Editing Hebrew language (section)

===Oldest Hebrew inscriptions===
{{Further|Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Ancient Hebrew writings}}
[[File:Silwan-inscr.jpg|thumb|The [[Royal Steward inscription|Shebna Inscription]], from the tomb of a royal steward found in [[Siloam]], dates to the 7th century BCE.]]
In May 2023, Scott Stripling published the finding of what he claims to be the oldest known Hebrew inscription, a [[Mount Ebal curse tablet|curse tablet found at Mount Ebal]], dated from around 3200 years ago. The presence of the Hebrew [[Names of God in Judaism|name of god]], Yahweh, as three letters, ''Yod-Heh-Vav'' (YHV), according to the author and his team meant that the tablet is Hebrew and not Canaanite.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1186/s40494-023-00920-9 | title="You are Cursed by the God YHW:" an early Hebrew inscription from Mt. Ebal | year=2023 | last1=Stripling | first1=Scott | last2=Galil | first2=Gershon | last3=Kumpova | first3=Ivana | last4=Valach | first4=Jaroslav | last5=Van Der Veen | first5=Pieter Gert | last6=Vavrik | first6=Daniel | journal=Heritage Science | volume=11 | s2cid=258620459 | doi-access=free |issn=2050-7445 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-743039 | title=Ancient tablet found on Mount Ebal predates known Hebrew inscriptions | date=14 May 2023 | access-date=9 June 2023 | archive-date=9 June 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609025909/https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-743039 | url-status=live }}</ref> However, practically all professional archeologists and epigraphers apart from Stripling's team claim that there is no text on this object.<ref>{{Citation |title=See For Yourself: Analyzing the Ebal "Inscription" {{!}} Bible & Archaeology | date=19 May 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Scp85Nlnk |access-date=2023-09-09 |language=en |archive-date=6 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006203532/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Scp85Nlnk |url-status=live }}</ref>

In July 2008, Israeli archaeologist [[Yosef Garfinkel|Yossi Garfinkel]] discovered [[Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon|a ceramic shard]] at [[Khirbet Qeiyafa]] that he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating from around 3,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=30 October 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7700037.stm |title='Oldest Hebrew script' is found |access-date=3 March 2010 |archive-date=24 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024053116/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7700037.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem|Hebrew University]] archaeologist [[Amihai Mazar]] said that the inscription was "proto-Canaanite" but cautioned that {{nowrap|"[t]he}} differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear", and suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/have-israeli-archaeologists-found-world-s-oldest-hebrew-inscription-1.256305 |title=Have Israeli Archaeologists Found World's Oldest Hebrew Inscription? |work=Haaretz |agency=AP |date=30 October 2008 |access-date=8 November 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806071612/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/have-israeli-archaeologists-found-world-s-oldest-hebrew-inscription-1.256305 |archive-date=6 August 2011 }}</ref>

The [[Gezer calendar]] also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the [[Monarchic period]], the traditional time of the reign of [[David]] and [[Solomon]]. Classified as [[Biblical Hebrew|Archaic Biblical Hebrew]], the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after [[Gezer|the city]] in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] one that, through the [[ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]], later became the [[Latin alphabet]] of [[ancient Rome]]. The Gezer calendar is written without any [[vowel]]s, and it does not use [[Mater lectionis|consonants to imply vowels]] even in the places in which later Hebrew spelling requires them.

Numerous older tablets have been found in the region with similar scripts written in other Semitic languages, for example, [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]]. It is believed that the original shapes of the script go back to [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], though the phonetic values are instead inspired by the [[acrophonic]] principle. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is called [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]], and was the first to use a Semitic alphabet distinct from that of Egyptian. One ancient document is the famous [[Mesha Stele|Moabite Stone]], written in the Moabite dialect; the [[Siloam inscription]], found near [[Jerusalem]], is an early example of Hebrew. Less ancient samples of Archaic Hebrew include the [[Lachish letters|ostraca found near Lachish]], which describe events preceding the final capture of Jerusalem by [[Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon|Nebuchadnezzar]] and the Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE.