Editing History of Hebrew grammar

{{Short description|none}}
[[Hebrew grammar]] is attested from [[Biblical Hebrew grammar]], with reconstructions of pre-Hebrew, and continues with [[Modern Hebrew grammar]].

==History of studies in Hebrew grammar==
{{Further information|Hebraist}}
The [[Masoretes]] in the 7th to 11th centuries laid the foundation for grammatical analysis of Hebrew. As early as the 9th century [[Judah ibn Kuraish]] discussed the relationship between Arabic and Hebrew. In the 10th century, [[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher]] refined the [[Tiberian vocalization]], an extinct pronunciation of the [[Hebrew Bible]].

The first treatises on Hebrew grammar appear in the [[High Middle Ages]], in the context of [[Midrash]] (a method of interpreting and studying the Hebrew Bible). The [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] tradition originated in [[Abbasid]] [[Baghdad]] around the 7th century. The ''[[Diqduq]]'' (10th century) is one of the earliest grammatical commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.<ref>G. Khan, J. B. Noah, ''The Early Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought'' (2000)</ref>

[[Solomon ibn Gabirol]] in the 11th century composed a versified Hebrew grammar, consisting of 400 verses divided into ten parts. In the 12th century, [[Ibn Barun]] compared the [[Hebrew language]] with [[Arabic language|Arabic]] in the [[Islamic grammatical tradition]].<ref>Pinchas Wechter, Ibn Barūn's Arabic Works on Hebrew Grammar and Lexicography (1964)</ref>
11th to 12th century grammarians of the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]] included [[Judah ben David Hayyuj]], [[Jonah ibn Janah]], [[Abraham ibn Ezra]], [[Joseph Kimhi]], [[Moses Kimhi]] and [[David Kimhi]]. Ibn Ezra gives a list of the oldest Hebrew grammarians in the introduction to his ''Moznayim'' (1140). [[Profiat Duran]] published an influential grammar in 1403.

[[Judah Messer Leon (15th century)|Judah Messer Leon]]'s 1454 grammar is a product of the [[Italian Renaissance]]. Hebrew grammars by [[Christian Hebraist|Christian authors]] appeared during the [[Renaissance]]. [[Hieronymus Buclidius]], a friend of [[Erasmus]], gave more than 20,000 francs to establish a branch of Hebrew studies at [[Leuven|Louvain]] in [[Flanders]]. [[Elijah Levita]] was called to the chair of Hebrew at the [[University of Paris]]. [[Cardinal Grimani]] and other dignitaries, both of the state and of the Church, studied Hebrew and the [[Kabbalah|Cabala]] with Jewish teachers; even the warrior [[Guido Rangoni]] attempted the Hebrew language with the aid of [[Jacob Mantino]] (1526). [[Pico de la Mirandola]] (d. 1494) was the first to collect Hebrew manuscripts, and [[Reuchlin]] was the first Christian author to write a vocabulary and short grammar of the Hebrew language (1506).<ref>[http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00017321/images/index.html?id=00017321&groesser=&fip=xsyztsxdsydewqenxssdasyztsw&no=212&seite=1 Online version of ''De rudimentis hebraicis'']</ref> A more detailed grammar was published in 1590 by [[Otto Walper]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjY8AAAAcAAJ ''Grammatica linguae sanctae'' at Google Books]</ref>
[[Conrad Gesner]] (d. 1565) was the first Christian to compile a catalogue of Hebrew books.
[[Paul Fagius]] and [[Elia Levita]] operated the first Hebrew printing office in the 1540s. Levita also compiled the first Hebrew-[[Yiddish]] dictionary.

Through the influence of [[Johannes Buxtorf]] (d. 1629) a serious attempt was made to understand the post-Biblical literature, and many of the most important works were translated into Latin.  [[Wilhelm Gesenius|Gesenius]]' ''Hebrew Grammar'' appeared in 1813.

== Eras ==

The Hebrew language is subdivided by era, with significant differences apparent between the varieties. All varieties, from Biblical to Modern, use a typically Semitic [[templatic morphology]] with triconsonantal stems, though Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew have significant borrowed components of the lexicon that do not fit into this pattern. Verbal morphology has remained relatively unchanged, though Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew have lost some modal distinctions of Biblical Hebrew and created others through the use of auxiliary verbs.

Significant syntactic changes have arisen in Modern Hebrew as a result of non-Semitic substrate influences. In particular:

* In Biblical Hebrew, possession is normally expressed with [[status constructus]], a construction in which the possessed noun occurs in a phonologically reduced, "construct" form and is followed by the possessor noun in its normal, "absolute" form. Modern Hebrew tends to reserve this construction for phrases where the two components form a unified concept, whereas ordinary possession is more commonly expressed [[Analytic language|analytically]] with the preposition ''shel'' 'of' (etymologically consisting of the relativizer ''she''- 'that' and the preposition ''le''- 'to').<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Zuckermann|2006|p=74|note=either this link is dead, or specific sources should be added to the bibliography (or both) – thanks!}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rosén|1969|note=either this link is dead, or specific sources should be added to the bibliography (or both) – thanks!}}</ref>
* Possession in pronouns is expressed with pronominal suffixes added to the noun. Modern Hebrew tends to reserve this for a limited number of nouns, but usually prefers to use the preposition ''shel'', as in the previous case.<ref name="glinert">{{Harvcoltxt|Glinert|2004|p=52}}</ref>
* Biblical Hebrew often expresses a pronoun direct object by appending a pronominal suffix directly to the verb, as an alternative to appending it to the preposition that signals a definite direct object. The latter construction is the one generally used in Modern Hebrew.<ref name=glinert/>
* The [[Tense-aspect-mood|tense–aspect]] that is formed by prefixes could denote either the present (especially [[frequentative]]) or the future, as well as frequentative past in Biblical Hebrew (some scholars argue that it simply denoted [[imperfective aspect]]), while in modern Hebrew it is always future. The suffixed form denotes what is commonly translated as past in both cases, though some scholars argue that it denoted [[perfective aspect]].<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Blau|1981|pp=153–154}}</ref>
* Biblical Hebrew employs the so-called [[waw consecutive]] construction, in which the conjunction "and" seemingly reverses the tense of a verb (though its exact meaning is a matter of debate). This is not typical of Modern Hebrew.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Davis|2007|p=536}}</ref>
* The default word order in Biblical Hebrew is [[Verb–subject–object|VSO]], while Modern Hebrew is [[Subject–verb–object|SVO]].<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Doron|2005|p=3}}</ref>

However, most Biblical Hebrew constructions are still permissible in Modern Hebrew in formal, literary, archaic or poetic style.

==See also==
* Grammar and Orthography
** [[Biblical Hebrew grammar]]
** [[Modern Hebrew grammar]]
** [[Modern Hebrew verb conjugation]]
** [[Prefixes in Hebrew]]
** [[Suffixes in Hebrew]]
** [[Hebrew spelling]]
** [[Biblical Hebrew orthography]]
* Stages of Hebrew
** [[Biblical Hebrew]]&nbsp;– Attested from 10th century BCE to about 70 CE
** [[Mishnaic Hebrew]]&nbsp;– Post Temple Roman Era (1st through 4th Century CE)
** [[Medieval Hebrew]]&nbsp;– From about the 4th century until the revival of Hebrew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** [[Modern Hebrew]]&nbsp;– Early 20th century CE to present
* Other forms of Hebrew
** [[Israelian Hebrew]]&nbsp;– Proposed dialect of Hebrew used by the Northern Israelite tribes in the 1st millennium BCE
** [[Samaritan Hebrew]]&nbsp;– Form of Hebrew used by the Samaritans
* Pronunciation Variation
** [[Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation]] used by Jews of [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]
** [[Mizrahi Hebrew]] used by Jews of the [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]]
** [[Yemenite Hebrew pronunciation]] (Temani Hebrew) used by Jews of [[Yemen]]
** [[Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation]] used by Jews of [[Germany]] and by [[Yiddish]]-speaking Jews
** [[Modern Hebrew phonology]]
* Miscellaneous
** [[Yiddish language]]&nbsp;– a High-German language with Hebrew and Slavic influence, used by [[Ashkenazi Jews]]
** [[Ladino language]]&nbsp;– a Spanish language with Hebrew and Aramaic influence, used by [[Sephardi Jews]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
* {{cite book |last=Blau |first=Joshua |year=1981 |title=The renaissance of modern Hebrew and modern standard Arabic |isbn=0520095480 |publisher=University of California Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Davis |first=Craig |year=2007 |title=Dating the Old Testament |publisher=RJ Communications |location=New York |isbn=978-0-9795062-0-8}}
* {{citation |last=Doron |first=Edit |contribution=VSO and Left-conjunct Agreement: Biblical Hebrew vs. Modern Hebrew |title=Universal Grammar in the Reconstruction of Dead Languages |year=2005 |editor-last=Kiss |editor-first=Katalin É. |location=Berlin |publisher=Mouton |pages=239–264 |url=http://pluto.huji.ac.il/~edit/edit/doron-left-conjunct-agreement.pdf |isbn=3110185504 |archive-date=25 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225041506/http://pluto.huji.ac.il/~edit/edit/doron-left-conjunct-agreement.pdf}}
* {{cite book |last=Glinert |first=Lewis |year=2004 |title=The Grammar of Modern Hebrew |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521611881}}
* {{cite journal |last=Rosén |first=H. |title=Israel Language Policy and Linguistics |journal=Ariel |volume=25 |year=1969 |pages=48–63 |url=http://www.adath-shalom.ca/israel_lang_policy_rosen.htm}}

==Bibliography==
'''Modern Hebrew'''
* {{Citation | last= Laufer |first= Asher |year= 1999 |title= Hebrew |journal= Handbook of the International Phonetic Association |pages= 96–99}}
* {{Citation | title = 501 Hebrew Verbs | first = Shmuel | last = Bolozky | year = 1996 | isbn = 0-8120-9468-9 | publisher = Barron's Educational Series, Inc. }}
* {{Citation | title = Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar | edition = 3rd | first = Lewis | last = Glinert | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-415-70082-5 | publisher = Routledge UK }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Zuckermann |first1=Ghil'ad |author-link=Ghil'ad Zuckermann |title=A New Vision for Israeli Hebrew: Theoretical and practical implications of analyzing Israel's main language as a semi-engineered Semito-European hybrid language |journal=Journal of Modern Jewish Studies |date=March 2006 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=57–71 |doi=10.1080/14725880500511175|s2cid=14682166 |url=https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:121380/new-vision.pdf }}
* {{cite book |last1=Arad |first1=Maya |author-link=Maya Arad |title=Roots and patterns : Hebrew morpho-syntax |date=2005 |publisher=Springer |location=Dordrecht |isbn=978-1-4020-3244-8}}

'''Biblical Hebrew'''
* {{Citation | last = Waltke  | first = Bruce K. |author2=M. O'Connor  | title = An introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax  | publisher = Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake Indiana   | year = 1990  | pages = 177–178  | isbn = 0-931464-31-5}}
* {{Citation | last = Duane A. Garrett and Jason S. DeRouchie | title=A Modern Grammar for Biblical Hebrew }}

==External links==
* {{Cite GHG}}
*[http://www.hebrew-verbs.co.il Hebrew Verbs Conjugation Tool] - Online Hebrew Verb Learning Tool (Hebrew/English)
*[http://www.lashon.net/JMH/GlamourGrammar.html Glamour of the Grammar] – Hebraist Dr. Joel M. Hoffman's biweekly column on Hebrew grammar
*[http://foundationstone.com.au/HtmlSupport/FrameSupport/onlineHebrewTutorialFrame.html ''Foundationstone'' — Online Hebrew Tutorial]
*[http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/grammar.html A Basic Introduction to Hebrew grammar]
*[http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrewtoc.htm History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language], David Steinberg

{{Hebrew language}}
{{Language grammars}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hebrew Grammar}}
[[Category:Hebrew grammar| ]]

[[de:Althebräische Grammatik]]
[[fr:Grammaire hébraïque]]
[[he:דקדוק עברי]]
[[hu:Klasszikus héber nyelvtan]]
[[ru:Грамматика языка иврит]]