sg.)' | 'he killed' | 'she killed' | 'they killed' | 'they killed' (pausa) | 'you (masc. sg.) kill' | 'you (fem. sg.) kill' | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Proto-Central-Semitic | *ˈqaːṭilu | *ˈqaṭala | *ˈqaṭalat | *ˈqaṭaluː | *ˈqaṭaluː | *ˈtaqṭulu | *taqṭuˈliː(na) |
Pre-Hebrew | *ˈqaːṭilu | *ˈqaṭala | *ˈqaṭalat | *ˈqaṭaluː | *ˈqaṭaluː | *ˈtaqṭulu | *ˈtaqṭuliː |
Canaanite shift | *ˈqoːṭilu | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Penultimate stress | *qoːˈṭilu | *qaˈṭala | *qaˈṭalat | *qaˈṭaluː | *qaˈṭaluː | *taqˈṭulu | *taqˈṭuliː |
Final short vowel loss (verb) | — | *qaˈṭal | — | — | — | *taqˈṭul | — |
Pre-tonic lengthening | — | *qaːˈṭal | *qaːˈṭalat | *qaːˈṭaluː | *qaːˈṭaluː | — | — |
Stress shift / de-stressed reduction | — | — | *qaːṭəˈlat | *qaːṭəˈluː | — | — | *taqṭəˈliː |
Tonic lengthening/lowering | *qoːˈṭeːlu | — | — | — | *qaːˈṭaːluː | — | — |
Final short vowel loss (noun) | *qoːˈṭeːl | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Feminine /-at/ > /aː/ | — | — | *qaːṭəˈlaː | — | — | — | — |
Short vowel lowering | — | — | — | — | — | *taqˈṭol | — |
Law of attenuation | — | — | — | — | — | *tiqˈṭol | *tiqṭəˈliː |
Tiberian /aː/ > /ɔː/ | *qoːˈṭeːl | *qɔːˈṭal | *qɔːṭəˈlɔː | *qɔːṭəˈluː | *qɔːˈṭɔːluː | — | — |
Loss of phonemic vowel length; attested Tiberian form | qoˈṭel | qɔˈṭal | qɔṭəˈlɔ | qɔṭəˈlu | qɔˈṭɔlu | tiqˈṭol | tiqṭəˈli |
Many, perhaps most, Hebrew words with a schwa directly before a final stress are due to this stress shift.
This sound change shifted many more originally penultimate-stressed words to have final stress. The above changes can be seen to divide words into a number of main classes based on stress and syllable properties:
- Proto-Hebrew words with an open penult and short-vowel ending: Become final-stressed (e.g. /qɔˈṭal/ ('he killed') < PHeb. /qaˈṭala/).
- Proto-Hebrew words with a closed penult and short-vowel ending: Become penultimate due to segholate rule (e.g. /ˈmɛlɛx/ ('king') < */malku/).
- Proto-Hebrew words with an open short penult and longer ending: Become final-stressed due to stress shift (e.g. /qɔṭəˈlu/ ('they killed') < PHeb. /qaˈṭaluː/).
- Proto-Hebrew words with a closed penult and longer ending: Remain penultimate (e.g. /qɔˈṭalti/ ('I killed') < PHeb. /qaˈṭaltiː/).
- Proto-Hebrew words with an open long penult and longer ending: ???
Pre-stress reduction of short vowel
*/a i u/ were reduced to /ə/ in the second syllable before the stress,[100] and occasionally reduced rather than lengthened in pretonic position, especially when initial (e.g. σεμω = שמו /ʃəˈmo/ 'his name').[119][nb 24] Thus the vowel system of the Secunda was /a e eː iː o oː uː ə/.[100]
Later developments
The later Jewish traditions (Tiberian, Babylonian, Palestinian) show similar vowel developments. By the Tiberian time, all short vowels in stressed syllables and open pretonic lengthened, making vowel length allophonic.[120][nb 25][121] Vowels in open or stressed syllables had allophonic length (e.g. /a/ in יְרַחֵם /jəraˈħem/ [jəraːˈħeːm] ('he will have mercy') < previously short [jəraˈħeːm] < [jəraħˈħeːm] by Tiberian degemination of /ħ/ < PSem */juraħˈħimu/).[121][nb 26] The Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations systems also do not mark vowel length.[87][107][122] In the Tiberian and Babylonian systems, */aː/ and lengthened */a/ become the back vowel /ɔ/.[107][123] In unaccented closed syllables, */i u/ become /ɛ⁓i ɔ⁓u/ (Tiberian), /a⁓i u/ (Babylonian), or /e⁓i o⁓u/ (Palestinian) – generally becoming the second vowel before geminates (e.g. לִבִּי) and the first otherwise.[107][108][123][124][nb 27] In the Tiberian tradition pretonic vowels are reduced more commonly than in the Secunda. It does not occur for /*a/, but is occasional for /*i/ (e.g. מסמְרים /masməˈrim/ 'nails' < */masmiriːm/), and is common for /*u/ (e.g. רְחוֹב /rəˈħoβ 'open place' < */ruħaːb/).[119][125] In Tiberian Hebrew pretonic /*u/ is most commonly preserved by geminating the following consonant, e.g. אדֻמּים /ăðumˈmim/ ('red' pl.) (cf. /ăˈðom/ 'red' sg.); this pretonic gemination is also found in some forms with other vowels like אַסִּיר⁓אָסִיר /ɔˈsir/⁓/asˈsir/ ('prisoner').[126]
The Babylonian and Palestinian systems have only one reduced vowel phoneme /ə/ like the Secunda, though in Palestinian Hebrew it developed the pronunciation [ɛ].[100][107][127] However the Tiberian tradition possesses three reduced vowels /ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/ of which /ɛ̆/ has questionable phonemicity.[128][129][nb 28] /ă/ under a non-guttural letter was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel before a guttural, e.g. וּבָקְעָה [uvɔqɔ̆ˈʕɔ], and as [ĭ] preceding /j/, e.g. תְדֵמְּיוּ֫נִי [θăðamːĭˈjuni], but was always pronounced as [ă] under gutturals, e.g. שָחֲחו, חֲיִי.[130][131] When reduced, etymological */a i u/ become /ă ɛ̆⁓ă ɔ̆/ under gutturals (e.g. אֲמרתם 'you [mp.] said' cf. אָמר 'he said'), and generally /ă/ under non-gutturals, but */u/ > /ɔ̆/ (and rarely */i/ > /ɛ̆/) may still occur, especially after stops (or their spirantized counterparts) and /sʼ ʃ/ (e.g. דֳּמִי /dɔ̆ˈmi/).[132][133] Samaritan and Qumran Hebrew have full vowels in place of the reduced vowels of Tiberian Hebrew.[134]
Samaritan Hebrew also does not reflect etymological vowel length; however the elision of guttural consonants has created new phonemic vowel length, e.g. /rɒb/ רב ('great') vs. /rɒːb/ רחב ('wide').[135] Samaritan Hebrew vowels are allophonically lengthened (to a lesser degree) in open syllables, e.g. המצרי [ammisˤriˑ], היא [iˑ], though this is less strong in post-tonic vowels.[135] Pretonic gemination is also found in Samaritan Hebrew, but not always in the same locations as in Tiberian Hebrew, e.g. גמלים TH /ɡămalːim/ SH /ɡɒmɒləm/; שלמים TH /ʃălɔmim/ SH /ʃelamːəm/.[136] While Proto-Hebrew long vowels usually retain their vowel quality in the later traditions of Hebrew,[123][137] in Samaritan Hebrew */iː/ may have reflex /e/ in closed stressed syllables, e.g. דין /den/, */aː/ may become either /a/ or /ɒ/,[138] and */oː/ > /u/.[138] The reduced vowels of the other traditions appear as full vowels, though there may be evidence that Samaritan Hebrew once had similar vowel reduction. Samaritan /ə/ results from the neutralization of the distinction between /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. /bit/ בית ('house') /abbət/ הבית ('the house') /ɡer/ גר /aɡɡər/ הגר.[110]
Various more specific conditioned shifts of vowel quality have also occurred. Diphthongs were frequently monophthongized, but the scope and results of this shift varied among dialects. In particular, the Samaria ostraca show /jeːn/ < */jajn/ < */wajn/
The following chart summarizes the most regular reflexes of the Proto-Semitic vowels in the various stages of Hebrew:
Hebrew vowel reflexes | Hebrew language stage | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Secunda | Jewish | Samaritan1 | |||||
Palestinian | Babylonian | Tiberian | |||||
Proto-Hebrew vowel | *a | usual7 | a | a, i2 | a, ɒ | ||
lengthened5 | aː | a | ɔ | ||||
reduced6 | ə | ə | ă | ||||
*i | usual7 | e | e, i8, a3 | ɛ, i8, a3 | e, i, a3 | ||
lengthened5 | eː | e | e | ||||
reduced6 | ə | ə | ă, ɛ̆ | e, i, a3 | |||
*u | usual7 | o | o, u8 | ɔ, u8 | a, ɒ, i | ||
lengthened5 | oː | o | |||||
reduced6 | ə | ə | ă, ɔ̆ | ||||
*aː→*oː | oː | o | u | ||||
*iː | iː | i | e, i | ||||
*uː | uː | u | o, u4 | ||||
*aj→*ej | eː | e | iː, i | ||||
*aw→*ow | oː | o | uː, o |
All Proto-Hebrew short vowels were deleted word-finally.
Notes:
- Samaritan Hebrew vowels may be lengthened in the presence of etymological guttural consonants. /ə/ results from both /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables.
- with the law of attenuation.
- with Philippi's law.
- Samaritan /o u/ are nearly in complementary distribution (/o/ in open syllables, /u/ in closed syllables). /o/ contrasts only stressed final syllables.
- lengthening occurs in some open one syllable away from the stress and some stressed syllables; exact conditions depend on the vowel and reading tradition
- reduction occurs in the open syllables two syllables away from the stress and sometimes also in pretonic and stressed open syllables; exact conditions depend on the vowel and reading tradition.
- mainly in most closed syllables.
- more common before long consonants.
Stress
Proto-Hebrew generally had penultimate stress.[148][nb 36] The ultimate stress of later traditions of Hebrew usually resulted from the loss of final vowels in many words, preserving the location of proto-Semitic stress.[nb 37] Tiberian Hebrew has phonemic stress, e.g. בָּנוּ֫ /bɔˈnu/ ('they built') vs. בָּ֫נוּ /ˈbɔnu/ ('in us'); stress is most commonly ultimate, less commonly penultimate, and antipenultimate stress exists marginally, e.g. הָאֹ֫הֱלָה /hɔˈʔohɛ̆lɔ/ ('into the tent').[149][nb 38] There does not seem to be evidence for stress in the Secunda varying from that of the Tiberian tradition.[150] Despite sharing the loss of final vowels with Tiberian Hebrew, Samaritan Hebrew has generally not preserved Proto-Semitic stress, and has predominantly penultimate stress, with occasional ultimate stress.[151] There is evidence that Qumran Hebrew had a similar stress pattern to Samaritan Hebrew.[134]
Grammar
Medieval grammarians of Arabic and Hebrew classified words as belonging to three parts of speech: Arabic ism ('noun'), fiʻl ('verb'), and ḥarf ('particle'); other grammarians have included more categories.[152] In particular, adjectives and nouns show more affinity to each other than in most European languages.[152] Biblical Hebrew has a typical Semitic morphology, characterized by the use of roots. Most words in Biblical Hebrew are formed from a root, a sequence of consonants with a general associated meaning.[153] Roots are usually triconsonantal, with biconsonantal roots less common (depending on how some words are analyzed) and rare cases of quadri- and quinquiconsonantal roots.[153] Roots are modified by affixation to form words.[153] Verbal patterns are more productive and consistent, while noun patterns are less predictable.[154]
Nouns and adjectives
The most common nominal prefix used is /m/, used for substantives of location (מוֹשָׁב 'assembly'), instruments (מַפְתֵּֽחַ 'key'), and abstractions (מִשְׁפָּט 'judgement').[155] The vowel after /m/ is normally /a/, but appears sometimes as /i/, or in the case of מוֹשָׁב as /o/ (contracted from */aw/).[155] The prefix /t/ is used to denote the action of the verb; it is derived from more common for initial-/w/ verbs, e.g. תּוֹדָה ('thanksgiving'; < ydy).[155] Prefixed /ʔ/ is used in adjectives, e.g. אכזב ('deceptive'), and also occurs in nouns with initial sibilants, e.g. אֶצְבַּע ('finger').[155] In the latter case this prefix was added for phonetic reasons, and the א prefix is called either "prothetic" or "prosthetic".[155] Prefixed ע often occurs in quadriliteral animal names, perhaps as a prefix, e.g. עֲטַלֵּף ('bat'), עַכְבָּר ('mouse'), עַקְרָב ('scorpion').[155]
In proto-Semitic nouns were marked for case: in the singular the markers were */-u/ in the nominative, */-a/ in the accusative (used also for adverbials), and */-i/ in the genitive, as evidenced in Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Arabic.[156] The Amarna letters show that this was probably still present in Hebrew c. 1350 BCE.[157] In the development of Hebrew, final */-u, -i/ were dropped first, and later */-a/ was elided as well.[158] Mimation, a nominal suffix */-m/ of unclear meaning, was found in early Canaanite, as shown by early Egyptian transcriptions (c. 1800 BCE) of Jerusalem as Urušalimim, but there is no indication of its presence after 1800 BCE.[158][nb 39] Final */-a/ is preserved in לַ֫יְלָה /ˈlajlɔ/, originally meaning 'at night' but in prose replacing לַ֫יִל /ˈlajil/ ('night'), and in the "connective vowels" of some prepositions (originally adverbials), e.g. עִמָּ֫נוּ ('with us'); nouns preserve */-i/ in forms like יָדֵ֫נוּ.[159][nb 40] Construct state nouns lost case vowels at an early period (similar to Akkadian), as shown by the reflexes of */ɬadaju/ (שָֹדֶה in absolute but שְׂדֵה in construct) and the reflexes of */jadu/ (יָד and יַד)[160] However forms like יָדֵ֫נוּ show that this was not yet a feature of Proto-Hebrew.[161]
Biblical Hebrew has two genders, masculine and feminine, which are reflected in nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs.
Nouns are marked as definite with the prefix /ha-/ followed by gemination of the initial consonant of the noun.[169] In Tiberian Hebrew the vowel of the article may become /ɛ/ or /ɔ/ in certain phonetic environments, for example החכם /hɛħɔˈxɔm/ ('the wise man'), האיש /hɔˈʔiʃ/ ('the man').[170]
The traditions differ on the form of segolate nouns, nouns stemming from roots with two final consonants. The anaptyctic /ɛ/ of the Tiberian tradition in segolates appears in the Septuagint (3rd century BCE) but not the Hexapla (2nd century CE), e.g. גֶּתֶר /ˈɡɛθɛr/ = Γαθερ versus כֵּסֶל /ˈkesɛl/ = Χεσλ (Psalms 49:14).[171] This may reflect dialectal variation or phonetic versus phonemic transcriptions.[171] Both the Palestinian and Babylonian traditions have an anaptyctic vowel in segolates, /e/ in the Palestinian tradition (e.g. /ʔeresʼ/ 'land' = Tiberian אֶרֶץ Deuteronomy 26:15) and /a/ in Babylonian (e.g. /ħepasʼ/ 'item' = Tiberian חֵפֶץ Jeremiah 22:28).[172] The Qumran tradition sometimes shows some type of back epenthetic vowel when the first vowel is back, e.g. ⟨אוהול⟩ for Tiberian ⟨אֹהֶל⟩ /ˈʔohɛl/ ('tent').
Biblical Hebrew has two sets of personal pronouns: the free-standing independent pronouns have a nominative function, while the pronominal suffixes are genitive or accusative.[173] Only the first person suffix has different possessive and objective forms (-י and -ני).[174]
Verbs
Verbal consonantal roots are placed into
Word order
The default word order in Biblical Hebrew is commonly thought to be
Tense and aspect
Biblical Hebrew has two main conjugation types, the suffix conjugation, also called the Perfect, and the prefix conjugation, also called Imperfect. The Perfect verb form expressed the idea of the verb as a completed action, viewing it from start to finish as a whole, and not focusing on the process by which the verb came to be completed, stating it as a simple fact. This is often used in the past tense; however, there are some contexts in which a Perfect verb translates into the present and future tenses.[182]
The Imperfect portrays the verb as an incomplete action along with the process by which it came about, either as an event that has not begun, an event that has begun but is still in the process, or a habitual or cyclic action that is on an ongoing repetition. The Imperfect can also express modal or conditional verbs, as well as commands in the Jussive and Cohortative moods. It is conjectured that the imperfect can express modal quality through the paragogic nun added to certain imperfect forms.[183] While often future tense, it also has uses in the past and present under certain contexts. Biblical Hebrew tense is not necessarily reflected in the verb forms per se, but rather is determined primarily by context. The Participles also reflect ongoing or continuous actions, but are also subject to the context determining their tense.
The verbal forms can be Past Tense in these circumstances:[184]
- Perfect, Simple Past: in narrative, reflects a simple completed action, perception, emotion or mental process, and can also be past tense from the perspective of a prior verb which is used in future tense
- Imperfect, Waw Consecutive Preterite: simple past tense which takes the וַ prefix as a conjunction, appears at the beginning of a clause when it is connected in a narrative sequence with previous clauses, where the conjunction can be translated as 'and then', 'then', 'but', 'however', sometimes is not translated at all, and can even have a parenthetical function as if suggesting the clause is like a side note to the main focus of the narrative
- Imperfect, Past: reflecting not just a past action but also suggesting the process with which it was being done, e.g.: "I brought the horse to a halt", "I began to hear"
- Imperfect, Cyclic Past: reflecting a habitual or cyclic action over time, e.g. "this is what Job would always do"
- Participle in Past Tense: an active or passive Participle being used in its imperfect verbal sense in the past, e.g. "and the Spirit of God was hovering"
The verbal forms can be Present Tense in these circumstances:[184]
- Perfect, Proverbial/General Present: a general truth in the present tense which is not referring to a specific event, e.g. "the sun sets in the west"
- Perfect, Stative Present: present tense with verbs that depict a state of being rather than an action, including verbs of perception, emotion or mental process, e.g. "I love", "I hate", "I understand", "I know"
- Perfect, Present Perfect: a Present Perfect verb, e.g. "I have walked"
- Imperfect, Present Condition: an Imperfect verb in the present, one which implies that an action has been going on for some time and is still ongoing in the present, especially used of questions in the present, e.g. "what are you seeking?"
- Imperfect, Cyclic Present: an Imperfect verb in the present, reflecting a cyclic action in the present, e.g. "it is being said in the city", "a son makes his father glad"
- Participle in Present Tense: an active or passive Participle being used in its imperfect verbal sense in the present, e.g. "I am going"
The verbal forms can be Future Tense in these circumstances:[184]
- Perfect, Waw Consecutive Future: by analogy to the Preterite, a simple future tense verb which takes the וְ prefix as a conjunction, appears at the beginning of a clause when it is connected in a narrative sequence with previous clauses, where the conjunction can be translated as 'and then', 'then', 'but', 'however', sometimes is not translated at all, and can even have a parenthetical function as if suggesting the clause is like a side note to the main focus of the narrative
- Perfect, Waw Consecutive Subjunctive: takes the וְ prefix as a conjunction to continue the Subjunctive Mood in a narrative sequence
- Perfect, Waw Consecutive Jussive/Cohortative: takes the וְ prefix as a conjunction to continue the Jussive and Cohortative Moods in a narrative sequence
- Perfect, Promise Future: the completeness of the verb form here expresses an imminent action in the context of promises, threats and the language of contracts and covenants in general, e.g. "I will give you this land", "will I have this pleasure?"
- Perfect, Prophetic Future: the completeness of the verb form here expresses an imminent action in the context of prophecy, e.g. "you will go into exile"
- Imperfect, Future: reflects a future event which has not yet come into completion, or one that has not yet begun, or future tense from the perspective of a prior verb which is used in past tense
- Imperfect, Subjunctive: reflects a potential, theoretical or modal verb, such as in conditional clauses, e.g. "If you go...", "she should stay"
- Imperfect, Jussive/Cohortative: reflects a non-immediate command, invitation, permission or wishful request, e.g. "let there be light", "you may eat from the tree", "let's go", "O that someone would get me a drink"
Sample text
The following is a sample from Psalm 18 as appears in the Masoretic text with medieval Tiberian niqqud and cantillation and the Greek transcription of the Secunda of the Hexapla along with its reconstructed pronunciation.
Tiberian Hebrew
29 כִּֽי־אַ֭תָּה תָּאִ֣יר נֵרִ֑י יְהוָ֥ה אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י יַגִּ֥יהַּ חָשְׁכִּֽי׃
30 כִּֽי־בְ֭ךָ אָרֻ֣ץ גְּד֑וּד וּ֝בֵֽאלֹהַ֗י אֲדַלֶּג־שֽׁוּר׃
31 הָאֵל֮ תָּמִ֪ים דַּ֫רְכֹּ֥ו אִמְרַֽת־יְהוָ֥ה צְרוּפָ֑ה מָגֵ֥ן ה֝֗וּא לְכֹ֤ל ׀ הַחֹסִ֬ים בֹּֽו׃
32 כִּ֤י מִ֣י אֱ֭לֹוהַּ מִבַּלְעֲדֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה וּמִ֥י צ֝֗וּר זוּלָתִ֥י אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ׃
|
Secunda[105]
29. χι αθθα θαειρ νηρι YHWH ελωαι αγι οσχι 30. χι βαχ αρους γεδουδ ουβελωαι εδαλλεγ σουρ 31. αηλ θαμμιν (*-μ) δερχω εμαραθ YHWH σερουφα μαγεν ου λαχολ αωσιμ βω 32. χι μι ελω μεββελαδη YHWH ουμι σουρ ζουλαθι ελωννου (*-ηνου) |
29. [kiː ʔatːaː taːʔiːr neːriː **** ʔaloːhaj aɡiːh ħoʃkiː] 30. [kiː baːk ʔaːruːsˤ ɡəduːd ubeloːhaj ʔədalːeɡ ʃuːr] 31. [haːʔeːl tamːiːm derkoː ʔemərat **** sˤəruːfaː maːɡen huː ləkol haħoːsiːm boː] 32. [kiː miː ʔeloːh mebːelʕadeː **** umiː sˤuːr zuːlaːtiː ʔeloːheːnuː] |
Notes
- ^ This is known because the final redaction of the Talmud, which does not mention these additions, was c. 600 CE, while dated manuscripts with vocalization are found in the beginning of the tenth century. See Blau (2010:7)
- ^ However it is noteworthy that Akkadian shares many of these sound shifts but is less closely related to Hebrew than Aramaic. See Blau (2010:19)
- ^ However, for example, when Old Aramaic borrowed the Canaanite alphabet it still had interdentals, but marked them with what they merged with in Canaanite. For instance 'ox' was written שר but pronounced with an initial /θ/. The same phenomenon also occurred when the Arabs adopted the Nabatean alphabet. See Blau (2010:74–75).
- ^ Recent archaeological research suggests that Aramaic may have started to incluence Biblical Hebrew already during the pre-exilic era. See Bloch (2017:105)
- ^ As a consequence this would leave open the possibility that other proto-Semitic phonemes (such as */ð/) may have been preserved regionally at one point. See Rendsburg (1997:72)
- ^ Such contraction is also found in Ugaritic, the El-Amarna letters, and in Phoenician, while the anaptyctic vowel is found in Old Aramaic and Deir Alla. Sáenz-Badillos (1993:44)
- ^ At times the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Philistines would also use the Paleo-Hebrew script. See Yardeni (1997:25)
- ^ Though some of these translations wrote the tetragrammaton in the square script See Tov (1992:220)
- Ktiv male, the Hebrew term for full spelling, has become de rigueur in Modern Hebrew.
- ^ There are rare-cases of ⟨א⟩ being used medially as a true vowel letter, e.g. דָּאג for the usual דָּג 'fish'. Most cases, however, of ⟨א⟩ being used as a vowel letter are theorized to stem from conservative spelling of words which contained /ʔ/, e.g. רֹאשׁ ('head') from original */raʔʃ/. See Blau (2010:86). There are also a number of exceptions to the rule of marking other long vowels, e.g. when the following syllable contains a vowel letters (like in קֹלֹוֹת 'voices' rather than קוֹלוֹת) or when a vowel letter already marks a consonant (so גּוֹיִם 'nations' rather than *גּוֹיִים). See Blau (2010:6)
- ^ The Secunda is a transliteration of the Hebrew biblical text contained in the Hexapla, a recension of the Old Testament compiled by Origen in the 3rd century CE. There is evidence that the text of the Secunda was written before 100 BCE, despite the later date of the Hexapla. For example, by the time of Origen ⟨η, αι⟩ were pronounced [iː, ɛː], a merger which had already begun around 100 BCE, while in the Secunda they are used to represent Hebrew /eː aj/. See Janssens (1982:14)
- ^ The Palestinian system has two main subtypes and shows great variation. Blau (2010:7) The Babylonian vocalization occurred in two main types (simple / einfach and complex / kompliziert), with various subgroups differing as to their affinity with the Tiberian tradition. Sáenz-Badillos (1993:97–99)
- ^ In the Babylonian and Palestinian systems only the most important vowels were written. See Blau (2010:118)
- ^ Almost all vocalized manuscripts use the Masoretic Text. However, there are some vocalized Samaritan manuscripts from the Middle Ages. See Tov (1992:40)
- ^ Or perhaps Hurrian, but this is unlikely See Dolgopolsky (1999:72–3).
- ^ According to the generally accepted view, it is unlikely begadkefat spirantization occurred before the merger of /χ, ʁ/ and /ħ, ʕ/, or else [x, χ] and [ɣ, ʁ] would have to be contrastive, which is cross-linguistically rare. However Blau argues that it is possible that lenited /k/ and /χ/ could coexist even if pronounced identically, since one would be recognized as an alternating allophone (as apparently is the case in Nestorian Syriac). See Blau (2010:56).
- ^ The vowel before originally geminate /r ʔ/ usually shows compensatory lengthening, e.g. הָאָב /hɔˈʔɔv/ 'the father' < /*haʔːab/; with /ʕ/ preceding /*i/ tends to remain short; with /h/ original /*a/ also remains short, and /ħ/ generally does not cause compensatory lengthening, e.g. יְרַחֵם ('he will have compassion'). See Blau (2010:81–83)
- ^ a b In this respect the Palestinian tradition corresponds to the modern Sephardi pronunciation, and the Babylonian tradition to the modern Yemenite pronunciation.
- ^ While the vowels /a e i ɔ o u/ certainly have phonemic status in the Tiberian tradition, /ɛ/ has phonemic value in final stressed position but in other positions it may reflect loss of the opposition /a ː i/. See Blau (2010:111–112)
- ^ In fact, its scope of application is different in Samaritan and Tiberian Hebrew (e.g. פה 'here' Tiberian /po/ vs. Samaritan /fa/), see Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:83–86). Even in Tiberian Hebrew doublets are found, e.g. /kʼanːo(ʔ?)/ = /kʼanːɔ(ʔ?)/ ('zealous'). See Steiner (1997:147)
- ^ Parallels to Aramaic syllable structure suggest pretonic lengthening may have occurred in the Second Temple period. See Blau (2010:128–129)
- ^ Long /aː eː oː/ were written as ⟨α η ω⟩, while short /a e o/ were written ⟨α/ε ε ο⟩. This length distinction is also found in the LXX. See Blau (2010:110–111), Janssens (1982:54), and Dolgopolsky (1999:14)
- ^ In the Secunda /*a *i *u/ are preserved as short in syllables closed by two consonants and in the third syllable before the stress. See Janssens (1982:54, 58–59)
- ^ The Secunda also has a few cases of pretonic gemination. See Janssens (1982:119).
- ^ In fact, first all stressed vowels were lengthened in pause, see Janssens (1982:58–59). This can be seen by forms like Tiberian כַּף /kaf/ < */kaf/, pausal כָּף /kɔf/ < */kɔːf/ < */kaːf/ < */kaf/. The shift in Tiberian Hebrew of */aː/ > */ɔː/ occurred after this lengthening, but before the loss of phonemicity of length (since words like ירחם with allophonically long [aː] do not show this shift).
- Joseph Qimḥi (12th century) and by medieval Arabic transcriptions, see Janssens (1982:54–56). There is also possible evidence from the cantillation marks' behavior and Babylonian pataḥ, see Blau (2010:82).
- ^ The Palestinian reflexes of Tiberian /ɔ/ (/a/ and /o/) thus reflect the qamatz gadol-qamatz qatan distinction.
- ^ See אֳנִי /ɔ̆ˈni/ ('ships') אֲנִי /ăˈni/ ('I'), חֳלִי /ħɔ̆ˈli/ ('sickness') חֲלִי /ħăˈli/ ('ornament'), עֲלִי /ʕăˈli/ ('ascend!') (Num 21:17) and בַּעֱלִי /baʕɛ̆ˈli/ ('[with the] pestle'; Prov 27:22). Blau (2010:117–118) /ɛ̆/ alternates with /ă/ frequently and rarely contrasts with it, e.g. אֱדוֹם /ʔɛ̆ˈðom/ ('Edom') versus אֲדֹמִי /ʔăðoˈmi/ ('Edomite'). Blau (2010:117–118) /ɔ̆/ is clearly phonemic but bears minimal functional load. Sáenz-Badillos (1993:110) /ă/ is written both with mobile šwa ⟨ְ ⟩ and hataf patah ⟨ֲ ⟩. Blau (2010:117)
- ^ For /w-/ > /j-/, see above. The Semitic form */wajn-/ was borrowed into Proto-Indo-European as */wojn-om/, eventually yielding Latin vīnum and English wine.
- ISBN 978-0-931464-34-8.
- ^ The only known case where Philippi's Law does not apply is in the word קן /qen/ < */qinn-u/ ('nest'). The shift */i/ > /a/ has been extended by analogy to similar forms, e.g. */ʃim-u/ > /ʃam/ ('name'; but */ʃim-u/ > /ʃem/ 'reputation'!). Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:76, 79)
- ^ Verbal forms such as יפקד = Samaritan /jifqɒd/ < */jafqud/ may be examples of Barth's law rather than attenuation.
- ^ This is known as pataḥ furtivum, literally 'stolen pataḥ' and perhaps a mistranslation of Hebrew פתח גנובה ('pataḥ of the stolen [letter]'), as if אֵ were being inserted. See Blau (2010:83)
- ^ It is evident that this epenthesis must have been a late phenomenon, since a short vowel preceding a guttural is preserved even though it becomes in an open syllable, see Blau (2010:85).
- ^ This is less common when the consonant following the guttural is a begadkefat letter, e.g. תֵּחְבֹּל /taħbol/ ('you take in pledge'). This suggests that begadkefat spirantization was no longer automatic by the time that this epenthesis occurred, see Blau (2010:79)
- ^ For the purposes of vowel quality shifts, words in the construct state are treated as if the stress fell immediately on the first syllable following the word. See Janssens (1982:52)
- ^ Additionally, short stressed vowels in open syllables were reduced and lost stress, leading to ultimate stress in forms like קטלו < */qaˈtʼaluː/. In Tiberian Hebrew some words have penultimate stress in pause (before a break in reading), but ultimate stress in context, such as שָמָ֫רָה and שָמְרָה ('she watched'), because the penultimate vowel in the original form */ʃaˈmaru/ lengthened in pause, while in context it was not lengthened, and then lost the stress and was reduced due to this sound shift. See Blau (2010:146–148, 154)
- ^ It is not clear that a reduced vowel should be considered as comprising a whole syllable. Note for example that the rule whereby a word's stress shifts to a preceding open syllable to avoid being adjacent to another stressed syllable skips over ultrashort vowels, e.g. עִם־יוֹ֫רְדֵי בוֹר /ʕim-ˈjorăde vor/ ('with those who go down into the pit') מְטֹ֫עֲנֵי חָ֫רֶב /măˈtʼoʕăne ˈħɔrɛv/ ('pierced with a sword'). See Blau (2010:143–144)
- ^ It has been suggested that the construct forms אבי, אחי have long /iː/ lacking in the absolute אב אח because the later stem from forms like */ʔabuːm/ > */ʔabum/ (because Proto-Semitic did not allow long vowels in closed syllables) > */ʔab/ (loss of mimation and final short vowel), see Blau (2010:267)
- ^ The unstressed suffix -ה in words like ארצה ('to the earth'), occurring also in exclamations like חללה and used ornamentally in poetry, e.g. ישועתה, may have originally terminated in consonantal */-h/ which was later elided, following the suffix */-a/. This is evidenced by Ugaritic orthography, almost purely consonantal, where ארצה appears with /h/, see Blau (2010:91–92, 268)
- ^ The modal forms may be taken to form a single volitional class, as cohortative is used in first person, imperative (or prefixing) in second person positive, jussive (or prefixing) in second person negative, and jussive in third person. They also overlap semantically, for example a jussive form like 'May my soul ...' is semantically equivalent to a cohortative like 'May I ...'. However, the three moods stem from different classes in proto-West-Semitic. As preserved in Classical Arabic, there were originally three prefix tenses, indicative yaqtulu, jussive yaqtul, and subjunctive yaqtula, which existed for every person. In Biblical Hebrew, yaqtulu developed into the prefixing class, while yaqtul remained the jussive and yaqtula the cohortative. For most roots in Biblical Hebrew, the jussive form is identical to the indicative form. (Differentiation is typical of forms with "long" and "short" forms, e.g. indicative יכרִית, jussive יכרֵת; indicative יראה, jussive יֵרֶא) See Waltke & O'Connor (1990:564–565, 566) and Blau (2010:206).
References
- ISBN 978-0-415-35091-4.
Interestingly, the term 'Hebrew' (ibrit) is not used of the language in the biblical text
- ^ a b c Feldman (2010)
- ^ a b c Shanks (2010)
- ^ Isaiah 19:18
- ^ a b c d e f Sáenz-Badillos (1993:1–2)
- ^ 2 Kings 18:26–28
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities I, 1:2, etc.
- ^ Mishnah Gittin 9:8, etc.
- ^ Rainey 2008.
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:6–7)
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:8–9)
- ^ a b c d e f Steiner (1997:145)
- ^ a b c d Sáenz-Badillos (1993:112–113)
- ^ Meir Holder, History of the Jewish People: From Yavneh to Pumbedisa, Mesorah, 1986, p. 115.
- ^ Aramaic: the Yiddish of the Middle East
- Pesahim87b
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:166, 171)
- ^ Blau (2010:11–12)
- ^ a b c Blau (2010:10)
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:8): "The extrabiblical linguistic material from the Iron Age is primarily epigraphic, that is, texts written on hard materials (pottery, stones, walls, etc.). The epigraphic texts from Israelite territory are written in Hebrew in a form of the language which may be called Inscriptional Hebrew; this "dialect" is not strikingly different from the Hebrew preserved in the Masoretic text. Unfortunately, it is meagerly attested."
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:16)
- ^ a b Yardeni (1997:17–25)
- ^ Tov (1992:118)
- ^ a b c d e Blau (2010:7)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:25–40)
- ^ Frank (2003:12)
- ^ Kogan (2011:54–150)
- ^ Rendsburg (1997:65)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos 1993, p. 29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sáenz-Badillos (1993:36–38, 43–44, 47–50)
- ^ Dolgopolsky (1999:57–59)
- ^ Blau (2010:76)
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:8)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:18)
- ^ Blau (2010:21)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:136–137)
- ^ Garnier & Jacques (2012)
- ^ Blau (2010:7, 11)
- ^ a b c Sáenz-Badillos (1993:52)
- ^ a b c d Rendsburg (1997:66)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:56)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:60)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:61)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:57–60)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:71)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:55)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:132)
- ^ a b c d Blau (2010:8, 40–41)
- ^ Rendsburg (1997:70)
- ^ "*šu(n)bul-at- – ear of corn" in Semitic Etymological Database Online
- ^ Kogan (2011:69)
- ^ Rendsburg (1999:255)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:8, 96–97)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:8)
- ^ a b c Sáenz-Badillos (1993:83, 137–138)
- ^ a b Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:38–39)
- ^ Blau (2010:6, 69)
- ^ Rendsburg (1997)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Blau (2010:69)
- ^ a b c d Rendsburg (1997:70–73)
- ^ Yardeni (1997:15)
- ^ Hanson (2011)
- ^ a b Yardeni (1997:13, 15, 17)
- ^ a b c d e Tov (1992:218–220)
- ^ a b c Sáenz-Badillos (1993:16–18)
- ^ Yardeni (1997:23)
- ^ a b c d Yardeni (1997:18, 24–25)
- ^ Yardeni (1997:42, 45, 47–50)
- ^ a b Yardeni (1997:65, 84–91)
- ^ Blau (2010:74–75, 77)
- ^ Sperber (1959:81)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:77)
- ^ a b c d e f Tov (1992:221–223)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:6)
- ^ Tov (1992:96, 108, 222)
- ^ a b c Tov (1992:108–109)
- ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos (1993:136)
- ^ Tov (1992:96–97)
- ^ Jobes & Silva (2001)
- ^ Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:5)
- ^ a b c Rendsburg (1997:68–69)
- ^ Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:6)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:25)
- ^ a b c Tov (1992:208–209)
- ^ Blau (2010:7, 143)
- ^ Yeivin (1980:157–158)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:110–111)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:68)
- ^ a b Rendsburg (1997:73)
- ISBN 978-3-11-018613-0.
- ^ Rendsburg (1997:73–74)
- ^ Blau (2010:56, 75–76)
- ^ Dolgopolsky (1999:72)
- ^ Dolgopolsky (1999:73)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:78–81)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:137–138)
- ^ Janssens (1982:43)
- ^ Blau (2010:82–83)
- ^ a b c Steinberg (2010)
- ^ a b c d Janssens (1982:54)
- ^ Blau (2010:105–106, 115–119)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:88–89, 97, 110)
- ^ Sperber (1959:77, 81)
- ^ Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:43–44, 48)
- ^ a b c Janssens (1982:173)
- ^ Blau (2010:112)
- ^ a b c d e f Blau (2010:118–119)
- ^ a b Yahalom (1997:16)
- ^ a b Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:44, 48–49)
- ^ a b Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:49)
- ^ Blau (2010:111)
- ^ Blau (2010:151)
- ^ Blau (2010:267)
- ^ Steiner (1997:147)
- ^ LaSor (1978, Part 2, §14.11)
- ^ Janssens (1982:56–57)
- ^ Janssens (1982:54, 118–120, 132)
- ^ Janssens (1982:56–57).
- ^ a b Janssens (1982:120)
- ^ Steiner (1997:149)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:82, 110)
- ^ Janssens (1982:54–56)
- ^ a b c Rendsburg (1997:77)
- ^ Bergstrasser & Daniels (1995:53)
- ^ Blau (2010:129, 136)
- ^ Blau (2010:124, 136)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:97)
- ^ Blau (2010:117–118)
- ^ Sáenz-Badillos (1993:110)
- ^ Yeivin (1980:281–282)
- ^ Blau (2010:105–106)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:84–85)
- ^ Yeivin (1980:282–283)
- ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos (1993:160)
- ^ a b Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:45, 47–48) (while Ben-Hayyim notates four degrees of vowel length, he concedes that only his "fourth degree" has phonemic value)
- ^ Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:62)
- ^ Janssens (1982:54, 123–127)
- ^ a b Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:83)
- ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos (1993:156)
- ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos (1993:138–139)
- ^ Blau (2010:133–136)
- ^ Janssens (1982:66)
- ^ Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:79)
- ^ a b c Blau (2010:132)
- ^ Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:81)
- ^ Blau (2010:83)
- ^ Janssens (1982:43, 133)
- ^ Janssens (1982:52)
- ^ Blau (2010:143–144)
- ^ Janssens (1982:53)
- ^ Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:68)
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:66–67)
- ^ a b c Waltke & O'Connor (1990:83)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:84)
- ^ a b c d e f Waltke & O'Connor (1990:90–92)
- ^ Blau (2010:266)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:17)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:267–268)
- ^ Blau (2010:122, 268–269)
- ^ Blau (2010:119–120, 268)
- ^ Blau (2010:268)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:95)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:118)
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:117–118)
- OCLC 11717769. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
The singular means but one thing, the plural two or more things, the dual things which are two by nature or art, as eyes, ears, hands, feet, &c. &c.
- ^ Blau (2010:164)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:346)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:138)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:237)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:238)
- ^ a b Blau (2010:274–275)
- ^ Sperber (1966:445)
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:291)
- ^ a b c Waltke & O'Connor (1990:302)
- ^ a b Waltke & O'Connor (1990:455–456)
- ^ Doron (2005:3)
- ^ Robert Holmstedt. Basic Word Order in the Biblical Hebrew Verbal Clause, Part 3. 2011-05-16. Accessed 2012-06-16.
- ^ Waltke & O'Connor (1990:258)
- ^ Zuckermann (2006:74)
- ^ Rosén (1969)
- ^ Glinert (2004:52)
- ^ "Bible Search and Study Tools – Blue Letter Bible". blueletterbible.com. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-57506-116-0.
- ^ S2CID 169824867.
Bibliography
- Ben-Ḥayyim, Ze'ev (2000). A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press. ISBN 978-1-57506-047-7.
- Bergstrasser, Gotthelf; Daniels, Peter T. (1995). Introduction to the Semitic Languages: Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches. München: Max Hueber Verlag München. pp. 50–75. ISBN 978-0-931464-10-2.
- Bergsträsser, G. (1983). Introduction to the Semitic Languages. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-0-931464-10-2.
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External links
- Biblical Hebrew Resources
- Resources for the Study of Biblical Hebrew, Prof. E. Ben Zvi, University of Alberta
- Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew Lexicon – with an appendix containing Biblical Aramaic (Wikisource)
- Free resources to study Biblical Hebrew online, eHebrew.net
- Grammar, vocabulary and writing