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Biblical Hebrew, sometimes called '''Classical Hebrew''', is an archaic 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 Jew s – 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. Classical Hebrew is taught in most if not all public schools in Israel. Biblical Hebrew is easily read by anyone familiar with modern Hebrew. The differences between Biblical Hebrew and modern Hebrew are mainly in grammar, modern vocabulary, and Biblical Hebrew's distinct writing style. Although Modern and Biblical Hebrew's grammar laws are often very different, parts of Biblical Hebrew are often used in literary Modern Hebrew. Elements of Biblical Hebrew are also often used in conversation and in the Israeli media. Some devout Jews believe that the Torah is the literal word of God written in fire. {Link without Title} The Hebrew Language is referred to by them as (לשון הקודש), "The Holy Language/Tongue." DEFINITION This article describes the Biblical dialects of Hebrew. These flourished between the 12th and 6th centuries BCE and comprise all of the Hebrew Bible but for several Aramaic sections and isolated loanwords. The precise meaning of the term ''Biblical Hebrew'' varies with context and may refer to any of the following:
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 (before 500 BC E) and 'Silver Age' Hebrew ( 500 BC E to 60 BC E). Silver Age Hebrew has many borrowings from Aramaic , for example the use of the conditional particle (אִלּוּ) replacing (לוּ). Another Shibboleth between the two, is the use of the Relative Pronoun (אֲשֶר) (introducing a Restrictive Clause , 'that') in the earlier period, being replaced with the Clitic '''ʃe-''' (-שֶ) in the later, both being used in Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew . Roman Era Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew , was further influenced by Greek and Persian , mainly through the dialect of Aramaic which was the Lingua Franca of the area at the time. Modern evolutions, or adaptions, of Classical Hebrew are in active use today, mostly in the form of various modern Jewish Dialect s of Hebrew, as well as Samaritan Hebrew Language , which is used primarily by the Samaritan s. 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. DESCENDANT LANGUAGES
PHONOLOGY The phonology as reconstructed for Biblical Hebrew is as follows (from Lambdin, with modifications): 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 Macron s to mark long vowels and Circumflex es to mark extra-long ones. Aside from these vowels, there were also four "reduced", Extra-short 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 mergers1,G. Bergsträsser. ( 1983 ). ''Introduction to the Semitic Languages''. Translated by Peter T. Daniels . Winona Lake, Indiana : Eisenbrauns.:
Vocalism
: in word-final position regularly >
: 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 Shwa is marked with "" or the following consonant is fricative, indicating that it was preceded by a vowel).
: immediately before the stress > (””); : in closed syllables >
: in closed syllables in verbal forms > or, before ה ח ע, ; : in syllables that were closed already in Proto-Semitic > ("Philippi’s law")
: immediately before the stress > ("")
: in closed syllables > ("") or, before a geminated consonant,
RESOURCES
NOTES # ISBN 1-56563-206-0 Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon by Francis Brown, S. Driver, C. Briggs EXTERNAL LINKS
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