Biblical Hebrew
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Biblical Hebrew (Template:Langx Template:Audio or Template:Langx Template:Audio), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean Sea. The term Template:Tlit Template:Gloss was not used for the language in the Hebrew Bible, which was referred to as Template:Lang Template:Tlit Template:Gloss or Template:Lang Template:Tlit Template:Gloss, but it was used in Koine Greek and Mishnaic Hebrew texts.<ref name=Barton>Template:Cite book </ref>
Paleo-Hebrew is attested in inscriptions from about the 10th century BCE,<ref name="eurekalert.org">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="bar" /> when it was almost identical to Phoenician and other Canaanite languages, and spoken Hebrew persisted as a first language through and beyond the Second Temple period, which ended in 70 CE with the siege of Jerusalem. It eventually developed into Mishnaic Hebrew, which was employed as a second language until the 5th century.
The language of the Hebrew Bible reflects various stages of the Hebrew language in its consonantal skeleton, as well as the Tiberian vocalization system added in the Middle Ages by the Masoretes. There is evidence of regional dialectal variation, including differences between the northern Kingdom of Israel and in the southern Kingdom of Judah. The consonantal text, called the Masoretic Text ("𝕸"), was transmitted in manuscript form and underwent redaction and modernization in the Second Temple period, but its earliest portions (parts of Amos, Isaiah, Hosea and Micah) can be dated to the late 8th to early 7th centuries BCE.
Biblical Hebrew has several different writing systems. From around the 12th century BCE until the 6th century BCE, writers employed the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. This system was retained by the Samaritans, who use a descendant, the Samaritan script, to this day. However, the Imperial Aramaic alphabet gradually displaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet after the Babylonian captivity, and it became the source for the current Hebrew alphabet. These scripts lack letters to represent all of the sounds of Biblical Hebrew, although these sounds are reflected in Greek and Latin transcriptions/translations of the time. They initially indicated only consonants, but certain letters, known by the Latin term Template:Lang, became increasingly used to mark vowels. In the Middle Ages, various systems of diacritics were developed to mark the vowels in Hebrew manuscripts; of these, only the Tiberian vocalization is still widely used.
Biblical Hebrew possessed a series of emphatic consonants whose precise articulation (pronunciation) is disputed, likely ejective or possibly pharyngealized. Earlier Biblical Hebrew had three consonants that were not distinguished in the writing system and later merged with other consonants. The stop consonants developed fricative allophones under the influence of Aramaic, and these sounds (the "begadkefat consonants") eventually became marginally phonemic. The pharyngeal and glottal consonants underwent weakening in some regional dialects, as reflected, for example, in the modern Samaritan Hebrew reading tradition. The vowel system of Hebrew underwent changes over time and is reflected differently in Koine Greek and Latin transcriptions, medieval vocalization systems, and modern reading traditions.
Premodern Hebrew had a typically Semitic nonconcatenative morphology, arranging roots into patterns to form words. Biblical Hebrew distinguished two grammatical genders (masculine and feminine), and three numbers (singular, plural, and the uncommon dual). Verbs were marked for voice and mood, and had two conjugations that may have indicated aspect or tense. The tense or aspect of verbs was also influenced by the conjunction Template:Lang, the "waw-consecutive" construction. The default word order for Biblical Hebrew was verb–subject–object (unlike Modern Hebrew), and verbs were inflected for the number, gender, and person of their subject. Pronominal suffixes could be appended to verbs to indicate object or nouns to indicate possession, and nouns had special construct states for use in possessive constructions.
Nomenclature
The earliest written sources refer to Biblical Hebrew as Template:Lang 'the language of Canaan'.<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref><ref name="s1">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Hebrew Bible also calls the language Template:Lang 'Judaean, Judahite'<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref><ref name="s1" /> In the Hellenistic period, Greek writings use the names Hebraios, Hebraïsti<ref>Josephus, Antiquities I, 1:2, etc.</ref> and in Mishnaic Hebrew we find Template:Lang 'Hebrew' and Template:Lang 'Hebrew language'.<ref>Mishnah Gittin 9:8, etc.</ref><ref name="s1" /> The origin of this term is obscure; suggested origins include the biblical Eber, the ethnonyms ʿApiru, Ḫabiru, and Ḫapiru found in sources from ancient Egypt and West Asia, and a derivation from the root Template:Lang 'to pass', alluding to crossing over the Jordan River.<ref name="s1" />Template:Sfn Jews also began referring to Hebrew as Template:Lang 'the Holy Tongue' in Mishnaic Hebrew.<ref name="s1" />
The term "Classical Hebrew" may encompass all pre-medieval dialects of Hebrew, including Mishnaic Hebrew, or it may be limited to Hebrew contemporary with the Hebrew Bible. The term Biblical Hebrew refers to pre-Mishnaic dialects (sometimes excluding the language of the Dead Sea Scrolls); it may or may not include extra-biblical texts, such as inscriptions like the Siloam inscription, and generally also includes later vocalization traditions for the Hebrew Bible's consonantal text, most commonly the early medieval Tiberian vocalization.Template:Citation needed
History
The archeological record for the prehistory of Biblical Hebrew is far more complete than the record of Biblical Hebrew itself.<ref name="enws">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Early Northwest Semitic (ENWS) materials are attested from 2350 BCE to 1200 BCE, the end of the Bronze Age.<ref name="enws" /> The Northwest Semitic languages, including Hebrew, differentiated noticeably during the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), although in its earliest stages Biblical Hebrew was not highly differentiated from Ugaritic and the Canaanite of the Amarna letters.<ref name="wo8-9" />
Hebrew developed during the latter half of the second millennium BCE between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, an area known as Canaan.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Deuteronomic history says the Israelites established a unified kingdom in Canaan at the beginning of the first millennium BCE, which later split into the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south after a disputed succession.<ref name="sthist">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
In 722 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel<ref name="sthist" /> and some Israelite elites (Template:Lang) escaped to the Kingdom of Judah, which was made a client state of the Empire. In 586 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire destroyed Judah. The Judahites were exiled, and Solomon's Temple was destroyed.<ref name="sthist" /><ref name="s112" />
Later, the Achaemenid Empire made former Judah a province, Yehud Medinata, and permitted the Judahite exiles to return and repopulate the land and aided the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.<ref name="sthist" /> According to the Gemara, Hebrew of this Second Temple period was similar to Imperial Aramaic;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hanina bar Hama said that God sent the exiled Jews to Babylon because "their language, Aramaic, is similar to the language of the Torah." (Template:Lang Pesahim 87b:20).
Aramaic became the common language in the north, in Galilee and Samaria.<ref name="s112" /> Hebrew remained in use in Judah, but the returning exiles brought back Aramaic influence, and Aramaic was used for communicating with other ethnic groups during the Persian period.<ref name="s112">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Alexander the Great conquered Judah in 332 BCE.<ref name="s112" /> During the subsequent Hellenistic period, Judea became independent under the Hasmonean dynasty and conquered nearby regions: Perea, Samaria, Idumea, Galilee, and Iturea. Later, the Roman Republic ended their independence, making Herod the Great their ruler, and it was made the province of Judaea in 6 CE.<ref name="sthist" />
A revolt against the Romans led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and the second Bar Kokhba revolt in 132–135 led to the purge and expulsion of the Jewish population of Judea,<ref name="sthist" /> the establishment of a new province of Syria Palaestina, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem as the Roman colonia of Aelia Capitolina.
Roman-era Hebrew, called Tannaitic Hebrew, ceased being spoken about 200 CE and developed into the literary language of the later Mishnaic Hebrew of the Amoraim.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Hebrew continued to be used as a literary and liturgical language in the form of Medieval Hebrew. The revival of the Hebrew language as a vernacular began in the 19th century, culminating in Modern Hebrew becoming the official language of Israel. Currently, Classical Hebrew is generally taught in public schools in Israel, and Biblical Hebrew forms are sometimes used in Modern Hebrew literature, much as archaic and biblical constructions are used in English literature. Since Modern Hebrew contains many biblical elements, Biblical Hebrew is fairly intelligible to Modern Hebrew speakers.<ref name="blau11">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
The primary source of Biblical Hebrew material is the Hebrew Bible.<ref name="wo8-9">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="b10" /> Epigraphic materials from the area of Israelite territory are written in a form of Hebrew called Inscriptional Hebrew, although this is meagerly attested.<ref name="b10">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="wo8a">Template:Harvcoltxt: "The extrabiblical linguistic material from the Iron Age is primarily epigraphic, that is, texts written on hard materials (pottery, stones, walls, etc.). The epigraphic texts from Israelite territory are written in Hebrew in a form of the language which may be called Inscriptional Hebrew; this "dialect" is not strikingly different from the Hebrew preserved in the Masoretic text. Unfortunately, it is meagerly attested."</ref> According to Waltke & O'Connor, Inscriptional Hebrew "is not strikingly different from the Hebrew preserved in the Masoretic text."<ref name="wo8a"/> The damp climate of Israel caused the rapid deterioration of papyrus and parchment documents, in contrast to the dry environment of Egypt, and the survival of the Hebrew Bible may be attributed to scribal determination in preserving the text through copying.<ref name="wo16">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> No manuscript of the Hebrew Bible dates to before 400 BCE, although two silver rolls (the Ketef Hinnom scrolls) from the seventh or sixth century BCE show a version of the Priestly Blessing.<ref name="wo16" /><ref name="yheb" /><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Vowel and cantillation marks were added to the older consonantal layer of the Bible between 600 CE and the beginning of the 10th century.<ref name="b7" /><ref group="nb">This is known because the final redaction of the Talmud, which does not mention these additions, was Template:Circa, while dated manuscripts with vocalization are found in the beginning of the tenth century. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The scholars who preserved the pronunciation of the Bibles were known as the Masoretes. The most well-preserved system that was developed, and the only one still in religious use, is the Tiberian vocalization, but both Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations are also attested.<ref name="b7" /> The Palestinian system was preserved mainly in piyyutim, which contain biblical quotations.<ref name="b7" />
Classification
Biblical Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language from the Canaanite subgroup.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>Template:Sfn
As Biblical Hebrew evolved from the Proto-Semitic language it underwent a number of consonantal mergers parallel with those in other Canaanite languages.<ref name="bmerge" /><ref name="sclas" /><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">However it is noteworthy that Akkadian shares many of these sound shifts but is less closely related to Hebrew than Aramaic. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> There is no evidence that these mergers occurred after the adaptation of the Hebrew alphabet.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">However, for example, when Old Aramaic borrowed the Canaanite alphabet it still had interdentals, but marked them with what they merged with in Canaanite. For instance 'ox' was written Template:Lang but pronounced with an initial Template:IPA. The same phenomenon also occurred when the Arabs adopted the Nabatean alphabet. See Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref>
As a Northwest Semitic language, Hebrew shows the shift of initial Template:IPA to Template:IPA, a similar independent pronoun system to the other Northwest Semitic languages (with third person pronouns never containing Template:IPA), some archaic forms, such as Template:IPA 'we', first person singular pronominal suffix -i or -ya, and Template:IPA commonly preceding pronominal suffixes.<ref name="sclas" /> Case endings are found in Northwest Semitic languages in the second millennium BCE, but disappear almost totally afterwards.<ref name="sclas" /> Mimation is absent in singular nouns, but is often retained in the plural, as in Hebrew.<ref name="sclas" />
The Northwest Semitic languages formed a dialect continuum in the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE), with Phoenician and Aramaic on each extreme.<ref name="sclas">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="scon" /> Hebrew is classed with Phoenician in the Canaanite subgroup, which also includes Ammonite, Edomite, and Moabite.<ref name="sclas" /> Moabite might be considered a Hebrew dialect, though it possessed distinctive Aramaic features.<ref name="scon">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="bmoab">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Although Ugaritic shows a large degree of affinity to Hebrew in poetic structure, vocabulary, and some grammar, it lacks some Canaanite features (like the Canaanite shift and the shift Template:IPA > Template:IPA), and its similarities are more likely a result of either contact or preserved archaism.<ref name="b21">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Hebrew underwent the Canaanite shift, where Proto-Semitic Template:IPA tended to shift to Template:IPA, perhaps when stressed.<ref name="sclas" /><ref name="Blau 2010 136-137">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Hebrew also shares with the Canaanite languages the shifts Template:IPA > Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA > Template:IPA, widespread reduction of diphthongs, and full assimilation of non-final Template:IPA to the following consonant if word final, i.e. Template:Lang Template:IPA from *bant.<ref name="sclas" /> There is also evidence of a rule of assimilation of Template:IPA to the following coronal consonant in pre-tonic position, shared by Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic: cf Template:Lang báyiṯ, but plural Template:Lang battím.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Typical Canaanite words in Hebrew include: Template:Lang "roof" Template:Lang "table" Template:Lang "window" Template:Lang "old (thing)" Template:Lang "old (person)" and Template:Lang "expel".<ref name="sclas" /> Morphological Canaanite features in Hebrew include the masculine plural marker Template:Lang, first person singular pronoun Template:Lang, interrogative pronoun Template:Lang, definite article Template:Lang (appearing in the first millennium BCE), and third person plural feminine verbal marker Template:Lang.<ref name="sclas" />
Eras
Biblical Hebrew as preserved in the Hebrew Bible is composed of multiple linguistic layers. The consonantal skeleton of the text is the most ancient, while the cantillation and modern vocalization are later additions reflecting a later stage of the language.<ref name="b10" /> These additions were added after 600 CE; Hebrew had already ceased being used as a spoken language around 200 CE.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Biblical Hebrew as reflected in the consonantal text of the Bible and in extra-biblical inscriptions may be subdivided by era.
The oldest form of Biblical Hebrew, Archaic Hebrew, is found in poetic sections of the Bible and inscriptions dating to around 1000 BCE, the early Monarchic Period.<ref name="sb52">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="r66">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This stage is also known as Old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew, and is the oldest stratum of Biblical Hebrew. The oldest known artifacts of Archaic Biblical Hebrew are various sections of the Tanakh, including the Song of Moses (Exodus 15) and the Song of Deborah (Judges 5).<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Biblical poetry uses a number of distinct lexical items, for example Template:Lang for prose Template:Lang 'see', Template:Lang for Template:Lang 'great'.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Some have cognates in other Northwest Semitic languages, for example Template:Lang 'do' and Template:Lang 'gold' which are common in Canaanite and Ugaritic.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Grammatical differences include the use of Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang as relative particles, negative Template:Lang, and various differences in verbal and pronominal morphology and syntax.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Later pre-exilic Biblical Hebrew (such as is found in prose sections of the Pentateuch, Nevi'im, and some Ketuvim) is known as 'Biblical Hebrew proper' or 'Standard Biblical Hebrew'.<ref name="sb52" /><ref name="r66" /> This is dated to the period from the 8th to the 6th century BCE. In contrast to Archaic Hebrew, Standard Biblical Hebrew is more consistent in using the definite article Template:Lang, the accusative marker Template:Lang, distinguishing between simple and waw-consecutive verb forms, and in using particles like Template:Lang and Template:Lang rather than asyndeton.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Biblical Hebrew from after the Babylonian exile in 587 BCE is known as 'Late Biblical Hebrew'.<ref name="sb52" /><ref name="r66" /> Late Biblical Hebrew shows Aramaic influence in phonology, morphology, and lexicon, and this trend is also evident in the later-developed Tiberian vocalization system.<ref name="sb55">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">Recent archaeological research suggests that Aramaic may have started to incluence Biblical Hebrew already during the pre-exilic era. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Qumran Hebrew, attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls from ca. 200 BCE to 70 CE, is a continuation of Late Biblical Hebrew.<ref name="r66" /> Qumran Hebrew may be considered an intermediate stage between Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew, though Qumran Hebrew shows its own idiosyncratic dialectal features.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Dialects
Dialect variation in Biblical Hebrew is attested to by the well-known shibboleth incident of Judges 12:6, where Jephthah's forces from Gilead caught Ephraimites trying to cross the Jordan River by making them say Template:Lang šibbóleṯ ('ear of corn')<ref name="bshib">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Ephraimites' identity was given away by their pronunciation: Template:Lang sibbóleṯ.<ref name="bshib" /> The apparent conclusion is that the Ephraimite dialect had Template:IPA for standard Template:IPA.<ref name="bshib" /> As an alternative explanation, it has been suggested that the proto-Semitic phoneme Template:IPA, which shifted to Template:IPA in most dialects of Hebrew, may have been retained in the Hebrew of the Transjordan<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">As a consequence this would leave open the possibility that other proto-Semitic phonemes (such as *Template:IPA) may have been preserved regionally at one point. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> (however, there is evidence that Template:Lang's Proto-Semitic ancestor had initial consonant š (whence Hebrew Template:IPA), contradicting this theory;<ref name="bshib" /> for example, Template:Lang's proto-Semitic ancestor has been reconstructed as *šu(n)bul-at-.<ref>"*šu(n)bul-at- – ear of corn" in Semitic Etymological Database Online</ref>); or that the Proto-Semitic sibilant *s1, transcribed with šin and traditionally reconstructed as *Template:IPA, had been originally *Template:IPA while another sibilant *s3, transcribed with sameḵ and traditionally reconstructed as Template:IPA, had been initially Template:IPA;<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> later on, a push-type chain shift changed *s3 Template:IPA to Template:IPA and pushed s1 Template:IPA to Template:IPA in many dialects (e.g. Gileadite) but not others (e.g. Ephraimite), where *s1 and *s3 merged into Template:IPA.
Hebrew, as spoken in the northern Kingdom of Israel, known as Israelian Hebrew, shows phonological, lexical, and grammatical differences from southern dialects.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The northern dialect spoken around Samaria shows a more frequent simplification of Template:IPA into Template:IPA as attested by the Samaria ostraca (8th century BCE), e.g. Template:Lang (= Template:IPA < Template:IPA 'wine'), while the southern or Judean dialect instead adds in an epenthetic vowel Template:IPA, added halfway through the first millennium BCE (Template:Lang = Template:IPA).<ref name="sclas" /><ref group="nb">Such contraction is also found in Ugaritic, the El-Amarna letters, and in Phoenician, while the anaptyctic vowel is found in Old Aramaic and Deir Alla. Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="bdip" /> The word play in Amos 8:1–2 Template:Lang may reflect this: given that Amos was addressing the population of the Northern Kingdom, the vocalization *קֵיץ would be more forceful.<ref name="bdip">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Other possible Northern features include use of Template:Lang 'who, that', forms like Template:Lang 'to know' rather than Template:Lang and infinitives of certain verbs of the form Template:Lang 'to do' rather than Template:Lang.<ref name="b8" /> The Samaria ostraca also show Template:Lang for standard Template:Lang 'year', as in Aramaic.<ref name="b8">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
The guttural phonemes Template:IPA merged over time in some dialects.<ref name="sgut">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This was found in Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew, but Jerome (d. 420) attested to the existence of contemporaneous Hebrew speakers who still distinguished pharyngeals.<ref name="sgut" /> Samaritan Hebrew also shows a general attrition of these phonemes, though Template:IPA are occasionally preserved as Template:IPA.<ref name="samgut">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Orthography
The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, found at Khirbet Qeiyafa, dates to the 10th century BCE.<ref name="eurekalert.org"/> The Template:Convert trapezoid pottery sherd (ostracon) has five lines of text written in ink in the Proto-Canaanite alphabet (the old form which predates both the Paleo-Hebrew and Phoenician alphabets).<ref name="eurekalert.org" /><ref name="bar">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The tablet is written from left to right, suggesting that Hebrew writing was still in the formative stage.<ref name="bar" />
The Israelite tribes who settled in the land of Israel used a late form of the Proto-Sinaitic Alphabet (known as Proto-Canaanite when found in Israel) around the 12th century BCE, which developed into Early Phoenician and Early Paleo-Hebrew as found in the Gezer calendar (Template:Circa).<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This script developed into the Paleo-Hebrew script in the 10th or 9th centuries BCE.<ref name="y">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="tscript" /><ref name="s17" /> The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet's main differences from the Phoenician script were "a curving to the left of the downstrokes in the "long-legged" letter-signs... the consistent use of a Waw with a concave top, [and an] x-shaped Taw."<ref name="y" /><ref group="nb">At times the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Philistines would also use the Paleo-Hebrew script. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The oldest inscriptions in Paleo-Hebrew script are dated to around the middle of the 9th century BCE, the most famous being the Mesha Stele in the Moabite language (which might be considered a dialect of Hebrew).<ref name="yheb">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="bmoab" /> The ancient Hebrew script was in continuous use until the early 6th century BCE, the end of the First Temple period.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In the Second Temple Period the Paleo-Hebrew script gradually fell into disuse, and was completely abandoned among the Jews after the failed Bar Kochba revolt.<ref name="tscript" /><ref name="yb">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Samaritans retained the ancient Hebrew alphabet, which evolved into the modern Samaritan alphabet.<ref name="tscript">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="yb" />
By the end of the First Temple period the Aramaic script, a separate descendant of the Phoenician script, became widespread throughout the region, gradually displacing Paleo-Hebrew.<ref name="yb" /> The oldest documents that have been found in the Aramaic Script are fragments of the scrolls of Exodus, Samuel, and Jeremiah found among the Dead Sea scrolls, dating from the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE.<ref name="ysq">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> It seems that the earlier biblical books were originally written in the Paleo-Hebrew script, while the later books were written directly in the later Assyrian script.<ref name="tscript" /> Some Qumran texts written in the Assyrian script write the tetragrammaton and some other divine names in Paleo-Hebrew, and this practice is also found in several Jewish-Greek biblical translations.<ref name="tscript" /><ref group="nb">Though some of these translations wrote the tetragrammaton in the square script See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> While spoken Hebrew continued to evolve into Mishnaic Hebrew, A number of regional "book-hand" styles were put into use for the purpose of Torah manuscripts and occasionally other literary works, distinct from the calligraphic styles used mainly for private purposes.<ref name="ybook">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Mizrahi and Ashkenazi book-hand styles were later adapted to printed fonts after the invention of the printing press.<ref name="ybook" /> The modern Hebrew alphabet, also known as the Assyrian or Square script, appears a descendant of the Aramaic alphabet.<ref name="yb" />
The Phoenician script had dropped five characters by the 12th century BCE, reflecting the language's twenty-two consonantal phonemes.<ref name="s17">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The 22 letters of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet numbered less than the consonant phonemes of ancient Biblical Hebrew; in particular, the letters Template:Angle bracket could each mark two different phonemes.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> After a sound shift the letters Template:Lang, Template:Lang could only mark one phoneme, but (except in Samaritan Hebrew) Template:Lang still marked two. The old Babylonian vocalization system wrote a superscript Template:Lang above the Template:Lang to indicate it took the value Template:IPA, while the Masoretes added the shin dot to distinguish between the two varieties of the letter.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="b77"/>
The original Hebrew alphabet consisted only of consonants, but the letters Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, also were used to indicate vowels, known as matres lectionis when used in this function.<ref name="s17" /><ref name="to1" /> It is thought that this was a product of phonetic development: for instance, *bayt ('house') shifted to Template:Lang in construct state but retained its spelling.<ref name="b6">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> While no examples of early Hebrew orthography have been found, older Phoenician and Moabite texts show how First Temple period Hebrew would have been written.<ref name="to1">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Phoenician inscriptions from the 10th century BCE do not indicate matres lectiones in the middle or the end of a word, for example Template:Lang and Template:Lang for later Template:Lang and Template:Lang, similarly to the Hebrew Gezer Calendar, which has for instance Template:Lang for Template:Lang and possibly Template:Lang for Template:Lang.<ref name="to1" /> Matres lectionis were later added word-finally, for instance the Mesha inscription has Template:Lang for later Template:Lang; however at this stage they were not yet used word-medially, compare Siloam inscription Template:Lang versus Template:Lang (for later Template:Lang).<ref name="to1" /> The relative terms defective and full/plene are used to refer to alternative spellings of a word with less or more matres lectionis, respectively.<ref name="to1" /><ref group="nb">Ktiv male, the Hebrew term for full spelling, has become de rigueur in Modern Hebrew.</ref>
The Hebrew Bible was presumably originally written in a more defective orthography than found in any of the texts known today.<ref name="to1" /> Of the extant textual witnesses of the Hebrew Bible, the Masoretic text is generally the most conservative in its use of matres lectionis, with the Samaritan Pentateuch and its forebearers being more full and the Qumran tradition showing the most liberal use of vowel letters.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Masoretic text mostly uses vowel letters for long vowels, showing the tendency to mark all long vowels except for word-internal Template:IPA.<ref name="b6" /><ref group="nb">There are rare-cases of Template:Angle bracket being used medially as a true vowel letter, e.g. Template:Lang for the usual Template:Lang 'fish'. Most cases, however, of Template:Angle bracket being used as a vowel letter are theorized to stem from conservative spelling of words which contained Template:IPA, e.g. Template:Lang ('head') from original Template:IPA. See Template:Harvcoltxt. There are also a number of exceptions to the rule of marking other long vowels, e.g. when the following syllable contains a vowel letters (like in Template:Lang 'voices' rather than Template:Lang) or when a vowel letter already marks a consonant (so Template:Lang 'nations' rather than *Template:Lang). See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In the Qumran tradition, back vowels are usually represented by Template:Angle bracket whether short or long.<ref name="tq1">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="sq">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Angle bracket is generally used for both long Template:IPA and Template:IPA (Template:Lang, Template:Lang), and final Template:IPA is often written as Template:Lang in analogy to words like Template:Lang, Template:Lang, e.g. Template:Lang, sometimes Template:Lang.<ref name="tq1" /><ref name="sq" /> Template:Angle bracket is found finally in forms like Template:Lang (Tiberian Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Tiberian Template:Lang) while Template:Angle bracket may be used for an a-quality vowel in final position (e.g. Template:Lang) and in medial position (e.g. Template:Lang).<ref name="tq1" /> Pre-Samaritan and Samaritan texts show full spellings in many categories (e.g. Template:Lang vs. Masoretic Template:Lang in Genesis 49:3) but only rarely show full spelling of the Qumran type.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Presumably, the vowels of Biblical Hebrew were not indicated in the original text, but various sources attest to them at various stages of development. Greek and Latin transcriptions of words from the biblical text provide early evidence of the nature of Biblical Hebrew vowels. In particular, there is evidence from the rendering of proper nouns in the Koine Greek Septuagint (3rd–2nd centuries BCE<ref name="Jobes and Silva">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>) and the Greek alphabet transcription of the Hebrew biblical text contained in the Secunda (3rd century CE, likely a copy of a preexisting text from before 100 BCE<ref group="nb">The Secunda is a transliteration of the Hebrew biblical text contained in the Hexapla, a recension of the Old Testament compiled by Origen in the 3rd century CE. There is evidence that the text of the Secunda was written before 100 BCE, despite the later date of the Hexapla. For example, by the time of Origen Template:Angbr were pronounced Template:IPA, a merger which had already begun around 100 BCE, while in the Secunda they are used to represent Hebrew Template:IPA. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>). In the 7th and 8th centuries CE various systems of vocalic notation were developed to indicate vowels in the biblical text.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The most prominent, best preserved, and the only system still in use, is the Tiberian vocalization system, created by scholars known as Masoretes around 850 CE.<ref name="b7">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="rvoc" /> There are also various extant manuscripts making use of less common vocalization systems (Babylonian and Palestinian), known as superlinear vocalizations because their vocalization marks are placed above the letters.<ref name="b7" /><ref name="rvoc" /><ref group="nb">The Palestinian system has two main subtypes and shows great variation. Template:Harvcoltxt The Babylonian vocalization occurred in two main types (simple / einfach and complex / kompliziert), with various subgroups differing as to their affinity with the Tiberian tradition. Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">In the Babylonian and Palestinian systems only the most important vowels were written. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In addition, the Samaritan reading tradition is independent of these systems and was occasionally notated with a separate vocalization system.<ref name="rvoc">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">Almost all vocalized manuscripts use the Masoretic Text. However, there are some vocalized Samaritan manuscripts from the Middle Ages. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> These systems often record vowels at different stages of historical development; for example, the name of the Judge Samson is recorded in Greek as Σαμψών Sampsōn with the first vowel as Template:IPA, while Tiberian Template:Lang Template:IPA with Template:IPA shows the effect of the law of attenuation whereby Template:IPA in closed unstressed syllables became Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> All of these systems together are used to reconstruct the original vocalization of Biblical Hebrew.
At an early stage, in documents written in the paleo-Hebrew script, words were divided by short vertical lines and later by dots, as reflected by the Mesha Stone, the Siloam inscription, the Ophel inscription, and paleo-Hebrew script documents from Qumran.<ref name="tsp" /> Word division was not used in Phoenician inscriptions; however, there is no direct evidence for biblical texts being written without word division, as suggested by Nahmanides in his introduction to the Torah.<ref name="tsp" /> Word division using spaces was commonly used from the beginning of the 7th century BCE for documents in the Aramaic script.<ref name="tsp">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In addition to marking vowels, the Tiberian system also uses cantillation marks, which serve to mark word stress, semantic structure, and the musical motifs used in formal recitation of the text.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
While the Babylonian and Palestinian reading traditions are extinct, various other systems of pronunciation have evolved over time, notably the Yemenite, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, and Samaritan traditions. Modern Hebrew pronunciation is also used by some to read biblical texts. The modern reading traditions do not stem solely from the Tiberian system; for instance, the Sephardic tradition's distinction between qamatz gadol and qatan is likely pre-Tiberian.<ref name="length">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> However, the only orthographic system used to mark vowels is the Tiberian vocalization.
Phonology
The phonology as reconstructed for Biblical Hebrew is as follows:
Consonants
- Consonants lost during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew.
- Consonants gained during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew
The phonetic nature of some Biblical Hebrew consonants is disputed. The so-called "emphatics" were likely pharyngealized, but possibly velarized.<ref name="b68">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="r73" /> The pharyngealization of emphatic consonants is viewed as a Central Semitic innovation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Some argue that Template:IPA were affricated (Template:IPA),<ref name="b68" /> but Egyptian starts using s in place of earlier ṯ to represent Canaanite s around 1000 BC. It is likely that Canaanite was already dialectally split by that time, and the northern Early Phoenician dialect that the Greeks were in contact with could have preserved the affricate pronunciation until Template:Circa at least, unlike the more southern Canaanite dialects (like Hebrew) that the Egyptians were in contact with, so that there is no contradiction within this argument.
Originally, the Hebrew letters Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr each represented two possible phonemes, uvular and pharyngeal, with the distinction unmarked in Hebrew orthography. However, the uvular phonemes Template:IPA Template:Lang and Template:IPA Template:Lang merged with their pharyngeal counterparts Template:IPA Template:Lang and Template:IPA Template:Lang respectively c. 200 BCE. Template:ClearThis is observed by noting the preservation of the double phonemes of each letter in one Sephardic reading tradition, and by noting that these phonemes are distinguished consistently in the Septuagint of the Pentateuch (e.g. Isaac Template:Lang Template:Lang = Template:Lang versus Rachel Template:Lang Template:Lang = Template:Lang), but this becomes more sporadic in later books and is generally absent in translations of Ezra and Nehemiah.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
The phoneme Template:IPA, is also not directly indicated by Hebrew orthography but is clearly attested by later developments: It is written with Template:Angbr (also used for Template:IPA) but later merged with Template:IPA (normally indicated with Template:Angbr). As a result, three etymologically distinct phonemes can be distinguished through a combination of spelling and pronunciation: Template:IPA written Template:Angbr, Template:IPA written Template:Angbr, and Template:IPA (pronounced Template:IPA but written Template:Angbr). The specific pronunciation of Template:IPA as Template:IPA is based on comparative evidence (Template:IPA is the corresponding Proto-Semitic phoneme and still attested in Modern South Arabian languages<ref name="b77">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> as well as early borrowings (e.g. balsam < Greek balsamon < Hebrew baśam). Template:IPA began merging with Template:IPA in Late Biblical Hebrew, as indicated by interchange of orthographic Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and this became the rule in Mishnaic Hebrew.<ref name="b69" /><ref name="r73">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In all Jewish reading traditions Template:IPA and Template:IPA have merged completely; however in Samaritan Hebrew Template:IPA has instead merged with Template:IPA.<ref name="b69" />
Allophonic spirantization of Template:IPA to Template:IPA (known as begadkefat spirantization) developed sometime during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew under the influence of Aramaic.<ref group="nb">Or perhaps Hurrian, but this is unlikely See Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref> This probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes Template:IPA disappeared in the 7th century BCE,<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew Template:IPA c. 200 BCE.<ref group="nb">According to the generally accepted view, it is unlikely begadkefat spirantization occurred before the merger of Template:IPA and Template:IPA, or else Template:IPA and Template:IPA would have to be contrastive, which is cross-linguistically rare. However Blau argues that it is possible that lenited Template:IPA and Template:IPA could coexist even if pronounced identically, since one would be recognized as an alternating allophone (as apparently is the case in Nestorian Syriac). See Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref> It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> After a certain point this alternation became contrastive in word-medial and final position (though bearing low functional load), but in word-initial position they remained allophonic.<ref name="bbgd">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This is evidenced both by the Tiberian vocalization's consistent use of word-initial spirants after a vowel in sandhi, as well as Saadia Gaon's attestation to the use of this alternation in Tiberian Aramaic at the beginning of the 10th century CE.<ref name="bbgd" />
The Dead Sea scrolls show evidence of confusion of the phonemes Template:IPA, e.g. Template:Lang ħmr for Masoretic Template:Lang Template:IPA 'he said'.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> However the testimony of Jerome indicates that this was a regionalism and not universal.<ref name="sgut"/> Confusion of gutturals was also attested in later Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic (see Eruvin 53b). In Samaritan Hebrew, Template:IPA have generally all merged, either into Template:IPA, a glide Template:IPA or Template:IPA, or by vanishing completely (often creating a long vowel), except that original Template:IPA sometimes have reflex Template:IPA before Template:IPA.<ref name="samgut"/>
Geminate consonants are phonemically contrastive in Biblical Hebrew. In the Secunda Template:IPA are never geminate.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In the Tiberian tradition Template:IPA cannot be geminate; historically first Template:IPA degeminated, followed by Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and finally Template:IPA, as evidenced by changes in the quality of the preceding vowel.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">The vowel before originally geminate Template:IPA usually shows compensatory lengthening, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA 'the father' < Template:IPA; with Template:IPA preceding Template:IPA tends to remain short; with Template:IPA original Template:IPA also remains short, and Template:IPA generally does not cause compensatory lengthening, e.g. Template:Lang ('he will have compassion'). See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Vowels
The vowel system of Hebrew has changed considerably over time. The following vowels are those reconstructed for the earliest stage of Hebrew, those attested by the Secunda, those of the various vocalization traditions (Tiberian and varieties of Babylonian and Palestinian), and those of the Samaritan tradition, with vowels absent in some traditions color-coded.
Sound changes
The following sections present the vowel changes that Biblical Hebrew underwent, in approximate chronological order.
Proto-Central-Semitic
Proto-Semitic is the ancestral language of all the Semitic languages, and in traditional reconstructions possessed 29 consonants; 6 monophthong vowels, consisting of three qualities and two lengths, Template:IPA, in which the long vowels occurred only in open syllables; and two diphthongs Template:IPA.<ref name="b111">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The stress system of Proto-Semitic is unknown but it is commonly described as being much like the system of Classical Latin or the modern pronunciation of Classical Arabic: If the penultimate (second last) syllable is light (has a short vowel followed by a single consonant), stress goes on the antepenult (third to last); otherwise, it goes on the penult.
Various changes, mostly in morphology, took place between Proto-Semitic and Proto-Central-Semitic, the language at the root of the Central Semitic languages. The phonemic system was inherited essentially unchanged, but the emphatic consonants may have changed their realization in Central Semitic from ejectives to pharyngealized consonants.
The morphology of Proto-Central-Semitic shows significant changes compared with Proto-Semitic, especially in its verbs, and is much like in Classical Arabic. Nouns in the singular were usually declined in three cases: Template:IPA (nominative), Template:IPA (accusative) or Template:IPA (genitive). In some circumstances (but never in the construct state), nouns also took a final nasal after the case ending: nunation (final Template:IPA) occurred in some languages, mimation (final Template:IPA) in others. The original meaning of this marker is uncertain. In Classical Arabic, final Template:IPA on nouns indicates indefiniteness and disappears when the noun is preceded by a definite article or otherwise becomes definite in meaning. In other languages, final Template:IPA may be present whenever a noun is not in the construct state. Old Canaanite had mimation, of uncertain meaning, in an occurrence of the word urušalemim (Jerusalem) as given in an Egyptian transcription.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Broken plural forms in Arabic are declined like singulars, and often take singular agreement as well. Dual and "strong plural" forms use endings with a long vowel or diphthong, declined in only two cases: nominative and objective (combination accusative/genitive), with the objective form often becoming the default one after the loss of case endings. Both Hebrew and Arabic had a special form of nunation/mimation that co-occurred with the dual and masculine sound plural endings whenever the noun was not in the construct state. The endings were felt as an inherent part of the ending and, as a result, are still used. Examples are Arabic strong masculine plural -ūna (nominative), -īna (objective), and dual endings -āni (nominative), -ayni (objective); corresponding construct-state endings are -ū, -ī (strong masculine plural), -ā, -ay (dual). (The strong feminine endings in Classical Arabic are -ātu nominative, -āti objective, marked with a singular-style -n nunation in the indefinite state only.)
If Hebrew had at some point had the broken plural, any vestigial forms that may remain have been extended with the strong plural endings. The dual and strong plural endings were likely much like the Arabic forms given above at one point, with only the objective-case forms ultimately surviving. For example, dual -ayim is probably from *-aymi with an extended mimation ending (cf. Arabic -ayni above), while dual construct -ē is from *-ay without mimation. Similarly, -īm < *-īma, -ōt < *-āti. (Expected plural construct state *-ī was replaced by dual -ē.)
Feminine nouns at this point ended in a suffix Template:IPA or Template:IPA in case endings. When the ending is final due to the loss or absence of the case ending, it is replaced with Template:IPA and then Template:IPA in both Hebrew and Arabic. The final Template:IPA consonant therefore is silent in the absolute state, but becomes Template:IPA again in the construct state and when these words take suffixes, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA "law" becomes Template:Lang Template:IPA "law of", and Template:Lang Template:IPA "your law", etc. (This is equivalent to the Arabic letter tāʼ marbūṭah Template:Lang, a modified final form of the letter hāʾ Template:Lang, which indicates this same phoneme shifting. Only its pronunciation varies between construct and absolute state.)
Potential Canaanite shift
Hebrew shows certain aspects of the Canaanite shift whereby Template:IPA often shifted to Template:IPA; the conditions of this shift are disputed.<ref name="Blau 2010 136-137"/><ref group="nb">In fact, its scope of application is different in Samaritan and Tiberian Hebrew (e.g. Template:Lang 'here' Tiberian Template:IPA vs. Samaritan Template:IPA), see Template:Harvcoltxt. Even in Tiberian Hebrew doublets are found, e.g. Template:IPA = Template:IPA ('zealous'). See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This shift had occurred by the 14th century BCE, as demonstrated by its presence in the Amarna letters (Template:Circa).<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Proto-Hebrew
As a result of the Canaanite shift, the Proto-Hebrew vowel system is reconstructed as Template:IPA (and possibly rare Template:IPA).<ref name="david" /> Furthermore, stress at this point appears to have shifted so that it was consistently on the penultimate (next to last) syllable, and was still non-phonemic. The predominant final stress of Biblical Hebrew was a result of loss of final unstressed vowels and a shift away from remaining open syllables (see below).
Loss of final unstressed vowels
Final unstressed short vowels dropped out in most words, making it possible for long vowels to occur in closed syllables. This appears to have proceeded in two steps:
- Final short mood, etc. markers dropped in verbal forms.
- Final short case markers dropped in nominal forms.
Vowel lengthening in stressed, open syllables occurred between the two steps, with the result that short vowels at the beginning of an original -VCV ending lengthened in nouns but not verbs. This is most noticeable with short Template:IPA: e.g. *dabara ('word' acc.') > Template:IPA but *kataba ('he wrote') > Template:IPA.
The dropping of final short vowels in verb forms tended to erase mood distinctions, but also some gender distinctions; however, unexpected vowel lengthening occurred in many situations to preserve the distinctions. For example, in the suffix conjugation, first-singular *-tu appears to have been remade into *-tī already by Proto-Hebrew on the basis of possessive -ī (likewise first singular personal pronoun *ʔana became *ʔanī).Template:Citation needed
Similarly, in the second-singular, inherited *-ta -ti competed with lengthened *-tā -tī for masculine and feminine forms. The expected result would be -t or -tā for masculine, -t or -tī for feminine, and in fact both variants of both forms are found in the Bible (with -h marking the long -ā and -y marking the long -ī). The situation appears to have been quite fluid for several centuries, with -t and -tā/tī forms found in competition both in writing and in speech (cf. the Secunda (Hexapla) of Origen, which records both pronunciations, although quite often in disagreement with the written form as passed down to us). Ultimately, writing stabilized on the shorter -t for both genders, while speech chose feminine -t but masculine -tā. This is the reason for the unexpected qamatz vowel written under the final letter of such words.
The exact same process affected possessive *-ka ('your' masc. sing.) and *-ki ('your' fem. sing.), and personal pronouns *ʔanta, *ʔanti, with the same split into shorter and longer forms and the same ultimate resolution.
Short vowel lengthening (esp. pretonic), lowering
The short vowels Template:IPA tended to lengthen in various positions.
- First, short vowels lengthened in an open syllable in pretonic position (i.e. directly before the stressed syllable).
- Later, short vowels lengthened in stressed open syllables.<ref name="Janssens 1982 56-57">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">Parallels to Aramaic syllable structure suggest pretonic lengthening may have occurred in the Second Temple period. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
In the process of lengthening, the high vowels were lowered. In the Secunda, the lengthened reflexes of Template:IPA are Template:IPA; when kept short they generally have reflexes Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">Long Template:IPA were written as Template:Angle bracket, while short Template:IPA were written Template:Angle bracket. This length distinction is also found in the LXX. See Template:Harvcoltxt, Template:Harvcoltxt, and Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">In the Secunda Template:IPA are preserved as short in syllables closed by two consonants and in the third syllable before the stress. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Reduction of short open stressed syllables
Stressed open syllables with a short vowel (i.e. syllables consisting of a short vowel followed by a consonant and another vowel) had the vowel reduced to Template:IPA and the stressed moved one syllable later in the word (usually to the last syllable of the word).<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref> Presumably, stress was originally penultimate and loss of final short vowels made many words have final stress. However, in this case, words whose final syllable had a long vowel or ended with a consonant were unaffected and still had penultimate stress at this point except in pausal position, where the penultimate stress is preserved, and vowel lengthening rather than reduction occurs.
The previous three changes occurred in a complex, interlocking fashion:
- Shift of stress to be universally penultimate.
- Loss of final short vowels in verbs, pre-stress lengthening in open syllables. Pre-stress lengthening/lowering becomes a surface filter that remains as a rule in the language, automatically affected any new short vowels in open syllables as they appear (but ultra-short vowels are unaffected).
- Stress movement from light syllable to following heavy syllable when not in pausa, with newly unstressed light syllable reducing the schwa.
- Tonic lengthening/lowering in open syllables.
- Loss of final short vowels in nouns.
Examples:
| 'killing/killer (masc. sg.)' | 'he killed' | 'she killed' | 'they killed' | 'they killed' (pausa) | 'you (masc. sg.) kill' | 'you (fem. sg.) kill' | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proto-Central-Semitic | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Pre-Hebrew | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Canaanite shift | Template:IPA | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Penultimate stress | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Final short vowel loss (verb) | — | Template:IPA | — | — | — | Template:IPA | — |
| Pre-tonic lengthening | — | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | — | — |
| Stress shift / de-stressed reduction | — | — | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | — | — | Template:IPA |
| Tonic lengthening/lowering | Template:IPA | — | — | — | Template:IPA | — | — |
| Final short vowel loss (noun) | Template:IPA | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Feminine Template:IPA > Template:IPA | — | — | Template:IPA | — | — | — | — |
| Short vowel lowering | — | — | — | — | — | Template:IPA | — |
| Law of attenuation | — | — | — | — | — | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
| Tiberian Template:IPA > Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | — | — |
| Loss of phonemic vowel length; attested Tiberian form |
Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA |
Many, perhaps most, Hebrew words with a schwa directly before a final stress are due to this stress shift.
This sound change shifted many more originally penultimate-stressed words to have final stress. The above changes can be seen to divide words into a number of main classes based on stress and syllable properties:
- Proto-Hebrew words with an open penult and short-vowel ending: Become final-stressed (e.g. Template:IPA ('he killed') < PHeb. Template:IPA).
- Proto-Hebrew words with a closed penult and short-vowel ending: Become penultimate due to segholate rule (e.g. Template:IPA ('king') < Template:IPA).
- Proto-Hebrew words with an open short penult and longer ending: Become final-stressed due to stress shift (e.g. Template:IPA ('they killed') < PHeb. Template:IPA).
- Proto-Hebrew words with a closed penult and longer ending: Remain penultimate (e.g. Template:IPA ('I killed') < PHeb. Template:IPA).
- Proto-Hebrew words with an open long penult and longer ending: ???
Pre-stress reduction of short vowel
Template:IPA were reduced to Template:IPA in the second syllable before the stress,<ref name="j54" /> and occasionally reduced rather than lengthened in pretonic position, especially when initial (e.g. σεμω = Template:Lang Template:IPA 'his name').<ref name="j120">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">The Secunda also has a few cases of pretonic gemination. See Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref> Thus the vowel system of the Secunda was Template:IPA.<ref name="j54" />
Later developments
The later Jewish traditions (Tiberian, Babylonian, Palestinian) show similar vowel developments. By the Tiberian time, all short vowels in stressed syllables and open pretonic lengthened, making vowel length allophonic.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">In fact, first all stressed vowels were lengthened in pause, see Template:Harvcoltxt. This can be seen by forms like Tiberian Template:Lang Template:IPA < Template:IPA, pausal Template:Lang Template:IPA < Template:IPA < Template:IPA < Template:IPA. The shift in Tiberian Hebrew of Template:IPA > Template:IPA occurred after this lengthening, but before the loss of phonemicity of length (since words like Template:Lang with allophonically long Template:IPA do not show this shift).</ref><ref name="Blau 2010 82, 110">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Vowels in open or stressed syllables had allophonic length (e.g. Template:IPA in Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:IPA ('he will have mercy') < previously short Template:IPA < Template:IPA by Tiberian degemination of Template:IPA < PSem Template:IPA).<ref name="Blau 2010 82, 110" /><ref group="nb">This is attested to by the testimony of Joseph Qimḥi (12th century) and by medieval Arabic transcriptions, see Template:Harvcoltxt. There is also possible evidence from the cantillation marks' behavior and Babylonian pataḥ, see Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref> The Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations systems also do not mark vowel length.<ref name="length" /><ref name="b118-119" /><ref name="jqimhi">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In the Tiberian and Babylonian systems, Template:IPA and lengthened Template:IPA become the back vowel Template:IPA.<ref name="b118-119" /><ref name="r77" /> In unaccented closed syllables, Template:IPA become Template:IPA (Tiberian), Template:IPA (Babylonian), or Template:IPA (Palestinian) – generally becoming the second vowel before geminates (e.g. Template:Lang) and the first otherwise.<ref name="b118-119" /><ref name="y16" /><ref name="r77" /><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">The Palestinian reflexes of Tiberian Template:IPA (Template:IPA and Template:IPA) thus reflect the qamatz gadol-qamatz qatan distinction.</ref> In the Tiberian tradition pretonic vowels are reduced more commonly than in the Secunda. It does not occur for Template:IPA, but is occasional for Template:IPA (e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA 'nails' < Template:IPA), and is common for Template:IPA (e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA 'open place' < Template:IPA).<ref name="j120" /><ref name="breduc">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In Tiberian Hebrew pretonic Template:IPA is most commonly preserved by geminating the following consonant, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('red' pl.) (cf. Template:IPA 'red' sg.); this pretonic gemination is also found in some forms with other vowels like Template:Lang⁓Template:Lang Template:IPA ('prisoner').<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
The Babylonian and Palestinian systems have only one reduced vowel phoneme Template:IPA like the Secunda, though in Palestinian Hebrew it developed the pronunciation Template:IPA.<ref name="j54" /><ref name="b118-119" /><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> However the Tiberian tradition possesses three reduced vowels Template:IPA of which Template:IPA has questionable phonemicity.<ref name="b117-118">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">See Template:Lang Template:IPA ('ships') Template:Lang Template:IPA ('I'), Template:Lang Template:IPA ('sickness') Template:Lang Template:IPA ('ornament'), Template:Lang Template:IPA ('ascend!') (Num 21:17) and Template:Lang Template:IPA ('[with the] pestle'; Prov 27:22). Template:Harvcoltxt Template:IPA alternates with Template:IPA frequently and rarely contrasts with it, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('Edom') versus Template:Lang Template:IPA ('Edomite'). Template:Harvcoltxt Template:IPA is clearly phonemic but bears minimal functional load. Template:Harvcoltxt Template:IPA is written both with mobile šwa Template:Angbr and hataf patah Template:Angbr. Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:IPA under a non-guttural letter was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel before a guttural, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA, and as Template:IPA preceding Template:IPA, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA, but was always pronounced as Template:IPA under gutturals, e.g. Template:Lang.<ref name="y281-282">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="b105-106">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> When reduced, etymological Template:IPA become Template:IPA under gutturals (e.g. Template:Lang 'you [mp.] said' cf. Template:Lang 'he said'), and generally Template:IPA under non-gutturals, but Template:IPA > Template:IPA (and rarely Template:IPA > Template:IPA) may still occur, especially after stops (or their spirantized counterparts) and Template:IPA (e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA).<ref name="b84-85">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="y282-283">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Samaritan and Qumran Hebrew have full vowels in place of the reduced vowels of Tiberian Hebrew.<ref name="s160" />
Samaritan Hebrew also does not reflect etymological vowel length; however the elision of guttural consonants has created new phonemic vowel length, e.g. Template:IPA Template:Lang ('great') vs. Template:IPA Template:Lang ('wide').<ref name="bhlen">Template:Harvcoltxt (while Ben-Hayyim notates four degrees of vowel length, he concedes that only his "fourth degree" has phonemic value)</ref> Samaritan Hebrew vowels are allophonically lengthened (to a lesser degree) in open syllables, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA, though this is less strong in post-tonic vowels.<ref name="bhlen" /> Pretonic gemination is also found in Samaritan Hebrew, but not always in the same locations as in Tiberian Hebrew, e.g. Template:Lang TH Template:IPA SH Template:IPA; Template:Lang TH Template:IPA SH Template:IPA.<ref name="bh62">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> While Proto-Hebrew long vowels usually retain their vowel quality in the later traditions of Hebrew,<ref name="r77">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="jlong">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> in Samaritan Hebrew Template:IPA may have reflex Template:IPA in closed stressed syllables, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:IPA may become either Template:IPA or Template:IPA,<ref name="bhlong" /> and Template:IPA > Template:IPA.<ref name="bhlong">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The reduced vowels of the other traditions appear as full vowels, though there may be evidence that Samaritan Hebrew once had similar vowel reduction. Samaritan Template:IPA results from the neutralization of the distinction between Template:IPA and Template:IPA in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. Template:IPA Template:Lang ('house') Template:IPA Template:Lang ('the house') Template:IPA Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:Lang.<ref name="bh49" />
Various more specific conditioned shifts of vowel quality have also occurred. Diphthongs were frequently monophthongized, but the scope and results of this shift varied among dialects. In particular, the Samaria ostraca show Template:IPA < Template:IPA < Template:IPA<ref group="nb">For Template:IPA > Template:IPA, see above. The Semitic form Template:IPA was borrowed into Proto-Indo-European as Template:IPA, eventually yielding Latin vīnum and English wine.</ref> for Southern Template:IPA ('wine'), and Samaritan Hebrew shows instead the shift Template:IPA > Template:IPA.<ref name="sclas" /><ref name="ssam" /> Original Template:IPA tended to shift to Template:IPA (e.g. Template:Lang and Template:Lang 'word'; Template:Lang 'outside' and Template:Lang 'outer') beginning in the second half of the second millennium BCE.<ref name="sdis">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This was carried through completely in Samaritan Hebrew but met more resistance in other traditions such as the Babylonian and Qumran traditions.<ref name="sdis" /> Philippi's law is the process by which original Template:IPA in closed stressed syllables shifts to Template:IPA (e.g. Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'daughter'), or sometimes in the Tiberian tradition Template:IPA (e.g. Template:IPA > Template:Lang Template:IPA 'truth').<ref name="bphil">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">This Template:IPA does not become Template:IPA in pause, thus Template:Lang has a patah vowel in pause as well as in context. Template:Cite book</ref> This is absent in the transcriptions of the Secunda,<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> but there is evidence that the law's onset predates the Secunda. In the Samaritan tradition Philippi's law is applied consistently, e.g. Template:IPA > Template:IPA ('heart').<ref name="bhp">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">The only known case where Philippi's Law does not apply is in the word Template:Lang Template:IPA < Template:IPA ('nest'). The shift Template:IPA > Template:IPA has been extended by analogy to similar forms, e.g. Template:IPA > Template:IPA ('name'; but Template:IPA > Template:IPA 'reputation'!). Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In some traditions the short vowel Template:IPA tended to shift to Template:IPA in unstressed closed syllables: this is known as the law of attenuation. It is common in the Tiberian tradition, e.g. Template:IPA > Tiberian Template:Lang Template:IPA ('seven'), but exceptions are frequent.<ref name="b132">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> It is less common in the Babylonian vocalization, e.g. Template:IPA ('seven'), and differences in Greek and Latin transcriptions demonstrate that it began quite late.<ref name="b132" /> Attenuation generally did not occur before Template:IPA, e.g. Tiberian Template:Lang Template:IPA ('key') versus Template:Lang Template:IPA ('opening [construct]'), and often was blocked before a geminate, e.g. Template:Lang ('gift').<ref name="b132" /> Attenuation is rarely present in Samaritan Hebrew, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">Verbal forms such as Template:Lang = Samaritan Template:IPA < Template:IPA may be examples of Barth's law rather than attenuation.</ref> In the Tiberian tradition Template:IPA take offglide Template:IPA before Template:IPA.<ref name="b83">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">This is known as pataḥ furtivum, literally 'stolen pataḥ' and perhaps a mistranslation of Hebrew Template:Lang ('pataḥ of the stolen [letter]'), as if Template:Lang were being inserted. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This is absent in the Secunda and in Samaritan Hebrew but present in the transcriptions of Jerome.<ref name="ssam">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In the Tiberian tradition an ultrashort echo vowel is sometimes added to clusters where the first element is a guttural, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('he will listen') Template:Lang Template:IPA ('his work') but Template:Lang Template:IPA ('he will make glorious') Template:Lang Template:IPA 'its breadth'.<ref name="b84-85" /><ref group="nb">It is evident that this epenthesis must have been a late phenomenon, since a short vowel preceding a guttural is preserved even though it becomes in an open syllable, see Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref><ref group="nb">This is less common when the consonant following the guttural is a begadkefat letter, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('you take in pledge'). This suggests that begadkefat spirantization was no longer automatic by the time that this epenthesis occurred, see Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
The following chart summarizes the most regular reflexes of the Proto-Semitic vowels in the various stages of Hebrew:
| Hebrew vowel reflexes | Hebrew language stage | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secunda | Jewish | [[Samaritan vocalization|SamaritanTemplate:Superscript]] | |||||
| Palestinian | Babylonian | Tiberian | |||||
| Proto-Hebrew vowel | Template:IPA | usualTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPATemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | ||
| lengthenedTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
| reducedTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
| Template:IPA | usualTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPATemplate:SuperscriptTemplate:IPATemplate:Superscript | Template:IPATemplate:SuperscriptTemplate:IPATemplate:Superscript | Template:IPATemplate:Superscript | ||
| lengthenedTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
| reducedTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPATemplate:Superscript | |||
| Template:IPA | usualTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPATemplate:Superscript | Template:IPATemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | ||
| lengthenedTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | |||||
| reducedTemplate:Superscript | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
| Template:IPA→Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
| Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPATemplate:Superscript | ||||
| Template:IPA→Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
| Template:IPA→Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | Template:IPA | ||||
All Proto-Hebrew short vowels were deleted word-finally.
Notes:
- Samaritan Hebrew vowels may be lengthened in the presence of etymological guttural consonants. Template:IPA results from both Template:IPA and Template:IPA in closed post-tonic syllables.
- with the law of attenuation.
- with Philippi's law.
- Samaritan Template:IPA are nearly in complementary distribution (Template:IPA in open syllables, Template:IPA in closed syllables). /o/ contrasts only stressed final syllables.
- lengthening occurs in some open one syllable away from the stress and some stressed syllables; exact conditions depend on the vowel and reading tradition
- reduction occurs in the open syllables two syllables away from the stress and sometimes also in pretonic and stressed open syllables; exact conditions depend on the vowel and reading tradition.
- mainly in most closed syllables.
- more common before long consonants.
Stress
Proto-Hebrew generally had penultimate stress.<ref name="j52">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">For the purposes of vowel quality shifts, words in the construct state are treated as if the stress fell immediately on the first syllable following the word. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The ultimate stress of later traditions of Hebrew usually resulted from the loss of final vowels in many words, preserving the location of proto-Semitic stress.<ref group="nb">Additionally, short stressed vowels in open syllables were reduced and lost stress, leading to ultimate stress in forms like Template:Lang < Template:IPA. In Tiberian Hebrew some words have penultimate stress in pause (before a break in reading), but ultimate stress in context, such as Template:Lang and Template:Lang ('she watched'), because the penultimate vowel in the original form Template:IPA lengthened in pause, while in context it was not lengthened, and then lost the stress and was reduced due to this sound shift. See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Tiberian Hebrew has phonemic stress, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('they built') vs. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('in us'); stress is most commonly ultimate, less commonly penultimate, and antipenultimate stress exists marginally, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('into the tent').<ref name="b143-144">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">It is not clear that a reduced vowel should be considered as comprising a whole syllable. Note for example that the rule whereby a word's stress shifts to a preceding open syllable to avoid being adjacent to another stressed syllable skips over ultrashort vowels, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('with those who go down into the pit') Template:Lang Template:IPA ('pierced with a sword'). See Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> There does not seem to be evidence for stress in the Secunda varying from that of the Tiberian tradition.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Despite sharing the loss of final vowels with Tiberian Hebrew, Samaritan Hebrew has generally not preserved Proto-Semitic stress, and has predominantly penultimate stress, with occasional ultimate stress.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> There is evidence that Qumran Hebrew had a similar stress pattern to Samaritan Hebrew.<ref name="s160">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Grammar
Medieval grammarians of Arabic and Hebrew classified words as belonging to three parts of speech: Arabic ism ('noun'), fiʻl ('verb'), and ḥarf ('particle'); other grammarians have included more categories.<ref name="pos">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In particular, adjectives and nouns show more affinity to each other than in most European languages.<ref name="pos" /> Biblical Hebrew has a typical Semitic morphology, characterized by the use of roots. Most words in Biblical Hebrew are formed from a root, a sequence of consonants with a general associated meaning.<ref name="sroot">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Roots are usually triconsonantal, with biconsonantal roots less common (depending on how some words are analyzed) and rare cases of quadri- and quinquiconsonantal roots.<ref name="sroot" /> Roots are modified by affixation to form words.<ref name="sroot" /> Verbal patterns are more productive and consistent, while noun patterns are less predictable.<ref name="sroot2">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Nouns and adjectives
The most common nominal prefix used is Template:IPA, used for substantives of location (Template:Lang 'assembly'), instruments (Template:Lang 'key'), and abstractions (Template:Lang 'judgement').<ref name="prefs">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The vowel after Template:IPA is normally Template:IPA, but appears sometimes as Template:IPA, or in the case of Template:Lang as Template:IPA (contracted from Template:IPA).<ref name="prefs" /> The prefix Template:IPA is used to denote the action of the verb; it is derived from more common for initial-Template:IPA verbs, e.g. Template:Lang ('thanksgiving'; < ydy).<ref name="prefs" /> Prefixed Template:IPA is used in adjectives, e.g. Template:Lang ('deceptive'), and also occurs in nouns with initial sibilants, e.g. Template:Lang ('finger').<ref name="prefs" /> In the latter case this prefix was added for phonetic reasons, and the Template:Lang prefix is called either "prothetic" or "prosthetic".<ref name="prefs" /> Prefixed Template:Lang often occurs in quadriliteral animal names, perhaps as a prefix, e.g. Template:Lang ('bat'), Template:Lang ('mouse'), Template:Lang ('scorpion').<ref name="prefs" />
In proto-Semitic nouns were marked for case: in the singular the markers were Template:IPA in the nominative, Template:IPA in the accusative (used also for adverbials), and Template:IPA in the genitive, as evidenced in Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Arabic.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Amarna letters show that this was probably still present in Hebrew Template:Circa<ref name="scase">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In the development of Hebrew, final Template:IPA were dropped first, and later Template:IPA was elided as well.<ref name="b267-8">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Mimation, a nominal suffix Template:IPA of unclear meaning, was found in early Canaanite, as shown by early Egyptian transcriptions (Template:Circa) of Jerusalem as Urušalimim, but there is no indication of its presence after 1800 BCE.<ref name="b267-8" /><ref group="nb">It has been suggested that the construct forms Template:Lang, Template:Lang have long Template:IPA lacking in the absolute Template:Lang because the later stem from forms like Template:IPA > Template:IPA (because Proto-Semitic did not allow long vowels in closed syllables) > Template:IPA (loss of mimation and final short vowel), see Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Final Template:IPA is preserved in Template:Lang Template:IPA, originally meaning 'at night' but in prose replacing Template:Lang Template:IPA ('night'), and in the "connective vowels" of some prepositions (originally adverbials), e.g. Template:Lang ('with us'); nouns preserve Template:IPA in forms like Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">The unstressed suffix -ה in words like Template:Lang ('to the earth'), occurring also in exclamations like Template:Lang and used ornamentally in poetry, e.g. Template:Lang, may have originally terminated in consonantal Template:IPA which was later elided, following the suffix Template:IPA. This is evidenced by Ugaritic orthography, almost purely consonantal, where Template:Lang appears with Template:IPA, see Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Construct state nouns lost case vowels at an early period (similar to Akkadian), as shown by the reflexes of Template:IPA (Template:Lang in absolute but Template:Lang in construct) and the reflexes of Template:IPA (Template:Lang and Template:Lang)<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> However forms like Template:Lang show that this was not yet a feature of Proto-Hebrew.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Biblical Hebrew has two genders, masculine and feminine, which are reflected in nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Hebrew distinguishes between singular and plural numbers, and plural forms may also be used for collectives and honorifics.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Hebrew has a morphological dual form for nouns that naturally occur in pairs and for units of measurement and time which contrasts with the plural (Template:Lang 'day' Template:Lang 'two days' Template:Lang 'days').<ref name="wdual">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> A widespread misconception is that the Hebrew plural denotes three or more objects. In truth, it denotes two or more objects.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However adjectives, pronouns, and verbs do not have dual forms, and most nominal dual forms can function as plurals (Template:Lang 'six wings' from Isaiah 6:2).<ref name="wdual" /><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Finite verbs are marked for subject person, number, and gender.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Nouns also have a construct form which is used in genitive constructions.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Common nouns may be marked as definite with the prefix Template:IPA followed by gemination of the initial consonant of the noun.<ref name="def">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In Tiberian Hebrew the vowel of the article may become Template:IPA or Template:IPA in certain phonetic environments, for example Template:Lang Template:IPA ('the wise man'), Template:Lang Template:IPA ('the man').<ref name="def2">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> However, according early Hebrew grammarians like Abraham Ibn Ezra and David Kimhi have already noted that in Biblical Hebrew, the definite article may not be attached to proper nouns. Nevertheless, Reuven Chaim Klein cites philologists who point out that rabbinic sources like the Talmud seem to understand that a definite article can be applied even to a proper name.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The traditions differ on the form of segolate nouns, nouns stemming from roots with two final consonants. The anaptyctic Template:IPA of the Tiberian tradition in segolates appears in the Septuagint (3rd century BCE) but not the Hexapla (2nd century CE), e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA = Γαθερ versus Template:Lang Template:IPA = Χεσλ (Psalms 49:14).<ref name="bseg">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This may reflect dialectal variation or phonetic versus phonemic transcriptions.<ref name="bseg" /> Both the Palestinian and Babylonian traditions have an anaptyctic vowel in segolates, Template:IPA in the Palestinian tradition (e.g. Template:IPA 'land' = Tiberian Template:Lang Deuteronomy 26:15) and Template:IPA in Babylonian (e.g. Template:IPA 'item' = Tiberian Template:Lang Jeremiah 22:28).<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> The Qumran tradition sometimes shows some type of back epenthetic vowel when the first vowel is back, e.g. Template:Angle bracket for Tiberian Template:Angle bracket Template:IPA ('tent').
Biblical Hebrew has two sets of personal pronouns: the free-standing independent pronouns have a nominative function, while the pronominal suffixes are genitive or accusative.<ref name="wp">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Only the first person suffix has different possessive and objective forms (Template:Lang and Template:Lang).<ref name="sb"/>
Verbs
Verbal consonantal roots are placed into derived verbal stems, known as Template:Lang binyanim in Hebrew; the binyanim mainly serve to indicate grammatical voice.<ref name="sb">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> This includes various distinctions of reflexivity, passivity, and causativity.<ref name="sb" /> Verbs of all binyanim have three non-finite forms (one participle, two infinitives), three modal forms (cohortative, imperative, jussive), and two major conjugations (prefixing, suffixing).<ref name="sconj">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref group="nb">The modal forms may be taken to form a single volitional class, as cohortative is used in first person, imperative (or prefixing) in second person positive, jussive (or prefixing) in second person negative, and jussive in third person. They also overlap semantically, for example a jussive form like 'May my soul ...' is semantically equivalent to a cohortative like 'May I ...'. However, the three moods stem from different classes in proto-West-Semitic. As preserved in Classical Arabic, there were originally three prefix tenses, indicative yaqtulu, jussive yaqtul, and subjunctive yaqtula, which existed for every person. In Biblical Hebrew, yaqtulu developed into the prefixing class, while yaqtul remained the jussive and yaqtula the cohortative. For most roots in Biblical Hebrew, the jussive form is identical to the indicative form. (Differentiation is typical of forms with "long" and "short" forms, e.g. indicative Template:Lang, jussive Template:Lang; indicative Template:Lang, jussive Template:Lang) See Template:Harvcoltxt and Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref> The meaning of the prefixing and suffixing conjugations are also affected by the conjugation Template:Lang, and their meaning with respect to tense and aspect is a matter of debate.<ref name="sconj" />
Word order
The default word order in Biblical Hebrew is commonly thought to be VSO,<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> though one scholar has argued that this is due to the prevalence of clauses with a wayyiqtol verb form compared to other less marked forms that use SVO either more often or at least to a comparable degree.<ref>Robert Holmstedt. Basic Word Order in the Biblical Hebrew Verbal Clause, Part 3. 2011-05-16. Accessed 2012-06-16.</ref> Attributive adjectives normally follow the noun they modify.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In Biblical Hebrew, possession is normally expressed with status constructus, a construction in which the possessed noun occurs in a phonologically reduced, "construct" form and is followed by the possessor noun in its normal, "absolute" form.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Pronominal direct objects are either suffixed to the verb or alternatively expressed on the object-marking pronoun Template:Lang.<ref name="glinert">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Tense and aspect
Biblical Hebrew has two main conjugation types, the suffix conjugation, also called the Perfect, and the prefix conjugation, also called Imperfect. The Perfect verb form expressed the idea of the verb as a completed action, viewing it from start to finish as a whole, and not focusing on the process by which the verb came to be completed, stating it as a simple fact. This is often used in the past tense; however, there are some contexts in which a Perfect verb translates into the present and future tenses.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Imperfect portrays the verb as an incomplete action along with the process by which it came about, either as an event that has not begun, an event that has begun but is still in the process, or a habitual or cyclic action that is on an ongoing repetition. The Imperfect can also express modal or conditional verbs, as well as commands in the Jussive and Cohortative moods. It is conjectured that the imperfect can express modal quality through the paragogic nun added to certain imperfect forms.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> While often future tense, it also has uses in the past and present under certain contexts. Biblical Hebrew tense is not necessarily reflected in the verb forms per se, but rather is determined primarily by context. The Participles also reflect ongoing or continuous actions, but are also subject to the context determining their tense.
The verbal forms can be Past Tense in these circumstances:<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Perfect, Simple Past: in narrative, reflects a simple completed action, perception, emotion or mental process, and can also be past tense from the perspective of a prior verb which is used in future tense
- Imperfect, Waw Consecutive Preterite: simple past tense which takes the וַ prefix as a conjunction, appears at the beginning of a clause when it is connected in a narrative sequence with previous clauses, where the conjunction can be translated as 'and then', 'then', 'but', 'however', sometimes is not translated at all, and can even have a parenthetical function as if suggesting the clause is like a side note to the main focus of the narrative
- Imperfect, Past: reflecting not just a past action but also suggesting the process with which it was being done, e.g.: "I brought the horse to a halt", "I began to hear"
- Imperfect, Cyclic Past: reflecting a habitual or cyclic action over time, e.g. "this is what Job would always do"
- Participle in Past Tense: an active or passive Participle being used in its imperfect verbal sense in the past, e.g. "and the Spirit of God was hovering"
The verbal forms can be Present Tense in these circumstances:<ref name=":0" />
- Perfect, Proverbial/General Present: a general truth in the present tense which is not referring to a specific event, e.g. "the sun sets in the west"
- Perfect, Stative Present: present tense with verbs that depict a state of being rather than an action, including verbs of perception, emotion or mental process, e.g. "I love", "I hate", "I understand", "I know"
- Perfect, Present Perfect: a Present Perfect verb, e.g. "I have walked"
- Imperfect, Present Condition: an Imperfect verb in the present, one which implies that an action has been going on for some time and is still ongoing in the present, especially used of questions in the present, e.g. "what are you seeking?"
- Imperfect, Cyclic Present: an Imperfect verb in the present, reflecting a cyclic action in the present, e.g. "it is being said in the city", "a son makes his father glad"
- Participle in Present Tense: an active or passive Participle being used in its imperfect verbal sense in the present, e.g. "I am going"
The verbal forms can be Future Tense in these circumstances:<ref name=":0" />
- Perfect, Waw Consecutive Future: by analogy to the Preterite, a simple future tense verb which takes the וְ prefix as a conjunction, appears at the beginning of a clause when it is connected in a narrative sequence with previous clauses, where the conjunction can be translated as 'and then', 'then', 'but', 'however', sometimes is not translated at all, and can even have a parenthetical function as if suggesting the clause is like a side note to the main focus of the narrative
- Perfect, Waw Consecutive Subjunctive: takes the וְ prefix as a conjunction to continue the Subjunctive Mood in a narrative sequence
- Perfect, Waw Consecutive Jussive/Cohortative: takes the וְ prefix as a conjunction to continue the Jussive and Cohortative Moods in a narrative sequence
- Perfect, Promise Future: the completeness of the verb form here expresses an imminent action in the context of promises, threats and the language of contracts and covenants in general, e.g. "I will give you this land", "will I have this pleasure?"
- Perfect, Prophetic Future: the completeness of the verb form here expresses an imminent action in the context of prophecy, e.g. "you will go into exile"
- Imperfect, Future: reflects a future event which has not yet come into completion, or one that has not yet begun, or future tense from the perspective of a prior verb which is used in past tense
- Imperfect, Subjunctive: reflects a potential, theoretical or modal verb, such as in conditional clauses, e.g. "If you go...", "she should stay"
- Imperfect, Jussive/Cohortative: reflects a non-immediate command, invitation, permission or wishful request, e.g. "let there be light", "you may eat from the tree", "let's go", "O that someone would get me a drink"
Sample text
The following is a sample from Psalm 18 as appears in the Masoretic text with medieval Tiberian niqqud and cantillation and the Greek transcription of the Secunda of the Hexapla along with its reconstructed pronunciation.
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Notes
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References
Bibliography
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External links
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- Biblical Hebrew Resources
- Resources for the Study of Biblical Hebrew, Prof. E. Ben Zvi, University of Alberta
- Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew Lexicon – with an appendix containing Biblical Aramaic (Wikisource)
- Free resources to study Biblical Hebrew online, eHebrew.net
- Grammar, vocabulary and writing
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