Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Niels Peter Lemche <npl AT teol.ku.dk>]

Only one problem: Why aechaizing? Why not (and maybe Garbini also think
so--it seems so) simply say that the West-Semitic dialect of this
inscription is showing an archaic form of Hebrew/Amorite...early 1st
millennium south Levantine variety. The HB shows a different stage (probably
a number of) in the development of this language.

NPL


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Hutchesson [SMTP:mc2499 AT mclink.it]
> Sent: Monday, 14 February, 2000 00:28
> To:   Biblical Hebrew
> Subject:      Perspective on Phoenician and Hebrew
> 
> I was browsing a book by Garbini a few days ago ("I fenici: storia e
> religione" [The Phoenicians: history and religion], Napoli, 1980) and was
> taken by his comments about the Hebrew language. He said:
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> A confirmation of the linguistic character of south Palestinian, still in
> the Phoenician sphere, is offered by an inscription, the so-called Gezer
> "calendar", written in a languageusually considered to be an archaic form
> of Hebrew, but which in reality constitutes (..) an archaic form of
> Phoenician: the absense of articles (as in the Ahiram inscription) and the
> presence of the masculine plural suffix -w to the construct state (as in
> Ugaritic) are linguistic "throwbacks" and therefore cannot be related to a
> language such as Hebrew which is a carrier of innovations. The language of
> the Gezer "calendar" should be contextualised, in a historical
> perspective,
> as the most southern of the Phoenician dialects, beside those of Arad and
> Byblos (which are linguistically more evolved, which a greater number of
> Amorite elements) and those of Tyre and Sidon. The archaizing, ie
> conservative, character of the Gezer dialect aligns perfectly with what we
> know thus far of the south Palestinian culture.
>                                        --p 27
> --------------------------------------------------
> 
> Any thoughts on the distinction Garbini is making between what he sees as
> these conservative and innovative languages?
> 
> 
> Ian
> 
> 
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