The Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Manchester
Extra-Mural Lectures 1998-99
For the full list of lectures, click here
Feb 23 Sophie Garside: The Development of the Hebrew
Language from the Haskalah to Modern Times
Sophie Garside
INTRODUCTION
In the time I have, I can only touch briefly on some the major elements
which contributed to the revival of spoken Hebrew and the development of
the language to its modern state.
This lecture will, necessarily, be selective and I may not mention matters
others think important.
I shall briefly take you through the different stages of the development
of Hebrew from the period of the Haskalah, and concentrate in a little more
depth on the various routes and methods which were adopted at the time of
the revival to make Hebrew once again the vernacular of the Jewish people.
I shall also talk briefly on the development of the language after the revival
and its usage today.
We shall see, that although strictly speaking, there was no immediate
transformation in the written form of the language, the Haskalah by its
ideological nature, nevertheless, marked the beginning of the transformation
to come. It was the cradle, from which grew and developed the language and
literature of today.
Before I deal with the Haskalah, I will have to go back very briefly
to reconsider the stages the Hebrew language has been through since the
time of the Scriptures.
The Hebrew language before the Haskalah - a brief review
Hebrew had been the everyday spoken language of the Israelite and Judean
people for over 1300 years until, about 200 C.E., when it died as a spoken
language and was replaced by the two languages of the time, Aramaic and
Greek.
It left behind two main texts, the Bible and the Mishna, each of which
represented a distinct style and usage of the language. From then on until
the reintroduction of Hebrew as a spoken language in Palestine in the 1880's,
it was in no sense stagnant. The two textual styles of Hebrew served in
various times and places, as vehicles for further active and creative writing:
200-500 C.E. - in Palestine and the Near East in general, a large amount
of religious poetry called in Hebrew piyyutim was produced, written according
to biblical Hebrew norms but containing several thousands newly created
words. A sign that the language was still alive.
500 onwards - the use of Hebrew in its written form, gradually dominated
the Jewish communities outside Palestine, in Asia, North Africa, and Europe.
Later, all Jewish communities scattered throughout the Diaspora used
Hebrew - not only as a passive language of study and prayer, but also for
active communication in books, legal documents, private letters and medicine.
This went further and in the Middle Ages we find secular poetry, philosophy
and science.
Even as a purely spoken language during these periods, Hebrew was not
completely dead.
"Jews were able to speak Hebrew on occasion; Jews from different
countries are known to have conversed with each other in Hebrew, visiting
scholars gave sermons in it, some spoke it on Sabbaths and festivals, while
others spoke it in order not to be understood by the Gentiles." (H.
Rabin)
It is true, that in this period, Hebrew was not used as the normal vehicle
for everyday speech. Rather, the language of spoken communication, was usually
the local language or dialect of the country in which the Jews were living.
The language they spoke was interspersed with a number of Hebrew and Aramaic
lexical items which distinguished their speech from that of their Gentile
neighbours: such was the case of Yiddish in Central and Eastern Europe,
with Ladino in Spain, and with Judeo Arabic.
We may say that until its spoken revival in the 1880's, Hebrew was a
"half a language", a language used for written purposes alongside
various spoken tongues. It's use in this way has parallels in other times
and contexts, for example, the use of Latin in medieval catholic Europe
and classical Arabic in modern muslim countries.
THE HASKALAH PERIOD C. 1770 - 1880
The nature of the written material began to change towards the end of
the 18th c. with the birth of the Haskalah movement. Hebrew writing began
to be more realistic and the emphasis began to shift from its religious
nature, to the secular. This included the writing of newspapers, periodicals,
stories and novels dealing with contemporary life.
WHAT WAS THE HASKALAH ALL ABOUT?
Haskalah is the Hebrew term for the enlightenment movement and ideology,
which began within Jewish society in the 1770s in Europe. The term is derived
from the Hebrew root 'sechel' - meaning intellect, reason, intelligence,
common sense. The movement of the Haskalah started in Central Europe/Germany
and spread eastward to Galicia and later to Lithuania and other provinces
of the Russian Pale of Settlement. It contributed toward assimilation in
language, dress and manners by condemning Jewish feelings of alienation
in the Diaspora and reinforcing loyalty to the modern states where Jews
actually lived. In other words taking them out of the gettoes and making
them aware of the world around them.
The Haskalah, like its parent, the European Enlightenment movement,
was rationalistic. It accepted only one truth: the rational-philosophical
truth in which reason is the measure of all things. Secular culture and
philosophy became a central value.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE HASKALAH MOVEMENT - THE LANGUAGE IN ALL THIS
Linguistic assimilation increasingly became the hallmark of the Haskalah.
More and more wealthy Jews began to have their children taught German and
French. French became the language of the "elite" in Jewish circles.
In 1786 Ha-measseff ( the first Hebrew periodical) stated, "the daughters
of Israel, are all able to speak the language of the gentiles with eloquence,
but cannot converse in Yiddish". A negative attitude toward Yiddish
developed.
A major literary figure of the German Haskalah was Moses Mendelssohn
(1729-1786), who is generally considered to be the originator of the Haskalah
movement (the "father of the Haskalah")
He wrote mainly in German, and was the initiator of two main literary
projects:
1. The Beur - he translated the Bible into German with Jewish interpretation.
Mendelssohn considered that a Jewish translation of the Bible into German
was " a first step ... toward culture for Jews.î
2. He founded the first Hebrew periodical (Ha-Me'assef-1781).
Mendelssohn thought that Yiddish was ridiculous, ungrammatical and a
cause of moral corruption. Translation of the Pentateuch into German would
induce Jews to use this language. As to Hebrew, Mendelssohn considered it
a national treasure. For the Haskalah scholars Hebrew meant biblical Hebrew.
Just as the use of the spoken languages of Europe for written purposes (instead
of Latin) was an act of European nationalism, so the use of Biblical Hebrew
by the Jews was a substitute for Jewish nationalism, which as yet did not
exist. This was because Biblical Hebrew was the language spoken when the
Jews were a nation living on their own territory, as compared to Post-Biblical
Hebrew which already implied Diaspora and Exile. However, in the late Haskalah
period and the beginning of the Modern period, a problem arose. In more
modernistic writing, the use of pure Biblical Hebrew became increasingly
awkward, as the vocabulary is restricted to 7000-8000 words, several of
whose meanings are unclear or anachronistic.
Some younger writers began cautiously to include in their writings Post-Biblical
Hebrew, especially Mishnaic and Talmudic vocabulary, as well as various
European words. This went further. Some, like Shalom Avramovich (better
known as "Mendele Mocher Seforim"), who began writing in Biblical
Hebrew, abandoned it in 1864 for more vivid and folk-like Yiddish. Gradually,
the more simple Hebrew prose, of Mishnaic and Talmudic literature, replaced
the high biblical Haskalah style.
Although, as we have seen, not a great deal of change occurred in the
style of Hebrew used for literary purposes, nevertheless, some changes did
take place and on this account the Haskalah may be viewed as a preparatory
period for the revival of Hebrew.
THE MODERN PERIOD
THE PERIOD OF THE REVIVAL 1881 - 1918
Hebrew had been the everyday spoken language of the Israelite and Judean
people for over 1300 years until, about 200 C.E., when it died as a spoken
language and was replaced by the two languages of the time, Aramaic and
Greek.
It left behind two main texts, the Bible and the Mishna, each of which
represented a distinct style and usage of the language. From then on until
the reintroduction of Hebrew as a spoken language in Palestine in the 1880's,
it was in no sense stagnant. The two textual styles of Hebrew served in
various times and places, as vehicles for further active and creative writing:
200-500 C.E. - in Palestine and the Near East in general, a large amount
of religious poetry called in Hebrew piyyutim was produced, written according
to biblical Hebrew norms but containing several thousands newly created
words. A sign that the language was still alive.
500 onwards - the use of Hebrew in its written form, gradually dominated
the Jewish communities outside Palestine, in Asia, North Africa, and Europe.
Later, all Jewish communities scattered throughout the Diaspora used
Hebrew - not only as a passive language of study and prayer, but also for
active communication in books, legal documents, private letters and medicine.
This went further and in the Middle Ages we find secular poetry, philosophy
and science.
Even as a purely spoken language during these periods, Hebrew was not
completely dead.
"Jews were able to speak Hebrew on occasion; Jews from different
countries are known to have conversed with each other in Hebrew, visiting
scholars gave sermons in it, some spoke it on Sabbaths and festivals, while
others spoke it in order not to be understood by the Gentiles." (H.
Rabin)
It is true, that in this period, Hebrew was not used as the normal vehicle
for everyday speech. Rather, the language of spoken communication, was usually
the local language or dialect of the country in which the Jews were living.
The language they spoke was interspersed with a number of Hebrew and Aramaic
lexical items which distinguished their speech from that of their Gentile
neighbours: such was the case of Yiddish in Central and Eastern Europe,
with Ladino in Spain, and with Judeo Arabic.
We may say that until its spoken revival in the 1880's, Hebrew was a
"half a language", a language used for written purposes alongside
various spoken tongues. It's use in this way has parallels in other times
and contexts, for example, the use of Latin in medieval catholic Europe
and classical Arabic in modern muslim countries.
1. The first Hebrew-speaking household
The decision to speak only Hebrew and to establish the first Hebrew-speaking
household may be considered the first step adopted by Ben Yehuda in Palestine
towards implementation of his idea of the language revival. There were of
course many practical difficulties. Ben Yehuda himself was unable to express
himself fluently and with ease. A friend of his, noted that, for example,
when Ben Yehuda wanted Devora to pour him a cup of coffee with sugar, he
was at a loss to communicate words such as 'cup', 'saucer', 'pour, 'spoon',
and would say to his wife, in effect: "Take such and such, and do like
so, and bring me this and this, and I will drink."
Conclusion
This may have been a good example to the limited circle of friends,
who new Ben Yehuda well, but it certainly did not make much direct impact
on the majority of people, for a number of reasons:
- Ben Yehuda's own usage of the language was lofty and cumbersome.
- Only 4 families turned to speaking Hebrew
- Ben Yehuda lived in Jerusalem, and there, the revival was much slower.
After 40 years of his effort, not more that 1% of the Jews spoke Hebrew.
- The real revival, in fact took place, in the agricultural colonies,
where people made up many of the words we use today and not those of
Ben Yehuda, for example:
Imma (mother) - Ben Yehudaís amma (on the analogy of abba)
Agvania (tomato) ñ Ben Yehudaís bandura
Tered (spinach) ñ Ben Yehudaís kotzit
Toda (thank you) ñ Ben Yehudaís henhen/ahanhen
Bevakasha (please) ñ Ben Yehudaís bechavod.
2. The call to the Diaspora and to the local population
Ben Yehuda wrote articles in the newspaper Ha-Havazzellet for which
he worked, urging people to use Hebrew in their daily lives - as he writes:
"If we do not, little by little get used to speaking Hebrew when
we sit in our homes, and when we go out to the fields to stroll, when we
go to the market to buy something and when we sit among friends, we will
also not succeed in making Hebrew the language of instruction, and all
our hopes will be lost."
Conclusion
There wasn't a very good response to his call at the time, either in
Palestine or in the Diaspora. Only later generations took on Hebrew.
3. The Hebrew-speaking societies
These societies were formed to implement the revival of Hebrew speech.
They included young Jewish intellectuals, the Biluim, school teachers and
others. One of the societies' rules reads:
"The members... will speak Hebrew to one another within the Society's
meeting place, and even in the market place, and on the street, and not
be ashamed. They will also set about teaching their children and everyone
in their home this language. The society will also purify the language
of its imperfections and make it the spoken language in the schools."
Conclusion
This society was a failure in the first critical years of the revival,
since at any given time during these years, it could boast of no more than
five or six members. It seems that even these few members did not take it
that seriously. Hemdah Ben-Yehuda gives a number of excuses:
"Whenever a meeting was called, a number of the members would
appear one or even two hours late. Some would send excuses, saying that
the day was too hot or that they feared to go out in the rain. If the meeting
were at night, there were always those who worried about breaking a leg
in the dark streets. Others, in cold weather, refused to attend unless
they were guaranteed a heated meeting place."
However, these societies were the model on which many societies, both
in the Diaspora and in Palestine, were to be based in the course of time.
4. Hebrew through Hebrew in the schools
One of Ben-Yehuda's redeeming ideas was to adopt Hebrew as the language
of instruction in schools. Hebrew was of course taught in all the Jewish
schools in Palestine as the language of the Book, but the language of instruction
itself, was the language of the ethnic group, or a European language, and
the Hebrew texts, which were taught in class, were translated to that language.
Ben Yehuda started to teach "Hebrew in Hebrew" in a school, but
unfortunately, after teaching there a few months he was forced to resign
on health grounds.
Conclusion
It is perhaps here, in the field of his teaching, that Ben Yehuda succeeded
most in making his dream a reality. The response of the students had been
enthusiastic and, in particular, teachers, including the Biluim, who had
observed his classes during this time, began applying his teaching methods
in their own classes. If children could be put into Hebrew language classes
at a sufficiently tender age, and could continue with such classes throughout
their years of schooling, they could in time, become quite fluent in the
language, whatever their parentsí home language happened to be. Parents,
too, would learn from their children.
5. The newspaper
Prior to Ben Yehuda's time, Hebrew newspapers could be classified into
two types; those circulating in Eastern Europe handling material of a literary-philosophical,
scholarly nature, as well as dealing with general Hebraic and Jewish topics,
and those circulating in Palestine.
In his attempt to combine the best features of both types, Ben Yehuda
sought to edit a newspaper which would give news of Palestine to those in
the Diaspora as well as news of the modern world to its local readers.
What concerns us most here, is, the extent to which the readers also
learned the new words Ben Yehuda introduced into his newspapers; in other
words, how far did the newspapers play a significant role in the linguistic
revival. New words were indeed learned through the papers, but only in a
piecemeal fashion. Ben Yehuda did not approach this task in a systematic
way, for example, publishing weekly word lists on everyday topics together
with their translation. In a letter to the editor of Ha-Zvi, we read:
"Even though most of the words are taken from the Mishna and the
Talmud, their meaning lies hidden even from the young person who has read
Talmud; and the great majority of the names of grain, fruits and vegetables
are strange even to old and regular readers! ... I would like to suggest
to the editor and his writers in the name of most of the young Hebrew readers,
to translate at least the new and revived words into a European language
for the benefit of the readers and for the expansion and acceptance of
the words in our language."
Ben Yehuda complied with the reader's request, but only in two issues.
After that he stopped.
There are a number of reasons which spring to mind, as to why Ben Yehuda
was reluctant to supply word lists for his readers, but the most convincing
one was perhaps the most crucial. This was revealed in an anonymous article
in Ha-Zvi itself, which explains,
...if the editor revives any word offhandedly, then little by little
the readers will accept this word. But if he were to revive that same
word in a special paragraph entitled "The Revival of the Language"
or some other name, then not only will they not accept that word, they
will also be likely to laugh and mock at it."
It is hard to measure the effectiveness of Ben Yehuda's newspaper on
the revival of Hebrew. Ben Yehuda wanted to create a new style of writing.
In this he failed, for his main base, was still, largely, the Biblical Hebrew
style. This style sounded artificial in the modern world. But the important
thing to remember is that, Ben Yehuda's main interest in the language, was
in words, not style, and here the newspaper played an important role.
To sum up - We can say that Ben Yehuda's newspaper, despite its relative
failure to satisfy everyone's requirements, nevertheless, played a dominant
role in the revival of the language in particular during the First Aliya,
that is, until 1903. Thereafter its influence declined rapidly, and it
was replaced by the journal of the Second Aliya.
6. The dictionary of the Hebrew language, Ancient and Modern.
The lack of words was badly felt at the beginning of the revival period.
So long as Hebrew was a kind of a "luxury language", the author
could avoid the mention of a word or concept whose meaning in Hebrew he
did not know. Alternately, he chose several words to express such a word,
or even wrote it in a foreign language. Ben Yehuda illustrates this in the
following statement (about a story written by Smolenskin):
".. he never mentioned for example, the simple, common act, of
tickling? This act which we meet often in every story in a living language,
we will never meet in the stories of Smolenskin, simply because he did
not have a word for it..."
Apart from searching for new words through much of the available Hebrew
sources, Ben Yehuda turned to Arabic. Since Arabic represented the most
important living Semitic language, and was in its spoken form already dominant
in Palestine, in Ben Yehuda's opinion, it ought to constitute the prime
source for the creation of new words.
This preference for Arabic on the part of Ben Yehuda was original, and
was in fact to cause many European Hebrew writers of the time to scoff at
Ben Yehuda, since they did not fully appreciate the close connection between
the two Semitic languages and peoples.
In 1903 he published a short dictionary and from 1908 onwards he began
printing his large dictionary. After his death the dictionary was completed
by Segal and Tur Sinai until its completion in 1958, comprising 16 volumes
at 8000 pages.
Of course this dictionary, comprehensive as it may seem, is far from
including all that there is to include from the language of all the periods.
Ben Yehuda was certainly industrious at finding new words and many of the
words we use today in Hebrew are the fruit of his endeavour, such as: milon,
ëiton, shaíon, magevet, etc.
Ben Yehuda was heavily criticised by many scholars regarding his dictionary.
He did not approach this task in a scientific and scholarly manner; rather,
he was a layman who single handedly took upon himself this work without
appreciating its vastness. In his introduction to his dictionary, Ben Yehuda
gives with pride instructions on the use of this wonderful creation of his:
"I know that if you touch your friend lightly on his body, this...
causes a little laugh. You don't know if there exists a term in our language
for this... nor what the term is. Now go, my friend, look in every thick
dictionary you have and turn over its pages, maybe you will find what you
are seeking! You will certainly wear yourself out and not find the word.
Not so with my book. What you are looking for, dear reader, is the word
for "tickle". So, you go to the word "touch" which
you know, and find what you want. And, if you say, I don't know the word
"touch", don't be afraid, this too has a solution in my book.
Go, dear friend, to the word "hand" and you'll find there the
word "touch. And, if you don't know the word "hand", go
to the word "body" and you'll find there "hand". And
if you don't know either of these words, this is not my responsibility,
dear reader... I have planned (my Dictionary) for people who know the basics
of our language"
Ben Yehuda stated that the dictionary's main purpose was to "be
a useful book to the reader of our ancient and modern literature and specially
for he who wants to write and speak Hebrew." But instead, it turned
into an enormous Thesaurus, of which only 5 volumes appeared during the
formative years of the revival, and the first only in 1909. Thus during
the most critical years of the revival (1881-1900) there existed no such
dictionary for the benefit of the common reader.
Conclusion
Taken as a whole, Ben Yehuda's dictionary must be considered a monumental
work. It did not, however, further the cause of the language revival except
perhaps emotionally, in that it did bring some proof to sceptics that Hebrew
was a language like every other language, since it now possessed a lexicon
on which it could be based. Many people believe, that a language without
a dictionary is simply not a language, but only a dialect or jargon. Biblical
Hebrew and Mishnaic-Talmudic Hebrew, for example, had dictionaries and were
therefore considered languages. Medieval and Modern Hebrew did not, and
were for this reason, relegated to the class of dialect. Ben Yehuda's dictionary
demonstrated that Modern Hebrew is a language in its own right and not an
unimportant appendage to the classical Hebrew language.
7. The Language Council.
The Language Council (Vaíad ha-Lashon) emerged from the merger
of 2 separate councils:
1. The Literature Council (Vaíad Ha-Sifrut) and
2. the Plain Language Society (Safa Berura)
The Council dealt with many different aspects of the language, for example:
- word coining
- pronunciation
- spelling
- fixing of grammatical forms,
to name but a few.
In particular, I would like to mention one decision that seems to be
of interest to many. It is the adoption of the Sephardic pronunciation.
One of the major decisions of the council was to adopt/fix a uniform
pronunciation for the newly revived language. The Sephardic pronunciation
was chosen for several reasons, among the most important of which were:
1. It was already in use as the pronunciation of the Market Hebrew lingua
franca of Palestine.
2. The Sephardic variety was considered the more ancient of the two,
as demonstrated in particular by various transliterations and translations
of Hebrew into Latin and Greek, and therefore was considered closer to the
original ancient Biblical Hebrew of the Homeland.
3. The Ashkenazic variety of Hebrew, reminded the Council too much of
Yiddish, the despised language of the Exile.
Conclusion
The major success of the Council in its various fields of activity was
that of word coining.
Although pronunciation did ultimately become uniform, this was attributed
to a slow natural process and not to any planned campaign on the part of
the Council.
To sum up Ben Yehuda's methods for the revival of Hebrew:
Ben Yehuda had no real plan of action for the revival of the Hebrew
language in mind, when he arrived in Palestine, except for a firm decision
based, as he admits, on the "rashness of youth", to speak only
Hebrew himself, to set up a Hebrew-speaking home with a wife who did not
herself know Hebrew, to issue a summons to the Diaspora for others to follow
this example, and to put into practice a partial school solution. On his
own admission, he was totally unprepared for what lay in store, and was
driven only by the idealism of youth.
What then, was Ben Yehuda's total contribution towards the revival of
the language? Unassumingly, Ben Yehuda writes: "We were fortunate to
be at the right time and place for this great event." Ben Yehuda's
actions were based not on scientific reasoning but on inspired feeling.
His real contribution to the revival was two fold:
He was the instigator of all the projects connected with the revival
of the language including the initiation of the very idea of the revival
itself.
2. Through his charismatic personality, he encouraged others to complete
the tasks on which he had embarked.
Cecil Roth in his book "Was Hebrew Ever A Dead Language?"
has summed up Ben Yehuda's contribution to the Hebrew language revival,
admirably, when he writes, "Before Ben Yehuda Jews could speak Hebrew;
after him they did."
AFTER BEN YEHUDA
A new stage was reached with the British Mandate in Palestine (1918-48),
under which Hebrew was accepted as one of the country's official languages
in 1922. The number of speakers quickly grew, and at the same time various
cultural institutions (including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), helped
to increase considerably the technical vocabulary of the new language.
After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Hebrew became the
official language of the state and consolidated its position as the principal
means of day to day communication.
New immigrants from east and west, speaking every kind of language,
quickly learned the new Hebrew in special centres (ulpanim), while a fresh
generation of strongly nationalistic native-born Israelis developed novel
linguistic usages and even took pride in distancing themselves from those
who regarded Hebrew as a Semitic language. In 1953 the Academy of the Hebrew
Language replaced the "Va'ad ha-Lashon" in its task of looking
after the interests of the language.
ISRAELI HEBREW
The Israeli Hebrew of today is a Sabra Hebrew, full of life, and full
of confidence. At the time of the revival, and soon after, there were many
uncertainties and lack of confidence, which led to added emphasis on correctness.
But as confidence grew, the mistakes grew too. The Hebrew speaker of today
speaks with much ability, but with fewer rules.
The biggest struggle at the moment is to preserve Hebrew from "negative"
influences coming from foreign languages, especially English. In the past,
there was an urgent need to find new words, and a strong will to do away
with reliance on foreign languages. Today, there is less flinching from
foreign languages (especially English). On the contrary, there are those
who prefer foreign language usage, not out of need or for precision, but
because it gives them a feeling of pride and superiority, as if to say,
"I know more than you. You are using Hebrew words only because of lack
of knowledge of foreign words."
One Israeli asked another, what is the state of the Hebrew today?
The other answered: ìha-kol all right, mamash perfect".
You just have to look at the number of foreign words (in Hebrew letters)
in the streets of Israel: Duty free, weekend, primaries, centre and hundreds
of others.
Recently, the use of English in many academic institutions has increased.
More and more academics are publishing their work in English even though
their readers are mainly Israelis. Things have reached such a state, that
many university teachers direct their students to write and lecture in English,
so as to "lighten the burden of entrance to the academic world."
This increased use of English is defended by some, with the claim that it
is necessary for the advance of Israeli science.
On the other hand, there are those who argue that the increase in the
use of English is not advancing Israeli science, but hindering its development.
They argue that the scientific advance of the general public will not be
secured by the achievements of a few scholars, but by raising the standard
of new students from year to year.
There are those who go further, who would like to see several actions
taken to advance the struggle for Hebrew, for example, that:
a. University lecturers must publish a large part of their work in Hebrew.
b. One must remove the conception that the professional advancement
of young scholars will be quicker the more material they publish in English.
and
c. Scientific conferences must generally, be conducted in Hebrew, i.e.
all those who can speak Hebrew, must deliver their papers in Hebrew, and
simultaneous translation will solve the problems of those from abroad.
A word about the usage of slang
The use and acceptance of slang words and phrases, is growing very rapidly
in Israel. Slang is slowly making its way from the street into the dictionary.
There are those who strongly object to slang for obvious reasons, and
those who think that any one who loves a language, cannot but adore the
slang in it; it creates a ìrich languageî, originating in the
streets and supermarkets, full of imagination and colour. The use of slang,
they say, is much to be preferred to the use of incorrect language.
What about the future?
All through its history, Hebrew has been influenced by foreign languages.
Many words that are found in the Scriptures originated from Egyptian, Accadian
and Aramaic. In the Post Biblical Period, the influence of Aramaic and Greek
is noticeable. In the Middle Ages, the translation of Arabic texts had a
great influence on Hebrew. It is not surprising, therefore, that this process
still continues today. It has been established that Modern Hebrew vocabulary
only contains 10% of the words which are foreign, many of which are found
in most developed countries, words such as: telephone, radio, concert and
so on. On the other hand, many Hebrew words are being substituted for foreign
words, for example: monit for taxi, kalettet for cassetta, and masok for
helicopter.
The hope is that Hebrew will continue to thrive despite the many hiccups
in its development. These linguistic hurdles are natural in such a speedy
and dynamic development of a language. Indeed the term "Kibbutz Galuyot"
(the ingathering of the exiles) is not only an historical and geographical
term, but also a term in the development of the Hebrew language. And finally,
I would like to quote an Israeli author:
"Our ancient new language is not only the language of the prophets
and poets, it is also the language of the field and the language of the
street. If we learn to glorify it, it will be possible to glorify ourselves
in it."
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Sophie Garside is Senior Tutor in Hebrew Studies in the Department of
Middle Eastern Studies, University of Manchester.
The Centre for Jewish Studies
The Department of Religions and Theology
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)161 275 3614; Fax +44 (0)161 275 3613
e-mail: Bernard.Jackson@man.ac.uk