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b-hebrew - Re: "Is Biblical Hebrew a Language?"

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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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  • From: "Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il>
  • To: funi AT earthlink.net
  • Cc: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: "Is Biblical Hebrew a Language?"
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 13:34:11 +0200




Maria Solarez wrote:

> Thank you for this wonderful food for thought and discussion.
>
> Is there enough of the Canaanite language around to consider BH a dialect
> or subset?
> Is enought known about the society at the time span of the writings of BH
> to be
> certain that the Canaanite language is not a subset of something else?
>
> Forgive my lack of precision in this setting. however, my questions remains
> Enlighten
> me please..
>
>

Much depends on how you define a "language" or a "dialect". Plattdeutsch and
Hochdeutsch
are both considered "German", though the differences between them are
considerable..
There are also differences between BH and, say, Moabite or Phoenician. but
they can all
be considered, in my opinion, dialects of "Canaanite". Even the Book of
Isaiah defines
Hebrew as sefat kana'an, "the language of Canaan:", in one place, but as
yehudit,
"Judaean", in another.. So we are talking about dialects. Ugaritic is another
matter,
however.
Yours,
Jonathan
--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
44905 Beit Berl Post Office
Israel






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