Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Polycarp66 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 3/18/2004 5:56:50 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
kwrandolph AT email.com writes:
It looks as if we should drop this 
discussion. Unless either of us finds data 
other than what has been presented on this 
list in the last few weeks, neither seems 
able to convince the other. We are arguing 
in circles.

Evidence that I recognize argues for an 
earlier, rather than later, adoption of 
Aramaic for the language cooed over the 
cradle, bickered in the market and 
conversed on the street, leaving Hebrew 
spoken fluently only as a second language 
by an educated elite for religion, 
government and high (mostly religious) 
literature. This is analogous to the use of 
Latin in Europe in the 14th century and 
imperial Chinese in the 19th. You argue 
that the existence of religious, 
governmental and high literature Hebrew 
indicates that people still learned Hebrew 
at their mothers’ knees.
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http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/newsletter/2004/mar12.html

gfsomsel