Reuven makes no money from this site...there are no ads. He simply has an (amateur) scholar's drive to get at the truth.
I am posting this because I doubt if more than just a few Freepers know that contemporary Hebrew (actually, for the last two thousand years, more or less) is actually written in the Aramaic alphabet.
I posted this as an excerpt since I did not want to copy the entire site here.
I was floored when I found this out...thought I would share.
Hey PB, nice post thanks. I had heard this many, many years ago from some linguists. Glad to see this guy(and you) bring it back to the light.
Very interesting information. Not that I could ever use it. Which is on me, not you or the author.
BUT, this has raised some questions that you may be able to answer. (learning from others is what FR is all about)
I find it interesting that we (humans) created a variety of ways to scribe our words, instead of a uniform growth from the original ‘language’ and the characters used (what ever that was).
So, there are the English characters pretty much in use by all the romance languages, even Russian.
There are the Chinese and Japanese characters, which are similar, but not identical.
Here is where my question arises. Across the entire Middle East, what ‘characters’ do they use, and is there a ton of variety from country to country, tribe to tribe?
Is the Aramaic or modern Hebrew anything like the , say Iranian or Arab characters?
This is not news to Jews!
http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm
...K’tav Ivri: Ancient Hebrew Script
As mentioned above, the Hebrew alphabet that we use today is referred to as Assyrian Script (in Hebrew, K’tav Ashuri). But there was once another way of writing the alphabet that the rabbis called K’tav Ivri, which means “Hebrew Script.” Many examples of this ancient way of writing the Hebrew alphabet has been found by archaeologists: on coins and other artifacts. It is quite similar to the ancient Phoenician writing. An example of this script is seen at Scripts of the Hebrew Language, side-by-side with other styles of Hebrew writing that were discussed above.
The rabbis of the Talmudic period were well aware of this ancient K’tav Ivri, and they raised the question whether the Torah was originally given in K’tav Ivri or K’tav Ashuri. A variety of opinions are expressed in the Talmud at Sanhedrin 21c-22a: one opinion states that the Torah was originally given in K’tav Ivri, but was changed to K’tav Ashuri in the days of Ezra, after the Babylonian Exile (the Babylonians, and consequently the Jews in exile, used K’tav Ashuri). Another opinion says that the Torah was written in K’tav Ashuri, but that holy script was denied the people when they sinned and was replaced with another one; when the people repented, the K’tav Ashuri was restored. A third opinion states that the Torah was always in K’tav Ashuri.
The general consensus is that the Torah was given in K’tav Ashuri, because the Talmud makes other references that don’t make sense in K’tav Ivri. The Talmud talks about final forms of letters in the original Torah, but K’tav Ivri doesn’t have final forms. It talks about the center of the Samekh and the Final Mem miraculously floating when the Ten Commandments were carved all the way through the tablets, but there is no Final Mem in K’tav Ivri, and neither Samekh nor Mem would have a floating center in K’tav Ivri as they do in K’tav Ashuri.
All authorities maintain that today, the only holy script is K’tav Ashuri. Any torah scrolls, tefillin or mezuzot must be written in K’tav Ashuri, and specifically in a style of K’tav Ashuri known as STA”M, discussed above.
K’tav Ivri is understood to be in the nature of a font, like Rashi script, rather than in the nature of a different alphabet, like Greek, Cyrillic or Roman. The names of the letters, the order of the letters, and the numerical value of the letters are apparently the same in both K’tav Ashuri and K’tav Ivri; thus, any religious significance that would be found in the numerical value of words or the sequence of the alphabet is the same in both scripts...
Jesus spoke Aramaic, and probably spoke a little of other ancient langugages as well, given that he was among speakers of other languages. This is not surprising. Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic are as related as French, Italian, and Spanish are to each other.
ping
I took Hebrew as my second language in college. One of my friends was a linguistics major so I thought I’d go to the same class as him. I ended up auditing it. I did however learn to recite the Hebrew alphabet to the tune of Boomer Sooner. Stay thirsty my friends.
Interesting. I have heard this before, but thanks for bringing it back up again.
When I studied beginning Hebrew in Seminary, we spent an hour or so of the first day in class discussing the original Hebrew script. But since the BHS (and the masoretic text) uses the modern script, we spent the following three years using that. Wyee du naught yuse olde Englysh scrypte eyther.
ML/NJ
Thanks for the post.
FWIW,...
I personally believe otherwise.
Hebrew has been described as the flaming language.
It’s origins also came from the Aramaic as recorded by humans.
About a decade ago I had dreams in Hebrew, then in Ancient Aramaic, first a few characters, but I did not know the alphabet. I didn’t recognize them from my studies, but could recall them when awake, and researched various alphabets for similarities, when I discovered their roots in Hebrew and later in Ancient Arabic scripts.
IMHO, their original source were are a written form of communication which probably was engraved by Hebrew Prophets, i.e. those who were to communicate from God to man, from spiritual experience.
In later dreams, I would be shown some Hebrew word and immediately would understand its meaning in my heart. I associate this with how God the Holy Spirit may manifest His work to glorify the Son in communicating directly to our human spirit, which may then be used to sanctify our soul, and when processed by our recall of other sanctified doctrine rejuvenates and sanctifies our heart.
I do not know all their meanings, but even each character is associated or identifiable with a meaning.
I’m intrigued by their study, but more importantly, we are to remain in fellowship with Him, so that He grows us as He wills, to be at the right time, in the right place, to perform according to His will, through faith in what He provides.
God Bless.
Interesting article and responses.
Language related links:
“Ancient” Syriac bible found in Cyprus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2179793/posts
Low profile for German Koran challenger
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1277705/posts
Ancient Islamic Texts Resurface (Impugning The Legitimacy of the Koran,Islam)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1956189/posts
What’s worse, the ancient coffee has been replaced with Folgers crystals.
Thanks for a very interesting post!