Biblical Hebrew Forum

[AMK Judaica <amkjudaica AT hotmail.com>]

Isaac,

 

perhaps i wasn't clear.

if it has a living tradition/s (hebrew, arabic, aramaic, amharic, etc.) then 
it is not dead.

if it has no living tradition (akkadian, ugaritic, punic, etc.) then it is 
dead.

 

-ari kinsberg
 
> CC: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> From: if AT math.bu.edu
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Reconstructing Ancient Languages
> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:55:29 -0400
> To: amkjudaica AT hotmail.com
> 
> Ari;
> 
> If it has a "living tradition" how can it be "completely", or even 
> "partially", dead?
> 
> Isaac Fried, Boston University
> 
> On Apr 23, 2009, at 12:07 PM, AMK Judaica wrote:
> 
> >
> > Incidentally, for the semiticists/linhuists out there, I'm curious 
> > whether you think it is or easier (or fraught with greater 
> > pitfalls) to reconstruct an ancient language that still has a 
> > living tradition or one that is complete dead.
> >
> >
> >
> > -Ari Kinsberg
> >
> > Brooklyn, NY
> >
> >> From: amkjudaica AT hotmail.com
> >> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> >> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:21:09 -0400
> >> Subject: [b-hebrew] FW: Beit/Veit
> >>
> >>
> >> yigal,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> how do we know the pronounciation of ugaritic and akkadian (or for 
> >> that matter, classical arabic)?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> thanks,
> >>
> >> ari kinsbeg
> >>
> >> brooklyn, new york
> >>
> >>> Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:18:23 +0300
> >>> From: leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il
> >>> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> >>> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Beit/Veit
> >>>
> >>> Hi again,
> >>>
> >>> That was exactly my point: as far as we can tell, Biblical Hebrew 
> >>> did not
> >>> have a "v" sound. Not only doesn't Arabic, but neither did 
> >>> Ugaritc or
> >>> Akkadian, which are much closer in time to Biblical Hebrew. So 
> >>> yes, Isaac's
> >>> wife was something like "Reb'ka" (with what the Mesoretes called 
> >>> a Sh'va),
> >>> which is how the Greek got "Rebekka".
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The problem with D and Dh (Th as in "that") is just like B/V - 
> >>> since Greek
> >>> does not have a Dh sound, we have no way of knowing whether when 
> >>> Greek wrote
> >>> Delta, they heard Dalet or Dhalet or both. The only thing that we 
> >>> know is
> >>> that in Biblical Hebrew the difference was not "regular" enough 
> >>> to warrent
> >>> two letter-signs like in Ugaritic, but by the time of the 
> >>> Mesorets, they
> >>> were able to include the differences in the BGDKPT rule. The 
> >>> same, BTW, is
> >>> true for Gimmel, however it was "originally" pronounced.
> >>>
> >>> Yigal Levin
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: "Yodan" <yodan AT yodanco.com>
> >>> To: "'b-hebrew'" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> >>> Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 8:56 AM
> >>> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Beit/Veit
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Yigal, thank you and thanks to Karl and Kevin.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> A question to you and to others:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Does the fact that Arabic doesn't have a "v" consonant support the
> >>>> possibility that Hebrew too didn't have a "v" consonant (we know 
> >>>> that VAV
> >>>> was pronounced like WAW, and this is still the case in some Hebrew
> >>>> "dialects")? If so, perhaps what later became VEIT was 
> >>>> pronounced like
> >>>> BEIT?
> >>>> (e.g. Ribka later became Rivka?).
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> A somewhat related question: Does anyone know if DALED is 
> >>>> believed to have
> >>>> been pronounced as an emphatic consonant, like in Arabic, 
> >>>> perhaps in
> >>>> addition to another pronunciation (like "d" or like "th" in 
> >>>> "that", as do
> >>>> Yemenite Jews)?
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks!
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Rivka Sherman-Gold
> >>>
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