Hebrew language
The Hebrew language, also referred to as the Hebraic language, is a Northwest Semitic language.
| Hebrew | |
|---|---|
| עִבְרִית <span title="Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Language/data/ISO 639 override' not found. transliteration" class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">ʿIvrit | |
| Pronunciation | [(ʔ)ivˈʁit] - [(ʔ)ivˈɾit][note 1] |
| Native to | Israel, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria;[1] used globally as a liturgical language for Judaism |
| Native speakers | 5.3 million [2] (1998) |
| Language family | |
| Writing system | Hebrew alphabet Hebrew Braille |
| Official status | |
| Official language in |  Israel |
| Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | he |
| ISO 639-2 | heb |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: heb – Modern Hebrew hbo – Ancient Hebrew |
| Linguasphere | 12-AAB-a |
Hebrew was spoken by Israelites a long time ago, during the time of the Bible. After Judah was conquered by Babylonia, the Jews were taken captive (prisoner) to Babylon and started speaking Aramaic. Hebrew was no longer used much in daily life, but it was still known by Jews who studied halakha.
In the 20th century, many Jews decided to make Hebrew into a spoken language again. It became the language of the new country of Israel in 1948. People in Israel came from many places and decided to learn Hebrew, the language of their common ancestors, so that they could all speak one language. However, Modern Hebrew is quite different from Biblical Hebrew, with a simpler grammar and many loanwords from other languages, especially English.
As of 2021, Hebrew has been the only dead language that had been made into a living language again.[3]
The Hebrew Bible was originally written in Biblical Hebrew.
Grammar
Hebrew is a Semitic language, like Arabic, a similar language. Hebrew words are made by combining a root with a pattern. In Israeli Hebrew, some words are translated from European languages like English, French, German, and Russian. Many words from the Old Testament were given new meanings in Israeli Hebrew.[4] People learning Hebrew need to study the grammar first so that they can read correctly without vowels.
In Israeli Hebrew, there is no verb "to be" in the present tense only in the future and the past tenses. In Biblical Hebrew, there are no tenses but only two aspects: imperfect and perfect. The imperfect is something like the future and the present tenses. The perfect is something like the past tense.
Mishnaic Hebrew was spoken as well as Judeo-Aramaic at the time of Jesus and at the time of the Bar-Kokhba revolt (2nd century AD) until the Byzantine Empire of Justinian (6th century AD).
The Hebrew alphabet has been adapted to write Yiddish, another Jewish language. However, Yiddish is different from Hebrew because Yiddish comes from a mix of German, Hebrew, and other languages.
Alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet, also known as the Hebrew abjad, has 22 letters.[5] Five of them change when they are at the end of a word. Hebrew is read and written from right to left.[6] The first three letters, aleph, beth and gimel, are also used in mathematics in the context of transfinite numbers.[7]
The Hebrew alphabet is an abjad and so only the consonants are written, and readers must supply the vowels. Since that can be difficult, the vowels can be marked as dots called niqqud. In Modern Hebrew, some letters can denote vowels, which are called matres lectionis (mothers of the reading) since they greatly help reading. Vav can make the 'oo' sound (/u/ in IPA) like in food. Yod can make the 'ee' sound (/i/ in IPA) like in feed.
| Aleph | Bet | Gimel | Dalet | He | Vav | Zayin | Het | Tet | Yod | Kaph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| א | ב | ג | ד | ה | ו | ז | ח | ט | י | כ |
| ך | ||||||||||
| Lamed | Mem | Nun | Samekh | Ayin | Pe | Tsadi | Qoph | Resh | Shin | Tav |
| ל | מ | נ | ס | ע | פ | צ | ק | ר | ש | ת |
| ם | ן | ף | ץ |
Hebrew Language Media
The word IVRIT ("Hebrew") written in modern Hebrew language (top) and in Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (bottom)
The Shebna Inscription, from the tomb of a royal steward found in Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE.
Hebrew script used in writing a Torah scroll. Note ornamental "crowns" on tops of certain letters.
Hebrew Alphabet in Rashi Script
A silver matchbox holder with inscription in Hebrew
Aleppo Codex: 10th century Hebrew Bible with Masoretic pointing (Joshua 1:1).
Kochangadi Synagogue in Kochi, India, dated to 1344
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Hebrew, Arabic and English multilingual signs on an Israeli highway
Dual language Hebrew and English keyboard
Notes
Related pages
References
 |
This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Hebrew language edition. |
- ↑ "CIA's World Fact Book". Archived from the original on 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
- ↑ "Hebrew language report". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 22 December 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
- ↑ "Hebrew | Foreign Languages | Monroe Community College". www.monroecc.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
- ↑ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. England: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781403917232.
- ↑ "Hebrew alphabet | writing system". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
- ↑ "The Hebrew Alphabet (Aleph-Bet)". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-10-02.
- ↑ "Greek/Hebrew/Latin-based Symbols in Mathematics". Math Vault. 2020-03-20. Retrieved 2020-10-02.