Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Actually, Karl, MH is much closer to BH than modern Greek is to classical 
Greek. The reason is simple: Greek has evolved "naturally" over the 
centuries. Hebrew has not. To a very great extent, Hebrew stopped being used 
as a spoken language sometime around the begining of the CE. And while it 
was used and did develop over the centuries, users of Hebrew have always 
considered the Bible as the fundamental text of the language. So much so 
that when MH was "invented" during the late 19th century, the founders 
usually prefered using BH over Mishnaic, Talmudic or medieval Hebrew.

Israelis "not understanding" Tanakh is much more a social issue than a 
linguistic one. As is non-Israeli Bible scholars being able to get away with 
not reading scholarship in MH. Could you imagine a scholar of medieval 
French literature not reading modern French?

Yigal


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 1:15 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] translation v. interpretation


> Yigal:
>
> Though I have not been to Israel, I have met modern
> Israelis here on business trips: I have asked a few
> if they read Tanakh, whereupon they answered that
> they don't because they don't understand it.
>
> Now these were adults, not children.
>
> I didn't get a chance to go into detail by what
> they meant, but I suspect that it is similar as
> when I try to read Elizabethan English: parts that
> are clearly archaic are quaint but understandable,
> words that have dropped out of use I can look up,
> but it is the words that have changed their
> meanings that lead to misunderstanding, even
> gibberish, if, as is usually the case, I don't know
> which words have changed meaning and what the
> meanings were back in Elizabethan days. The
> differences between BH and MH appear to be greater
> than that between between Elizabethan and modern
> English, but few translations made because it is
> held that those are just different versions of the
> same language.
>
> Like Herman, I find it curious that there have been
> no translations of Tanakh from BH to MH, unlike the
> New Testament which has been translated to modern
> Greek.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Herman Meester" <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>
> >
> > > Dear members
> > >
> > > For example, why is there no translation of the Hebrew Bible into
> > > modern Hebrew? I think modern Hebrew is about the only language left
> > > the Bible has not been translated to!
> > > (But I may well have missed the latest developments in modern Hebrew
> > > bible scholarship)
> > > Fascinating, isn't it? And b-Hebrew and modern Hebrew most certainly
> > > are two different languages.
> >
> > Dear Herman,
> >
> > The reason that no-one has undertaken to translate the Bible into modern
> > Hebrew, is that biblical and modern Hebrew are most definately NOT two
> > different languages. Of course they are not identical, and represent
> > different stages in the development of the language, but modern Hebrew is
> > very much based on BH. Yes, MH has thousands of words that BH is lacking;
> > its syntax is closer to that of modern European languages and it has 
> > adopted
> > modern European punctuation. There are also many words and expressions in 
> > BH
> > that are not usually used in MH, and many more words that have been given 
> > a
> > diferent meaning. However, this is only natural. The Bible remains one of
> > the classical sources of MH. It is much easier for native speakers of MH 
> > to
> > understand BH than it is for native English speakers to understand
> > Shakespeare, for example. I do. So do my grade-school aged children. Of
> > course, children have difficulty with a lot of the concepts in the Bible,
> > and the language is "high literary" language, not what is spoken on TV. 
> > But
> > it is still the same language.
> >
> > And of course, there are renderings of Bible stories in easy MH, meant 
> > for
> > children. But they soon grow out of needing them. Try seeing the Hebrew
> > version of the animated film "Prince of Egypt". You'll be amazed at the
> > amount of direct quotes of BH used in the dialogue. And I have yet to 
> > hear
> > an Israeli child claim that he can't understand it.
> >
> > Yigal
>
> --
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