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History of Hebrew
One of the languages specific to the Jewish people, Hebrew, has a history that can be traced back about 4000 years.
Early Hebrew was the alphabet used by the
Jewish nation in the period before the Babylonian Exile up to the 6th century
before Yeshua. The Gezer Calendar from the 10th century before Yeshua has
writing similar to the earliest North Semitic alphabets. The Early Hebrew
language is closer to Phoenician than to Modern Hebrew. Early Hebrew is
still used by Samaritan Jews.
The Torah which is written in Biblical or Classical Hebrew refers to the language of the Hebrews as the language of Canaan or Judah. Biblical or Classical Hebrew, which was a spoken language in Palestine until the third century before Yeshua, was a basic language with a limited vocabulary and its verbs had only two tenses. Since after that period the Jews in Palestine spoke Aramaic, Hebrew took on words and grammar from Aramaic.
Until about 200 years before Yeshua, Mishnaic, or
Rabbinic, Hebrew was still used in the Mishna and other documents.
From 6th century before Yeshua until the 13 century after his resurrection,
Hebrew took on words from other languages such as Greek and Spanish. The
vocabulary grew to include scientific and philosophical terms. Some words were
formed by making use of old Hebrew roots or words and some by use of foreign
languages.
Before the 14th century, when some Jews began
leaving the shetls and ghettos some saw Hebrew as a language for the Jewish
culture they hoped would develop. The first novel was written during this
period.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, born in Lithuania in 1858, wanted Hebrew to be a
conversational language. Twenty years before Theodor Herzl began speaking
of the promised land, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was a Zionist who believed that you
couldn't have Israel without Hebrew nor Hebrew without Israel.
After moving to Palestine, he started a
Hebrew Newspaper called "Ha-Tzvi". Each week he would include a
new word or the review of one of his prior new words. He not only spent 50
years of his life creating a 16 volume dictionary, but he also created many of
the words in it.
By 1913 teachers were speaking Hebrew to their classes in the Jewish schools in
Palestine.
In 1948 Hebrew became the official language of
Israel.