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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] When did Hebrew cease to be a commonly spoken language?

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>
  • To: 'Hebrew' <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] When did Hebrew cease to be a commonly spoken language?
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 23:03:16 -0700

Ken Penner wrote:

Jack wrote:

ALL of the Semitic inscriptions on all of the catalogued ossuaria are in Aramaic. The language commonly spoken will be the language commonly
misspelled or grammatically incorrect on ossuaria, ostraca, graffiti, and that is nearly exclusively Aramaic.


I agree that Aramaic was the most commonly spoken language at that time and
place.
However (I expect you agree, Jack), this does not mean that Hebrew was not a
commonly spoken language as well. As Trevor notes, bilingualism is likely.
I'd be interested to know how much of the graffiti does not consist of
personal names. The Bar Kokhba documents abundantly attest Aramaic names
(Bar- rather than Ben-) within Hebrew documents.

Ken Penner, McMaster/DSS
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PennerThesis

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On this point, note that BAR = "son" is attested as an Aramaic loan word into Hebrew already in the time that the later biblical books were written. Psalm 2:12 is controversial, but Proverbs 31:2 (three times) is certain, in a context which may well reflect colloquial usage. So use of BAR rather than BEN is not good evidence that an ossuary is Aramaic rather than Hebrew; BAR may simply have been the colloquial Hebrew usage of the time.

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







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