A History of the Hebrew Language [Paperback]

This book is a comprehensive description of Hebrew from its Semitic origins and the earliest settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan to the present day.Setting Hebrew in its context, this comprehensive description ranges from its biblical origins and the earliest settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan to the present day. After considering Rabbinic and medieval Hebrew, the survey concludes with its revival in the form of Israeli Hebrew.Setting Hebrew in its context, this comprehensive description ranges from its biblical origins and the earliest settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan to the present day. After considering Rabbinic and medieval Hebrew, the survey concludes with its revival in the form of Israeli Hebrew.A History of the Hebrew Language is a comprehensive description of Hebrew from its Semitic origins and the earliest settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan to the present day. Professor Sáenz-Badillos sets Hebrew in the context of the Northwest Semitic languages and examines the origins of Hebrew and its earliest manifestations in ancient Biblical poetry, inscriptions, and prose written before the Babylonian exile. He looks at the different medieval traditions of pointing classical Biblical Hebrew texts and the characteristic features of the post-exilic language, including the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He gives particular attention to Rabbinic and medieval Hebrew, especially as evidenced in writings from Spain. His survey concludes with the revival of the language in this century in the form of Israeli Hebrew.Foreword Shelomo Morag; Acknowledgements; Part I. Hebrew in the Context of the Semitic Languages: 1. Hebrew, a Semitic language; 2. The Semitic languages; 3. Common or Proto-Semitic; 4. The Hamito-Semitic or Afro-Asiatic group; 5. Hamito-Semitic and Indo-European; Part II. Hebrew, a Northwest Semitic Language: 6. The northwest Semitic languages; 7. Dialect development and its consequences; Part III. Pre-exilil³'