Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Garth:

On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 8:45 AM, Garth Grenache 
<garthgrenache AT hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Peace, Karl:
>
> I am not familiar with Mishnaic Hebrew.
>

Nor I. However I have seen transliterations of names from Mishnaic era (New
Testament, e.g. Matthew 1) that show a definite similarity to Tiberian
Hebrew. Therefore, for the changes that you, citing Blau, mention to have
occurred, most of them would have been prior to Mishnaic era.

>
> It is from ProtoSemitic/ProtoHebrew to the Tiberian vocalised Biblical
> Hebrew that Blau is showing development.
>

I was trained in science classes to disregard any claims based on that which
is not observable. Neither ProtoSemitic nor ProtoHebrew have been observed,
but are built up based on models that may or may not be correct.

>
> It is said that Stage iii probably reflects Hebrew from about 1000 B.C.E.
>

> I reckon Stage iv is probably a development in the Tiberian tradition of
> pronunciation, medieval.
>

When reading your explanation, I didn’t read these as different stages,
rather i and ii were before change, and iii and iv post change.

The question is of when the major change occurred? My understanding is that
is most likely during the Babylonian to Persian eras.

>
> Garth Grenache,
> Australia.
>
> Thanks, I found this interesting. It also seems to back up some thoughts I
have on how Biblical Hebrew was pronounced.

Karl W. Randolph.