View source for Hebrew language

{{Short description|Northwest Semitic language}}
{{Redirect|Hebrew|the revived version of the language as it is spoken in Israel|Modern Hebrew|the Biblical people|Hebrews|other uses|Hebrew (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
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{{Infobox language
| name             = Hebrew
| nativename       = {{Script/Hebrew|עִבְרִית}}, {{transliteration|he|Ivrit}}
| pronunciation    = [[Modern Hebrew|Modern]]: {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ivˈʁit]}}}}{{refn|group=note|[[Sephardi Hebrew|Sephardi]]: {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ʕivˈɾit]}}}}; [[Judeo-Iraqi Arabic|Iraqi]]: {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ʕibˈriːθ]}}}}; [[Yemenite Hebrew|Yemenite]]: {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ʕivˈriːθ]}}}}; [[Ashkenazi Hebrew language|Ashkenazi]]: {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ivˈʀis]}}}} or {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ivˈris]}}}}, strict pronunciation {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ʔivˈris]}}}} or {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ʔivˈʀis]}}}}.}}<br/>[[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian]]: {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ʕivˈriθ]}}}}<br/>[[Biblical Hebrew|Biblical]]: {{IPA|{{nowrap|[ʕibˈrit]}}}}
| states           = [[Israel]]
| region           = [[Southern Levant]]
| speakers         = 20 million{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}
| extinct          = [[Mishnaic Hebrew]] extinct as a [[first language|spoken language]] by the 5th century CE, surviving as a [[liturgical language]] along with [[Biblical Hebrew]] for [[Judaism]]<ref name=ASB>Sáenz-Badillos (1993)</ref><ref>H. S. Nyberg 1952. ''Hebreisk Grammatik''. s. 2. Reprinted in Sweden by Universitetstryckeriet, Uppsala, 2006.</ref>
| revived          = [[Revival of the Hebrew language|Revived in the late 19th century CE]]. {{sigfig|9|1}} million speakers of [[Modern Hebrew]], of which 5 million are native speakers and 3.3 million are second language speakers (2018)<ref name=eth>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/heb | title=Hebrew | website=Ethnologue | access-date=4 April 2018 | archive-date=14 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514202425/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/heb | url-status=live }}</ref>
| ref              = e19
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
| fam3             = [[West Semitic languages|West]]
| fam4             = [[Central Semitic languages|Central]]
| fam5             = [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest]]
| fam6             = [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]]
| fam7             = [[Canaanite languages#South Canaan|South]]
| ancestor         = [[Biblical Hebrew]]
| ancestor2        = [[Mishnaic Hebrew]]
| ancestor3        = [[Medieval Hebrew]]
| stand1           = [[Modern Hebrew|Modern]]
| stand2           = [[Samaritan Hebrew|Samaritan]]
| script           = [[Hebrew alphabet]]<br />[[Hebrew Braille]]<br />[[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]] ([[Archaic Biblical Hebrew]])<br />[[Imperial Aramaic script]] ([[Late Biblical Hebrew]]) <br />[[Samaritan script]] ([[Samaritan Pentateuch|Samaritan Biblical Hebrew]])
| nation           = [[Israel]] (as [[Modern Hebrew]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Basic Law: Israel – the Nation State of the Jewish People |url=https://knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/BasicLawNationState.pdf |website=The Knesset |publisher=The State of Israel |access-date=31 August 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410191721/http://knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basiclawnationstate.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| agency           = [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]]<br />{{Script/Hebrew|האקדמיה ללשון העברית}} ({{transliteration|he|ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ʿivrit}})
| dia1             = [[Israelian Hebrew|Israelian]] {{Extinct}}
| iso1             = he
| iso2             = heb
| iso2b            = 
| iso2t            = 
| iso3             = 
| iso3comment      = 
| lc1              = heb
| ld1              = [[Modern Hebrew]]
| lc2              = hbo
| ld2              = [[Biblical Hebrew|Classical Hebrew]] (liturgical)
| lc3              = smp
| ld3              = [[Samaritan Hebrew]] (liturgical)
| lc4              = obm
| ld4              = [[Moabite language|Moabite]] (extinct)
| lc5              = xdm
| ld5              = [[Edomite language|Edomite]] (extinct)
| iso6             = 
| lingua           = 12-AAB-a
| image            = 1 QIsa example of damage col 12-13.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| imagecaption     = Portion of the [[Isaiah Scroll]], a second-century BCE manuscript of the [[Hebrew Bible|Biblical]] [[Book of Isaiah]] and one of the best-preserved of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]]
| imageheader      = 
| map              = 
| mapcaption       = 
| map2             = 
| mapcaption2      = 
| notice           = IPA
| sign             = [[Signed Hebrew]] (oral Hebrew accompanied by sign)<ref>{{cite book|first1=Irit|last1=Meir|first2=Wendy|last2=Sandler|year=2013|title=A Language in Space: The Story of Israeli Sign Language}}</ref>
| glotto           = hebr1246
| glottoname       = 
| glottorefname    = Hebrewic
| minority         = {{plainlist|
[[Poland]]<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=http://www.efnil.org/documents/conference-publications/dublin-2009/16-Dublin-Pisarek-Mother.pdf |title=The relationship between official and minority languages in Poland |last=Pisarek |first=Walery |publisher=European Federation of National Institutions for Language |access-date=7 November 2017 |archive-date=14 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214104352/http://www.efnil.org/documents/conference-publications/dublin-2009/16-Dublin-Pisarek-Mother.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[South Africa]]<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 – Chapter 1: Founding Provisions {{!}} South African Government|url=https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-1-founding-provisions|access-date=2020-08-29|website=www.gov.za|archive-date=18 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518042037/https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-1-founding-provisions|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Turkey]]{{refn|<ref name=Yağmur2001>{{Citation |last=Yağmur |first=Kutlay |title=Turkish and other languages in Turkey |date=2001 |url=https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/turkish-and-other-languages-in-turkey |work=The Other Languages of Europe |pages=407–427 |editor-last=Extra |editor-first=G. |access-date=2023-10-06 |place=Clevedon |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-85359-510-3 |editor2-last=Gorter |editor2-first=D. |quote="Mother tongue" education is mostly limited to Turkish teaching in Turkey. No other language can be taught as a mother tongue other than Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew, as agreed in the Lausanne Treaty [...] Like Jews and Greeks, Armenians enjoy the privilege of an officially recognized minority status. [...] No language other than Turkish can be taught at schools or at cultural centers. Only Armenian, Greek, and Hebrew are exceptions to this constitutional rule. |archive-date=20 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020210255/https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/turkish-and-other-languages-in-turkey |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Zetler2014>{{cite journal|first=Reyhan|last=Zetler|url=https://www.sagw.ch/fileadmin/redaktion_judaistik/dokumente/Judaistik/2014/III.%20R.%20Zetler%20-%20Bulletin%20SGJF%20Nr.%2023%20%282014%29.pdf|title=Turkish Jews between 1923 and 1933 – What Did the Turkish Policy between 1923 and 1933 Mean for the Turkish Jews?|journal=Bulletin der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Judaistische Forschung|issue=23|oclc=865002828|page=26|year=2014|access-date=12 October 2023|archive-date=15 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015161403/https://www.sagw.ch/fileadmin/redaktion_judaistik/dokumente/Judaistik/2014/III.%20R.%20Zetler%20-%20Bulletin%20SGJF%20Nr.%2023%20(2014).pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Toktaş2006>{{Cite journal |last=Toktaş |first=Şule |date=2006 |title=EU enlargement conditions and minority protection : a reflection on Turkey's non-Muslim minorities |url=https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/42732 |journal=East European Quarterly |language=en |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=489–519 |issn=0012-8449 |quote-page=514 |quote=This implies that Turkey grants educational right in minority languages only to the recognized minorities covered by the Lausanne who are the Armenians, Greeks and the Jews. |access-date=12 October 2023 |archive-date=11 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011082909/https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/42732 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Bayır2013>{{Cite book |last=Bayır |first=Derya |title=Minorities and nationalism in Turkish law |date=2013 |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4094-7254-4 |series=Cultural Diversity and Law |location=Farnham |url=https://www.academia.edu/37557239 |pages=89–90 |quote=Oran farther points out that the rights set out for the four categories are stated to be the ‘fundamental law’ of the land, so that no legislation or official action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations or prevail over them (article 37). [...] According to the Turkish state, only Greek, Armenian and Jewish non-Muslims were granted minority protection by the Lausanne Treaty. [...] Except for non-Muslim populations - that is, Greeks, Jews and Armenians - none of the other minority groups’ language rights have been ''de jure'' protected by the legal system in Turkey. |access-date=12 October 2023 |archive-date=14 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014083317/https://www.academia.edu/37557239/DERYA_BAYIR_MINORITIES_AND_NATIONALISM_IN_TURKISH_LAW |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=HRWLanguageRights>{{cite book |title = Questions and Answers: Freedom of Expression and Language Rights in Turkey |publisher = Human Rights Watch |date = April 2002 |location = New York |url = https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/04/19/qa-freedom-expression-and-language-rights-turkey |quote = The Turkish government accepts the language rights of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian minorities as being guaranteed by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. |access-date = 12 October 2023 |archive-date = 20 October 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231020130644/https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/04/19/qa-freedom-expression-and-language-rights-turkey |url-status = live }}</ref>}}}}
}}
[[File:המילה עברית בכתב ובכתב העברי הקדום.jpg|thumb|The word ''Ivrit'' ("Hebrew") written in the modern Hebrew [[Writing system|script]] (top) and in the [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]] (bottom)]]

'''Hebrew'''{{refn|group=note|{{Text|[[Hebrew alphabet]]: {{Script/Hebrew|עִבְרִית}}, {{transliteration|he|[[romanization of Hebrew|ʿĪvrīt]]}}, {{IPA|he|{{nowrap|ʔivˈʁit}}|pron|he-Ivrit-2.ogg}} <small>or</small> {{IPA|he|{{nowrap|ʕivˈrit}}||Ivrit3.ogg}}}}; {{Text|[[Samaritan script]]: {{Lang|he|{{Script/Samaritan|ࠏࠨࠁࠬࠓࠪࠉࠕ}}|rtl=yes}}}} ''ʿÎbrit''}} is a [[Northwest Semitic language]] within the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic language family]]. A regional dialect of the [[Canaanite languages]], it was natively spoken by the [[Israelites]] and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the [[Sacred language|liturgical language]] of [[Judaism]] (since the [[Second Temple period]]) and [[Samaritanism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chomsky |first=William |title=Hebrew: The Eternal Language |publisher=The Jewish Publication Society of America |year=1957 |location=Philadelphia |pages=1–13 |language=en}}</ref> The language was [[Revival of the Hebrew language|revived as a spoken language]] in the 19th century, and is the only successful large-scale example of [[Language revitalization|linguistic revival]]. It is the only Canaanite language, as well as one of only two Northwest Semitic languages, with the other being [[Aramaic]], still spoken today.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Grenoble|first1=Leonore A.|last2=Whaley|first2=Lindsay J.|title=Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-0-521-01652-0|page=63|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vavj5-hdDgQC&pg=PA63|quote=Hebrew is cited by Paulston et al. (1993:276) as 'the only true example of language revival.'|access-date=28 March 2017|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152859/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vavj5-hdDgQC&pg=PA63|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Fesperman|first1=Dan|title=Once 'dead' language brings Israel to life Hebrew: After 1,700 years, a revived language becomes a common thread knitting together a nation of immigrants with little in common except religion|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1998/04/26/once-dead-language-brings-israel-to-life-hebrew-after-1700-years-a-revived-language-becomes-a-common-thread-knitting-together-a-nation-of-immigrants-with-little-in-common-except-religion/|access-date=28 March 2017|work=The Baltimore Sun|agency=Sun Foreign Staff|date=26 April 1998|archive-date=29 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329141226/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-04-26/news/1998116050_1_read-hebrew-hebrew-and-arabic-german|url-status=live}}</ref>

The earliest examples of written [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]] date back to the 10th century BCE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.physorg.com/news182101034.html |title=Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered |publisher=Physorg.com |date=7 January 2010 |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127105129/http://www.physorg.com/news182101034.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Nearly all of the [[Hebrew Bible]] is written in [[Biblical Hebrew]], with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the [[Babylonian captivity]]. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as ''[[Lashon Hakodesh]]'' ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|לְשׁוֹן הַקֹּדֶש}}, {{Literal translation|the holy tongue|the tongue [of] holiness}}) since ancient times. The language was not referred to by the name ''Hebrew'' in the [[Bible]], but as ''Yehudit'' ({{Translation|'[[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Judean]]'}}) or ''Səpaṯ Kəna'an'' ({{Translation|"the language of [[Canaan]]"}}).<ref name=ASB/>{{refn|Later Hellenistic writers such as [[Josephus]] and the [[Gospel of John]] used the term ''Hebraisti'' to refer to both Hebrew and [[Aramaic]].<ref name=ASB/>|group="note"}} [[Gittin|Mishnah Gittin 9:8]] refers to the language as ''Ivrit'', meaning Hebrew; however, [[Megillah (Talmud)|Mishnah Megillah]] refers to the language as ''Ashurit'', meaning [[Assyria]]n, which is derived from the name of [[Ktav Ashuri|the alphabet used]], in contrast to ''Ivrit'', meaning the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.<ref>Hoffman, Joel M. In the Beginning : A Short History of the Hebrew Language. New York, New York University Press, 2006, p. 169.</ref>

Hebrew ceased to be a regular spoken language sometime between 200 and 400 CE, as it declined in the aftermath of the unsuccessful [[Bar Kokhba revolt]], which was carried out against the [[Roman Empire]] by the Jews of [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]].<ref>Sáenz-Badillos (1993), p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EZCgpaTgLm0C&pg=PA171 171] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152903/https://books.google.com/books?id=EZCgpaTgLm0C&pg=PA171 |date=8 April 2023 }}</ref><ref name=OxfordDictionaryChristianChurch />{{refn|name="Sáenz-BadillosRH"|Sáenz-Badillos, Ángel (1993): "There is general agreement that two main periods of RH (Rabbinical Hebrew) can be distinguished. The first, which lasted until the close of the Tannaitic era (around 200 CE), is characterized by RH as a spoken language gradually developing into a literary medium in which the Mishnah, Tosefta, ''baraitot'' and Tannaitic ''midrashim'' would be composed. The second stage begins with the ''[[Amoraim]]'' and sees RH being replaced by Aramaic as the spoken vernacular, surviving only as a literary language. Then it continued to be used in later rabbinic writings until the tenth century in, for example, the Hebrew portions of the two Talmuds and in midrashic and haggadic literature."<ref name=ASB170>Sáenz-Badillos (1993), p. 170–171</ref>|group="note"}} Aramaic and, to a lesser extent, [[Greek language|Greek]] were already in use as international languages, especially among societal elites and immigrants.<ref>"If you couldn't speak Greek by say the time of early Christianity you couldn't get a job. You wouldn't get a good job. A professional job. You had to know Greek in addition to your own language. And so you were getting to a point where Jews... the Jewish community in, say, Egypt and large cities like Alexandria didn't know Hebrew anymore, they only knew Greek. And so you need a Greek version in the synagogue." – Josheph Blankinsopp, Professor of Biblical Studies University of Notre Dame in A&E's ''Who Wrote the Bible''</ref> Hebrew survived into the [[Middle Ages|medieval period]] as the language of [[Jewish liturgy]], [[rabbinic literature]], intra-Jewish commerce, and [[Jewish literature#Poetry|Jewish poetic literature]]. The first dated book printed in Hebrew was published by [[Abraham Garton]] in [[Reggio Calabria|Reggio]] ([[Calabria]], Italy) in 1475.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/abraham-ben-isaac-ben-garton |website=Encyclopedia.com |title=Abraham Ben Isaac Ben Garton|access-date=27 October 2022|archive-date=27 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027042028/https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/abraham-ben-isaac-ben-garton|url-status=live}}</ref> With the rise of [[Zionism]] in the 19th century, the Hebrew language [[Revival of the Hebrew language|experienced a full-scale revival]] as a spoken and literary language. The creation of a modern version of the ancient language was led by [[Eliezer Ben-Yehuda]]. [[Modern Hebrew]] (''Ivrit'') became the main language of the [[Yishuv]] in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], and subsequently the [[official language]] of the [[Israel|State of Israel]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2018-08-14 |title=Arabic Downgraded in Israel |url=https://www.languagemagazine.com/2018/08/14/arabic-downgraded-in-israel/ |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=Language Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Holmes |first1=Oliver |last2=Balousha |first2=Hazem |date=2018-07-19 |title='One more racist law': reactions as Israel axes Arabic as official language |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/19/one-more-racist-law-reactions-as-israel-axes-arabic-as-official-language |access-date=2024-08-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Estimates of worldwide usage include five million speakers in 1998,<ref name=eth/> and over nine million people in 2013.<ref name=bhol>{{cite web |title= 'Kometz Aleph&nbsp;– Au': How many Hebrew speakers are there in the world? |agency= Nachman Gur for Behadrey Haredim |url= http://www.bhol.co.il/article_en.aspx?id=52405 |access-date=2 November 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131104025104/http://www.bhol.co.il/article_en.aspx?id=52405 |archive-date=4 November 2013 |url-status= dead}}</ref> After Israel, the [[United States]] has the largest Hebrew-speaking population, with approximately 220,000 fluent speakers (see [[Israeli Americans]] and [[American Jews|Jewish Americans]]).<ref name=2009survey>{{Citation|url=https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population/ancestry_language_spoken_at_home.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225193634/http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population/ancestry_language_spoken_at_home.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 December 2007 |title=Table 53. Languages Spoken at Home by Language: 2009 |work=The 2012 Statistical Abstract |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=27 December 2011}}</ref> Pre-revival forms of Hebrew are used for prayer or study in Jewish and Samaritan communities around the world today; the latter group utilizes the [[Samaritan Hebrew|Samaritan dialect]] as their liturgical tongue. As a non-[[first language]], it is studied mostly by non-Israeli Jews and students in Israel, by [[Archaeology of Israel|archaeologists]] and [[Linguistics|linguists]] specializing in the [[Middle East]] and [[History of the Middle East|its civilizations]], and by theologians in [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Seminary|seminaries]].

==Etymology==
The modern [[English language|English]] word "Hebrew" is derived from [[Old French]] {{Lang|ang|Ebrau}}, via [[Latin]] from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{Lang|grc|Ἑβραῖος|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc-latn|hebraîos}}) and [[Aramaic]] ''<nowiki/>'ibrāy'', all ultimately derived from [[Biblical Hebrew]] {{Lang|hbo-latn|Ivri}} ({{lang|hbo|עברי}}), one of several names for the [[Israelites|Israelite]] ([[Jews|Jewish]] and [[Samaritans|Samaritan]]) people, or the [[Hebrews]]. It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of [[Abraham]]'s ancestor, [[Eber]], mentioned in {{bibleverse|Genesis|10:21}}. The name is believed to be based on the [[Semitic root]] ''ʕ-b-r'' ({{Script/Hebrew|ע־ב־ר}}), meaning "beyond", "other side", "across";<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://biblehub.com/hebrew/5676.htm|title=Strong's Hebrew: 5676. עֵ֫בֶר (eber) – region across or beyond, side|website=biblehub.com|access-date=25 March 2018|archive-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417133208/http://biblehub.com/hebrew/5676.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> interpretations of the term "Hebrew" generally render its meaning as roughly "from the other side [of the river/desert]"—i.e., an [[Exonym and endonym|exonym]] for the inhabitants of the land of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Israel and Judah]], perhaps from the perspective of [[Mesopotamia]], [[Phoenicia]] or [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]] (with the river referred to being perhaps the [[Euphrates]], [[Jordan River|Jordan]] or [[Litani River|Litani]]; or maybe the northern [[Arabian Desert]] between [[Babylonia]] and [[Canaan]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=12606 |title=הספריה של מט"ח |publisher=Lib.cet.ac.il |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-date=2 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502104627/http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=12606 |url-status=live }}</ref> Compare the word ''[[Habiru]]'' or cognate [[Akkadian language|Assyrian]] ''ebru'', of identical meaning.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uycYAAAAYAAJ&q=assyrian+ebru&pg=PA9|title=A Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Languages|last=Muss-Arnolt|first=William|date=1905|publisher=Reuther & Reichard|pages=9|language=en|access-date=10 June 2021|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152916/https://books.google.com/books?id=uycYAAAAYAAJ&q=assyrian+ebru&pg=PA9|url-status=live}}</ref>

One of the earliest references to the language's name as "''Ivrit''" is found in the prologue to the [[Book of Sirach]],{{refn|group=note|https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/septuagint/chapter.asp?book=30|See original text}}{{clarify|reason=The link to ellopos a) isn't showing, and b) doesn't seem to be working.|date=September 2021}} from the 2nd century BCE.<ref name=Xeravits>{{cite book|author1=Géza Xeravits|author2=József Zsengellér|title=Studies in the Book of Ben Sira: Papers of the Third International Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books, Shime'on Centre, Pápa, Hungary, 18–20 May, 2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y042aO03HLUC&pg=PA43|date=25 June 2008|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-16906-7|pages=43–}}</ref> The Hebrew Bible does not use the term "Hebrew" in reference to the language of the Hebrew people;<ref>Barton, John, ed. (2004) [2002]. ''The Biblical World''. 2. Taylor & Francis. p. 7.</ref> its later historiography, in the [[Books of Kings|Book of Kings]], refers to it as {{lang|he|יְהוּדִית}} ''Yehudit'' "[[Tribe of Judah|Judahite]] (language)".<ref>Kings II 18:26.</ref>

==History==
Hebrew belongs to the [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite group of languages]]. Canaanite languages are a branch of the [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]] family of languages.<ref>Ross, Allen P. ''Introducing Biblical Hebrew'', Baker Academic, 2001.</ref>

Hebrew was the spoken language in the Iron Age kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] during the period from about 1200 to 586 BCE.<ref>
אברהם בן יוסף ,מבוא לתולדות הלשון העברית (Avraham ben-Yosef, Introduction to the History of the Hebrew Language), page 38, אור-עם, Tel-Aviv, 1981.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Citation |title=Constructing Jewish Nationalism: The Hebrew Language |date=2006 |work=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |pages=50–51 |editor-last=Goodblatt |editor-first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/constructing-jewish-nationalism-the-hebrew-language/99AF61E0AE06DD38702A610D002393EB |access-date=2024-10-08 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067.004 |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Epigraphic evidence from this period confirms the widely accepted view that the earlier layers of biblical literature reflect the language used in these kingdoms.<ref name=":0" /> Furthermore, the content of Hebrew inscriptions suggests that the written texts closely mirror the spoken language of that time.<ref name=":0" />

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 extinct as a colloquial language by [[late antiquity]], but it continued to be used as a literary language, especially in Spain, as the language of commerce between Jews of different native languages, and as the liturgical language of Judaism, evolving various dialects of literary [[Medieval Hebrew]], until its [[Revival of the Hebrew language|revival as a spoken language]] in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Share |first1=David L. |year=2017 |chapter=Learning to Read Hebrew |editor1-last=Verhoeven |editor1-first=Ludo |editor2-last=Perfetti |editor2-first=Charles |editor2-link=Charles Perfetti |title=Learning to Read Across Languages and Writing Systems |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-w0DwAAQBAJ&q=%22colloquial%20usage%20ceased%20for%20some%22&pg=PA156 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=156 |isbn=978-1-107-09588-5 |access-date=1 November 2017 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152917/https://books.google.com/books?id=t-w0DwAAQBAJ&q=%22colloquial%20usage%20ceased%20for%20some%22&pg=PA156 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fellman |first1=Jack |year=1973 |title=The Revival of a Classical Tongue: Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the Modern Hebrew Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eH_6deaHk8IC&q=%22hebrew%20died%20as%20a%20spoken%22&pg=PA12 |location=The Hague |publisher=Mouton |page=12 |isbn=978-90-279-2495-7 |access-date=1 November 2017 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152918/https://books.google.com/books?id=eH_6deaHk8IC&q=%22hebrew%20died%20as%20a%20spoken%22&pg=PA12 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Oldest Hebrew inscriptions===
{{Further|Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Ancient Hebrew writings}}
[[File:Silwan-inscr.jpg|thumb|The [[Royal Steward inscription|Shebna Inscription]], from the tomb of a royal steward found in [[Siloam]], dates to the 7th century BCE.]]
In May 2023, Scott Stripling published the finding of what he claims to be the oldest known Hebrew inscription, a [[Mount Ebal curse tablet|curse tablet found at Mount Ebal]], dated from around 3200 years ago. The presence of the Hebrew [[Names of God in Judaism|name of god]], Yahweh, as three letters, ''Yod-Heh-Vav'' (YHV), according to the author and his team meant that the tablet is Hebrew and not Canaanite.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1186/s40494-023-00920-9 | title="You are Cursed by the God YHW:" an early Hebrew inscription from Mt. Ebal | year=2023 | last1=Stripling | first1=Scott | last2=Galil | first2=Gershon | last3=Kumpova | first3=Ivana | last4=Valach | first4=Jaroslav | last5=Van Der Veen | first5=Pieter Gert | last6=Vavrik | first6=Daniel | journal=Heritage Science | volume=11 | s2cid=258620459 | doi-access=free |issn=2050-7445 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-743039 | title=Ancient tablet found on Mount Ebal predates known Hebrew inscriptions | date=14 May 2023 | access-date=9 June 2023 | archive-date=9 June 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609025909/https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-743039 | url-status=live }}</ref> However, practically all professional archeologists and epigraphers apart from Stripling's team claim that there is no text on this object.<ref>{{Citation |title=See For Yourself: Analyzing the Ebal "Inscription" {{!}} Bible & Archaeology | date=19 May 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Scp85Nlnk |access-date=2023-09-09 |language=en |archive-date=6 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006203532/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Scp85Nlnk |url-status=live }}</ref>

In July 2008, Israeli archaeologist [[Yosef Garfinkel|Yossi Garfinkel]] discovered [[Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon|a ceramic shard]] at [[Khirbet Qeiyafa]] that he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating from around 3,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=30 October 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7700037.stm |title='Oldest Hebrew script' is found |access-date=3 March 2010 |archive-date=24 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024053116/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7700037.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem|Hebrew University]] archaeologist [[Amihai Mazar]] said that the inscription was "proto-Canaanite" but cautioned that {{nowrap|"[t]he}} differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear", and suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/have-israeli-archaeologists-found-world-s-oldest-hebrew-inscription-1.256305 |title=Have Israeli Archaeologists Found World's Oldest Hebrew Inscription? |work=Haaretz |agency=AP |date=30 October 2008 |access-date=8 November 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806071612/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/have-israeli-archaeologists-found-world-s-oldest-hebrew-inscription-1.256305 |archive-date=6 August 2011 }}</ref>

The [[Gezer calendar]] also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the [[Monarchic period]], the traditional time of the reign of [[David]] and [[Solomon]]. Classified as [[Biblical Hebrew|Archaic Biblical Hebrew]], the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after [[Gezer|the city]] in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] one that, through the [[ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]], later became the [[Latin alphabet]] of [[ancient Rome]]. The Gezer calendar is written without any [[vowel]]s, and it does not use [[Mater lectionis|consonants to imply vowels]] even in the places in which later Hebrew spelling requires them.

Numerous older tablets have been found in the region with similar scripts written in other Semitic languages, for example, [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]]. It is believed that the original shapes of the script go back to [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], though the phonetic values are instead inspired by the [[acrophonic]] principle. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is called [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]], and was the first to use a Semitic alphabet distinct from that of Egyptian. One ancient document is the famous [[Mesha Stele|Moabite Stone]], written in the Moabite dialect; the [[Siloam inscription]], found near [[Jerusalem]], is an early example of Hebrew. Less ancient samples of Archaic Hebrew include the [[Lachish letters|ostraca found near Lachish]], which describe events preceding the final capture of Jerusalem by [[Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon|Nebuchadnezzar]] and the Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE.

===Classical Hebrew===
====Biblical Hebrew====
{{main|Biblical Hebrew}}
In its widest sense, Biblical Hebrew refers to the spoken language of ancient Israel flourishing between {{circa|1000 BCE}} and {{circa|400 CE}}.<ref name=dvbrbw>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_36.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204035409/http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_36.pdf|url-status=dead|title=William M. Schniedewind, "Prolegomena for the Sociolinguistics of Classical Hebrew", The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures vol. 5 article 6|archivedate=4 February 2012}}</ref> It comprises several evolving and overlapping dialects. The phases of Classical Hebrew are often named after important literary works associated with them.
* Archaic Biblical Hebrew, also called Old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew, from the 10th to the 6th century BCE, corresponding to the Monarchic Period until the [[Babylonian captivity|Babylonian exile]] and represented by certain texts in the Hebrew Bible ([[Tanakh]]), notably the [[Song of Moses]] (Exodus 15) and the [[Song of Deborah]] (Judges 5). It was written in the [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]]. A script descended from this, the [[Samaritan alphabet]], is still used by the [[Samaritans]].
* [[File:Sefer-torah-vayehi-binsoa.jpg|thumb|right|Hebrew script used in [[Ktav Stam|writing a Torah scroll]]. Note ornamental "[[Ktav Stam#Serifs (tagin)|crowns]]" on tops of certain letters.]] Standard Biblical Hebrew, also called Biblical Hebrew, Early Biblical Hebrew, Classical Biblical Hebrew or Classical Hebrew (in the narrowest sense), around the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, corresponding to the late Monarchic period and the Babylonian exile. It is represented by the bulk of the Hebrew Bible that attains much of its present form around this time.
* Late Biblical Hebrew, from the 5th to the 3rd centuries BCE, corresponding to the [[Persian period]] and represented by certain texts in the Hebrew Bible, notably the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Basically similar to Classical Biblical Hebrew, apart from a few foreign words adopted for mainly governmental terms, and some syntactical innovations such as the use of the particle ''she-'' (alternative of "asher", meaning "that, which, who"). It adopted the [[Aramaic alphabet|Imperial Aramaic script]] (from which the modern Hebrew script descends).
* [[Israelian Hebrew]] is a proposed northern dialect of biblical Hebrew, believed to have existed in all eras of the language, in some cases competing with late biblical Hebrew as an explanation for non-standard linguistic features of biblical texts.

====Early post-Biblical Hebrew====
* [[Dead Sea Scrolls|Dead Sea Scroll]] Hebrew from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, corresponding to the Hellenistic and Roman Periods before the [[destruction of the Temple]] in Jerusalem, and represented by the Qumran Scrolls that form most (but not all) of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Commonly abbreviated as DSS Hebrew, also called Qumran Hebrew. The Imperial Aramaic script of the earlier scrolls in the 3rd century BCE evolved into the [[Hebrew square script]] of the later scrolls in the 1st century CE, also known as ''ketav Ashuri'' (Assyrian script), still in use today.
* [[Mishnaic Hebrew]] from the 1st to the 3rd or 4th century CE, corresponding to the Roman Period after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and represented by the bulk of the [[Mishnah]] and [[Tosefta]] within the [[Talmud]] and by the Dead Sea Scrolls, notably the [[Bar Kokhba revolt|Bar Kokhba]] letters and the [[Copper Scroll]]. Also called Tannaitic Hebrew or Early Rabbinic Hebrew.

Sometimes the above phases of spoken Classical Hebrew are simplified into "Biblical Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 10th century BCE to 2nd century BCE and extant in certain Dead Sea Scrolls) and "Mishnaic Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE and extant in certain other Dead Sea Scrolls).<ref name=Segal>M. Segal, ''A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927).</ref> However, today most Hebrew linguists classify Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew as a set of dialects evolving out of Late Biblical Hebrew and into Mishnaic Hebrew, thus including elements from both but remaining distinct from either.<ref name=Qimron>[[Elisha Qimron|Qimron, Elisha]] (1986). ''The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls''. Harvard Semitic Studies 29. (Atlanta: Scholars Press).</ref>

By the start of the Byzantine Period in the 4th century CE, Classical Hebrew ceased as a regularly spoken language, roughly a century after the publication of the Mishnah, apparently declining since the aftermath of the catastrophic [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] around 135 CE.

===Displacement by Aramaic===
[[File:Rashiscript.PNG|thumb|[[Rashi script]]]]
[[File:Шабатна кибритна кутија - Shabbat matchbox holder.jpg|thumb|A silver matchbox holder with inscription in Hebrew]]

In the early 6th century BCE, the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] conquered the ancient [[Kingdom of Judah]], destroying much of [[Jerusalem]] and exiling its population far to the east in [[Babylon]]. During the [[Babylonian captivity]], many [[Israelites]] learned [[Aramaic]], the closely related Semitic language of their captors. Thus, for a significant period, the [[Jewish]] elite became influenced by Aramaic.<ref>Nicholas Ostler, ''Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World'', Harper Perennial, London, New York, Toronto, Sydney 2006 p80</ref>

After [[Cyrus the Great]] conquered Babylon, he allowed the Jewish people to return from captivity.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-05-06|title=Cyrus the Great: History's most merciful conqueror?|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/people/reference/cyrus-the-great/|access-date=2020-09-07|website=Culture|language=en|archive-date=8 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908063251/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/people/reference/cyrus-the-great/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Andrew Silow-Carroll |title=Who is King Cyrus, and why did Netanyahu compare him to Trump? |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/who-is-king-cyrus-and-why-is-netanyahu-comparing-him-to-trump/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907190744/https://www.timesofisrael.com/who-is-king-cyrus-and-why-is-netanyahu-comparing-him-to-trump/ |archive-date=7 September 2020 |access-date=2020-09-07 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US}}</ref> In time, a local version of Aramaic came to be spoken in Israel alongside Hebrew. By the beginning of the [[Common Era]], Aramaic was the primary colloquial language of [[Samaria]]n, [[Babylonia]]n and [[Galilee]]an Jews, and western and intellectual Jews spoke [[Greek language|Greek]],{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} but a form of so-called [[Rabbinic Hebrew]] continued to be used as a vernacular in Judea until it was displaced by Aramaic, probably in the 3rd century CE. Certain [[Sadducees|Sadducee]], [[Pharisees|Pharisee]], [[Scribe#Judaism|Scribe]], Hermit, Zealot and Priest classes maintained an insistence on Hebrew, and all Jews maintained their identity with Hebrew songs and simple quotations from Hebrew texts.<ref name=ASB170/><ref name=Spolsky99>{{cite book |last1= Spolsky |first1= Bernard |last2= Shohamy |first2= Elana |title= The Languages of Israel: Policy, Ideology and Practice |page= 9 |publisher= Multilingual Matters Ltd. |series= Bilingual Education and Bilingualism |volume= 17 |year= 1999 |isbn= 978-1-85359-451-9 |access-date= }}</ref><ref name=Fernandez/>

While there is no doubt that at a certain point, Hebrew was displaced as the everyday spoken language of most Jews, and that its chief successor in the Middle East was the closely related Aramaic language, then [[Greek language|Greek]],<ref name=Spolsky99/>{{refn|name="Sáenz-BadillosRH"|group="note"}} scholarly opinions on the exact dating of that shift have changed very much.<ref name=OxfordDictionaryChristianChurch>"Hebrew" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', edit. F.L. Cross, first edition (Oxford, 1958), 3rd edition (Oxford 1997). ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' which once said, in 1958 in its first edition, that Hebrew "ceased to be a spoken language around the fourth century BCE", now says, in its 1997 (third) edition, that Hebrew "continued to be used as a spoken and written language in the New Testament period".</ref> In the first half of the 20th century, most scholars followed [[Abraham Geiger]] and [[Gustaf Dalman]] in thinking that Aramaic became a spoken language in the land of Israel as early as the beginning of Israel's [[History of Palestine#Hellenistic period|Hellenistic period]] in the 4th century BCE, and that as a corollary Hebrew ceased to function as a spoken language around the same time. [[Moshe Zvi Segal]], [[Joseph Klausner]] and Ben Yehuda are notable exceptions to this view. During the latter half of the 20th century, accumulating archaeological evidence and especially linguistic analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls has disproven that view. The Dead Sea Scrolls, uncovered in 1946–1948 near [[Qumran]] revealed ancient Jewish texts overwhelmingly in Hebrew, not Aramaic.

The Qumran scrolls indicate that Hebrew texts were readily understandable to the average Jew, and that the language had evolved since Biblical times as spoken languages do.{{refn|Fernández & Elwolde: "It is generally believed that the Dead Sea Scrolls, specifically the Copper Scroll and also the Bar Kokhba letters, have furnished clear evidence of the popular character of MH [Mishnaic Hebrew]."<ref>''An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew'' (Fernández & Elwolde 1999, p.2)</ref>|group="note"}} Recent scholarship recognizes that reports of Jews speaking in Aramaic indicate a multilingual society, not necessarily the primary language spoken. Alongside Aramaic, Hebrew co-existed within Israel as a spoken language.<ref name=Judaism460>The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period. 2006. P.460</ref><!--the quote refers to the last sentence--> Most scholars now date the demise of Hebrew as a spoken language to the end of the [[Judea (Roman province)|Roman period]], or about 200 CE.<ref>Borrás, Judit Targarona and Ángel Sáenz-Badillos (1999). Jewish Studies at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. P.3</ref> It continued on as a literary language down through the [[History of Palestine#Byzantine period|Byzantine period]] from the 4th century CE.

The exact roles of Aramaic and Hebrew remain hotly debated. A trilingual scenario has been proposed for the land of Israel. Hebrew functioned as the local [[mother tongue]] with powerful ties to Israel's history, origins and golden age and as the language of Israel's religion; Aramaic functioned as the international language with the rest of the Middle East; and eventually Greek functioned as another international language with the eastern areas of the Roman Empire.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}<!--Refers to the entire "role distribution" indicated above.--> [[William Schniedewind]] argues that after waning in the Persian period, the religious importance of Hebrew grew in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and cites epigraphical evidence that Hebrew survived as a vernacular language – though both its grammar and its writing system had been substantially influenced by Aramaic.<ref name=Schniedewind>{{cite conference |author= Schniedewind, William M. |author-link= William Schniedewind |title= Aramaic, the Death of Written Hebrew, and Language Shift in the Persian Period |editor= Seth L. Sanders |conference= Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures |publisher= University of Chicago |year= 2006 |pages= 137–147 |isbn= 978-1-885923-39-4 |conference-url= https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/ois/ois-2-margins-writing-origins-cultures |url= https://www.academia.edu/download/8369723/ois2.pdf#page=149 }}{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> According to another summary, Greek was the language of government, Hebrew the language of prayer, study and religious texts, and Aramaic was the language of legal contracts and trade.<ref name=spolsky85/> There was also a geographic pattern: according to [[Bernard Spolsky]], by the beginning of the Common Era, "[[Judeo-Aramaic]] was mainly used in Galilee in the north, Greek was concentrated in the former colonies and around governmental centers, and Hebrew monolingualism continued mainly in the southern villages of Judea."<ref name=Spolsky99/> In other words, "in terms of dialect geography, at the time of the [[tannaim]] Palestine could be divided into the Aramaic-speaking regions of Galilee and Samaria and a smaller area, Judaea, in which [[Mishnaic Hebrew|Rabbinic Hebrew]] was used among the descendants of returning exiles."<ref name=ASB170/><ref name=Fernandez>Fernandez, Miguel Perez (1997). ''An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew''. BRILL.</ref> In addition, it has been surmised that [[Koine Greek]] was the primary vehicle of communication in coastal cities and among the upper class of [[Jerusalem]], while Aramaic was prevalent in the lower class of Jerusalem, but not in the surrounding countryside.<ref name=spolsky85>Spolsky, B. (1985). "Jewish Multilingualism in the First century: An Essay in Historical Sociolinguistics", Joshua A. Fishman (ed.), ''Readings in The Sociology of Jewish Languages'', Leiden: E. J. Brill, pp. 35–50. Also adopted by Smelik, Willem F. 1996. The Targum of Judges. P.9</ref> After the suppression of the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] in the 2nd century CE, Judaeans were forced to disperse. Many relocated to Galilee, so most remaining native speakers of Hebrew at that last stage would have been found in the north.<ref name=spolsky85b>Spolsky, B. (1985), p. 40. and ''passim''</ref>

Many scholars have pointed out that Hebrew continued to be used alongside Aramaic during Second Temple times, not only for religious purposes but also for nationalistic reasons, especially during revolts such as the [[Maccabean Revolt]] (167–160 BCE) and the emergence of the [[Hasmonean kingdom]], the [[Great Jewish Revolt]] (66–73 CE), and the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132–135 CE).<ref name=":02">{{Citation |title=Constructing Jewish Nationalism: The Hebrew Language |date=2006 |work=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |pages=50–51, 61 |editor-last=Goodblatt |editor-first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/constructing-jewish-nationalism-the-hebrew-language/99AF61E0AE06DD38702A610D002393EB |access-date=2024-10-08 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067.004 |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The nationalist significance of Hebrew manifested in various ways throughout this period. Michael Owen Wise notes that "Beginning with the time of the Hasmonean revolt [...] Hebrew came to the fore in an expression akin to modern nationalism. A form of classical Hebrew was now a more significant written language than Aramaic within Judaea."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wise |first=Michael Owen |title=Thunder in Gemini and Other Essays on the History, Language and Literature of Second Temple Palestine |publisher=Sheffield Academic Press |year=1994 |location=Sheffield, UK |pages=117 |chapter=Accidents and Accidence: A Scribal View of Linguistic Dating of the Aramaic Scrolls from Qumran}}</ref> This nationalist aspect was further emphasized during periods of conflict, as Hannah Cotton observing in her analysis of legal documents during the Jewish revolts against Rome that "Hebrew became the symbol of Jewish nationalism, of the independent Jewish State."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cotton |first=Hannah M. |date=1999 |title=The Languages of the Legal and Administrative Documents from the Judaean Desert |journal=ZPE |volume=125 |pages=225}}</ref> The nationalist use of Hebrew is evidenced in several historical documents and artefacts, including the composition of 1 Maccabees in archaizing Hebrew, [[Hasmonean coinage]] under [[John Hyrcanus]] (134-104 BCE), and coins from both the Great Revolt and Bar Kokhba Revolt featuring exclusively Hebrew and Palaeo-Hebrew script inscriptions.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Schwartz |first=Seth |date=1995 |title=Language, Power and Identity in Ancient Palestine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/651047 |journal=Past & Present |issue=148 |pages=3–4, 26–27, 44 |doi=10.1093/past/148.1.3 |jstor=651047 |issn=0031-2746|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This deliberate use of Hebrew and Paleo-Hebrew script in official contexts, despite limited literacy, served as a symbol of Jewish nationalism and political independence.<ref name=":1" />

The Christian [[New Testament]] contains some Semitic place names and quotes.<ref>Huehnergard, John and [[Jo Ann Hackett]]. The Hebrew and Aramaic languages. In The Biblical World (2002), Volume 2 (John Barton, ed.). P.19</ref> The language of such Semitic glosses (and in general the language spoken by Jews in scenes from the New Testament) is often referred to as "Hebrew" in the text,<ref>E.g. Acts 21:40; 22:2; 26:14: ''têi hebraḯdi dialéktôi'', lit. 'in the Hebrew dialect/language'</ref> although this term is often re-interpreted as referring to Aramaic instead{{refn|The Cambridge History of Judaism: "Thus in certain sources Aramaic words are termed 'Hebrew,' ... For example: η επιλεγομενη εβραιστι βηθεσδα 'which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda' (John 5.2). This is not a Hebrew name but rather an Aramaic one: בית חסדא, 'the house of Hisda'."<ref name=Judaism460/>|group="note"}}{{refn|Fitzmyer, Joseph A.: "The adverb {{lang|grc|Ἑβραϊστί}} (and its related expressions) seems to mean 'in Hebrew', and it has often been argued that it means this and nothing more. As is well known, it is used at times with words and expressions that are clearly Aramaic. Thus in John 19:13, {{lang|grc|Ἑβραιστὶ δὲ Γαββαθᾶ}} is given as an explanation of the Lithostrotos, and {{lang|grc|Γαββαθᾶ}} is a Grecized form of the Aramaic word gabbětā, 'raised place.'"<ref>Fitzmyer, Joseph A. 1979. A Wandering Armenian: Collected Aramaic Essays. P.43</ref>|group="note"}} and is rendered accordingly in recent translations.<ref>Geoffrey W. Bromley (ed.) ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'', W.B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1979, 4 vols. vol.1 sub.'Aramaic' p.233: 'in the Aramaic vernacular of Palestine'</ref> Nonetheless, these glosses can be interpreted as Hebrew as well.<ref>Randall Buth and Chad Pierce "EBRAISTI in Ancient Texts, Does ἑβραιστί ever Mean 'Aramaic'?" in Buth and Notley eds., Language Environment of First Century Judaea, Brill, 2014:66–109. p. 109 "no, Ἑβραιστί does not ever appear to mean Aramaic in attested texts during the Second Temple and Graeco-Roman periods."; p. 107 "John did not mention what either βεθεσδα or γαββαθα meant. They may both have been loanwords from Greek and Latin respectively." p103 "βεθεσδα ... (בית-אסטא(ן ... house of portico ... 3Q15 אסטאן הדרומית southern portico," and Latin gabata (p. 106) "means platter, dish... perhaps a mosaic design in the pavement ... " The Latin loanword is attested as "bowl" in later [[Christian Palestinian Aramaic]] and גבתא is (p106) "unattested in other Aramaic dialects" [contra the allegations of many].</ref>

===Mishnah and Talmud===
{{Main|Mishnaic Hebrew}}
The term "Mishnaic Hebrew" generally refers to the Hebrew dialects found in the [[Talmud]], excepting quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The dialects organize into Mishnaic Hebrew (also called [[Tannaim|Tannaitic]] Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or [[Mishnah|Mishnaic]] Hebrew I), which was a [[spoken language]], and [[Amoraim|Amoraic]] Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a [[literary language]]. The earlier section of the Talmud is the Mishnah that was published around 200 CE, although many of the stories take place much earlier, and were written in the earlier Mishnaic dialect. The dialect is also found in certain Dead Sea Scrolls. Mishnaic Hebrew is considered to be one of the dialects of Classical Hebrew that functioned as a living language in the land of Israel. A transitional form of the language occurs in the other works of Tannaitic literature dating from the century beginning with the completion of the Mishnah. These include the [[Midrash halakha|halachic]] [[Midrash]]im ([[Sifra]], [[Sifre]], [[Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael|Mekhilta]] etc.) and the expanded collection of Mishnah-related material known as the [[Tosefta]]. The Talmud contains excerpts from these works, as well as further Tannaitic material not attested elsewhere; the generic term for these passages is ''[[Baraita|Baraitot]]''. The dialect of all these works is very similar to Mishnaic Hebrew.

About a century after the publication of the Mishnah, Mishnaic Hebrew fell into disuse as a spoken language. By the third century CE, sages could no longer identify the Hebrew names of many plants mentioned in the Mishnah. Only a few sages, primarily in the southern regions, retained the ability to speak the language and attempted to promote its use.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=הר |first=משה דוד |title=ארץ-ישראל בשלהי העת העתיקה: מבואות ומחקרים |publisher=יד יצחק בן-צבי |year=2022 |isbn=978-965-217-444-4 |editor-link=Moshe David Herr |volume=1 |publication-place=ירושלים |pages=218 |language=he |trans-title=Eretz Israel in Late Antiquity: Introductions and Studies |chapter=היהודים בארץ-ישראל בימי האימפריה הרומית הנוצרית |trans-chapter=The Jews in the Land of Israel in the Days of the Christian Roman Empire}}</ref> According to the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], Megillah 1:9: "Rebbi Jonathan from [[Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park|Bet Guvrrin]] said, four languages are appropriate that the world should use them, and they are these: The Foreign Language (Greek) for song, Latin for war, Syriac for elegies, Hebrew for speech. Some are saying, also Assyrian (Hebrew script) for writing."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:9:3 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Megillah.1.9.3?vhe=The_Jerusalem_Talmud,_edition_by_Heinrich_W._Guggenheimer._Berlin,_De_Gruyter,_1999-2015&lang=bi |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=www.sefaria.org |archive-date=28 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728212323/https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem_Talmud_Megillah.1.9.3?vhe=The_Jerusalem_Talmud,_edition_by_Heinrich_W._Guggenheimer._Berlin,_De_Gruyter,_1999-2015&lang=bi |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":3" />

The later section of the Talmud, the [[Gemara]], generally comments on the Mishnah and Baraitot in two forms of Aramaic. Nevertheless, Hebrew survived as a liturgical and literary language in the form of later Amoraic Hebrew, which occasionally appears in the text of the Gemara, particularly in the Jerusalem Talmud and the classical [[Aggadah|aggadah midrashes]].

Hebrew was always regarded as the language of Israel's religion, history and national pride, and after it faded as a spoken language, it continued to be used as a ''[[lingua franca]]'' among scholars and Jews traveling in foreign countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/intelligence-branch/national-virtual-translation-center|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117194849/http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/august/Hebrew.html|url-status=dead|title=National Virtual Translation Center|archivedate=17 January 2009|website=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}</ref> After the 2nd century CE when the [[Roman Empire]] exiled most of the Jewish population of Jerusalem following the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]], they adapted to the societies in which they found themselves, yet letters, contracts, commerce, science, philosophy, medicine, poetry and laws continued to be written mostly in Hebrew, which adapted by borrowing and inventing terms.

===Medieval Hebrew===
{{Main|Medieval Hebrew}}
[[File:Aleppo Codex Joshua 1 1.jpg|thumb|[[Aleppo Codex]]: 10th century [[Hebrew Bible]] with [[Masoretes|Masoretic]] pointing (Joshua 1:1).]]
[[File:Cochin Jewish Inscription.JPG|thumb|[[Kochangadi Synagogue]] in [[Kochi]], India, dated to 1344]]

After the Talmud, various regional literary dialects of [[Medieval Hebrew]] evolved. The most important is [[Tiberian Hebrew]] or Masoretic Hebrew, a local dialect of [[Tiberias]] in [[Galilee]] that became the standard for vocalizing the [[Hebrew Bible]] and thus still influences all other regional dialects of Hebrew. This Tiberian Hebrew from the 7th to 10th century CE is sometimes called "Biblical Hebrew" because it is used to pronounce the Hebrew Bible; however, properly it should be distinguished from the historical Biblical Hebrew of the 6th century BCE, whose original pronunciation must be reconstructed. Tiberian Hebrew incorporates the scholarship of the [[Masoretes]] (from ''masoret'' meaning "tradition"), who added [[niqqud|vowel points]] and [[Hebrew cantillation|grammar points]] to the Hebrew letters to preserve much earlier features of Hebrew, for use in chanting the Hebrew Bible. The Masoretes inherited a biblical text whose letters were considered too sacred to be altered, so their markings were in the form of pointing in and around the letters. The [[Syriac alphabet]], precursor to the [[Arabic alphabet]], also developed vowel pointing systems around this time. The [[Aleppo Codex]], a Hebrew Bible with the Masoretic pointing, was written in the 10th century, likely in Tiberias, and survives into the present day. It is perhaps the most important Hebrew manuscript in existence.

During the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]], important work was done by grammarians in explaining the grammar and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew; much of this was based on the work of the [[Islamic grammatical tradition|grammarians]] of [[Classical Arabic]]. Important Hebrew grammarians were {{Lang|he-latn|[[Judah ben David Hayyuj]]|italic=no}}, [[Jonah ibn Janah]], [[Abraham ibn Ezra]]<ref>Abraham ibn Ezra, [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/19685 ''Hebrew Grammar''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210701091916/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/19685 |date=1 July 2021 }}, Venice 1546 (Hebrew)</ref> and later (in [[Provence]]), {{Lang|he-latn|[[David Kimhi]]|italic=no}}. A great deal of poetry was written, by poets such as {{Lang|he-latn|[[Dunash ben Labrat]]|italic=no}}, [[Solomon ibn Gabirol]], [[Judah ha-Levi]], [[Moses ibn Ezra]] and [[Abraham ibn Ezra]], in a "purified" Hebrew based on the work of these grammarians, and in Arabic quantitative or strophic meters. This literary Hebrew was later used by Italian Jewish poets.<ref>T. Carmi, ''Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse''.</ref>

The need to express scientific and philosophical concepts from [[Classical Greek language|Classical Greek]] and [[Arabic language|Medieval Arabic]] motivated Medieval Hebrew to borrow terminology and grammar from these other languages, or to coin equivalent terms from existing Hebrew roots, giving rise to a distinct style of philosophical Hebrew. This is used in the translations made by the {{Lang|he-latn|[[Ibn Tibbon]]|italic=no}} family. (Original Jewish philosophical works were usually written in Arabic.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}) Another important influence was [[Maimonides]], who developed a simple style based on [[Mishnaic Hebrew]] for use in his law code, the {{Lang|he-latn|[[Mishneh Torah]]|italic=no}}. Subsequent rabbinic literature is written in a blend between this style and the Aramaized Rabbinic Hebrew of the Talmud.

Hebrew persevered through the ages as the main language for written purposes by all Jewish communities around the world for a large range of uses—not only liturgy, but also poetry, philosophy, science and medicine, commerce, daily correspondence and contracts. There have been many deviations from this generalization such as [[Simon bar Kokhba|Bar Kokhba]]'s letters to his lieutenants, which were mostly in Aramaic,<ref>Safrai, Shmuel, Shemuel Safrai, M. Stern. 1976. The Jewish people in the first century. P.1036</ref> and Maimonides' writings, which were mostly in Arabic;<ref>Fox, Marvin. 1995. Interpreting Maimonides. P.326</ref> but overall, Hebrew did not cease to be used for such purposes. For example, the first Middle East printing press, in Safed (modern Israel), produced a small number of books in Hebrew in 1577, which were then sold to the nearby Jewish world.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://cojs.org/1577-first-printing-press-middle-east-safed/|title=1577 The First Printing Press in the Middle East – Safed – Center for Online Judaic Studies|date=2017-09-07|work=Center for Online Judaic Studies|access-date=2018-08-03|language=en-US|archive-date=4 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804013842/http://cojs.org/1577-first-printing-press-middle-east-safed/|url-status=live}}</ref> This meant not only that well-educated Jews in all parts of the world could correspond in a [[mutually intelligible]] language, and that books and legal documents published or written in any part of the world could be read by Jews in all other parts, but that an educated Jew could travel and converse with Jews in distant places, just as priests and other educated Christians could converse in Latin. For example, Rabbi [[Avraham Danzig]] wrote the ''{{Lang|he-latn|[[Chayei Adam]]}}'' in Hebrew, as opposed to [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], as a guide to ''[[Halacha]]'' for the "''average'' 17-year-old" (Ibid. Introduction 1). Similarly, Rabbi [[Yisrael Meir Kagan]]'s purpose in writing the ''{{Lang|he-latn|[[Mishnah Berurah]]}}'' was to "produce a work that could be studied daily so that Jews might know the proper procedures to follow minute by minute". The work was nevertheless written in Talmudic Hebrew and Aramaic, since, "the ordinary Jew [of Eastern Europe] of a century ago, was fluent enough in this idiom to be able to follow the Mishna Berurah without any trouble."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onNwsw0akyoC&pg=PR14 |title=Mishnah B'rurah – Israel Meir (ha-Kohen), Aharon Feldman, Aviel Orenstein – Google Books |access-date=3 May 2013 |isbn=978-0-87306-198-8 |year=1980 |last1=(Ha-Kohen) |first1=Israel Meir |publisher=Feldheim Publishers |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152917/https://books.google.com/books?id=onNwsw0akyoC&pg=PR14 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Revival===
{{Main|Revival of the Hebrew language}}
[[File:Eliezer Ben-Yehuda at his desk in Jerusalem - c1912.jpg|thumb|Eliezer Ben-Yehuda]]
Hebrew has been [[Language revitalization|revived]] several times as a literary language, most significantly by the [[Haskalah]] (Enlightenment) movement of early and mid-19th-century Germany. In the early 19th century, a form of spoken Hebrew had emerged in the markets of Jerusalem between Jews of different linguistic backgrounds to communicate for commercial purposes. This Hebrew dialect was to a certain extent a [[pidgin]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bensadoun |first=Daniel |date=15 Oct 2010 |title=This week in history: Revival of the Hebrew language – Jewish World – Jerusalem Post |url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/This-week-in-history-Revival-of-the-Hebrew-language |access-date=6 April 2018 |archive-date=1 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401111442/https://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/This-week-in-history-Revival-of-the-Hebrew-language |url-status=live }}</ref> Near the end of that century the Jewish activist [[Eliezer Ben-Yehuda]], owing to the ideology of the [[Romantic nationalism|national revival]] ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|שיבת ציון|italic=no}}, {{lang|he-latn|Shivat Tziyon}}, later [[Zionism]]), began reviving Hebrew as a modern spoken language. Eventually, as a result of the local movement he created, but more significantly as a result of the new groups of immigrants known under the name of the [[Second Aliyah]], it replaced a score of languages spoken by Jews at that time. Those languages were Jewish dialects of local languages, including [[Judaeo-Spanish]] (also called "Judezmo" and "Ladino"), [[Yiddish]], [[Judeo-Arabic languages|Judeo-Arabic]] and [[Bukhori dialect|Bukhori]] (Tajiki), or local languages spoken in the [[Jewish diaspora]] such as [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]].

The major result of the literary work of the Hebrew intellectuals along the 19th century was a lexical modernization of Hebrew. New words and expressions were adapted as [[neologism]]s from the large corpus of Hebrew writings since the Hebrew Bible, or borrowed from Arabic (mainly by Ben-Yehuda) and older Aramaic and Latin. Many new words were either borrowed from or coined after European languages, especially English, Russian, German, and French. Modern Hebrew became an official language in British-ruled Palestine in 1921 (along with English and Arabic), and then in 1948 became an official language of the newly declared [[Israel|State of Israel]]. Hebrew is the most widely spoken language in Israel today.

In the Modern Period, from the 19th century onward, the literary Hebrew tradition revived as the spoken language of modern Israel, called variously ''Israeli Hebrew'', ''Modern Israeli Hebrew'', ''Modern Hebrew'', ''New Hebrew'', ''Israeli Standard Hebrew'', ''Standard Hebrew'' and so on. Israeli Hebrew exhibits some features of [[Sephardic Hebrew]] from its local Jerusalemite tradition but adapts it with numerous neologisms, borrowed terms (often technical) from European languages and adopted terms (often colloquial) from Arabic.

The literary and narrative use of Hebrew was revived beginning with the Haskalah movement. The first secular periodical in Hebrew, {{Lang|he-latn|[[Ha-Me'assef]]}} (The Gatherer), was published by [[maskil]]im in [[Königsberg]] (today's [[Kaliningrad]]) from 1783 onwards.<ref>Spiegel, Shalom. ''Hebrew Reborn'' (1930), Meridian Books reprint 1962, New York p. 56.</ref> In the mid-19th century, publications of several Eastern European Hebrew-language newspapers (e.g. {{Lang|he-latn|[[Hamagid]]}}, founded in [[Ełk]] in 1856) multiplied. Prominent poets were [[Hayim Nahman Bialik]] and [[Shaul Tchernichovsky]]; there were also novels written in the language.

The [[revival of the Hebrew language]] as a [[first language|mother tongue]] was initiated in the late 19th century by the efforts of Ben-Yehuda. He joined the [[Zionism|Jewish national movement]] and in 1881 immigrated to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], then a part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Motivated by the surrounding ideals of renovation and rejection of the diaspora "[[shtetl]]" lifestyle, Ben-Yehuda set out to develop tools for making the [[literary language|literary]] and [[sacred language|liturgical language]] into everyday [[spoken language]]. However, his brand of Hebrew followed norms that had been replaced in [[Eastern Europe]] by different grammar and style, in the writings of people like [[Ahad Ha'am]] and others. His organizational efforts and involvement with the establishment of schools and the writing of textbooks pushed the [[vernacular]]ization activity into a gradually accepted movement. It was not, however, until the 1904–1914 Second Aliyah that Hebrew had caught real momentum in Ottoman Palestine with the more highly organized enterprises set forth by the new group of immigrants. When the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]] recognized Hebrew as one of the country's three official languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew, in 1922), its new formal status contributed to its diffusion. A constructed modern language with a truly Semitic vocabulary and written appearance, although often European in [[phonology]], was to take its place among the current languages of the nations.

While many saw his work as fanciful or even [[blasphemy|blasphemous]]<ref>[http://www.jewishmag.com/43mag/ben-yehuda/ben-yehuda.htm Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the Resurgence of the Hebrew Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115054257/http://jewishmag.com/43mag/ben-yehuda/ben-yehuda.htm |date=15 January 2010 }} by Libby Kantorwitz</ref> (because Hebrew was the holy language of the Torah and therefore some thought that it should not be used to discuss everyday matters), many soon understood the need for a common language amongst Jews of the British Mandate who at the turn of the 20th century were arriving in large numbers from diverse countries and speaking different languages. A Committee of the Hebrew Language was established. After the establishment of Israel, it became the [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]]. The results of Ben-Yehuda's lexicographical work were published in a dictionary (''The Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew'', [[Ben-Yehuda Dictionary]]). The seeds of Ben-Yehuda's work fell on fertile ground, and by the beginning of the 20th century, Hebrew was well on its way to becoming the main language of the Jewish population of both Ottoman and British Palestine. At the time, members of the [[Yishuv|Old Yishuv]] and a very few [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] sects, most notably those under the auspices of [[Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)|Satmar]], refused to speak Hebrew and spoke only Yiddish.

In the Soviet Union, the use of Hebrew, along with other Jewish cultural and religious activities, was suppressed. Soviet authorities considered the use of Hebrew "reactionary" since it was associated with Zionism, and the teaching of Hebrew at primary and secondary schools was officially banned by the [[People's Commissariat for Education]] as early as 1919, as part of an overall agenda aiming to [[secularization|secularize]] education (the language itself did not cease to be studied at universities for historical and linguistic purposes<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewish-heritage.org/prep26.htm |title=The Transformation of Jewish Culture in the USSR from 1930 to the Present (in Russian) |publisher=Jewish-heritage.org |access-date=25 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222024723/http://www.jewish-heritage.org/prep26.htm |archive-date=22 December 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>). The official ordinance stated that Yiddish, being the spoken language of the Russian Jews, should be treated as their only national language, while Hebrew was to be treated as a foreign language.<ref>{{cite web |author=Nosonovsky, Michael |title=ЕВРЕЙСКАЯ СОВЕТСКАЯ КУЛЬТУРА БЫЛА ПРИГОВОРЕНА К УНИЧТОЖЕНИЮ В 1930–Е ГОДЫ |trans-title=Jewish Soviet Culture Was Sentenced to Destruction in the 1930s |language=ru |publisher=Berkovich-zametki.com |date=25 August 1997 |url=http://berkovich-zametki.com/Nomer16/MN31.htm |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-date=7 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707225500/http://berkovich-zametki.com/Nomer16/MN31.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Hebrew books and periodicals ceased to be published and were seized from the libraries, although liturgical texts were still published until the 1930s. Despite numerous protests,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120517002646/http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/ZA/SiteE/pShowView.aspx?GM=Y&ID=48&Teur=Protest%20against%20the%20suppression%20of%20Hebrew%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union%20%201930-1931 Protest against the suppression of Hebrew in the Soviet Union 1930–1931] signed by [[Albert Einstein]], among others.</ref> a policy of suppression of the teaching of Hebrew operated from the 1930s on. Later in the 1980s in the [[Soviet Union|USSR]], Hebrew studies reappeared due to people struggling for permission to go to Israel ([[refusenik]]s). Several of the teachers were imprisoned, e.g. [[Iosif Begun|Yosef Begun]], [[Ephraim Kholmyansky]], [[Yevgeny Korostyshevsky]] and others responsible for a Hebrew learning network connecting many cities of the USSR.

===Modern Hebrew===
{{Main|Modern Hebrew}}
[[File:Annava165.jpg|thumb|upright=1.59|Hebrew, [[Arabic]] and English multilingual signs on an Israeli highway]]
[[File:Hebkeyboard.JPG|thumb|Dual language [[Hebrew keyboard|Hebrew]] and English keyboard]]

Standard Hebrew, as developed by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, was based on [[Mishnaic Hebrew|Mishnaic]] spelling and [[Sephardi Hebrew]] pronunciation. However, the earliest speakers of Modern Hebrew had Yiddish as their native language and often introduced [[calque]]s from Yiddish and [[phono-semantic matching]]s of international words.

Despite using Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation as its primary basis, modern Israeli Hebrew has adapted to [[Ashkenazi Hebrew]] [[phonology]] in some respects, mainly the following:

* the replacement of [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeal articulation]] in the letters ''chet'' (<big>{{Script/Hebrew|[[ח]]}}</big>) and ''ayin'' ({{nbsp}}<big>{{Script/Hebrew|[[ע]]}}</big>) by most Hebrew speakers with uvular [<big>{{Script/Hebrew|[[χ]]}}</big>] and glottal [<big>{{Script/Hebrew|[[ʔ]]}}</big>], respectively, by most Hebrew speakers.
* the conversion of (<big>[[Resh|{{Script/Hebrew|ר}}]]</big>) {{IPA|/r/}} from an [[alveolar flap]] {{IPA|[ɾ]}} to a [[voiced uvular fricative]] {{IPA|[ʁ]}} or [[uvular trill]] {{IPA|[ʀ]}}, by most of the speakers, like in most varieties of standard German or Yiddish. ''see [[Guttural R]]''
* the pronunciation (by many speakers) of ''[[Zeire|tzere]]'' <{{Script/Hebrew| ֵ }}> as {{IPA|[eɪ]}} in some contexts (''sifréj'' and ''téjša'' instead of Sephardic ''sifré'' and ''tésha'')
* the partial elimination of vocal ''[[Shva]]'' <{{Script/Hebrew| ְ }}> (''zmán'' instead of Sephardic ''zĕman'')<ref>{{cite book|last=Rosén|first=Haiim B.|title=A Textbook of Israeli Hebrew|year=1966|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago & London|isbn=978-0-226-72603-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/textbookofisrael0000rose/page/0 0.161]|url=https://archive.org/details/textbookofisrael0000rose/page/0}}</ref>
* in popular speech, penultimate stress in proper names (''Dvóra'' instead of ''Dĕvorá''; ''Yehúda'' instead of ''Yĕhudá'') and some other words<ref>{{cite book|last=Shisha Halevy|first=Ariel|title=The Proper Name: Structural Prolegomena to its Syntax – a Case Study in Coptic|year=1989|publisher=VWGÖ|location=Vienna|page=33|url=http://ling.huji.ac.il/Staff/Ariel_Shisha-Halevy/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721134619/http://ling.huji.ac.il/Staff/Ariel_Shisha-Halevy/|archive-date=21 July 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref><!-- It's not a mistake—the book is about Coptic, but that note is about Hebrew and it's relevant. -->
* similarly in popular speech, penultimate stress in verb forms with a second person plural suffix (''katávtem'' "you wrote" instead of ''kĕtavtém'').{{refn|These pronunciations may have originated in learners' mistakes formed on the analogy of other suffixed forms (''katávta'', ''alénu''), rather than being examples of residual Ashkenazi influence.|group="note"}}

The vocabulary of Israeli Hebrew is much larger than that of earlier periods. According to [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]]:

{{Blockquote|The number of attested Biblical Hebrew words is 8198, of which some 2000 are [[hapax legomenon|hapax legomena]] (the number of Biblical Hebrew roots, on which many of these words are based, is 2099). The number of attested Rabbinic Hebrew words is less than 20,000, of which (i) 7879 are Rabbinic par excellence, i.e. they did not appear in the Old Testament (the number of new Rabbinic Hebrew roots is 805); (ii) around 6000 are a subset of Biblical Hebrew; and (iii) several thousand are Aramaic words which can have a Hebrew form. Medieval Hebrew added 6421 words to (Modern) Hebrew. The approximate number of new lexical items in Israeli is 17,000 (cf. 14,762 in Even-Shoshan 1970 [...]). With the inclusion of foreign and technical terms [...], the total number of Israeli words, including words of biblical, rabbinic and medieval descent, is more than 60,000.<ref name=Zuckermann>[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann|Zuckermann, Ghil'ad]] (2003), [[Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew]]. [[Palgrave Macmillan]]. {{ISBN|978-1-4039-1723-2}} [http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781403917232] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613220549/https://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781403917232 |date=13 June 2019 }}</ref>{{rp|64–65}}}}

In Israel, Modern Hebrew is currently taught in institutions called [[Ulpan]]im (singular: Ulpan). There are government-owned, as well as private, Ulpanim offering online courses and face-to-face programs.

==Current status==
[[File:Academy of the Hebrew Language.JPG|thumb| [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]]]]

Modern Hebrew is the primary official language of the State of Israel. {{as of|2013}}, there are about 9 million Hebrew speakers worldwide,<ref name=israel-hayom-hebrew-speakers>{{cite news|last=Klein|first=Zeev|title=A million and a half Israelis struggle with Hebrew|url=http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8065|access-date=2 November 2013|newspaper=[[Israel Hayom]]|date=18 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104001556/http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8065|archive-date=4 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> of whom 7 million speak it fluently.<ref name=esl.fis.edu>{{cite web|title=The differences between English and Hebrew|url=http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/hebrew.htm|work=[[Frankfurt International School]]|access-date=2 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106053751/http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/hebrew.htm|archive-date=6 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=ucl.ac.uk>{{cite web|title=Hebrew – UCL|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/clie/learning-resources/sac/hebrew|work=[[University College London]]|access-date=2 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106121157/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/clie/learning-resources/sac/hebrew|archive-date=6 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=studentsabroad>{{cite web|title=Why Learn a Language?|url=http://www.studentsabroad.com/handbook/why-learn-a-language.php?country=Israel|access-date=2 November 2013|archive-date=3 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103100127/http://www.studentsabroad.com/handbook/why-learn-a-language.php?country=Israel|url-status=live}}</ref>

Currently, 90% of Israeli Jews are proficient in Hebrew, and 70% are highly proficient.<ref name=CBS>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4335235,00.html |title=CBS: 27% of Israelis struggle with Hebrew – Israel News, Ynetnews |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=21 January 2013 |access-date=9 November 2013 |last1=Druckman |first1=Yaron |archive-date=15 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415064200/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4335235,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Some 60% of Israeli Arabs are also proficient in Hebrew,<ref name=CBS/> and 30% report having a higher proficiency in Hebrew than in Arabic.<ref name=bhol/> In total, about 53% of the Israeli population speaks Hebrew as a native language,<ref>''The Israeli Conflict System: Analytic Approaches''</ref> while most of the rest speak it fluently. In 2013 Hebrew was the native language of 49% of Israelis over the age of 20, with [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[French language|French]], [[English language|English]], [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] and [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] being the native tongues of most of the rest. Some 26% of [[1990s Post-Soviet aliyah|immigrants from the former Soviet Union]] and 12% of Arabs reported speaking Hebrew poorly or not at all.<ref name=CBS/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131811 |title=Some Arabs Prefer Hebrew – Education – News |date=13 June 2009 |publisher=Israel National News |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-date=4 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204213105/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131811 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Steps have been taken to keep Hebrew the primary language of use, and to prevent large-scale incorporation of English words into the Hebrew vocabulary. The [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]] of the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] currently invents about 2,000 new Hebrew words each year for modern words by finding an original Hebrew word that captures the meaning, as an alternative to incorporating more English words into Hebrew vocabulary. The [[Haifa]] municipality has banned officials from using English words in official documents, and is fighting to stop businesses from using only English signs to market their services.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4333113,00.html |title=Keeping Hebrew Israel's living language – Israel Culture, Ynetnews |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=2013-01-17 |access-date=25 April 2013 |last1=Silverman |first1=Anav |archive-date=24 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424065851/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4333113,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, a [[Knesset]] bill for the preservation of the Hebrew language was proposed, which includes the stipulation that all signage in Israel must first and foremost be in Hebrew, as with all speeches by Israeli officials abroad. The bill's author, MK [[Akram Hasson]], stated that the bill was proposed as a response to Hebrew "losing its prestige" and children incorporating more English words into their vocabulary.<ref>{{cite web |last=Danan |first=Deborah |url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=297627 |title=Druse MK wins prize for helping preserve Hebrew &#124; JPost &#124; Israel News |publisher=JPost |date=28 December 2012 |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-date=18 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318150927/http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=297627 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Hebrew is one of several languages for which the constitution of South Africa calls to be respected in their use for religious purposes.<ref name="auto"/> Also, Hebrew is an official national minority language in [[Poland]], since 6 January 2005.<ref name="auto1"/> [[Hamas]] has made Hebrew a compulsory language taught in schools in the Gaza Strip.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/4/2/hamas-run-schools-in-gaza-teach-hebrew |title= Hamas-run schools in Gaza teach Hebrew |website= AJ |access-date= 31 May 2024 |archive-date= 5 June 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240605052026/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/4/2/hamas-run-schools-in-gaza-teach-hebrew |url-status= live }}</ref>

==Phonology==
{{Further|Biblical Hebrew#Phonology|Modern Hebrew phonology}}

[[Biblical Hebrew]] had a typical Semitic consonant inventory, with pharyngeal {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ʕ}} {{IPA link|ħ}}/}}, a series of "emphatic" consonants (possibly [[ejective consonant|ejective]], but this is debated), lateral fricative {{IPAslink|ɬ}}, and in its older stages also uvular {{IPA|/{{IPA link|χ}} {{IPA link|ʁ}}/}}. {{IPA|/χ ʁ/}} merged into {{IPA|/ħ ʕ/}} in later Biblical Hebrew, and {{IPA|/{{IPA link|b}} {{IPA link|ɡ}} {{IPA link|d}} {{IPA link|k}} {{IPA link|p}} {{IPA link|t}}/}} underwent allophonic spirantization to {{IPA|[{{IPA link|v}} {{IPA link|ɣ}} {{IPA link|ð}} {{IPA link|x}} {{IPA link|f}} {{IPA link|θ}}]}} (known as [[begadkefat]]). The earliest Biblical Hebrew vowel system contained the Proto-Semitic vowels {{IPA|/{{IPA link|a}} aː {{IPA link|i}} iː {{IPA link|u}} uː/}} as well as {{IPA|/{{IPA link|o}}ː/}}, but this system changed dramatically over time.

By the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls, {{IPA|/ɬ/}} had shifted to {{IPAslink|s}} in the Jewish traditions, though for the Samaritans it merged with {{IPAslink|ʃ}} instead.<ref name=Qimron/> The Tiberian reading tradition of the Middle Ages had the vowel system {{IPA|/{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|ɛ}} {{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|u}} ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/}}, though other Medieval reading traditions had fewer vowels.

A number of reading traditions have been preserved in liturgical use. In Oriental ([[Sephardi Hebrew|Sephardi]] and [[Mizrahi Hebrew|Mizrahi]]) Jewish reading traditions, the emphatic consonants are realized as pharyngealized, while the [[Ashkenazi Hebrew|Ashkenazi]] (northern and eastern European) traditions have lost emphatics and pharyngeals (although according to Ashkenazi law, pharyngeal articulation is preferred over uvular or glottal articulation when representing the community in religious service such as prayer and [[Torah reading]]), and show the shift of {{IPAslink|w}} to {{IPAslink|v}}. The [[Samaritan Hebrew|Samaritan]] tradition has a complex vowel system that does not correspond closely to the [[Tiberian vocalization|Tiberian]] systems.

Modern Hebrew pronunciation developed from a mixture of the different Jewish reading traditions, generally tending towards simplification. In line with [[Sephardi Hebrew]] pronunciation, emphatic consonants have shifted to their ordinary counterparts, {{IPA|/w/}} to {{IPA|/v/}}, and {{IPA|[ɣ ð θ]}} are not present. Most Israelis today also merge {{IPA|/ʕ ħ/}} with {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ʔ}} {{IPA link|χ}}/}}, do not have contrastive gemination, and pronounce {{IPAslink|r}} as a uvular fricative {{IPAblink|ʁ}} or a voiced velar fricative {{IPAslink|ɣ}} rather than an alveolar trill, because of Ashkenazi Hebrew influences. The consonants {{IPAslink|tʃ}} and {{IPAslink|dʒ}} have become phonemic due to loan words, and {{IPA|/w/}} has similarly been re-introduced.

===Consonants===

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Proto-Semitic language|Proto-<br/>Semitic]]
! rowspan="2" | IPA
! colspan="5" | Hebrew
! colspan="2" | Example
|-
! style="font-size:85%" colspan="2"| written
! style="font-size:85%" | [[Biblical Hebrew|Biblical]] 
! style="font-size:85%" | [[Tiberian Hebrew|Tiberian]] 
! style="font-size:85%" | [[Modern Hebrew|Modern]]
! style="font-size:85%" | Word
! style="font-size:85%" | Meaning
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Bet (letter)|*b]]}}
! {{IPAblink|b}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ב}}</big><sup>3</sup> || {{transliteration|sem|ḇ}}/{{transliteration|sem|b}}
| {{IPA|/b/}}
| {{IPA|/v/, /b/}}
| {{IPA|/v/, /b/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ב'''ית}}</big>
| house
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Dalet|*d]]}}
! {{IPAblink|d}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ד}}</big><sup>3</sup> || {{transliteration|sem|ḏ}}/{{transliteration|sem|d}}
| {{IPA|/d/}}
| {{IPA|/ð/, /d/}}
| {{IPA|/d/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ד'''ב}}</big>
| bear
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Gimel|*g]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ɡ}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ג}}</big><sup>3</sup> || {{transliteration|sem|ḡ}}/{{transliteration|sem|g}}
| {{IPA|/ɡ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɣ/, /ɡ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɡ/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ג'''מל}}</big>
| camel
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Pe (Semitic letter)|*p]]}}
! {{IPAblink|p}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|פ}}</big><sup>3</sup> || {{transliteration|sem|p̄}}/{{transliteration|sem|p}}
| {{IPA|/p/}}
| {{IPA|/f/, /p/}}
| {{IPA|/f/, /p/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''פ'''חם}}</big>
| coal
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Taw|*t]]}}
! {{IPAblink|t}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ת}}</big><sup>3</sup> || {{transliteration|sem|ṯ}}/{{transliteration|sem|t}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
| {{IPA|/θ/, /t/}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ת'''מר}}</big>
| palm
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Kaph|*k]]}}
! {{IPAblink|k}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|כ}}</big><sup>3</sup> || {{transliteration|sem|ḵ}}/{{transliteration|sem|k}}
| {{IPA|/k/}}
| {{IPA|/x/, /k/}}
| {{IPA|/χ/, /k/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''כ'''ו'''כ'''ב}}</big>
| star
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Teth|*ṭ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|tʼ}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ט}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|ṭ}}
| {{IPA|/tˤ/}}
| {{IPA|/tˤ/}}
| {{IPA|/t/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ט'''בח}}</big>
| cook
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Qoph|*q]]}}
! {{IPAblink|kʼ}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ק}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|q}}
| {{IPA|/kˤ/}}
| {{IPA|/q/}}
| {{IPA|/k/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ק'''בר}}</big>
| tomb
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Ḏāl|*ḏ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ð}} / {{IPAblink|d͡ð}}
| rowspan="2"   style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ז}}</big><sup>2</sup> || rowspan="2"| {{transliteration|sem|z}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/z/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/z/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/z/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ז'''כר}}</big>
| male
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Zayin|*z]]}}
! {{IPAblink|z}} / {{IPAblink|d͡z}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ז'''רק}}</big>
| threw
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Samekh|*s]]}}
! {{IPAblink|s}} / {{IPAblink|t͡s}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ס}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|s}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ס'''וכר}}</big>
| sugar
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Shin (letter)|*š]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ʃ}} / {{IPAblink|s̠}}
| rowspan="2"   style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|שׁ}}</big><sup>2</sup> || rowspan="2"| {{transliteration|sem|š}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''שׁ'''מים}}</big>
| sky
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Ṯāʾ|*ṯ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|θ}} / {{IPAblink|t͡θ}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''שׁ'''מונה}}</big>
| eight
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Shin (letter)|*ś]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ɬ}} / {{IPAblink|t͡ɬ}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|שׂ}}</big><sup>1</sup> || {{transliteration|sem|ś}}
| {{IPA|/ɬ/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| {{IPA|/s/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''שׂ'''מאל}}</big>
| left
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Ẓāʾ|*ṱ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|θʼ}} / {{IPAblink|t͡θʼ}}
| rowspan="3"   style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|צ}}</big> || rowspan="3"| {{transliteration|sem|ṣ}}
| rowspan="3"| {{IPA|/sˤ/}}
| rowspan="3"| {{IPA|/sˤ/}}
| rowspan="3"| {{IPA|/ts/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''צ'''ל}}</big>
| shadow
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Tsade|*ṣ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|sʼ}} / {{IPAblink|t͡sʼ}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''צ'''רח}}</big>
| screamed
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Ḍād|*ṣ́]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ɬʼ}} / {{IPAblink|t͡ɬʼ}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''צ'''חק}}</big>
| laughed
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Ghayn|*ġ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ɣ}}~{{IPAblink|ʁ}}
| rowspan="2"   style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"|  <big>{{script|Hebr|ע}}</big>|| rowspan="2"| {{transliteration|sem|ʻ}}
| {{IPA|/ʁ/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/ʕ/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/ʔ/, -}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ע'''ורב}}</big>
| raven
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Ayin|*ʻ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ʕ}}
| {{IPA|/ʕ/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ע'''שׂר}}</big>
| ten
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Aleph|*ʼ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ʔ}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|א}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|ʼ}}
| {{IPA|/ʔ/}}
| {{IPA|/ʔ/}}
| {{IPA|/ʔ/, -}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''א'''ב}}</big>
| father
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Ḫāʾ|*ḫ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|x}}~{{IPAblink|χ}}
| rowspan="2"   style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ח}}</big><sup>2</sup> || rowspan="2"| {{transliteration|sem|ḥ}}
| {{IPA|/χ/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/ħ/}}
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|/χ/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ח'''משׁ}}</big>
| five
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Heth|*ḥ]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ħ}}
| {{IPA|/ħ/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ח'''בל}}</big>
| rope
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[He (letter)|*h]]}}
! {{IPAblink|h}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ה}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|h}}
| {{IPA|/h/}}
| {{IPA|/h/}}
| {{IPA|/h/, -}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ה'''גר}}</big>
| emigrated
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Mem|*m]]}}
! {{IPAblink|m}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|מ}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|m}}
| {{IPA|/m/}}
| {{IPA|/m/}}
| {{IPA|/m/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''מ'''ים}}</big>
| water
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Nun (letter)|*n]]}}
! {{IPAblink|n}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|נ}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|n}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
| {{IPA|/n/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''נ'''ביא}}</big>
| prophet
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Resh|*r]]}}
! {{IPAblink|ɾ}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ר}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|r}}
| {{IPA|/ɾ/}}
| {{IPA|/ɾ/}}
| {{IPA|/ʁ/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ר'''גל}}</big>
| leg
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Lamedh|*l]]}}
! {{IPAblink|l}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ל}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|l}}
| {{IPA|/l/}}
| {{IPA|/l/}}
| {{IPA|/l/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ל'''שׁון}}</big>
| tongue
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Yodh|*y]]}}
! {{IPAblink|j}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|י}}</big> || {{transliteration|sem|y}}
| {{IPA|/j/}}
| {{IPA|/j/}}
| {{IPA|/j/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''י'''ד}}</big>
| hand
|-
! {{transliteration|sem|[[Waw (letter)|*w]]}}
! {{IPAblink|w}}
|  style="text-align:center; font-size:140%;"| <big>{{script|Hebr|ו}}</big>|| {{transliteration|sem|w}}
| {{IPA|/w/}}
| {{IPA|/w/}}
| {{IPA|/v/}}
| <big>{{lang|he|'''ו'''רד}}</big>
| rose
|- 
! | Proto-Semitic
! | IPA
! colspan="2" | Hebrew
! style="font-size:85%"| Biblical
! style="font-size:85%"| Tiberian
! style="font-size:85%"| Modern
! colspan="2" | Example
|}

Notes:
# Proto-Semitic {{transliteration|sem|*ś}} was still pronounced as {{IPAblink|ɬ}} in Biblical Hebrew, but no letter was available in the Phoenician alphabet, so the letter <big>{{script|Hebr|ש}}</big> had two pronunciations, representing both {{IPA|/ʃ/}} and {{IPA|/ɬ/}}. Later on, however, {{IPA|/ɬ/}} merged with {{IPA|/s/}}, but the old spelling was largely retained, and the two pronunciations of <big>{{script|Hebr|ש}}</big> were distinguished graphically in [[Tiberian Hebrew]] as <big>{{script|Hebr|שׁ}}</big> {{IPA|/ʃ/}} vs. <big>{{script|Hebr|שׂ}}</big> {{IPA|/s/}} < {{IPA|/ɬ/}}.
# Biblical Hebrew as of the 3rd century BCE apparently still distinguished the phonemes {{transliteration|sem|ġ}} versus {{transliteration|sem|ʻ}} and {{transliteration|sem|ḫ}} versus {{transliteration|sem|ḥ}}, as witnessed by transcriptions in the [[Septuagint]]. As in the case of {{IPA|/ɬ/}}, no letters were available to represent these sounds, and existing letters did double duty: <big>{{script|Hebr|ח}}</big> for {{IPA|/χ/ and /ħ/}} and <big>{{script|Hebr|ע}}</big> for {{IPA|/ʁ/ and /ʕ/}}. In all of these cases, however, the sounds represented by the same letter eventually merged, leaving no evidence (other than early transcriptions) of the former distinctions.
# Hebrew and Aramaic underwent [[begadkefat]] spirantization at a certain point, whereby the stop sounds {{IPA|/b ɡ d k p t/}} were [[lenition|softened]] to the corresponding fricatives {{IPA|[v ɣ ð x f θ]}} (written ''ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ'') when occurring after a vowel and not geminated. This change probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes {{IPA|/θ, ð/}} disappeared in the 7th century&nbsp;BCE,<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Aharon Dolgopolsky |last=Dolgopolsky |first=Aron |date=1999 |title=From Proto-Semitic to Hebrew: Phonology: etymological approach in a Hamito-Semitic perspective |location=Milano |publisher=Centro Studi Camito-Semitici |page=72}}</ref> and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew {{IPA|/χ, ʁ/}} {{Circa|200&nbsp;BCE}}.<ref group="note">According to the generally accepted view, it is unlikely that begadkefat spirantization occurred before the merger of {{IPA|/χ, ʁ/}} and {{IPA|/ħ, ʕ/}}, or else {{IPA|[x, χ]}} and {{IPA|[ɣ, ʁ]}} would have to be contrastive, which is cross-linguistically rare. However, Blau argues that it is possible that lenited {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/χ/}} could coexist even if pronounced identically, since one would be recognized as an alternating allophone (as apparently is the case in Nestorian Syriac). See {{Harvcoltxt|Blau|2010|p=56}}.</ref> It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Dolgopolsky|1999|p=73}}</ref> After a certain point this alternation became contrastive in word-medial and final position (though bearing low [[functional load]]), but in word-initial position they remained allophonic.<ref name=bbgd>{{cite book |last= Blau |first= Joshua |author-link= Joshua Blau |title= Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew: An Introduction |pages= 78–81 |publisher= Eisenbrauns |location= Winona Lake |series= Linguistic studies in ancient West Semitic |volume= 2 |year= 2010 |edition= revised |isbn= 978-1-57506-129-0 }} No text access via Google Books.</ref> In [[Modern Hebrew]], the distinction has a higher functional load due to the loss of gemination, although only the three fricatives {{IPA|/v χ f/}} are still preserved (the fricative {{IPA|/x/}} is pronounced {{IPA|/χ/}} in modern Hebrew). (The others are pronounced like the corresponding stops, as Modern Hebrew pronunciation was based on the [[Sephardic pronunciation]] which lost the distinction)

==Grammar<!--'Hebrew grammar' redirects here-->==
{{Main|Modern Hebrew grammar}}
{{Further|History of Hebrew grammar}}
Hebrew grammar is partly [[analytic language|analytic]], expressing such forms as [[dative case|dative]], [[ablative case|ablative]] and [[accusative case|accusative]] using [[preposition]]al particles rather than [[grammatical case]]s. However, inflection plays a decisive role in the formation of verbs and nouns. For example, nouns have a [[construct state]], called "''smikhut''", to denote the relationship of "belonging to": this is the converse of the [[genitive case]] of more inflected languages. Words in ''smikhut'' are often combined with [[hyphen]]s. In modern speech, the use of the construct is sometimes interchangeable with the preposition "''shel''", meaning "of". There are many cases, however, where older declined forms are retained (especially in idiomatic expressions and the like), and "person"-[[enclitic]]s are widely used to "decline" prepositions.

===Morphology===
Like all Semitic languages, the Hebrew language exhibits a pattern of stems consisting typically of "[[triliteral]]", or 3-consonant [[Triliteral|consonantal roots]], from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways: e.g. by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, lengthening vowels and/or adding prefixes, suffixes or [[infix]]es. 4-consonant roots also exist and became more frequent in the modern language due to a process of coining verbs from nouns that are themselves constructed from 3-consonant verbs. Some triliteral roots lose one of their consonants in most forms and are called "Nakhim" (Resting).

Hebrew uses a number of [[Prefixes in Hebrew|one-letter prefixes]] that are added to words for various purposes. These are called inseparable prepositions or "Letters of Use" ({{langx|he|אותיות השימוש|Otiyot HaShimush|links=no}}). Such items include: the definite [[article (grammar)|article]] ''ha-'' ({{IPA|/ha/}}) (=&nbsp;"the"); [[preposition]]s ''be-'' ({{IPA|/be/}}) (=&nbsp;"in"), ''le-'' ({{IPA|/le/}}) (=&nbsp;"to"; a shortened version of the preposition ''el''), ''mi-'' ({{IPA|/mi/}}) (=&nbsp;"from"; a shortened version of the preposition ''min''); [[Grammatical conjunction|conjunctions]] ''ve-'' ({{IPA|/ve/}}) (=&nbsp;"and"), ''she-'' ({{IPA|/ʃe/}}) (=&nbsp;"that"; a shortened version of the Biblical conjunction ''asher''), ''ke-'' ({{IPA|/ke/}}) (=&nbsp;"as", "like"; a shortened version of the conjunction ''kmo'').
[[File:עברית handwritten form.jpg|thumb|The Hebrew word for "Hebrew" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|עברית}}) in its [[Cursive Hebrew|cursive form]]]]
The vowel accompanying each of these letters may differ from those listed above, depending on the first letter or vowel following it. The rules governing these changes are hardly observed in colloquial speech as most speakers tend to employ the regular form. However, they may be heard in more formal circumstances. For example, if a preposition is put before a word that begins with a moving [[Shva]], then the preposition takes the vowel {{IPA|/i/}} (and the initial consonant may be weakened): colloquial ''be-kfar'' (=&nbsp;"in a village") corresponds to the more formal ''bi-khfar''.

The definite article may be inserted between a preposition or a conjunction and the word it refers to, creating composite words like ''mé-ha-kfar'' (=&nbsp;"from the village"). The latter also demonstrates the change in the vowel of ''mi-''. With ''be'', ''le'' and ''ke'', the definite article is assimilated into the prefix, which then becomes ''ba'', ''la'' or ''ka''. Thus *''be-ha-matos'' becomes ''ba-matos'' (=&nbsp;"in the plane"). This does not happen to ''mé'' (the form of "min" or "mi-" used before the letter "he"), therefore ''mé-ha-matos'' is a valid form, which means "from the airplane".

:''* indicates that the given example is grammatically [[standard language|non-standard]]''.

===Syntax===
Like most other languages, the vocabulary of the Hebrew language is divided into verbs, nouns, adjectives and so on, and its sentence structure can be analyzed by terms like object, subject and so on.
* Though early [[Biblical Hebrew]] had a [[Verb–subject–object word order|VSO]] ordering, this gradually transitioned to a subject-verb-object ordering. Many Hebrew sentences have several correct orders of words.
* In Hebrew, there is no [[indefinite article]].
* Hebrew sentences do not have to include verbs; the [[Copula (linguistics)|copula]] in the [[present tense]] is omitted. For example, the sentence "I am here" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|אני&nbsp;פה}} ''{{transliteration|he|ani&nbsp;po}}'') has only two words; one for I ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|אני}}) and one for here ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|פה}}). In the sentence "I am that person" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|אני&nbsp;הוא&nbsp;האדם&nbsp;הזה}} ''{{transliteration|he|ani&nbsp;hu&nbsp;ha'adam&nbsp;ha'ze}}''), the word for "am" corresponds to the word for "he" ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|הוא}}). However, this is usually omitted. Thus, the sentence ({{lang|he|rtl=yes|אני&nbsp;האדם&nbsp;הזה}}) is more often used and means the same thing.
*Negative and interrogative sentences have the same order as the regular declarative one. A question that has a yes/no answer begins with {{lang|he|rtl=yes|"האם"}} (''ha'im'', an interrogative form of 'if'), but it is largely omitted in informal speech.
* In Hebrew there is a specific preposition ({{lang|he|את}} ''{{transliteration|he|et}}'') for direct objects that would not have a preposition marker in English. The English phrase "he ate the cake" would in Hebrew be {{lang|he|הוא&nbsp;אכל&nbsp;את&nbsp;העוגה}} ''{{transliteration|he|hu&nbsp;akhal&nbsp;et&nbsp;ha'ugah}}'' (literally, "He ate {{lang|he|את}} the cake"). The word {{lang|he|rtl=yes|את}}, however, can be omitted, making {{lang|he|rtl=yes|הוא&nbsp;אכל&nbsp;העוגה}} ''{{transliteration|he|hu&nbsp;akhal&nbsp;ha'ugah}}'' ("He ate the cake"). Former Israeli Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] was convinced that {{lang|he|את}} should never be used as it elongates the sentence without adding meaning.
* In spoken Hebrew &rlm;{{lang|he|rtl=yes|את ה-}}&rlm; {{transliteration|he|et ha-}} is also often contracted to &rlm;{{lang|he|rtl=yes|-תַ'}}&rlm; {{transliteration|he|ta-}}, e.g. {{lang|he|rtl=yes|ת'אנשים}} {{transliteration|he|ta-anashim}} instead of {{lang|he|rtl=yes|את האנשים}} {{transliteration|he|et ha-anashim}} (the ' indicates non-standard use). This phenomenon has also been found by researchers in the [[Cave of Letters#Bar-Kokhba letters|Bar Kokhba documents]]: {{lang|he|rtl=yes|מעיד אני עלי '''תשמים'''… שאני נותן '''תכבלים''' ברגליכם}}, writing {{lang|he|rtl=yes|תללו}} instead of {{lang|he|rtl=yes|את הללו}}, as well as {{lang|he|rtl=yes|תדקל}} and so on.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

==Writing system==<!-- This section is linked from [[Universal Character Set]] -->
{{Main|Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew braille}}
[[File:Frank-ruehl.png|thumb|[[Hebrew alphabet]]]]

Users of the language write Modern Hebrew from [[Right-to-left|right to left]] using the [[Hebrew alphabet]] – an "impure" [[abjad]], or consonant-only script, of 22 letters. The ancient [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]] resembles those used for [[Canaanite language|Canaanite]] and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson-Wright |first=Aren M. |title=The Semitic languages |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-73195-9 |editor-last=Huehnergard |editor-first=John |edition=2nd |series=Routledge language family series |location=London New York (N. Y.) Abingdon, Oxon |pages=511 |language=en |chapter=The Canaanite languages |editor-last2=Pat-El |editor-first2=Na'ama |chapter-url=https://sites.utexas.edu/scripts/files/2020/10/2019-AWW-The-Canaanite-Languages.pdf |access-date=15 May 2024 |archive-date=6 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106072842/https://sites.utexas.edu/scripts/files/2020/10/2019-AWW-The-Canaanite-Languages.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Biblical Archaeology Society |date=2022-03-15 |title=The Phoenician Alphabet in Archaeology |url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/inscriptions/the-phoenician-alphabet-in-archaeology/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Biblical Archaeology Society |language=en |archive-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515030804/https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/inscriptions/the-phoenician-alphabet-in-archaeology/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Modern scripts derive from the "square" letter form, known as ''Ashurit'' (Assyrian), which developed from the [[Aramaic script]]. A [[cursive Hebrew]] script is used in handwriting: the letters tend to appear more circular in form when written in cursive, and sometimes vary markedly from their printed equivalents. The medieval version of the cursive script forms the basis of another style, known as [[Rashi script]]. When necessary, vowels are indicated by [[Hebrew diacritics|diacritic]] marks above or below the letter representing the syllabic onset, or by use of ''[[matres lectionis]]'', which are consonantal letters used as vowels. Further diacritics may serve to indicate variations in the pronunciation of the consonants (e.g. ''bet''/''vet'', ''shin''/''sin''); and, in some contexts, to indicate the punctuation, accentuation and musical rendition of Biblical texts (see [[Hebrew cantillation]]).

==Liturgical use in Judaism==
{{Listen|filename=Cantillation_Example_Aliyah_Reform2.ogg|title=Audio example of liturgical Hebrew |description=This is a portion of the blessing that is traditionally [[Hebrew cantillation|chanted]] before the [[Baal kore|Aliyah La-Torah]] (reading of the Torah). |format=[[Ogg]]}}

Hebrew has always been used as the language of prayer and study, and the following pronunciation systems are found.

[[Ashkenazi Hebrew]], originating in Central and Eastern Europe, is still widely used in Ashkenazi Jewish religious services and studies in Israel and abroad, particularly in the [[Haredi]] and other [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] communities. It was influenced by [[Yiddish]] pronunciation.

[[Sephardi Hebrew]] is the traditional pronunciation of the [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews]] and [[Sephardi Jews]] in the countries of the former [[Ottoman Empire]], with the exception of [[Yemenite Hebrew]]. This pronunciation, in the form used by the Jerusalem Sephardic community, is the basis of the [[Modern Hebrew phonology|Hebrew phonology]] of Israeli native speakers. It was influenced by [[Judaeo-Spanish|Ladino]] pronunciation.

[[Mizrahi Hebrew|Mizrahi (Oriental) Hebrew]] is actually a collection of dialects spoken liturgically by Jews in various parts of the [[Arab]] and [[Islam]]ic world. It was derived from the old [[Arabic language]], and in some cases influenced by Sephardi Hebrew. [[Yemenite Hebrew]] or ''Temanit'' differs from other Mizrahi dialects by having a radically different vowel system, and distinguishing between different diacritically marked consonants that are pronounced identically in other dialects (for example gimel and "ghimel".)

These pronunciations are still used in synagogue ritual and religious study in Israel and elsewhere, mostly by people who are not native speakers of Hebrew. However, some traditionalist Israelis use liturgical pronunciations in prayer.

Many synagogues in the diaspora, even though Ashkenazi by rite and by ethnic composition, have adopted the "Sephardic" pronunciation in deference to Israeli Hebrew. However, in many British and American schools and synagogues, this pronunciation retains several elements of its Ashkenazi substrate, especially the distinction between [[Niqqud|tsere]] and [[Niqqud|segol]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Israel|Judaism|Language}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[List of Hebrew dictionaries]]
* [[List of Hebrew words of Persian origin]]
* [[Hebraism]]
* [[Hebraization of English]]
* [[Hebrew abbreviations]]
* [[Hebrew literature]]
* [[Hebrew numerals]]
* [[Jewish languages]]
* [[List of English words of Hebrew origin]]
* [[Romanization of Hebrew]]
* [[Study of the Hebrew language]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Hoffman|first=Joel M.|title=In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language|place=New York|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-3654-8|date=August 2004}}
* {{cite web|last=Izre'el|first=Shlomo|editor-first=Benjamin|editor-last=Hary|url=http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/semitic/cosih.html|title=The Corpus of Spoken Israeli Hebrew|publisher=(CoSIH): Working Papers I|date=2001|access-date=25 January 2006|archive-date=27 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227154717/http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/semitic/cosih.html|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book|last=Klein|first= Reuven Chaim|title=Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew|publisher=Mosaica Press|date= 2014|isbn=978-1-937887-36-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Kuzar|first= Ron|title=Hebrew and Zionism: A Discourse Analytic Cultural Study|place= Berlin & New York|publisher= Mouton de Gruyter|date= 2001|isbn=978-3-11-016993-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Laufer|first= Asher|title=Hebrew Handbook of the International Phonetic Association|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|date=1999|isbn=978-0-521-65236-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Sáenz-Badillos|first=Angel|date=1993|orig-year=1988|title=A History of the Hebrew Language|translator=John Elwolde|place=Cambridge, England|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-55634-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZCgpaTgLm0C|access-date=16 October 2015|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408152915/https://books.google.com/books?id=EZCgpaTgLm0C|url-status=live}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box}}
* [https://eng.hebrew-academy.org.il/ Official website] of the [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]]
* [https://maagarim.hebrew-academy.org.il/Pages/PMain.aspx Official website] of the [[Historical Dictionary Project of the Hebrew Language]]
* [https://www.nli.org.il/en/a-topic/987007555654405171 Hebrew language] at the [[National Library of Israel]]
* {{Britannica|259061}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/hebrew/guide/ A Guide to Hebrew] at [[BBC Online]]
* [https://www.morfix.co.il/en/ Official website] of [[:d:Q6635560|Morfix]], a Hebrew-English dictionary
* [https://hebrew.laits.utexas.edu/ Hebrew language] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* [https://www.livelingua.com/course/fsi/Hebrew_-_Basic_Course Hebrew Basic Course] by the [[Foreign Service Institute]]

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