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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Fw: Aramaic to them?

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Karl Randolph <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Fw: Aramaic to them?
  • Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2004 15:49:52 -0800

On 02/03/2004 15:07, Karl Randolph wrote:

Sorry, Peter:

I should have been more clear.

In the same way that Europeans were studying Latin for centuries after it was no longer spoken outside of academia, church and government, so I understand that the first century study in Judea and Samaria would have had Hebrew as the cornerstone of their education. Likewise, just as only a small minority actually achieved fluency in Latin in Europe, so only a minority (though probably somewhat larger) actually achieved fluency in Hebrew.

The pattern I was looking at was not the specific language, but the pattern of language acquisition and usage.

Karl W. Randolph.



Thanks for the clarification. Well, this probably describes well the situation of Hebrew among Jews in the mediaeval and early modern periods, in fact probably right up to the late 19th century. But how far back does this situation go? The older opinion that it dates right back to the Babylonian exile seems to have been discredited by the DSS evidence that Hebrew was a living language during the period that the DSS were written. The evidence from Judah haNasi's maid suggests that this was not yet true even c. 200 CE; the maid was hardly one of an academic or religious elite! No, it seems clear that at least until this time there was some community using Hebrew as an everyday language, probably as a mother tongue; it was not just a language learned by specialists, so the pattern you have noted does not apply. Judah haNasi's surprise may be because he had the same misconception as you, that in that time the language was only spoken by specialists like himself. The debate must be on how large this mother tongue community was at various times, and where it was situated geographically and socially.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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