Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics
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Subject: Language And Linguistics
Edited by: Geoffrey Khan
Associate editors: Shmuel Bolozky, Steven Fassberg, Gary A. Rendsburg, Aaron D. Rubin, Ora R. Schwarzwald, Tamar Zewi
The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day.
The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online features advanced search options, as well as extensive cross-references and full-text search functionality using the Hebrew character set. With over 850 entries and approximately 400 contributing scholars, the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online is the authoritative reference work for students and researchers in the fields of Hebrew linguistics, general linguistics, Biblical studies, Hebrew and Jewish literature, and related fields.
Subscriptions: Brill.com
Associate editors: Shmuel Bolozky, Steven Fassberg, Gary A. Rendsburg, Aaron D. Rubin, Ora R. Schwarzwald, Tamar Zewi
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The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day.
The Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online features advanced search options, as well as extensive cross-references and full-text search functionality using the Hebrew character set. With over 850 entries and approximately 400 contributing scholars, the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online is the authoritative reference work for students and researchers in the fields of Hebrew linguistics, general linguistics, Biblical studies, Hebrew and Jewish literature, and related fields.
Subscriptions: Brill.com
Doublets
(660 words)
The term ‘doublet’ refers to several different phenomena in Hebrew linguistics. The first listed below reflects the most traditional use of the word. (1) It can refer to two or more words in the same language derived from the same etymon along different courses, such as
skirt and
shirt or
chef and
chief in English. An example in Hebrew is illustrated by the Biblical Hebrew roots מח״ץ
m-ḥ-ṣ, מח״ק
m-ḥ-q, and מח״א
m-ḥ-ʾ, all of which represent one Semitic root, *
m-ḥ-ɬ’ ‘beat, strike’. The historical
*ɬ’ (sometimes transcribed with the symbol
ḍ) shifted in Hebrew to
ṣ, but in Aramaic to
q and later…
Drama, Modern Hebrew
(4,431 words)
1. Introduction One of the challenges of the dramatic genre is to convey spoken language through dialogues performed in front of an audience. Due to the unusual history of the Modern Hebrew language, this task has posed particular challenges for every Hebrew writer and playwright. Until the end of the 19th century, Hebrew was a classical language that was not used for day-to-day purposes. Linguistic variants, which develop naturally in living languages, did not exist in Hebrew, and so the language…
Dual: Modern Hebrew
(565 words)
As in previous periods, the dual marker in Modern Hebrew is the ending יים-
-áyim, which indicates the component ‘two’. It occurs in newly formed common nouns like מספריים
misparayim ‘scissors’, מכנסיים
mix̱nasayim ‘trousers’, משקפיים
mišqafayim ‘(eye) glasses’, אופניים
ʾofanayim ‘bicycle’. Many of these newly formed nouns are
pluralia tantum, some of which are formed in
miCCaCayim pattern. A few place names are also formed in the same way, e.g., גבעתיים
givʿatayim ‘(having) two hills’, בארותיים
beʾerotayim ‘(having) two wells’, as in the past (Schwarzwald 1996). The ending יים- -
ay…
Dual: Pre-Modern Hebrew
(1,185 words)
1. The Dual Morpheme in the Bible In Biblical Hebrew the dual morpheme is attached only to nouns, in contrast to other Semitic languages (such as Akkadian, Ugaritic, Classical Arabic, and the languages of Southern Arabia), in which verbs and pronouns also have dual forms. Table 1. Patterns for attaching the dual morpheme to a stem in Biblical Hebrew Stem Singular Singular ending in (ה(ת ׇ- -
å̄(ṯ) Plural stem (rare) Plural stem ending in וֹת- -
ōṯ Examples קַרְנַיִם
qarnåyim ‘horns’, יָדַיִם
yå̄ḏayim ‘hands’, יוֹמַיִם
yōmayim ‘two days’ מָאתַיִם
må̄ṯayim ‘two-hundred’, סָאתַיִם
så̄ṯayim ‘two …
Dugri Speech
(668 words)
The Modern Hebrew communication style known as
dugri speech, translatable as ‘straight talk’, emerged in the 1930s and 1940s among the first generation of Israeli-born Jews of European descent, the Sabras. Over the years,
dugri developed into the hallmark of the Sabra as the New Jew, whose identity was built on a rejection of the Diaspora Jew as depicted in Zionist ideology. The term
dugri was borrowed from colloquial Arabic (though the ultimate etymon is Turkish
doğru ‘straight’), in which it is used both literally, as in ‘a straight road/line’, and metaphorically, to denote a
dugri pers…