A History of the Hebrew Language is a comprehensive description of Hebrew from its Semitic origins and the earliest settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan to the present day. Professor Sáenz-Badillos sets Hebrew in the context of the Northwest Semitic languages and examines the origins of Hebrew and its earliest manifestations in ancient Biblical poetry, inscriptions, and prose written before the Babylonian exile. He looks at the different medieval traditions of pointing classical Biblical Hebrew texts and the characteristic features of the post-exilic language, including the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He gives particular attention to Rabbinic and medieval Hebrew, especially as evidenced in writings from Spain. His survey concludes with the revival of the language in this century in the form of Israeli Hebrew.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
"This book is without any doubt the most comprehensive and up-to-date history of the Hebrew language ever written....setting the linguistic developments against the corresponding developments in the historical experience of the Jewish people." Nicholas de Lange, Cambridge University
"...a bona fide reference work with a good index, a most extensive bibliography, and an overview of the central issues and debates in the field--past as well as ongoing, with opposing points of view faithfully and fairly represented....The writing is attractively styled, flowing smoothly and flawlessly; the translation is good enough to cause one to forget that the monograph was originally written in Spanish." Modern Language Journal
"The title of this volume does not prepare one for that breadth and depth of information to be found on ever page. Sáenz-Badillos has produced a scholarlytour de force that is as much a history of the study of the Hebrew language as it is a history of the language itself." Shofar
"...the most comprehensive history of Hebrew to date....a must for every Hebraist's bookshelf..." Hebrew Studies
"For students of Hebrew, this is an invaluable book, at once providing a large historical conspectus and a detailed analysis of the evolution of the language." London Review of Books
"...the starting point for serious students in the future....a sober and straightforward description of the data and the scholarship....an unpretentious and valuable contribution: a basic history that provides us with a firm footing." Language
"It is with great pleasure that scholars and students of Hebrew should welcome the appearance of Angel Sáenz-Badillos'A History of the Henbrew Language." Domes
"...a bona fide reference work with a good index, a most extensive bibliography, and an overview of the central issues and debates in the field--past as well as ongoing, with opposing points of view faithfully and fairly represented....The writing is attractively styled, flowing smoothly and flawlessly; the translation is good enough to cause one to forget that the monograph was originally written in Spanish." Modern Language Journal
"The title of this volume does not prepare one for that breadth and depth of information to be found on ever page. Sáenz-Badillos has produced a scholarlytour de force that is as much a history of the study of the Hebrew language as it is a history of the language itself." Shofar
"...the most comprehensive history of Hebrew to date....a must for every Hebraist's bookshelf..." Hebrew Studies
"For students of Hebrew, this is an invaluable book, at once providing a large historical conspectus and a detailed analysis of the evolution of the language." London Review of Books
"...the starting point for serious students in the future....a sober and straightforward description of the data and the scholarship....an unpretentious and valuable contribution: a basic history that provides us with a firm footing." Language
"It is with great pleasure that scholars and students of Hebrew should welcome the appearance of Angel Sáenz-Badillos'A History of the Henbrew Language." Domes
Book Description
Setting Hebrew in its context, this comprehensive description ranges from its biblical origins and the earliest settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan to the present day. After considering Rabbinic and medieval Hebrew, the survey concludes with its revival in the form of Israeli Hebrew.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Hebrew is a Semitic dialect or language which developed in the northwestern part of the Near East between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea during the latter half of the second millennium BCE. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Hebrew is a Semitic dialect or language which developed in the northwestern part of the Near East between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea during the latter half of the second millennium BCE. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By bookology
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent work that reconstructs 3000 years of this ancient language. It is not however an easy read. the subject matter is rather arcane - the changes in pronunciation and usage throughout the history of the language. If you have a professional interest in dating hebrew texts using grammatical features, this book is indispensible. If your interest is more personal, you don't really need to be linguist to read this book, but two things are highly recommended--
1) At least one year of college-level biblical hebrew study.
2) A high interest in the mechanical and psychological details of language.
If you think this subject might interest you, but would like to start with something simpler but still top quality -- try William Chomsky's "Hebrew: The Eternal Language."
1) At least one year of college-level biblical hebrew study.
2) A high interest in the mechanical and psychological details of language.
If you think this subject might interest you, but would like to start with something simpler but still top quality -- try William Chomsky's "Hebrew: The Eternal Language."
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent introduction into the internal linguistic history of the Hebrew language. The bibliography is 66 pages long, in rather small print, and is constantly referred to in the text. As a starting point to get an overview of this field of scholarship, it is probably without equal today.
As a technical work, presenting a summary of a highly technical field of study, it is astonishingly accessible to the non-specialist. Much more so than, for example, the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon, in that for citing examples only two alphabets are used: Hebrew, of course, and a Latin based phonetic alphabet defined in a table on page 19. It does not assume a knowledge of the scripts of Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian cuneiform and so on. Even mastery of the Hebrew alphabet is not strictly necessary to use the work because all citations in Hebrew are accompanied by transliterations into the phonetic alphabet.
The author employs the terminology and methods of descriptive linguistics, but those who have had an introductory course in this field will have little difficulty with it. It is assumed that the reader knows what is meant by terms like phoneme, allophone, morpheme, grapheme, lexeme, isogloss, synchronic, diachronic, etc.
As a technical work, presenting a summary of a highly technical field of study, it is astonishingly accessible to the non-specialist. Much more so than, for example, the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon, in that for citing examples only two alphabets are used: Hebrew, of course, and a Latin based phonetic alphabet defined in a table on page 19. It does not assume a knowledge of the scripts of Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, Aramaic, Akkadian cuneiform and so on. Even mastery of the Hebrew alphabet is not strictly necessary to use the work because all citations in Hebrew are accompanied by transliterations into the phonetic alphabet.
The author employs the terminology and methods of descriptive linguistics, but those who have had an introductory course in this field will have little difficulty with it. It is assumed that the reader knows what is meant by terms like phoneme, allophone, morpheme, grapheme, lexeme, isogloss, synchronic, diachronic, etc.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is very probably a great book. Scholars and linguist majors may well find it a treasure. But it is nearly incomprehensible to the layman -- and needlessly so. The author uses a torrent of highly technical terms but never defines or explains them. There is no glossary. There are no parenthetical or footnoted explanations. What is worse is that the author makes almost no attempt to state clearly just what he is talking about. For example, he spends much time stating, and describing in mind-numbing analytical detail, the technical differences between Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew, and modern Israeli Hebrew. But he never once gives an example of how a typical sentence would read in Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew and Israeli Hebrew. The same is true of his comparisons between early Hebrew and cognate Semitic languages. The reader is left bereft of simple, helpful statements. The book is best left to the linguist. Laymen avoid!
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism > Regional > Middle Eastern
- Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference > Instruction > African
- Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference > Instruction > Hebrew
- Books > Education & Reference > Spanish-Language Reference
- Books > Education & Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Linguistics
- Books > Education & Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Study & Teaching
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Foreign Languages
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Linguistics
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Reference
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Applied
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
