The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
and Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
for more than 2000 years.
Jewish scholars of Hebrew
The study of Hebrew occurred already in some grammatical
In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular variety (linguistics), speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the go ...
notes in the Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
and Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
. The Masoretes
The Masoretes ( he, בַּעֲלֵי הַמָּסוֹרָה, Baʿălēy Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe-scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in m ...
continued the study as they fixed the text and vocalization of the Hebrew Bible. Under the influence of Arab grammarians, Rabbi Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...
(tenth century) made the Jewish study of Hebrew grammar almost scientific. Later Jewish grammarians include David Qimhi (known as the Radak), Abraham ibn Ezra and Judah ben David Hayyuj.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda ( he, אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֵּן־יְהוּדָה}; ; born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman, 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Russian–Jewish linguist, grammarian, and journalist, renowned as the lexicographer of ...
is the main revivalist of Hebrew as a modern spoken language, although in his book ''Language in Time of Revolution'', Israeli scholar Benjamin Harshav
Benjamin Harshav (Hebrew: בנימין הרשב), born Hrushovski (Hebrew: הרושובסקי); June 26, 1928 – April 23, 2015 was a literary theorist specialising in comparative literature, a Yiddish and Hebrew poet (under pen names including ...
diminishes Ben-Yehuda's role and attributes the success of the revival to a wider movement in the Jewish society.
Non-Jewish scholars of Hebrew
The first major non-Jewish grammarian was John Reuchlin
Johann Reuchlin (; sometimes called Johannes; 29 January 1455 – 30 June 1522) was a German Catholic Renaissance humanism, humanist and a scholar of Ancient Greek, Greek and Hebrew, whose work also took him to modern-day Austria, Switzerland, and ...
(16th century), but it was not until the early 19th century that Hebrew linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
was studied in a secular, scientific way. The pioneer of this movement was Wilhelm Gesenius
Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist, lexicographer, Christian Hebraist, Lutheran theologian, Biblical scholar and critic.
Biography
Gesenius was born at Nordhausen. In 1803 he became a s ...
, who published thirteen editions of his ''Hebräische Grammatik''. After Gesenius' death in 1842, the 14th through 21st editions were published by E. Rödiger, and the 22nd through 28th editions by Emil Kautzsch
Emil Friedrich Kautzsch (4 September 1841 – 7 May 1910) was a German Hebrew scholar and biblical critic, born at Plauen, Saxony.
Biography
He was educated at Leipzig, in whose theological faculty he was appointed privatdozent (1869) and ...
. Many of these editions were translated into English. The 28th edition was published in 1910 by A. E. Cowley and is known today simply as '' Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar''. It became the standard Hebrew reference grammar, and although it is somewhat outdated by newer works, it is still widely used in the field in the 21st century.
The largest compendium of Hebrew grammatical material is König's ''Historisch-Kritisches Lehrgebäude der Hebräischen Sprache'' (1881-97).
Paul Joüon's ''Grammaire de l'hébreu biblique'' (1923) was recently edited and translated into English by Takamitsu Muraoka
is a Japanese Oriental studies, Orientalist. He was Chair of Hebrew language, Hebrew, Israelite Antiquities and Ugaritic at Leiden University in the Netherlands from 1991 till 2003 and is most notable for his studies of Hebrew and Aramaic language ...
as ''A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew'' (1991; revised edition 2006). Muraoka made this into the most complete and up-to-date reference grammar. Also modern is Rudolf Meyer's ''Hebräische Grammatik'' (1966-72), but it is not quite as thorough as Joüon-Muraoka. Of note as well is Mayer Lambert's ''Traité de grammaire hébraïque'' (1931).
The most thorough, well-organized, and analytically incisive Hebrew grammar is the 29th edition of Gesenius' grammar by Gotthelf Bergsträsser
Gotthelf Bergsträsser (5 April 1886, in Oberlosa, Plauen – 16 August 1933, near Berchtesgaden) was a German linguist specializing in Semitic studies, generally considered to be one of the greatest of the twentieth century. Bergsträsser wa ...
. However, the author only managed to complete the sections on Phonology (1918) and the Verb (1929) before his untimely death. Although other grammars are more current, Bergsträsser's is unsurpassed due to its depth and insight. Another excellent grammar is Hans Bauer and Pontus Leander's ''Historische Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache des Alten Testaments'' (1917-22) although it, too, lacks syntax. Neither grammar has been translated into English, although Bergsträsser's has been translated into Hebrew (Jerusalem, 1972).
Israeli scholars of Hebrew
Modern 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 ...
i scholars in the field of Hebrew linguistics include Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai ( he, נפתלי הרץ טור-סיני; born 13 November 1886 – 17 October 1973) was a Bible scholar, author, and linguist instrumental in the revival of the Hebrew language as a modern, spoken language. Tur-Sinai was the f ...
, Chaim Menachem Rabin
Chaim Menachem Rabin ( he, חיים מנחם רבין; 1915–1996) was a German, then British, and finally Israeli professor of Hebrew and Semitic languages.
Chaim Rabin was born in Giessen, Germany, 22 November 1915, the son of Israel and Marte ...
, E. Y. Kutscher
Edward Yechezkel Kutscher or Yechezkel Kutscher ( he, יחזקאל קוטשר; 1 June 1909 – 12 December 1971) was an Israeli philologist and Hebrew linguist.
Biography
Kutscher was born in 1909 in Topoľčany, Slovakia, then part of the Aust ...
, Shelomo Morag
Shlomo Morag, also spelled Shelomo Morag ( he, שלמה מורג; 17 July 1926 – 1999), was an Israeli professor at the department of Hebrew Language at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Morag founded the Jewish Oral Traditions Research Cent ...
, Joshua Blau
Yehoshua Blau, also spelled Joshua ( he, יהושע בלאו, vertical-align=sup; 22 September 1919 – 20 October 2020) was an Israeli scholar of Arabic language and literature, previously Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusa ...
, Ze'ev Ben-Haim
Ze'ev Wolf Goldman, later known as Ze'ev Ben-Haim ( he, זאב בן-חיים) (28 December 1907 – 6 August 2013), was a leading Israeli linguist and a former president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language.
Biography
Ben-Haim was born in ...
, Haiim B. Rosén, Ghil'ad Zuckermann
Ghil'ad Zuckermann ( he, גלעד צוקרמן, ; ) is an Israeli-born language revivalist and linguist who works in contact linguistics, lexicology and the study of language, culture and identity. Zuckermann is Professor of Linguistics and Ch ...
, Elisha Qimron
Elisha Qimron (born 5 February 1943) is an academic who studies ancient Hebrew. He took his Doctor of Philosophy in 1976 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with the dissertation ''The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls''.
Currently, he is a profes ...
and Moshe Bar-Asher
Moshe Bar-Asher (; born 1939, Ksar es Souk, Morocco) is an Israeli linguist and the president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem.
Biography
Moshe Ben Harush (later Bar-Asher) was born in Ksar es Souk (modern Errachidia), Morocc ...
.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language
The Academy of the Hebrew Language
The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...
(האקדמיה ללשון העברית) in modern 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 ...
is the "Supreme Foundation for the Science of the Hebrew Language", founded by the Israeli Government in 1953. It is responsible for coining neologisms
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
to keep up with today's rapidly changing society. It also has the "final say" concerning matters of spelling and grammar.
See also
*Jewish studies
Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (esp ...
*List of Hebrew language authors
This is a list of Hebrew-language authors:
A
*Shimon Adaf
* Tamar Adar
*Uri Adelman
*Shimon Agassi
*Shmuel Yosef Agnon (winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1966)
* Lea Aini
* Miriam Akavia
*Sholem Aleichem
*Gila Almagor
* Nisi ...
*List of Hebrew language playwrights
The following list is of playwrights known for writing in Hebrew language, Hebrew.
A
*Nisim Aloni
*Natan Alterman (''Poondak Haruchot'')
*Dan Almagor
G
*Leah Goldberg (''Baalat Haarmon'')
H
*Shmuel Hasfari
K
*Ephraim Kishon
L
*Hanoch Levin
...
* List of Hebrew language poets
*Semitic studies
Semitic studies, or Semitology, is the academic field dedicated to the studies of Semitic languages and literatures and the history of the Semitic-speaking peoples. A person may be called a ''Semiticist'' or a ''Semitist'', both terms being equi ...
External links
Hebrew Language Schools & Ulpans List
Further reading
* Horbury, William. 2000
''Hebrew Study from Ezra to Ben-Yehuda''
T. & T. Clark Publishers, Ltd.
* Zuckermann, Ghil'ad. 2003. Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew
''Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew'' is a scholarly book written in the English language by linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, published in 2003 by Palgrave Macmillan. The book proposes a socio-philological framework for the an ...
. Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...
br>
{{Authority control
Hebrew language
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 ...
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 ...