Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

>
>
> But if you came across a word which occurs only once in the
> Bard's works
> and whose meaning was uncertain from its context (and if, as with the
> Hebrew Bible, there were little other surviving contemporary
> literature), might it not help to ask what it means in modern English?
Not necessarily.
I keep thinking about the question my 5-year old asked:
"Why don't we want God?" she said.
I told her of course we want God, what did she mean?
She replied:
"The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want."

That said, I do think that knowing modern Hebrew
is a tremendous help, and that people should be
encouraged to learn it, read it, and speak it.
My first introduction to Hebrew as an adult was
modern Hebrew, and that background gave me
a tremendous leg-up in learning Biblical. But they
are two separate dialects, and trying to speak
Biblical Hebrew in Tel Aviv is a disaster!
Liz

>
> Peter Kirk
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jim West [mailto:jwest AT highland.net]
> > Sent: 17 May 2002 19:35
> > To: Biblical Hebrew
> > Cc: b-hebrew AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu
> > Subject: RE: OFF TOPIC Modern Hebrew question
> >
> > At 11:17 AM 5/17/02 -0400, you wrote:
> > >I agree with the contention, but another angle on the issue is, who
> would
> > >teach Shakespeare without being able at least to read
> Modern English,
> > even to
> > >converse in it? I don't know, because I've never gone
> through such a
> > program,
> > >but I wonder whether it is normal for someone to teach older stages
> of,
> > say,
> > >German, French, or English without knowing the modern form of the
> > language?
> >
> > one question-- what on earth does MODERN english have to do with
> > shakespeare?  he didnt write modern english.  who cares if
> someone can
> > read
> > modern english if they are teaching russian students.  they
> would want
> to
> > read middle english wouldnt they- if they wished to read
> billy's stuff
> and
> > modern english and middle english are leagues apart!
> >
> > jim
> >
> > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >
> > Jim West, ThD
> > Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies
> > Quartz Hill School of Theology
> >
> > Biblical Studies Resources
> > http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
> >
> > *de omnibus dubitandum est*
> >
>
>
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