Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ken Penner" <pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca>]

Hi Peter,

Could you tell us on what evidence you base your view that Hebrew was the
street language and Aramaic the official/erudite language in second temple
Judea?

W. Chomsky does argue for this view in "What was the Jewish vernacular
during the Second Commonwealth?" JQR 42 (1951/2) 193-212, but the more
rigorous survey of the evidence for the use of Hebrew and Aramaic in the
first century CE by C. Rabin points to the conclusion Karl expressed: Hebrew
was a high-status language, and Aramaic was "a means of communication, no
more" ("Hebrew and Aramaic in the First Century," in S. Safrai/M. Stern,
[edd.], _The Jewish People in the First Century_, II, [Assen, 1976],
1007-1039, page 1032).

Ken Penner, M.C.S. (Biblical Languages, Greek Focus), M.A. (Hebrew Poetry)
Ph.D. (cand.), McMaster University
pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca
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