Hebrew Language

HEBREW LANGUAGE

Language: Hebrew Date of Usage: 1200 BC-586 AD Revived 1881 AD - Present Location: Ancient Judea, along the Middle-Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Replaced By: Aramaic and Greek Style: Alphabet

Who were they? The Hebrews were also referred to as Israelites and later as Jews. They lived in the Middle-East near the coast of the Mediterranean. They ruled two countries, Israel to the north, and Judah to the south. The culture was nearly wiped out by the Assyrians when they destroyed the kingdom of Israel and incorporated Judah into their empire, but the survivors of Judah managed to preserve their culture which continues to survive in modern-day times.

Notable Characteristics: 1. The old language died out, but was revived by a Russian Jew, Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman, who was trying to re-unite the Jewish culture. Today it is spoken by 9 million people. 2. As a result of the above, it is the first dead language to be revived to common usage (although some other dead languages such as Latin survive in uncommon usage). 3. The language initially died out partly as a result of an unsuccessful revolt against Roman rule. The language, along with other elements of Jewish culture were heavily suppressed by the Romans, causing the language to be replaced by Aramaic and Greek, which were both lingua francas in the area. 4. The Hebrew language was preceded by another Semitic language called Canaanite. 5. Hebrew is an acrophonic language, which means that the letters’ names begin with their sound, such as A – Alef, B - Bet, G - Gimel, D - Dalet, etc. 6. Similar to the Egyptian language, initially Hebrew only had 3 vowels, A, I, and U, but eventually added O. 7. Hebrew has a very permissive sentence structure with regards to subjects/verbs/objects. For example, one could correctly say any of the following things.: - I am going to the store. - To the store I am going. - Going to the store I am. 8. When written, Hebrew goes in order from right to left.

Notable Writings: 1. The Hebrew Bible, which contains their early religious writings which later became the basis for the Christian Old Testament. (However, some of the earlier books were actually written in Aramaic.) 2. The Talmud, a series of writings by rabbis (religious teachers). 3. The Dead Sea Scrolls a series of scrolls discovered in the middle east containing ancient religious works (some are copies of biblical books, but others are independent). 4. The Gezer calendar. This is a tablet of the months of the year, which might be one of the first usages of the Hebrew language.

Reason for disappearance: The occupation by the Romans was very unpopular, and the Hebrews revolted many times. With the Bar-Kokhba revolt, the Romans had grown tired of rebellions and brutally crushed the Jews. The survivors found their culture heavily suppressed, and most people eventually turned to other languages that were more useful for trade and less dangerous to be spoken in front of Roman soldiers.