Ver. 14.0

October 15, 2009

 

History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language

By David Steinberg

David.Steinberg@houseofdavid.ca

Home page http://www.houseofdavid.ca/

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew.htm

 

Companion piece -

Biblical Hebrew Poetry and Word Play - Reconstructing the Original Oral, Aural and Visual Experience

 

Table of Contents

TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND LINGUISTIC SYMBOLS

 

1. Survey of the Semitic languages

Box 1 - What is a Semitic √Root?

2. History of Hebrew from its pre-history to the present

Table 1  - Possible Proto-Semitic Origins of the Root √škḥ

2.1 Pre-Exilic Hebrew (PreExH)

a) Varieties of Pre-exilic Hebrew

b) Social Base of Pre-Exilic Hebrew

c) Tenses or Aspects in Biblical Hebrew

Box 2 - The Origin of the “waw conversive"

Box 3 - Time, Aspect and Volition in Biblical Hebrew

Table 2 - What Time does the Biblical Hebrew Participle Refer to?

Table 3 - Tenses Used for English Translations of Some Verb Forms in the Psalms

Table 4 - Psalms – Perfect and Imperfect Used in the Same Verse

d) Changes Pending in Biblical Hebrew

2.2 Post-Exilic Hebrew (PostExH) - Written/Oral Diglossia

Box 4 - Some Factors in the Rise of Late Biblical Hebrew

a. Development of Proto-Mishnaic Hebrew (c. 586 BCE-c. 70 BC).

b. The Impact of Aramaic

Box 5 - Influence of Aramaic

c.  Mishnaic or Rabbinic Hebrew

2.3 Changes in the Pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew Between the Early 6th Century BCE and that Recorded in the Tiberian Masoretic Tradition (early 10th century CE)

o        Changes in Pronunciation Between the First Temple Period, Tiberian Biblical Vocalization and Modern Hebrew most of which Alter the Syllabic Structure

o        Consonants that Were Distinct and Phonemic in the First Temple Period that Have Merged in Modern Pronunciation

o        Consonants that Exist in Modern Pronunciation but were absent in Hebrew of the First Temple Period

o        Linguistic Changes Affecting the Pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew 2000 B.C.E. - 850 C.E. According to Various Scholars - pdf

o        Dialect, Koine and Diglossia in Ancient Hebrew: Clarification from Colloquial Arabic

o        Words Significantly Different in Pronunciation in Pre-Exilic Hebrew

o        Syllables Ending in Doubled Consonents in Pre-Exilic Hebrew

o       Some Political, Social and Linguistic Developments in the Pre-Exilic Period c. 1000-586 BCE

2.4  Between the Mishnah and the Revival of Hebrew in the Late 19th Century

2.5  Modern or Israeli Hebrew

2.6 Major Changes Between Ancient Hebrew and Israeli Hebrew

2.7 Israeli Hebrew and Modern Arabic – a Few Differences and Many Parallels

Table 6 - Western-type Compound Nouns and Adjectives in Israeli Hebrew and Arabic (MSA)

Table 7 -  Modern Hebrew and MSA Common Noun Patterns

3. Select Bibliography

4.  Tables and Excurses

o        Illustration - The Semitic Family of Languages

o        Box 7 - Scripts and Scripture

·         Excursus 1 - Phonemic Structure of Pre-Exilic, Tiberian and Israeli Hebrew Contrasted

a. What is a Phoneme?

Box 8 - Phones and Phonemes

b. Vowel and Consonant Length

Box 9 - Nature of Consonant and Vowel Length

Box 10 - Was Vowel Quantity Phonemic in Biblical Hebrew?

Table 8 - Distinctive Vowel Length and Syllable Type in EBHP and their Reflex in TH

Table 9 - Phonemic Status of Vowel and Consonant Length and Quality and of Word Stress over the History of the Hebrew Language

Table 10 - Phonemic Status of Vowel and Consonant Length in Biblical, Tiberian and Israeli Hebrew

c. Consonental Phonemes

Box 11 - Consonantal Polyphony in Biblical Hebrew

Table 11 - Consonantal Phonemes in Biblical, Tiberian Masoretic and Israeli Hebrew

Table 12  - Consonantal Minimal Pairs in Biblical Hebrew No Longer Valid in Later Hebrew

Table 13 - Voiced, Voiceless and Emphatic Consonants in Biblical Hebrew

Table 14 - Proto-Semitic Phonemes (Consonants) Exhibiting Sound Shifts in Hebrew and Their Equivalents in Aramaic and Classical Arabic

Table 15 - Biblical Hebrew Phonemes (Consonants) of Multiple Origin and their Equivalents in Proto-Semitic, Classical Arabic, Aramaic and Ugaritic

d. Vowel Phonemes

Box 12 - Semitic Vowels and their Actualization

d.1 Diachronic Development of the Biblical Hebrew Vowel System

Table 16 - Long Vowels in EBHP by Origin

Table 17 - Proto-Semitic to Tiberian Hebrew - Vowel Phonemes with Possible Allophones

Table 18 - Shifts in Proto-Semitic Vowels as Hebrew Developed

Table 19 - Vowel Length Minimal Pairs in Biblical Hebrew and their Transformation in Later Hebrew

Table 20 - Vowel Phonemes Minimal Pairs in EBHP

Table 21 – Vowel System Tiberian Hebrew

Table 22 - Tiberian Vowels of the Same Quality often Have Diverse Origins

Box 13 - Vowel System - Modern Israeli Hebrew

d.2 Conventional Scholarly Transcription of the TH Vowel System (THCST)

Table 23 - THSBL Transcription - Vowel System of Tiberian Hebrew

e. Ancient Hebrew Orthography Provides Some, But Not Much, Guidance Regarding the Placement, and Nature of Vowels

Box 14 - Diphthongs

Box 15 - Origin of Matres Lectionis (Vowel Letters)

Box 16 - Matres Lectionis in Hebrew

Box 17 - Matres Lectionis in the Biblical Text

 

Box 18 - The Independent Pronouns in EBHP and Colloquial Arabic Dialects

Table 24 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Pronoun

Table 25 - History of the Accusative Particle 'ẹt and its Inflected Form' ōtō = "him"

Table 26 - Stressed Noun Suffixes in Biblical Hebrew

Table 27 - Locative ה

1. Classes of Verbs

2. Background on Biblical Hebrew Suffix Conjugation (traditional "perfect")

Table 28 - Common Stative and Similar Qal Verbs

Table 29 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Verb - Suffix Conjugation

3. Background on Biblical Hebrew Prefix Conjugation (traditional "imperfect")

Table 30 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Verb Prefix Conjugation (traditional "imperfect")

4. Participles, Imperatives and Infinitives

Table 31 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Participles, Imperatives and Infinitives

 

Table 32 - Some Key Phonemic Distinctions in Biblical, Tiberian Masoretic and Israeli Hebrew

Table 33 - Original Typical Semitic 3 Way Opposition in Biblical Hebrew Reduced to 2 Way in Israeli Hebrew with Loss of Emphatics

Table 34 - Sound Shifts Between Biblical and Israeli Hebrew

Table 35 - Some Impacts of Phonemic Change Between Biblical and Israeli Hebrew

Table 36 - Verbal Stems (Binyanim) in Biblical (above slash) and Israeli Hebrew Using GDL as example