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Language Information

  name Hebrew
  region Canaan
  extinct largely extinct by the 1st Century , liturgical Sephardi Hebrew revived as Modern Hebrew since the 1880s
  familycolor Afro-Asiatic
  fam2 Semitic
  fam3 West Semitic
  fam4 Central Semitic
  fam5 Northwest Semitic
  fam6 Canaanite
  script Hebrew Abjad
  iso1 heiso2=sem
  lc1 hebld1=Hebrew language
  lc2 aoqld2=Ammonite language
  lc3 obmld3=Moabite language
  lc4 xdmld4=Edomite language


The Hebrew languages refer to a variety of Canaanite Languages and dialects historically spoken by various peoples in the region of Canaan whom Abrahamic Religion believes to have been Hebrews who emigrated from the Chaldees . These different languages were not necessarily more or less related to each other than to other Canaanite languages, and their traditional distinction as Hebrew languages is almost purely by religious belief.

Of the varieties of Hebrew, only one — Modern Hebrew — is used as a spoken language today, and is one of the Official Language s of the State Of Israel . A few others survive as Liturgical Language s, but are otherwise not actively used in daily life.


HEBREW SUBDIVISIONS IN BIBLICAL CANAAN


Abrahamic religion believes that there were (at least) four Hebrew nations in Canaan: Ammon , Moab , Edom and Israel , all believed to be direct descendants of the Hebrew patriarch Terah ,The Amalek ites, Midian ites, Kenites , and Ishmaelites were also, according to the Bible, descended from Terah, but we have little knowledge of their individual languages. Likewise the Bible regards the Aramaeans as descendents of Terah's son Nahor , but Their Language , though closely related to Hebrew, is distinct in many respects. whose son Abram and grandson Lot (Abram's nephew) settled in Canaan and adapted to the local language of the Canaanites. Although they are believed to have had contact and trade with the indigenous Canaanites, it is also believed that the more pious families of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob forbade intermarriage or assimilation to Canaanite culture, ultimately giving the Israelite s a culture permanently separated from the Canaanites.


LANGUAGE OF BIBLICAL HEBREWS BEFORE CANAAN


If (as the Book Of Genesis implies) the Hebrews came from elsewhere rather than being native to Canaan, their language was most probably not a Canaanite one (as Biblical Hebrew linguistically is). Biblical scholars who accept this feature of the account in Genesis have put forward several theories as to what this language may have been:

  • The language was Akkadian , the predominating language of the Chaldees .

  • The language was an early form of the Aramaic Language , more specifically the same language spoken by Laban , another descendant of Terah . This theory assumes that Laban inherited the language ancestrally from Terah, thus assuming that the Hebrews spoke Aramaean languages.

  • It was a Northeast Caucasian Language , perhaps closely related to Avar .

  • The language was one of the extinct Hurro-Urartian Languages , a non- Semitic language family based in eastern Anatolia . This theory assumes that the Hebrews were originally Hurro-Urartian-speaking, and different descendants of the culture adopted local languages wherever they sojourned or settled. It also associates the Hebrews either with the Hurrians , or with Urartu and the Mountains Of Ararat , the traditional landing site of Noah's Ark .

  • The early Hebrews were highly Multilingual and no one language clearly predominated. This would be plausible considering Abraham and Lot as sojourners, learning and speaking the local language of the places they traveled and in which they traded.



LIST OF HEBREW LANGUAGES




NOTES



FURTHER READING

  • Hoffman, Joel M. 2004. ''In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language.'' New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3654-8.



SEE ALSO