Hebrew Language - History

History

History of the Hebrew language


  • Biblical Hebrew
  • Mishnaic Hebrew
  • Medieval Hebrew
  • Ashkenazi Hebrew
  • Sephardi Hebrew
  • Yemenite Hebrew
  • Hebrew Language Revival
  • Modern Hebrew

Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages.

Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah during the 10th to 7th centuries BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a spoken vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile, when the predominant international language in the region was Old Aramaic.

Hebrew was nearly extinct as a spoken language by Late Antiquity, but it continued to be used as a literary language and as the liturgical language of Judaism, evolving various dialects of literary Medieval Hebrew, until its revival as a spoken language in the late 19th century.

Read more about this topic:  Hebrew Language

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