Ancient Hebrew language
Encyclopedia
Ancient Hebrew is a blanket term for varieties of the Hebrew language
used in ancient times. It can be divided into:
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
used in ancient times. It can be divided into:
- Paleo-HebrewPaleo-Hebrew alphabetThe Paleo-Hebrew alphabet , is an abjad offshoot of the ancient Semitic alphabet, identical to the Phoenician alphabet. At the very least it dates to the 10th century BCE...
(such as the Siloam inscriptionSiloam inscriptionThe Siloam inscription or Silwan inscription is a passage of inscribed text found in the Hezekiah tunnel which brings water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The inscription records the construction of the tunnel in the 8th century...
) - Biblical Hebrew (including the use of Tiberian vocalizationTiberian vocalizationThe Tiberian vocalization is a system of diacritics devised by the Masoretes to add to the consonantal Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible; this system soon became used to vocalize other texts as well...
) - Mishnaic Hebrew
- Medieval HebrewMedieval HebrewMedieval Hebrew has many features that distinguish it from older forms of Hebrew. These affect grammar, syntax, sentence structure, and also include a wide variety of new lexical items, which are usually based on older forms....