Hebrew Language

The History of the Hebrew Language

The history of the Hebrew language is a fascinating chronicle that goes back thousands of years, helping to tell the story of a people that have been subjugated and held down for a great deal of their existence.  Hebrew is a Semitic language (which is a member of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages). Today, the language is spoken by approximately 7.5 million people in Israel, the West Bank (part of the Palestinian territories), the United States, and among many other Jewish communities worldwide. The story of the language's roots, its demise, and eventual rebirth paint a portrait of a fascinating journey of the Jewish people and their struggles throughout history.

The Afro-Asiatic language family is theorized to have come from Northeastern Africa, and started to splinter around 8000 BCE (Before the Christian Era). The Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family made its way to the Middle East, where it split into an array of associated languages. 

The first account of the written Hebrew language is the Gezer Calendar, dating back to the 10th century BCE (Before the Christian Era). It is written in Old Semitic, a predecessor of written Hebrew. It is thought that the original shapes of the written language can be traced to Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The common predecessor of the Hebrew and Phoenician languages is Canaanite. Canaanite was the first language to use a Semitic alphabet separate from the Egyptian. The Hebrew language also took influence from the written Aramaic alphabet.  Many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating from the 2nd century BCE (Before the Christian Era to the 1st century CE Christian Era), were written in a writing system that is quite similar to the one in use today. 

Hebrew began to see a decline in use by the Jews living in the Persian Empire. They assumed the Aramaic language for everyday use. The Hebrew language was conserved through the act of Bible study, as it remained the literary language for that specific use. Aramaic was the colloquial language for the next 700 years. After the Romans obliterated Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE (Christian Era), the Jews scattered into other regions, and the Hebrew language unfortunately gave way to other local tongues, including Arabic.  For nearly 2000 years, the Hebrew language was dormant, not used as a mother language.

The Hebrew language was revived as a mother tongue with the help of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. He worked to bring Hebrew to the forefront, and expand the mostly literary and religious language as a commonly used tongue among the Jewish people once again. The British Mandate of Palestine named Hebrew as one of three official languages of the region (along with Arabic and English) in 1922, solidifying its place once again.

The Modern Hebrew language has been influenced by many different languages, including Russian, German, English (both British and American), and Arabic. Likewise, Hebrew has influenced other languages in the form of borrowed vocabulary words. These languages include Yiddish, Ladino, Karaim, and Judeo-Arabic.  Modern Hebrew has abandoned many of its Semitic roots (certain types of pronunciation, for example), but has managed to keep the Semitic language characteristics at its core. And as with most other languages, there are several dialects of the Hebrew language, including Standard Hebrew (which is also known as Generalized Israeli or Europeanized Hebrew), and Oriental Hebrew (which is also known as Arabized Hebrew).  Today, most Jews are encouraged to speak the Standard Hebrew dialect.

The Hebrew language is a living testament to the history and struggles of the Jewish people. For anyone interested in studying this ancient tongue, there are many resources available to do so. The Internet provides a wealth of basic lessons in Hebrew writing and vocabulary, and many colleges and Universities offer courses in the Hebrew language (basic and advanced).

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