Old Hebrew script
| Old Hebrew alphabet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Font | Abdschad | |
| languages | Old Hebrew | |
| Usage time | at the latest since 1000 BC Until approx. 135 after Chr. | |
| Used in | Israel | |
| ancestry |
Protosinaitic script → Phoenician script → Old Hebrew alphabet |
|
| Derived | Samaritan script | |
| relative | Phoenician script | |
| particularities | written horizontally from right to left | |
The ancient Hebrew alphabet (also paleo-Hebrew alphabet ) is the oldest known alphabet in the ancient Hebrew language . It has been since 10/9. Century BC And was in use for several centuries. The ancient Hebrew alphabet differs little from the Phoenician alphabet in that it has slightly modified letter forms. It consists of 22 characters which originally only represent consonants , some of which were later used as matres lectionis to indicate vowels.
history
The Gezer calendar from the late 10th century BC is occasionally considered the earliest example of the ancient Hebrew script . BC, which, however, cannot be clearly assigned to Hebrew either linguistically or epigraphically. The earliest clearly Hebrew character forms come from inscriptions from Tell es-Safi (Gath) in the Schefela and Tel Rechov in the Jordan Basin. Other well-known examples are the Schiloach inscription from around 701 BC. And the silver scrolls by Ketef Hinnom from the 7th century BC. Chr.
Since the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC The ancient Hebrew script was gradually displaced by the square Aramaic alphabet . Nevertheless, in the 3rd century BC And later some biblical and extra-biblical texts were written in ancient Hebrew script, as finds from the Dead Sea show. The Samaritan script is also a continuation of the ancient Hebrew script. Also around 135 coins with inscriptions in ancient Hebrew are known from the time of the Bar Kochba uprising .
In the second century, according to rabbinical tradition, the Jewish religious authorities decided that the ancient Hebrew alphabet was unsuitable for religious texts and that only the (originally Aramaic) Hebrew square script should be used.
The Samaritans, on the other hand, still use the ancient Hebrew script in a modified form as the Samaritan script for the Samaritan Pentateuch .
alphabet
| Hebrew letter | Old Hebrew letter | Surname |
|---|---|---|
| א |
|
Aleph |
| ב |
|
Beth |
| ג |
|
Gimel |
| ד |
|
Daleth |
| ה |
|
Hey |
| ו |
|
Waw |
| ז |
|
Zajin |
| ח |
|
Chet |
| ט |
|
Tet |
| י |
|
iodine |
| כ / ך |
|
Cap |
| ל |
|
Lamed |
| מ / ם |
|
Mem |
| נ / ן |
|
Now |
| ס |
|
Samech |
| ע |
|
Ayin |
| פ / ף |
|
Pe |
| צ / ץ |
|
Tsadeh |
| ק |
|
Qoph |
| ר |
|
Resh |
| ש |
|
Sin / Schin |
| ת |
|
Taw |
literature
- Gordon J. Hamilton: Paleo-Hebrew Texts and Scripts of the Persian Period, in: Jo Ann Hackett, Walter E. Aufrecht (Eds.): “An Eye for Form.” Epigraphic Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 2014, pp. 253-290.
- Richard S. Hanson: Paleo-Hebrew Scripts of the Hasmonaean Age, in: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 175 (1964), pp. 26-42.
- Israel Finkelstein , Benjamin Sass: The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions, Late Bronze II to Iron IIA: Archeological Context, Distribution and Chronology, in: Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 2 (2013), pp. 149–220.
- Joseph Naveh: Early History of the Alphabet: An Introduction to West Semitic Epigraphy and Palaeography. Jerusalem, Leiden 1982 ( 2 1987).
- Johannes Renz: Handbook of Old Hebrew Epigraphy , Volume II / 1, The Old Hebrew Inscriptions , Part 2, Summary Discussions, Paleography and Glossary , Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Dennis Pardee: A Brief Case for Phoenician as the Language of the “Gezer Calendar”, in: Robert D. Holmstedt and Aaron Schade (Eds.): Linguistic Studies in Phoenician in Memory of J. Brian Peckham. Winona Lake / IN 2013, pp. 226–246 with extensive further references.