View source for Mishnaic Hebrew

{{Short description|Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Mishnaic Hebrew
| nativename       = {{langx|he|לשון חז"ל|translit=Ləšon Ḥazal}}
| region           = [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]], [[Syria Palaestina]]
| era              = Developed from [[Biblical Hebrew]] in the 1st century CE; continued as [[Medieval Hebrew]] as an academic language after dying out as a spoken native language in the 4th century
| image            = KaufmannManuscript.jpg
| imagescale       = 1.45
| imagecaption     = A section of the Mishnah
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
| fam3             = [[West Semitic languages|West]]
| fam4             = [[Central Semitic languages|Central]]
| fam5             = [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest]]
| fam6             = [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]]
| fam7             = [[Canaanite languages#South Canaan|South]]
| fam8             = [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]
| ancestor         = [[Biblical Hebrew]]
| script           = [[Hebrew alphabet]]
| isoexception     = historical
| glotto           = none
}}

'''Mishnaic Hebrew''' ({{langx|he|לשון חז״ל|Ləšon Ḥazal|Language of the [[Chazal|Sages]]}}) is the [[Hebrew language]] used in [[Talmud]]ic texts. Mishnaic Hebrew can be sub-divided into Mishnaic Hebrew proper (c. 1–200 CE, also called [[Tannaim|Tannaitic]] Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or [[Mishnah|Mishnaic]] Hebrew I), which was a [[spoken language]], and [[Amoraim|Amoraic]] Hebrew (c. 200 to 500 CE, also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a [[literary language]] only.

The Mishnaic Hebrew language, or Early Rabbinic Hebrew language, is one of the direct ancient descendants of [[Biblical Hebrew]] as preserved after the [[Babylonian captivity]], and definitively recorded by Jewish sages in writing the [[Mishnah]] and other contemporary documents.

A transitional form of the language occurs in the other works of Tannaitic literature dating from the century beginning with the completion of the Mishnah. These include the [[midrash halakha|halakhic midrashim]] (''[[Sifra]]'', ''[[Sifre]]'', ''[[Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael]]'', etc.) and the expanded collection of Mishnah-related material known as the [[Tosefta]]. The Talmud contains excerpts from these works and further Tannaitic material not attested elsewhere; the generic term for these passages is [[Baraita|baraitot]]. The language of all these works is very similar to Mishnaic Hebrew.

==Historical occurrence==
Mishnaic Hebrew is found primarily from the first to the fourth centuries, corresponding to the [[Roman Empire|Roman period]] after the destruction of the [[Second Temple]] in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)]]. It developed under the profound influence of [[Middle Aramaic]].<ref name=renamed_from_3_on_20110328184818>David Steinberg, [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew.htm#mishheb ''History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language'']</ref> Also called Tannaitic Hebrew or Early Rabbinic Hebrew, it is represented by the bulk of the [[Mishnah]] ({{lang|he|משנה}}, published around 200) and the [[Tosefta]] within the [[Talmud]], and by some of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], notably the [[Copper Scroll]] and the [[Cave of Letters|Bar Kokhba Letters]].

Archaeologist [[Yigael Yadin]] mentions that three [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] documents he and his team found in the [[Cave of Letters]] are written in Mishnaic Hebrew<ref>''The Biblical Archaeologist'', Vol. 24, No. 3 (Sep., 1961), p. 93</ref> and that it was [[Simon bar Kokhba]] who revived Hebrew and made it the official language of the state during the revolt (132–135). Yadin also notes a shift from Aramaic to Hebrew in [[Judea]] during the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt:
{{blockquote|It is interesting that the earlier documents are written in Aramaic while the later ones are in Hebrew. Possibly the change was made by a special decree of Bar-Kokhba who wanted to restore Hebrew as the official language of the state.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yadin |first1=Yigael |title=Bar-Kokhba: The Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Second Jewish Revolt Against Rome |date=1971 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-394-47184-6 |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRNDuLmH_k4C}}</ref>}} [[Sigalit Ben-Zion]] remarks, "[I]t seems that this change came as a result of the order that was given by Bar Kokhba, who wanted to revive the Hebrew language and make it the official language of the state."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ben-Zion |first1=Sigalit |title=A Roadmap to the Heavens: An Anthropological Study of Hegemony Among Priests, Sages, and Laymen |date=2009 |publisher=Academic Studies Press |isbn=978-1-934843-14-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gL_XAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

However, less than a century after the publication of the Mishnah, Hebrew began to fall into disuse as a spoken language. The [[Gemara]] ({{lang|he|גמרא}}, circa 500 in [[Lower Mesopotamia]]), as well as the earlier [[Jerusalem Talmud]] published between 350 and 400, generally comment on the Mishnah and [[Baraitot]] in Middle Aramaic. Nevertheless, Hebrew survived as a liturgical and literary language in the form of later [[Amoraic Hebrew]], which sometimes occurs in the Gemara text. 
{{blockquote|There is general agreement that two main periods of Rabbinical Hebrew (RH) can be distinguished. The first, which lasted until the close of the Tannaitic era (around the year 200), is characterized by RH as a spoken language gradually developing into a literary medium, in which the Mishnah, Tosefta, ''baraitot'' and Tannaitic ''midrashim'' would be composed. The second stage begins with the ''Amoraim'', and sees RH being replaced by Aramaic as the spoken vernacular, surviving only as a literary language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sáenz-Badillos |first1=Angel |title=A History of the Hebrew Language |date=25 January 1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-55634-7 |pages=170–1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZCgpaTgLm0C |language=en}}</ref>}}

==Phonology==
Many of the characteristic features of Mishnaic Hebrew pronunciation may have already been found in the Late Biblical Hebrew period. A notable characteristic distinguishing it from Biblical Hebrew of the classical period is [[begadkefat]], the spirantization of the post-vocalic stops b, g, d, p, t, and k, which it has in common with Aramaic.<ref name="renamed_from_2_on_20110328184818">{{cite web |url=http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew.htm#mishheb |title=History of the Hebrew Language by David Steinberg }}</ref>

While this process began in Aramaic as early as the 7th century BCE, spirantisation in Hebrew was a much later process. The spirantisation of p and b happened early in the Second Temple period, followed by t and d at some later point. The appearance of fricativised k and g only happened in Amoraic Hebrew. It did not appear before the merger of the consonants [ḫ] with [ḥ] and [ġ] with [ʿ] by the [[1st century]]. [[Samaritan Hebrew]], which split off from Judean and Galilean varieties in the Roman period, did not undergo fricativisation of k and g at all.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kantor |first1=Benjamin Paul |title=The Linguistic Classification of the Reading Traditions of Biblical Hebrew: A Phyla-and-Waves Model |date=2023 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1-78374-953-9 |page=70 |url=https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0210 |language=English}}</ref>

A new characteristic is that final /m/ is often replaced with final /n/ in the Mishna (see [[Bava Kamma]] 1:4, "{{lang|he|מועדין}}"), but only in agreement morphemes. Perhaps the final nasal consonant in the morphemes was not pronounced, and the vowel previous to it was nasalized. Alternatively, the agreement morphemes may have changed under the influence of Aramaic.

Some surviving manuscripts of the ''Mishna'' confuse guttural consonants, especially [[aleph]] ({{Script/Hebrew|א}}) (a [[glottal stop]]) and ʿayin ({{Script/Hebrew|ע}}) (a [[voiced pharyngeal fricative]]). That could signify that they were pronounced the same way in Amoraic Hebrew. Loss of a distinction in these two letters as well as between [[heth]] and [[he (letter)|he]] are also associated with Galilean Hebrew speakers in the Tannaitic period, a source of frequent criticism by Judean writers.

===Reconstructed Mishnaic Hebrew pronunciation===
'''Consonants'''
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable"
|Name
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Aleph (letter)#Hebrew|Alef]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Beth (letter)#Hebrew Bet / Vet|Bet]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Gimel (letter)#Hebrew gimel|Gimel]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Daleth#Hebrew dalet|Dalet]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[He (letter)#Hebrew He|He]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Waw (letter)#Hebrew Waw|Vav]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Zayin#Hebrew zayin|Zayin]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Heth (letter)#Hebrew Ḥet|Chet]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Teth#Hebrew Tet|Tet]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Yodh#Hebrew yod|Yod]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Kaph#Hebrew kaf|Kaf]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Lamedh#Hebrew Lamed|Lamed]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Mem#Hebrew mem|Mem]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Nun (letter)#Hebrew nun|Nun]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Samekh#Hebrew samekh|Samech]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Ayin#Hebrew ayin|Ayin]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Pe (Semitic letter)#Hebrew pe|Pe]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Tsade#Hebrew Tsadi|Tzadi]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Qoph#Hebrew Qof|Kof]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Resh#In Hebrew|Resh]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Shin (letter)#Hebrew shin/sin|Shin]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Taw (letter)#Hebrew tav|Tav]]}} 
|-
|Letter
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|א}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ב}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ג}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ד}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ה}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ו}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ז}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ח}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ט}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|י}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|כ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ל}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|מ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|נ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ס}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ע}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|פ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|צ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ק}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ר}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ש}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|ת}}
|-
|Pronunciation
|[{{IPA link|ʔ}}], ∅
|[{{IPA link|b}}], [{{IPA link|β}}]
|[{{IPA link|g}}], [{{IPA link|ɣ}}]
|[{{IPA link|d̪}}], [{{IPA link|ð}}]
|[{{IPA link|h}}], ∅
|[{{IPA link|w}}]
|[{{IPA link|z}}]
|[{{IPA link|ħ}}]
|{{IPAblink|t̪|t̪ʼ}}
|[{{IPA link|j}}]
|[{{IPA link|k}}], [{{IPA link|x}}]
|[{{IPA link|l}}]
|[{{IPA link|m}}]
|[{{IPA link|n̪}}]
|[{{IPA link|s}}]
|[{{IPA link|ʕ}}], ∅
|[{{IPA link|p}}], [{{IPA link|ɸ}}]
|[{{IPA link|tsʼ}}]
|[{{IPA link|kʼ}}]
|[{{IPA link|ɾ}}]
|[{{IPA link|ʃ}}], [{{IPA link|s}}]
|[{{IPA link|t̪}}], [{{IPA link|θ}}]
|}
'''Vowels'''
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable"
|Name
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Shva|Shva Nach]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Shva|Shva Na]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Patach]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Hataf Patach]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Kamatz|Kamatz Gadol]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Kamatz|Kamatz Katan]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Hataf Kamatz]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Tzere|Tzere, Tzere Male]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Segol]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Hataf Segol]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Hirik]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Hirik|Hirik Male]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Holam|Holam, Holam Male]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Kubutz]]}} 
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Shuruk]]}} 
|-
|Letter
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ְ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ְ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ַ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ֲ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ָ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ָ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ֳ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ֵ , ֵי
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ֶ	
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ֱ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ִ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"|  ִי
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ׂ, וֹ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| ֻ
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Hebr|וּ}}
|-
|Pronunciation
|∅
|?
|colspan="2"|[{{IPA link|æ}}]
|[{{IPA link|ʌ}}ː ~ {{IPA link|ɑ}}ː]
|colspan="2"|[{{IPA link|ɔ}}]
|[{{IPA link|e}}ː]
|colspan="2"|[{{IPA link|ɛ}}]
|[{{IPA link|ɪ}} ~ {{IPA link|i}}]
|[{{IPA link|i}}ː]
|[{{IPA link|o}}ː]
|[{{IPA link|ʊ}} ~ {{IPA link|u}}]
|[{{IPA link|u}}ː]
|}

==Morphology==
Mishnaic Hebrew displays various changes from Biblical Hebrew, some appearing already in the Hebrew of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]]. Some, but not all, are retained in [[Modern Hebrew]].

For the expression of possession, Mishnaic Hebrew mostly replaces the [[construct state]] with analytic constructions involving {{lang|he|של}} 'of'.<ref name="renamed_from_2_on_20110328184818"/>

Mishnaic Hebrew lacks the [[waw-consecutive]].

The past is expressed by using the same form as in Modern Hebrew. For example, ''[[Pirkei Avot|Pirqe Avoth]]'' 1:1: {{lang|he|משה קיבל תורה מסיני}} "Moses received the Torah from Sinai".

Continuous past is expressed using the past tense of "to be" + participle, unlike Biblical Hebrew. For example, ''Pirqe Avoth'' 1:2: {{lang|he|הוא היה אומר}} "He often said".

Present is expressed using the same form as in Modern Hebrew, by using the participle ({{lang|he|בינוני}}). For example, ''Pirqe Avoth'' 1:2 {{lang|he|על שלושה דברים העולם עומד}} "The world is sustained by three things", lit. "On three things the world stands".

Future can be expressed using {{lang|he|עתיד}} + infinitive. For example, ''Pirqe Avoth'' 3:1: {{lang|he|ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון}}. However, unlike Modern Hebrew but like contemporary Aramaic, the present active participle can also express the future.<ref name="renamed_from_2_on_20110328184818"/> It mostly replaces the imperfect (prefixed) form in that function.

The imperfect (prefixed) form, which is used for the future in modern Hebrew, expresses an imperative (order), volition or similar meanings in Mishnaic Hebrew (the prefixed form is also used to express an imperative in Modern Hebrew). For example, ''Pirqe Avot'' 1:3: {{lang|he|הוא היה אומר, אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשין את הרב}} "He would say, don't be like slaves serving the master...", lit. "...you will not be...". In a sense, one could say that the form pertains to the future in Mishnaic Hebrew as well, but it invariably has a modal (imperative, volitional, etc.) aspect in the main clause.

==See also==
*[[Tiberian Hebrew]] ''(liturgical)''
*[[Yemenite Hebrew]] ''(liturgical)''
**[[Yemenite Hebrew|Sanaani Hebrew]] ''(liturgical)''
*[[Sephardi Hebrew]] ''(liturgical)''
*[[Ashkenazi Hebrew]] ''(liturgical)''
*[[Mizrahi Hebrew]] ''(liturgical)''
*[[Modern Hebrew]] ([[State of Israel]])

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Bar-Asher, Moshe, ''Mishnaic Hebrew: An Introductory Survey'', Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 115–151.
* Kutscher, E.Y. ''A Short History of the Hebrew Language'', Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Leiden: E.J.Brill, 1982 pp.&nbsp;115–146.
* Pérez Fernández, Miguel, ''An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew'' (trans. John Elwolde), Leiden: E.J. Brill 1997.
* Sáenz-Badillos, Angel,  ''A History of the Hebrew Language'' ({{ISBN|0-521-55634-1}})  (trans. John Elwolde),  Cambridge, England:  Cambridge University Press, 1993.
* M. H. Segal, ''[https://archive.org/details/jstor-1450862 Mishnaic Hebrew and its Relation to Biblical Hebrew and to Aramaic],'' JQR 20 (1908): 647–73

==External links==
*[http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrewtoc.htm History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language], David Steinberg
*[http://www.adath-shalom.ca/rabin_he.htm Short History of the Hebrew Language], [[Chaim Menachem Rabin|Chaim Rabin]]

{{Hebrew language}}
{{Jewish languages}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hebrew language|Hebrew]]
[[Category:Mishnah]]
[[Category:Chazal]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 1st century]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 4th century]]