When did Hebrew originate?

Answer 1

Hebrew is very old. the spoken language is believed to be much older than The Bible.

Hebrew is estimated to have been spoken for at least 12,000 years, possibly longer. Hebrew is a dialect of Old Canaanite, which goes back even further.

Written Hebrew only goes back as far as about 3300 years or so.

Answer 2

Hebrew is as old as the planet. According to Jewish tradition, the world was created by G-d using Hebrew and the first people (Adam, Eve and their descendants) spoke Hebrew. That would be 5768 years ago.

Answer 3

A a man named Abraham. Actually, his original name was Abram. He worked with his father in an idol shop. He did not believe in worshiping idols, so he trashed the shop when his father was gone and started his own religion, which believed in one all powerful G-d.

Answer 4

The Hebrews predate recorded history by thousands of years. It's estimated that Hebrew tribes have been around for more than 10,000 years.

• Answer:

The Torah places the Flood in 2104 BCE. The ancient Hebrews, descended from Shem (Genesis ch.11), lived in Northern Mesopotamia in the centuries following the Flood.
Jewish tradition and scripture hold that Abraham was the first Hebrew to recognize the existence of one God over all others. He lived in Israel, about 2000 BCE. Prior to Abraham, there is no information about the Hebrews, either in literature or Archaeology.

Answer 5

According to the tradition, God created the world with the Hebrew language. Its ancient name was simply Lashon Hakodesh (the holy tongue); and it was later described as Hebrew because the descendants of Ever (Genesis ch. 11) spoke it. The earliest surviving Hebrew inscriptions (found so far) date to 3000 years ago.

Answer 6

In terms of family lineage, the Hebrews began with Eber, an ancestor of Abraham (Genesis ch.10 and 11). But in terms of what we call Hebrew or Jewish belief, our tradition is that Abraham was its founder, 3800 years ago, since his family (and everyone else) had strayed into idolatry. He was the one who taught belief in One God (Genesis 24:3).

Answer 7

Our years are dated from the Creation. The calendar we use today was codified in the year 360 CE, based on Jewish tradition going back at least another 2,000 years.
According to tradition the Jewish calendar begins at the creation. Before there were Israelites, the righteous scholars such as Metushelach (Genesis ch.5), Noah and Shem (Genesis ch.5 and 6) kept records of the generations and years. That is the meaning of the "book" mentioned in Genesis ch.5 which later was included in the Torah by God. The forefathers (Abraham and his family) kept the Jewish calendar and its festivals voluntarily (Talmud, Yoma 28b). Later (when the Torah was given, in 1312 BCE), their descendants were commanded to observe and maintain the Jewish year and reckoning (see Leviticus ch.23).

Answer 8

Jewish tradition states that the Hebrew language was directly from God. It was the language with which He created the world (Rashi commentary, Genesis 2:23, quoting the midrash); and it is the language in which He spoke on Mount Sinai.
Since it is a holy language and is used for prayer and the teaching of religious tradition, it was not spoken in mundane contexts and wasn't taught to just anyone. It was handed down from individual teachers to disciples as part of the original tradition; and the same goes for the art of writing (letters on parchment, as opposed to cuneiform or hieroglyphics). Thus, certain Hebrew Psalms (92 and 139) and teachings are attributed to Adam, the first man. The wider public, most of whom descended relatively quickly into idolatry and sin, were not given access to the treasures of the original tradition, since by their actions they implicitly repudiated it.
After the Flood, the Hebrew language had a brief period in which it was generally known, thanks to Noah (see Rashi commentary on Genesis 11:1). This is why many hundreds of Hebrew words have cognates in languages as diverse as German and Japanese. The alphabet, which secular scholars trace back to the Greeks (Alpha, Beta) and from there to the Phoenicians, is according to our tradition actually one step older than that: it is a variant of the Hebrew aleph-bet, which those of the Phoenicians and Greeks closely mimic. The earliest known Greek inscription (the Dipylon) was written from right to left.

After the Flood also, the knowledge of Hebrew eventually declined (see Genesis ch.11) and was preserved only among the Western Semites, the ancestors and cousins of Abraham. Eber, from whom our word "Hebrew" (Ivrit) is named, was a Semitic descendant of Noah and ancestor of Abraham. He was one of the major transmitters of the original traditions. He is credited with having broadened the Hebrew language, and some Hebrew grammatical constructs are attributed to him by certain Jewish researchers.

As time passes, languages grow and adapt. Thus today we can identify many Hebrew words and types of usage that go all the way back (these are the ones that are most likely to be found in the Hebrew Bible and to have cognates in other languages). And then there are Late Biblical Hebrew; the Hebrew of the Mishna; Medieval Hebrew, and so on. All of these have a broad overlap, but each has introduced its added vocabulary-words and usages.

Today, Torah-Hebrew includes some words that were borrowed from the Persian, some words taken from ancient Greece, Aramaic words, etc.

Note that Hebrew never died out among the Jewish people, since it has always been used in Rabbinical writings and in the prayer-services and daily blessings.

Answer 9

According to tradition the Jewish calendar begins at the creation. Before there were Israelites, the righteous scholars such as Metushelach (Genesis ch.5), Noah and Shem (Genesis ch.5 and 6) kept records of the generations and years. That is the meaning of the "book" mentioned in Genesis ch.5 which later was included in the Torah by God. The forefathers (Abraham and his family) kept the Jewish calendar and its festivals voluntarily (Talmud, Yoma 28b). Later (when the Torah was given, in 1312 BCE), their descendants were commanded to observe and maintain the Jewish year and reckoning (see Leviticus ch.23).

Answer 10

Jewish tradition and scripture hold that Abraham was the first Hebrew to recognize the existence of one God over all others. He lived in Israel, about 2000 BCE. Prior to Abraham, there is no information about the Hebrews, either in literature or Archaeology.