Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Uri:

Has anyone anywhere on this list ever claimed that Mishnaic Hebrew was not
spoken? Seriously, I don’t know of anyone who makes such a claim.

On the other hand, is there any evidence that Mishnaic Hebrew was the
primary language of anyone during the time it was spoken? There is nothing
I have seen that indicates that. Instead everything I have seen indicates
that just as Latin is still spoken in conversations by some, and used to be
spoken by every educated person in Europe during the Medieval period, but
none then nor now spoke it as a native language, so Mishnaic Hebrew was an
official language used for high literature, religion and civic affaires,
but no-one spoke it natively.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Sat, Nov 19, 2011 at 8:57 AM, Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com> wrote:

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>    From what I see, Hebrew was the “Latin” of Judea
> after the exile  [ which exile? do you mean the
>  Babylonian?  UH ] until after the bar Kochba revolt...
>                                    K Randolph
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>   Karl,
>  How do you, or anyone, 'see' or know that Mishnaic
>  Hebrew was not a spoken language?
>  The earlier language had changed in time, which is
> quite normal.
>  There is a vast literature on the subject. The
>  indications that people spoke it are quite clear.
>
>   Uri Hurwitz                      Great Neck, NY
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