Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Uri:

On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>    " If one recognizes that there were some 30 generations separating the
> last
> native speakers of Biblical Hebrew (it survived as a second but official
> language for generations after it ceased being spoken natively)...
>
> Karl W. Randolph."
>
>   Repetition of ones conviction does not make facts.
>

Wrong word. “Conclusion” based on comparison of literary styles between
pre-exile writing such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and the earlier of the 12,
Qohelet, Proverbs, and those of the post-exile writers such as Haggai,
Zachariah and Malachi as well as Esther, Nehemiah, Chronicles and Ezra.


>   For example, I didn't know that Qohelet is not part of the Hebrew bible,
> or that the author(s) of Ezra- Nehemiah did not speak the language they
> wrote in, whether Hebrew or Aramaic.
>

There is a difference between speaking and natively speaking, a difference
I have emphasized over and over again. Latin continues to be spoken, but no
one speaks it natively. From what I see, Hebrew was the “Latin” of Judea
after the exile until after the bar Kochba revolt, while Aramaic was the
language of the street and hearth. Because the post-exile writers were more
at home in Aramaic than Hebrew, it shows.


>                                UH
>
> Karl W. Randolph.