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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew as a holy language

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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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  • From: James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>
  • To: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Hebrew as a holy language
  • Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 08:20:01 +0100

#Of course, you are right. The fact that Hebrew is so closely related to so many contemporary cognates seems to speak for itself...

However, it does raise interesting linguistic questions. Let us postulate that it is historically true that Abraham came out of Ur and wandered around Canann. Let us also postulate that it is historically true that Jacob and sons ended up in Egypt and that later generations ended up in slavery and eventually came out of to wander about in Sinai.

It does raise interesting linguistic questions about what language they likely spoke in different periods of their wanderings:

a) while in Canaan before the slavery
b) while in Egypt under slavery
c) post slavery

Assuming that it is true that Isreal came out of Egypt under some leader who gave them their laws and religiion (let us call him Moses) then it kind of makes sense, in a way, that the alphabet they used is based on a subset of Egyptian hieroglyphics. So, it raises the following questions that can be considered objectively:

a) did the Hebrew used to write the Torah come about as a dialect that evolved from the Egyptian that the hebrews spoke while in Egypt
b) did the Hebrews manage to keep their language, being bilingual, while in slavery in Egypt and the Hebrew of the Torah is, therefore, more or less the same as the Hebrew of Jacob, of Isaac, of Abraham
c) As a chaldean of Ur, what was likely to be Abraham's mother tongue of birth
d) did Abraham learn Canaanite while wandering about in Canaan? Is Hebrew a direct descendant of Canaanite?

James Christian



Quoting George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>:

I don't see how this reasoning could possibly be subjected to, let alone stand up to, critical linguistic investigation. And I certainly don't see how it makes Hebrew 'holy'. It stands in the realm of belief, not academic investigation. As such, this discussion is more than a bit tenuous.



Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au
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