Ancient Hebrew

[JSynon]

Greetings,

I am learning Hebrew so I can read the Masoretic Text. However, I am wondering if there are existing texts in Ancient Hebrew (or if the difference between Modern and Ancient Hebrew is of any significance).

 

[RVincent]

I don't know the answer to that, but it sounds interesting.

Modern Hebrew came about during the captivity of Babylon, which means "confusion" (from Bable). A demonstration of the difference between the Paleo and Modern Hebrew will illustrate the confusion...

The Hebrew letter 'Aleph means an ox head. Do you know what it looked like in Paleo Hebrew? An ox head...

The Hebrew letter 'Ayin means "eye". Do you know what it looked like in Paleo Hebrew? An eye...

The Hebrew letter Pe means "mouth". Do you know what it looked like in Paleo Hebrew? A mouth...

Much of this is lost in Babylon Hebrew.

 

[anders]

JSynon, if you by Modern Hebrew mean the language spoken in Israel today, there are important differences to Biblical Hebrew, above all in the verbal system. Probably, a modern man would find it very difficult to understand the OT Hebrew without training.

RVincent, the meaning of Babylon is without doubt 'The gateway of God', bab-ilu in Babylonian. Ilu is of course the same word as in El, Elohim etc. and Allah; bab still means gateway, entrance, door in Arabic.

 

[RVincent]

RVincent, the meaning of Babylon is without doubt 'The gateway of God', bab-ilu in Babylonian. Ilu is of course the same word as in El, Elohim etc. and Allah; bab still means gateway, entrance, door in Arabic.

What is the source of your info?

A definition is provided by a concordance and a verse:

(Gen 11:9) Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
​

Babel: H894. Babel, baw-bel'; from H1101; confusion; Babel (i.e. Babylon), including Babylonia and the Bab. empire:--Babel, Babylon.

 

[anders]

The folk etymologies in the Bible are fanciful and in a few cases where they are correct, it seems to be just by accident. One often quoted example of such an error is Gen 2:23: "she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." (KJV). It is a good pun in Hebrew as well: 'ishshah - 'ish, but if you look up those words in a dictionary (Like Koehler-Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamentis Libros, or Gesenius, Hebräisches u. aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, the two standard dictionaries), you will find 'ishshah under the three consonants '-sh-h and 'ish under '-y-sh, reflecting the true origin of the words.

But I am glad you asked; I found something new: The etymology I gave is the one you will find in all respectable encyclopedias, like The Swedish National Encyclopedia or The Swedish Biblical encyclopedia. But wishing to get more proof, I found that Professors B. Meissner and K. Oberhuber in their book Die Keilschrift (The cuneiform script) regard even the explanation I gave as a folk etymology. They show how it was written, and regard the name as coming from an old name of a meadow, babila. The way they explain it, I tend to believe them.

 

[Crazy Liz]

Greetings,

I am learning Hebrew so I can read the Masoretic Text. However, I am wondering if there are existing texts in Ancient Hebrew (or if the difference between Modern and Ancient Hebrew is of any significance).

I wrote a bunch, but found it was too confusing, so I'm going to start over. It's probably better to say biblical Hebrew and modern Hebrew. The language spoken today in Israel is what we call modern Hebrew. The MT is not considered modern Hebrew at all.

However, as those who already posted have pointed out, the shape of the letters used to write the Hebrew alphabet have changed over time. The MT uses the same letter shapes used in modern Hebrew, but the same words found in the most ancient manuscripts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I would suggest you learn Masoretic Hebrew and not concern yourself with the older letter shapes until you can read and translate fairly well. Then you can decide whether you want to study other ancient Semitic languages.

My first Hebrew teacher was an archeologist, and she showed us some inscriptions and gave us an idea what older forms of the alphabet looked like. I can see how this would be useful for advanced studies, but knowing the older forms of the letters is, I think, of very limited usefulness in studying the Hebrew Bible.

IOW, there are significant differences between biblical Hebrew and modern Hebrew, but not significant differences for Bible study purposes between the letters used in the MT and more ancient forms. The words haven't changed, even in their spelling, just the shapes of letters used to write them.

 

[Mophy]

Hi,
Context is King. With all Hebrew text you must understand the text and context. I'm not certain about an answer to your question. Masoretic Text? I would suggest that there is a difference. I am soon to be in possession of an anceint Hebrew book dated 1746. Is this that Masoretic text? I'm not certan. I purchased this book on ebay. Maybe you can too, and that may help you.

 

[JohnJones]

Try to find the Ben Chayim text. (Name is spelled many different ways, Chayyim, Chajim, etc. due to varying transliteration of the letter Jod [known today as Yod].)

 

[Crazy Liz]

Try to find the Ben Chayim text. (Name is spelled many different ways, Chayyim, Chajim, etc. due to varying transliteration of the letter Jod [known today as Yod].)

Why? Can you tell us something about it?

 

[StAnselm]

The folk etymologies in the Bible are fanciful and in a few cases where they are correct, it seems to be just by accident.

Well, there are certainly a lot of puns in the Bible, especially where people's names are concerned. But where the etymology is explicitly given, I'd rather believe the Bible than the dictionaries.

with ish and ishah I think we can assume that Genesis is telling us there is an etymological connection. After all, "-ah" endings in Hebrew often refer to the feminine name: 'sar' is prince, 'sarah' is princess.

 

[daveleau]

The Qumran texts are of interest. These are the Dead Sea Scrolls that not only have nearly exact copies of Old Testament writings, but also historical documents that will teach you a ton about the culture of the people of Biblical times.

God bless,
Dave