Dictionary:
He·brew (hē'brū)  |
[Middle English Ebreu, from Old French, from Latin Hebraeus, Hebraic, from Greek Hebraios, from Aramaic 'ibrāy, from Hebrew 'ibrî.]
Hebrew He'brew adj.| Columbia Encyclopedia: Hebrews |
Bibliography
See studies by F. F. Bruce (rev. ed. 1988) and W. L. Lane (1991).
| Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: Hebrew |
Major official language of the State of Israel.
Hebrew is the national language of the Jewish population of Israel (about 5 million) and the mother tongue of Jews born in the country. For world Jewry (about 14 million) it is the traditional liturgical language and a link to daily life in contemporary Israel.
Hebrew is the original language of the Bible. It has played a central role in the cultural history of the Jewish people for the past three millennia, and has had an important impact on Western culture. Ancient Hebrew names such as Jacob, Joseph, Sarah, and Mary, and old Hebrew words or concepts such as "amen," "hallelujah," "hosanna," "Sabbath," and "Messiah" have survived, resisting translation in many languages and cultures.
Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of the Northwestern Semitic or Afro - Asiatic family of languages. During its long history (which follows the historical course of the Jewish people), it has undergone diverse changes and has developed several different layers, from biblical Hebrew to modern Israeli Hebrew.
Biblical Hebrew (BH) is believed to have crystallized over 3,000 years ago, when the Israelite tribes coalesced into a homogeneous political unit under the monarchy in Jerusalem (eleventh - tenth centuries B.C.E.). It emerged as a fully formed literary language whose poetic grandeur is attested by the oldest portions of the Bible, written about that time.
In its early, classical form BH functioned as a living language until the end of the First Temple Period (586 B.C.E.). Due to its prestigious status as the language of the early books of the Bible, it survived as a literary language until the second century B.C.E., as seen in the late books of the Bible, in the Apocrypha, and in the Dead Sea Scrolls. BH was employed centuries later, mainly by the Hebrew poets of medieval Spain (eleventh to thirteenth centuries) and the writers of the Jewish Enlightenment movement in Eastern Europe (late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). Most important, because praying and reciting the Bible in the original Hebrew have always been central to synagogue worship, contact with BH has never ceased. The preservation throughout the ages of the morphological structure of BH accounts for the relative uniformity in the various historical layers of the language.
The Second Temple Period (516 B.C.E. - 70 C.E.) saw the beginning of Jewish bilingualism. Aramaic, another Northwestern Semitic language, closely akin to Hebrew and a lingua franca in the ancient Middle East, became the second language of the Jewish people. The contact between BH and Aramaic (and, to a certain degree, Greek and Latin) gradually resulted in an enriched and quite different kind of spoken Hebrew with a literary counterpart, known as Rabbinic Hebrew (RH). A change in script occurred at that time, the ancient Canaanite alphabet of BH being replaced by the Assyrian square script used in Aramaic.
Well adapted to deal with everyday practical matters, RH was employed in writing down the Mishna (the oral law, 220 C.E.), and for several hundred years it continued to be used together with Aramaic in the Rabbinic literature (the Talmud and the
Midrash). Its role as a spoken language, however, declined at the end of the second century C.E., following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Judaean state by the Romans (70 C.E.).
For the following 1,700 years, Hebrew fell into disuse as a spoken language in daily use because the diaspora Jews used the vernaculars of their host countries for communication. Nevertheless, Hebrew was by no means a dead language. In their dispersed communities the Jewish people continued to use it as their written language in their liturgical, scholarly, literary, and even practical activities. Writing and copying were greatly aided in the Middle Ages by the introduction of the Rashi script (which survives among Middle Eastern Jews). In addition to the vast, multifaceted religious and secular literature written in Hebrew at that period, hundreds of books were translated into Hebrew, primarily from Arabic and Latin. Each of these literary activities contributed to the growth of the language by enriching its vocabulary and by introducing new syntactic patterns. At the same time, many Hebrew words and expressions were incorporated into the Jewish languages that developed alongside the vernaculars, such as Judeo - Arabic, Judeo - Spanish, and Yiddish.
The search for a new Hebrew idiom, suitable for a realistic literary expression in the modern era, followed the revival of Hebrew culture by the Jewish Enlightment Movement. Mendele Mokher Seforim (1835 - 1917) is considered the first modern writer who integrated in his style varied elements from all the periods of Hebrew as well as from Yiddish. His work contributed to the transformation of Hebrew into a flexible modern literary vehicle and helped pave the way for the rise of modern Hebrew literature.
The renaissance of Hebrew as a spoken language in the twentieth century was closely linked to the national revival of the Jewish people in their forefathers' land. Hebrew was revived thanks to the efforts of a small group of devoted people, led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1857 - 1922), who in 1881 settled in Jerusalem and pioneered Hebrew usage at home and in school. He published a Hebrew periodical, promoted the coining of new words, and cofounded the Language Committee (1890 - 1953), which began dealing with language planning issues and set normative measures. Above all, Ben-Yehuda compiled several volumes of the first modern dictionary of ancient and modern Hebrew.
Ben-Yehuda's work gained increasing support from the waves of Jewish immigrants and refugees returning to Zion. When the state of Israel was proclaimed in 1948, Hebrew was a functioning modern language, fully established as the living language of the growing Jewish community in the country. Supervision of its continuous growth was assigned in 1953 to the Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem.
Since the first days of its rebirth, thousands of new words have been created in Hebrew from its own roots and many of its ancient words have been given new meanings. Influence from other languages on vocabulary and syntax may be discerned as well. Encompassing all areas of life and gaining ever greater flexibility, Hebrew has become the dynamic, vibrant language of modern Israel.
Bibliography
Saenz-Badillos, Angel. The History of the Hebrew Language, translated by John Elwolde. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Waldman, Nahum. The Recent Study of Hebrew. Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press, 1989.
— RUTH RAPHAELI
| Bible Dictionary: Hebrews |
The descendants of Abraham and Isaac, especially the descendants of Isaac's son Jacob; the Israelites.
| Devil's Dictionary: hebrew |
n.
A male Jew, as distinguished from the Shebrew, an altogether superior creation.
| Wikipedia: Hebrews |
Hebrews (or Hebertes, Eberites, Hebreians; Hebrew: עברים or עבריים, Standard ʿIvrim, ʿIvriyyim Tiberian ʿIḇrîm, ʿIḇriyyîm, "traverse or pass over") are an ancient people defined as descendants of the prophet Eber, son of Shelah.
In the Bible, the patriarch Abraham is referred to a single time as the ivri, which is the singular form of the Hebrew-language word for Hebrew (plural ivrim, or ibrim). But the term Hebrew almost always occurs in the Hebrew Bible (Tenach, or to Christians, the Old Testament) as a name given to the Israelites by other peoples, rather than one used by themselves. For that matter, the origins of the term Hebrew itself are uncertain. It could be derived from the word eber, or ever, a Hebrew word meaning the “other side” and conceivably referring again to Abraham, who crossed into the land of Canaan from the “other side” of the Euphrates or Jordan rivers.
Some authors believe Hebrew/Ibri denotes the descendents of the biblical patriarch Eber (Hebrew עבר), a great grandson of Noah and an ancestor of Abraham[1], though the term has not been found in biblical or extra-biblical sources for any tribe or nation other than Abraham and his descendents.[2] Note however that Abraham is once referred to as "Abram the Hebrew" (Genesis 14:13).
Hebrews are known as the ancestors of the Israelites, who used the Hebrew language. Israelites were the writers of the Hebrew Bible. They are also the theological and historical ancestors of the Jews. In the Bible and in current language, the word Hebrews is often used as a synonym for Israelites, and sometimes for the users of the Hebrew language (Jews and Israelis).
Contents |
From Middle English Ebreu < Old French Ebreu < Latin Hebraeus or Hebraic < Ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος < Aramaic עברי ('ibrāy) < Hebrew עברי (ʿIḇrî), meaning to traverse or pass over. The origins of the term remains uncertain.[3]
Israelites are defined as the descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Eber, an ancestor of Jacob (6 generations removed), is a distant ancestor of many people, including the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Ammonites, Midianites, Qahtanite, and Moabites. Among historical scholars, there is some disagreement about the relationship between the Hebrews and Israelites.
The terms "Hebrews" and "Israelites" usually describe the same people, called Hebrews before the conquest of the Land of Canaan and Israelites afterwards.[4][5] Occasionally, "Hebrews" is used to designate the Jews, who use the Hebrew language.[6] The Epistle to the Hebrews was probably written for Jewish Christians.[7]
In some modern languages, including Greek, Italian, Romanian and many Slavic languages, the name Hebrews survives as the standard ethnonym for Jews, but in many other languages in which there exist both terms, it is considered derogatory to call modern Jews "Hebrews."
The term "Jew" describes all followers of the Jewish faith. The word comes from the Latin Iudaeus meaning "from the Iudaea Province". The Latin was derived from Hebrew: יְהוּדִי, Yehudi which sometimes refer to the members of the Biblical tribe of Judah but, most often, refers to the people of the kingdom of Judah.
Within the area known as the Land of Israel and prior to the establishment of the Israelite civilization, the Land of Israel was politically dominated by Phoenician, Philistines, and Canaanite tribes. There is a modern debate to the degree that the biblical account of a mass emigration to the Land of Israel is accurate or whether, as some archaeologists believe, that the Israelites simply arose as a subculture within Canaanite society[citation needed]. The Hebrews lived within the Land of Israel by at least the 2nd millennium BCE and in addition to speaking Hebrew also spoke Canaanite languages and dialects, which played a role in the Hebrew languages. The extent of the distinction between the culture of the Canaanites and the Hebrews is a matter of great debate, touching as it does on strong religious sensibilities. It has been argued that the Israelites were themselves Canaanites, and that "historical Israel", as distinct from "literary" or "Biblical Israel" was a subset of Canaanite culture. It is also known that Israelites and later the subdivision of Israelites known as the Judeans spoke Hebrew as their main language and it is still used in Jewish holy scriptures, study, speech and prayer. Since the late 19th century, Hebrew has undergone a secular revival, to become the primary everyday language of Jews in Israel and became one of the official languages of the State (the other being Arabic).
Some argue that the name “Hebrew” is related to the seminomadic Habiru people, who are recorded in Egyptian inscriptions of the 13th and 12th centuries BC as having settled in Egypt.[8] This is rebutted by others who propose that the Hebrews are mentioned in these Egyptian texts as Shasu. [9]
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| Translations: Hebrew |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - hebræer
adj. - hebraisk
idioms:
Nederlands (Dutch)
Hebreeuws, Hebreeër, jood
Français (French)
n. - Hébreu, Israélite, (Ling) hébreu
adj. - hébreu, hébraïque
idioms:
Deutsch (German)
n. - Hebräisch, Hebräer
adj. - hebräisch
idioms:
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - Εβραίος, εβραϊκή (γλώσσα)
idioms:
Italiano (Italian)
ebraico, ebreo
idioms:
Português (Portuguese)
n. - hebreu (m)
idioms:
Русский (Russian)
еврей, иврит, еврейский
idioms:
Español (Spanish)
n. - hebreo, judío
adj. - hebreo, judío
idioms:
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hebré, jude, hebreiska (språket)
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
希伯来人, 犹太人, 希伯来语, 希伯来人的, 希伯来语的
idioms:
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 希伯來人, 猶太人, 希伯來語
adj. - 希伯來人的, 希伯來語的
idioms:
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 히브리 사람, 히브리어, 알지 못할 말, 히브리서
adj. - 히브리 사람의, 헤브리 말의
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - ヘブライ人の, ユダヤ人の, ヘブライ語の
n. - ヘブライ人, ユダヤ人, ヘブル書, ヘブライ語, わからない言語, イスラエル人
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) اليهودي, اللغه العبرانيه
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - יהודי, עברי, עברית
adj. - יהודי, עברי
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Bible Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Devil's Dictionary. Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1911 Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hebrews". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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