Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew | |
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SERMONS, ESSAYS AND OPINIONS |
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CONTENTS | Contents |
Biblical Hebrew (Classical Hebrew) is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, in which the Old Testament was written, and which the ancient Israelites spoke. It is not spoken in its pure form today, although it is studied by religious Jews and Christian theologians, linguists and Israeli archaeologists. Biblical Hebrew is easily read by anyone familiar with modern Hebrew. The differences between Biblical Hebrew and modern Hebrew are mainly in grammar and Biblical Hebrew's distinct writing style.
From a linguistic point of view, the Classical Hebrew language is usually divided into two periods and two registers: Biblical Hebrew of the First Temple Period is distinguished from biblical and literary Hebrew of the Second Temple Period, and Second Temple Period Hebrew itself is divided into literary Hebrew and colloquial Hebrew like that of the Mishna and in some documents from the Dead Sea area.
Alphabet
Name | Letter | Transliteration | IPA | Notes | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aleph | א | - | - | One of two silent letters. Usually appears at the start of a syllable to make the syllable start with a vowel sound. | |||||
Bet | בּ | b | b | Sounds just like the English letter B. | |||||
Vet | ב | v | v | Sounds just like the English letter V. | |||||
Gimel | ג | g | ɡ | Sounds like a hard g as in give | |||||
Dalet | ד | d | d | Sounds like d as in dog. | |||||
He | ה | h | h | Sounds like the English letter H when it's in the beginning or middle of a word. At the end of a word, it is silent. | |||||
Vav | ו | v | v | Sounds like v as in vacuum. Also used to make a couple of vowel sounds. | |||||
Zayin | ז | z | z | Sounds like z as in zoo. | |||||
Het | ח | kh | This is a sound that English doesn't have. It is a voiceless pharyngeal fricative. It is NOT like the ch in the German name Bach or in the Scottish word loch, but Europeans often use that sound as a substitute. | ||||||
Tet | ט | t | It was a t pronounced with retracted tongue-root. | ||||||
Yod | י | y | j | Sounds like y as in yard. It can also change the sound of the vowel that precedes it. | |||||
Kaf | כּ | k | k | Sounds like k as in kitten. | |||||
Kaf Final | ךּ | k | k | Rarely used (almost no words end with Kaf). | |||||
Khaf | כ | kh | x | Sounds just like German 'ch' in Bach, Scottish Loch. It is velar, not pharyngeal. | |||||
Khaf Final | ך | kh | x | - | |||||
Lamed | ל | l | l | Sounds like l as in lamb. | |||||
Mem | מ | m | m | Sounds like m as in mother | |||||
Mem final | ם | m | m | - | |||||
Nun | נ | n | n | Sounds like n as in name. | |||||
Nun final | ן | n | n | - | |||||
Samech | ס | s | s | Sounds like s as in safe. | |||||
Ayin | ע | - | It is a voiced version of ח
. A voiced pharyngeal fricative. It is not a glottal stop. | ||||||
Pe | פּ | p | p | Sounds like p as in port | |||||
Pe final | ףּ | p | p | - | |||||
Fe | פ | f | f | Sounds like f as in fame | |||||
Fe final | ף | f | f | ||||||
Tsadi | צ | tz | ʦ | Sounds like the zz in pizza. In antiquity it was 's' pronounced with retracted tongue-root. | |||||
Tsadi final | ץ | tz | ʦ | - | |||||
Qof | ק | k | Sounds like Kaf in modern Hebrew, but was originally pronounced with retracted tongue root. | Resh | ר | r | ɾ | Sounds like the letter R, but is not pronounced exactly the same as in English. At the beginning or in the middle of a word it is slightly rolled so that its sound is somewhere between the English "R" and the Spanish rolled "R". The tongue bounces off the roof of the mouth just once. (The Ashkenazi and Israeli pronunciation is [ʁ]. A uvular trill.) | |
Shin | שׁ
or ש
|
sh | ʃ | Sounds like sh as in ship | |||||
Sin | שׂ | s | s | Sounds like s as in soon | |||||
Tav | ת | t | t | Sounds like t as in tomato |
Quotes
Links
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