Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>]

Jack Kilmon wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael Abernathy" <mabernathy AT isot.com>
> To: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 9:48 AM
> Subject: [b-hebrew] When did Hebrew cease to be a commonly spoken language?
>
>
>  
>
> > Liz commented on the fact that the papyri from Elephantine were written in
> >    
> Aramaic.  This is relevent evidence for what was happening outside of
> Israel.  One question that must be raised is, "Did the Jews in Israel and
> the Jews in foreign lands continue to speak the same language?"  There is
> some evidence that Aramaic was used as a trade language outside of Judah and
> eventually adopted by the Jews while the Jews in the Holy Land continued to
> use Hebrew as their primary language.  For example, you will find that most
> of what was written in Israel in the first century was in Hebrew.
>
>
> This needs to be clarified.  If your sample is the DSS, as a social pocket
> for Hebrew, Qumran does not refelect common usage.  Most of what was written
> by the common folk (graffiti) is Aramaic.  The publications on 1st century
> language use often divide the population into the literate (less than 5%)
> and the illiterate but omit a larger group among the common folk..the
> quasi-literate who scrawled the ossuaria and graffiti...all exclusively
> Aramaic.  Graffiti is in the language of the common folk.
>
> Additionally, what language is written by the literati is not necessarily
> that spoken on the street.  The Vatican archives will lead you to believe
> that Latin was the spoken language of medieval Italy.
>  
Probably the graffiti in Rome would lead you to the same conclusion. For 
everyone who learned to write at all would have learned to write in 
Latin and would not have attempted to write the street language. So, no, 
graffiti is NOT in always in the language of the common folk, it is in 
whatever language they know how to write. Now obviously some literati 
wrote Hebrew. But for whatever reason common people were not taught to 
write it, perhaps because written Hebrew was considered too sacred. I 
know that I am disagreeing with Laurence here, but perhaps we are 
talking about different times and places.

>  
>
> > You can also find references in the Talmud to Jews in Jerusalem seeking a
> >    
> translator because someone asked a question in Aramaic.
>
> When and where?  This anecdote does not explain the use of Aramaic targumim,
>  
When and where? What evidence do you have for the use of Aramaic 
targumim, and for what date? Consider Randall Buth's evidence, in the 
article whose reference I just posted, that the only Targum known from 
the second temple period is that of Job, which may have been a special case.

>  
>
> > On the other hand, I remember a reference to a Jew outside of Israel
> >    
> asking his maid to explain what the Hebrew in a passage meant.
>
> Another anecdote without details.  Hebrew had not been commonly spoken as a
> language between the 5th century BCE and 1948.
>  
Agreed that more detail would be useful. But are you suggesting that 
this reference is untrue, or that it dates from before the 5th century 
BCE or after 1948?

--
Peter Kirk
peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/