Biblical or Classical Hebrew is the ancient form of the Hebrew language, in which the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) was written, and which the ancient Israelites spoke.It is not spoken in its pure form today, although it is studied by religious Jews (and also by Christian theologians and academics) for practical application and deeper understanding in their studies of the Torah and its commentaries. Jews usually learn it when studying ancient scriptures. It is also studied by linguistic scholars and historians.

Modern evolutions, or adaptions, of Classical Hebrew are in active use today, mostly in the form of various modern Jewish dialects of Hebrew, as well as Samaritan Hebrew language, which is used primarily by the Samaritans.

From a linguistic point of view, the Classical Hebrew language is usually divided into two periods: Biblical Hebrew, and Roman Era Hebrew, having very distinct grammatical patterns.

Biblical Hebrew is further divided into the so called 'Golden Age' Hebrew (1200 BCE to 500 BCE) and 'Silver Age' Hebrew (500 BCE to 60 BCE). Silver Age Hebrew has many borrowings from Aramaic, for example the use of the conditional particle illu (אִלוּ) replacing lū (לוּ). Another shibboleth between the two, is the use of the relative pronoun ʾšr (אשר) (introducing a Restrictive clause, 'that') in the earlier period, being replaced with the prefix š- (-ש) in the later, both being used in Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew.

Roman Era Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew, has further grammatical influences from Greek and Parsi, mainly through the dialect of Aramaic which was the Lingua franca of the area at the time.

Descendant languages

• Samaritan Hebrew language (liturgical)
• Mishnaic Hebrew language (Jews)
  • Tiberian Hebrew language (liturgical)
  • Yemenite Hebrew language (liturgical)
  • Sephardi Hebrew language (liturgical)
  • Ashkenazi Hebrew language (liturgical)
  • Modern Hebrew language (State of Israel)

Phonology

The phonology as reconstructed for Biblical Hebrew is

Biblical Hebrew had a vowel system based on the cardinal vowels /i u e o a/, which occurred in short, long, and extra-long forms. I follow Lambdin's use of macrons to mark long vowels and circumflexes to mark extra-long ones. Aside from these vowels, there were also four "reduced" ones, ə, ă, ĕ, and ŏ (all but the schwa, /ə/ seem to have been allophonic).

Historical sound changes

Consonantism

As Biblical Hebrew (BH) evolved from Proto-Semitic (PS) it underwent a number of mergers,:

• PS */ð/ and */z/ merged as BH /z/
• PS */θ/ and */š/ merged as BH /š/
• PS */θ̣/, */ɬ̣/, and */ṣ/ merged as BH /ṣ/
• PS */s/ and */ɬ/ merged as BH /s/ (but were spelled with different letters, samekh and sin respectively)
• PS */ɣ/ and */ʕ/ merged as BH /ʕ/^*)
• PS */x/ and */ḥ/ merged as BH /ḥ/^*)
• PS */w/ and */y/ merged as BH /y/ in word-initial position; > Ø between vowels
• PS */ʕ/ > BH Ø (with compensatory lengthening) in the syllable coda (e.g. PS *raʕs "head" > BH רֹאס /ro:s/.
• PS */-át/ > BH /-á:/ in the ending of the feminine; not in the status constructus).
• PS */h/ > BH Ø between vowels in the pronominal suffix (with contraction, see below).

*) Greek transcriptions provide evidence that Biblical Hebrew maintained the proto-Semitic consonants /ɣ/, /x/ for longer than the writing system might suggest. Thus ʿǍmōrāh (עֲמוֹרָה) is transcribed as Gómorrha (Γόμορρα) in Greek, whereas ʿĒḇer (עֵבֶר) is transcribed as Éber (Ἔβερ) with no intrusive g; since comparative Semitic evidence shows that proto-Semitic */ɣ/ and */ʕ/ both became



`ayin (ע) in later Hebrew, this suggests that the distinction was still maintained in Classical times. Similarly Raḥēl (רָחֵל) is transcribed as Rhakhḗl (Ῥαχήλ), whereas Yiṣḥāq (יִצְחָק) becomes Isaák (Ἰσαάκ).

Vocalism

• PS */á:/ > BH /o:/; in word-final position > /a:/
• PS */a:/ > BH /a:/
• PS */í:/ > BH /i:/ or, before ה ח ע, /i:^a/ (páṯaḥ furtivum);

in word-final position regularly > /ɛ:/

• PS */ú:/ > BH /u:/ or, before ה ח ע, /u:^a/(páṯaḥ furtivum)
• PS */ó:/ > BH /o:/
• PS */o:, u:/ > BH /u:/;

in an open syllable before a following */o:/ > BH /i:/

• PS */a, i, u/ > Ø in word-final position
• PS */a, i, u/ in open unstressed syllables > Ø ("šeəwa mobile") two or more syllables before the stressed syllable;

before or after א ה ח ע > /^a/ ("ḥāṭēp̄ pátaḥ") or, if the adjacent syllable has /^{e, ɛ}/ or /^{o, ɔ}/, /^ɛ/ ("ḥāṭēp̄ s^eḡōl") and / ^ɔ/ ("ḥāṭēp̄ qāmeṣ") respectively;

in verbs also in the second syllable of the word if the following syllable is stressed;

in nouns in the second syllable of status constructus > /^ə/ (the consonant carrying the šeəwa is marked with "dāḡēš dirimens" or the following consonant is fricative, indicating that it was preceded by a vowel).

• PS */á/ > BH /a:/ in open syllables (sometimes /a/, /ɛ/)
• PS */a/ > BH Ø;

immediately before the stress > /a:/ (”qāmeṣ antetonicum”);

in closed syllables > /i/

• PS */í, ú/ > BH /e:, o:/ or, before ה ח ע, /e:^a, o:^a/ ("páṯaḥ furtivum");

in closed syllables in verbal forms > /e, o/ or, before ה ח ע, /a/;

in syllables that were closed already in Proto-Semitic > /a/ ("Philippi’s law")

• PS */i/ > BH /i/ or, before or after ה ח ע, /a/;

immediately before the stress > /e:/ ("ṣērē antetonicum")

• PS */u/ > BH Ø ("š^eəwa mobile") or /^ɔ/ (”ḥāṭēp̄ qāmeṣ”);

in closed syllables > /ɔ/ ("qāmeṣ qāṭān") or, before a geminated consonant, /u/

• PS */áw/ > BH /a:w/
• PS */aw/ > BH /o:/
• PS */áy/ > BH /ay/ or in an open syllable, /e:/ or, in word-final position, /ɛ:/
• PS */ay/ > BH /e:/
• Contractions after loss of PS */h/ in the pronominal suffix:

*/-a-hu:/ > /-o:/

*/-a-ha:/ > /-a:/

*/-a-hɛm/ > /-a:m/

*/-e:-hɛm/ > /-e:m/

*/-i:-hu:/ > /-i:w/

*/-i:-hɛm/ > /-i:m/

*/-u:-hɛm/ > /-u:m/

*/-ay-hu:/ > /-a:w/

Resources

• Hoffman, Joel M. New York: NYU Press. 2004. ISBN 0814736548.
• Kautzsch, E. (ed.) Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. Eng. ed. A. E. Cowley. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
• Lambdin, Thomas O. Introduction to Biblical Hebrew. London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971.
• Würthwain, Ernst. . (trans. Erroll F. Rhodes) Grand Rapids: Wm.B.Eardmans Publishing. 1995. ISBN 0802807887.

Notes

1.  
2.   G. Bergsträsser. (1983). Introduction to the Semitic Languages. Translated by Peter T. Daniels. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns.
3. ISBN 1565632060 Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon by Francis Brown, S. Driver, C. Briggs