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Hebrew, or Ivrit, is a member of
the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its
history is unique. It is thought that Hebrew gradually became
extinct as a spoken language around 200 A.D., but has continued
as a written language for many centuries thereafter. It was used
to write books and documents in a variety of fields, including
religion, law, business, philosophy, literature, and medicine.
The core of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, traditionally believed
to have been first recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years
ago, is written in Classical Hebrew.
Hebrew was revived as a spoken language during the late 19th and
early 20th century as Modern Hebrew, replacing Arabic, Yiddish,
Russian, and a variety of other languages spoken by Jews who
emigrated to Israel. Hebrew is unique in that it was resurrected
from being a strictly written language to become one that is
spoken today by millions. Since there were no living speakers of
Hebrew, the pronunciation of modern Hebrew was modeled on how
Biblical Hebrew texts were read aloud by Sephardic Jews.
Vowels
Modern Hebrew has five vowelphonemes: /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/.
In Biblical Hebrew, each vowel had three forms: short, long and
interrupted, however this distinction has been lost in Modern
Hebrew.
Consonants
Consonants in Biblical Hebrew had several characterisitcs that
are not present in Modern Hebrew, for example,
gemination, i.e., doubling of consonants;
spirantization, i.e., pronouncing a stop, as a fricative, e.g.,
pronouncing /b/ as a /v/;
pharyngealization, i.e., pronouncing consonants with constricted
vocal cords;
loss of voiceless and voiced pharyngeal stops, which are present
in Arabic, but pronounced as velar stops /k/ and /g/ in in the
speech of most Hebrew speakers, with the exception of those who
speak the Oriental dialect.
Dictionary of Hebrew words and
related Hebrew Language resources
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Davar Hebrew
Dictionary - Free online hebrew dictionary/lexicon,
running on Windows95/98/ME/NT/W2000/XP platform.
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Hebrew Speaktionary - Hebrew-speaking picture
dictionary on CD-ROM. |
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Milon
Morfix - Dictionary - Open access, interactive
online Hebrew dictionary. |
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My
Hebrew Picture Dictionary - English A-Z
classification of dozens of Hebrew terms with
photographs, parallel Hebrew-English terms,
transliteration. Useful, fun tool for vocabulary
enhancement. |
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Rav Milim Dictionary, Milengo Ltd. - Interactive
online Hebrew dictionary, with virtual Hebrew keyboard
tool. Offers full/reduced Hebrew orthography,
vocalization, check. Also English translation, Hebrew
definition, parsing of Hebrew words. Submissions
accepted in any form. For teachers, students,
independent learners. Produced under the auspices of the
Center for Educational Technology www.cet.ac.il.
Subscription only. |
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SfatTarbut Culture and Language Program - Multimedia
courseware, with inbuilt enhanced Virtual Hebrew
dictionary, ranging from absolute beginners to support
for intermediate and advanced students of Modern Hebrew.
Exercise focused and interactive. Requires logon.
Auspices: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rothberg
School for Overseas Students. |
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New Hebrew
Words - The modern Hebrew for words such as "blog"
and "jumping rope", in numbered lists with no
discernable order. |
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Balashon - Hebrew
Language Detective - Ongoing blog about Hebrew with
a focus on etymology. Discusses words and phrases in
both modern and classical Hebrew, as well as slang, new
terms, the influences of other languages; related links.
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The Academy of the Hebrew Language - English
mini-version of the official website in Hebrew;
prescribes standards for modern Hebrew grammar,
orthography, transliteration, and punctuation;
publications listing. Online terminologies available.
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Learn Hebrew
Verbs - 300 Hebrew verbs conjugated in all tenses,
persons, modes, roots, infinitives. Menu selection by
tense, gender and singular / plural for language
students. Search functions from English translation. All
texts include helpful full vocalization; no special
fonts required - graphic display. |
Related Popular Terms for searching
to get more resources
Hebrew -
Writing
When the Hebrews started using the Aramaic script for
everyday use, reserving the Old Hebrew script for religious use
only, the Aramaic script quickly became known as the Jewish
script. Because of the shape of the letters, it was called the
square script. The earliest preserved texts in the square script
date back to the 5th century B.C. Hebrew letters are not
connected to each other, even in handwriting. They are written
from right to left.
The Hebrew alphabet is a consonant-based syllabary. It consists
of 22 consonants, five of which have a special word-final form.
Vowels are generally not indicated. However, in some texts such
as those for children, foreigners, prayer books, and Bibles,
vowels can be represented by diacritics. Such texts are called
vowelled or vocalized.
Some Hebrew Words in
English
As you can see, many of them are associated with
religion.
English
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Hebrew
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amen
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amen "truth"
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cider
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shekhar, word used for any
strong drink
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cinnamon
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qinnamon
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hallelujah
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hallalu-yah," praise Jehovah,"
from hallalu, "praise" + yah,
shortened form of Yahweh, name of
God.
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kibbutz
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"Israeli collective settlement," from
qibbus "gathering."
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leviathan
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livyathan, "dragon, serpent,
large sea animal."
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manna
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man, literally "substance exuded
by the tamarisk tree." Meaning of "spiritual
nourishment" is attested from 1382.
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messiah
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mashiah, "anointed" (of the
Lord), from mashah, "anoint."
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rabbi
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rabbi, "my master," from
rabh "master, great one,"
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Sabbath
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shabbath, "day of rest,"
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satan
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satan, "adversary, one who plots
against another."
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