Daniel Sivan
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Daniel Sivan (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: דניאל סיון, born August 21, 1949) is an Israeli Emeritus professor in the Department of Hebrew Language at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.


Biography

Daniel Sibboni (later Sivan) was born in
Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
,
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. He immigrated to
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
with his parents Makhluf and Allen and his two brothers Shmuel and Michel. When they arrived by ship from
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
they were taken to Shikkun Canaan, a neighborhood in
Safed Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...
. Sibboni's youngest brother, Gabi Siboni, was born there. In August 1967, Sivan joined the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
and became a coding instructor in the signals corps at Tzrifin. Upon completing his military service, he moved to
Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...
and studied at the
Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...
. He graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in Bible Studies and Hebrew Language in 1970. Continuing his studies, Sivan gained a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
degree in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and
Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
. His thesis focused on "Northwest Semitic in Akkadian texts from Ugarit" and was under the guidance of Professor Anson Frank Rainey. Sivan's thesis for his
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
degree, "Grammar of Northwestern Semitic Vocables in Akkadian Texts from the Land of Israel and Syria in the
Middle Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
", was written under the guidance of Professor Gideon Goldenberg and Professor Anson Frank Rainey. From 2009 to 2011, Sivan broadcast a weekly jazz program on Radio Darom. He was a member of the band "Koah Meshikha" (Gravity) in which he played the guitar and sang blues and jazz songs with his brother, Gabi Siboni. After many years, Sivan quit the band, which changed its name to Jukebox. Sivan is married (for the second time). He has three children with his first wife. His eldest son, Gal (aka James), was the drummer of the Shabbak Samekh band.


Academic career

In October 1979 he was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Hebrew Language at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and in 1997 he became a
full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
. In 1986 and 1990, Sivan was a visiting professor at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
. Between 2000 and 2004, Sivan held the position of Head of the Department of Hebrew Language and functioned as the Vice-Dean of the
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument), an instrument or warra ...
during the tenure of Dean Jimmy Weinblatt. From 1998 to 2013, Sivan was the chairman of Ben-Gurion University's publishing house, and during his tenure more than 150 titles were published. From 2006 to 2010, Sivan was a member of the Ben-Gurion University Top Nominations Committee. Collaborating with Professor Maya Fruchtman, Sivan edited the comprehensive "Ariel"
dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
, and together with Dr. Haim Dihi he co-authored the Ariel Aramic-Hebrew
Dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
. Both these dictionaries were published by Korim Publishing House.


Awards and recognition

Sivan won several significant awards during his studies including the Mifal HaPayis award, the Nissim Gaon Award, and the Recanati Family Foundation Award. In 1995, together with Professor Haim Cohen, Sivan received an Honorary Award on behalf of the Israel Science Foundation.


Fields of research

* The ancient Hebrew language (Biblical Hebrew and proto-biblical Hebrew) * Northwestern Semitic tongues (Canaanite in Al-Amarna letter, Ugaritic language, Phoenician, and Punic, Hebrew inscriptions from the Biblical age, Ammonite inscriptions) * Jewish grammarians of the Middle Ages (
Hayyuj Judah ben David Hayyuj (Hebrew: ר׳ יְהוּדָה בֶּן דָּוִד חַיּוּג׳ Arabic: أبو زكريا يحيى بن داؤد حيوج Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Dawūd Hayyūj) was a Moroccan Jewish linguist. He is regarded as the fath ...
,
Ibn Janah Jonah ibn Janah or ibn Janach, born Abu al-Walīd Marwān ibn Janāḥ ( ar, أبو الوليد مروان بن جناح, or Marwan ibn Ganaḥ Hebrew: ), (), was a Jewish rabbi, physician and Hebrew grammarian active in Al-Andalus, or Islamic ...
, etc.) In his research work he focused mainly on the contribution of the languages to the understanding of
biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...
. Among other things, he demonstrated how wrong it is to claim that Ugaritic was a Canaanite language. He demonstrated that Ugaritic had its own characteristic linguistic features, and accordingly it should be regarded as an independent language among the northwestern Semitic languages. It is a mistake to refer to its literature as "Canaanite literature," as some scholars such as Cassuto, Lionstam, and Avishur, have done. Sivan studied the work of the grammarian Rabbi Yehuda Hayyuj. Sivan has written articles on some of the linguistic concepts in this work, and in 2012, together with Dr. Ali Wattad, he published an annotated, critical edition called "The Three Grammar Essays of Rabbi Yehuda Hayyuj in their Arabic Origin and their Translation to
Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the He ...
," published by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev publishing house.


Published works


Hebrew

* 1993, D. Sivan, Ugaritic Language Grammar,
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
* 2011, Dr. Ali Wattad, Daniel Sivan, The Three Grammar Essays of Rabbi Yehuda Hayyuj in their Arabic Origin and their Translation to Modern Hebrew, a critical edition, Beersheba 5772 (2012)


English

* 1983 (with) C. Cohen, The Ugaritic Hippiatric Texts: A Critical Edition, New Haven. * 1984 Grammatical Analysis and Glossary of the Northwest Semitic Vocables in Akkadian Texts, Münster * 1992 (with) Z. Cochavi-Rainey, West Semitic Vocabulary in Egyptian Script in the 14th–10th Centuries B.C.E. * 1997 The Grammar of the Ugaritic Language, Leiden, New York, Köln


Edited books

* Tzippora Talshir, Shamir Yona, Daniel Sivan, A Gift to Shmuel: Studies of the Biblical World, Jerusalem * 2003, Pablo-Itzhak Halevi-Kirtschok, Daniel Sivan, Voice of Jacob: A Collection of Essays for Prof. Jacob Ben-Tulila, Beersheba * 2009, Daniel Sivan, David Talshir, Haim Cohen, Revealer of Secrets: Linguistic Studies Presented to Elisha Kimron for his Sixty-Fifth Birthday, Beersheba


References

# The word Samal originated as an acronym for Hebrew: סגן מחוץ למנין segen mi-khutz la-minyan ("supernumerary deputy") (inspired by the abbreviation "NCO"). Nowadays is no longer treated as an acronym or an abbreviation. See e.g., Avraham Akavia, "Milon le-munkhey tzava" (1951), p. 220, 270; Avraham Even-Shoshan, "Ha-milon ha-khadash" (1967), vol. 4., p. 1814; Yaakov Kna'ani, "Otzar ha-lashon ha-ivrit" (1972), p. 4078; Zeev Shiff, Eitan Habber, "Leksikon le-bitkhon Yisrael" (1976), p. 114; "Milon Sapir" (ed. Eitan Avnian) (1998), vol. 5, p. 2019; Avraham Even-Shoshan, "Milon Even-Shoshan be-shisha krakhim" (2003), , vol. 4, p. 1302; "Entziklopedya Karta" (5th edition, 2004), , p. 409; "Milon Ariel" (ed. prof.
Daniel Sivan Daniel Sivan (Hebrew: דניאל סיון, born August 21, 1949) is an Israeli Emeritus professor in the Department of Hebrew Language at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Biography Daniel Sibboni (later Sivan) was born in Casablanca, Moro ...
and prof. Maya Fruchtman) (2007), , p. 765. (Hebrew) # Sivan, Daniel (1997). A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik). Brill Academic Publishers. . A more concise grammar. # Daniel Sivan
Selected Publications
# Daniel Sivan on getcited.org
The Ugaritic hippiatric texts: A critical edition
# Peeters Online Journals
The Hitherto Unpublished Columns of the Genesis Apocryphon

Daniel Sivan
on
Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...


External links

* Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – Notable faculty members * Daniel Sivan
Ben-Gurion faculty active member
* (Hebrew
The Ariel dictionary
wrote by Daniel Sivan and Dr. Haim Dihi * Daniel Sivan o
GoodReads
* Daniel Sivan o
Google books
* Daniel Sivan on The Israel
Ministry of Culture and sport
* Daniel Sivan o
Radio Darom
Israel {{DEFAULTSORT:Sivan, Daniel 1949 births Living people 20th-century Moroccan Jews Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Israeli Jews Jewish Israeli writers Literary scholars People from Casablanca