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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Proto-Semitic, was WAYYIQTOL

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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Karl Randolph <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Proto-Semitic, was WAYYIQTOL
  • Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 03:23:42 -0800

On 17/03/2004 17:45, Karl Randolph wrote:

Peter:

Where have I argued that Hebrew was not used after the Galut Babel?

Karl W. Randolph.


You wrote the following:

Hebrew had ceased being the language on the street in all but the most remote farming villages by the time of the Maccabees, if not earlier. Yet because it was the language of religion, government and high literature, it continued to be spoken by an educated elite, much like Latin in Europe.


So you accept that Hebrew was used for religious purposes including writing the DSS, but not as anyone's mother tongue. In principle that is possible. In actuality the evidence is against it, but rather that Hebrew continued as the mother tongue of some communities throughout the Second Temple period.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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