Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew - dialect of canaanite

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew - dialect of canaanite
  • Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 07:04:33 -0500

Peter Kirk wrote:

On 28/06/2006 12:10, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

...
While the linguistic evidence may strongly hint that the
Israelites were native Canaanites originally (because the
Hebew language of Judea, and the Israelite language of
Israel were offshoots of the earlier attested Canaanite),
the linguistic evidence is probably not sufficient and may
even provide false leads. It is possible to think of
conquerors who adopted the local language, such as
perhaps the Norman conquest of England.


An alternative scenario, which may appeal more to conservatives like Karl, is as follows: When Abraham and his family came to Canaan, they initially spoke a form of Aramaic, similar to what their relatives who remained in the north, like Laban, continued to speak. But when they moved to Canaan, they picked up the local Canaanite language. Hence the difference between Jacob's and Laban's language, Genesis 31:47. (But we must assume that Jacob also picked up some Aramaic during his many years with Laban.) When the Israelites went into Egypt, they took with them this same Canaanite, which is quite well attested as being widely spoken by immigrants to Egypt during the second millennium BCE (see for example the Wadi-el-Hol inscriptions). As there was constant interchange between Egypt and Canaan, Egyptian Canaanite did not diverge far from the version spoken in Canaan itself - but perhaps remained closer to the southern dialects which became Moabite than to the northern ones which became Phoenician. When the Israelites returned to Canaan, they brought back with them this same Canaanite, which was not too different from that of their neighbours. (I note for example that the spies could communicate with Rahab in a situation where an interpreter was unlikely!) They may have picked up some Transjordanian influences during their time in the wilderness and in close contact with Moabites. This was of course an early form of what we now call biblical Hebrew, which continued to develop for centuries.


HH: Thanks for these good thoughts.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page