![]() History of the Hebrew Aleph- Bet. The origin of alphabetic script has always been a subject of human curiosity. According to Greek mythology, the script was brought to Greece from Phoenicia. This tradition was accepted by Greek and Roman writers, some of whom developed it further by stating that the Phoenicians learned the art of writing from the Egyptians. In the 1. 9th century there were scholars who subscribed to the theory of the Egyptian origin, while others believed that the Phoenician script developed from the Akkadian cuneiform, Cretan linear, Cypriote syllabic, and Hittite hieroglyphic scripts. The Proto- Canaanite and Cuneiform Canaanite Scripts. Modern investigation into the origin of the alphabet began in 1. Proto- Sinaitic inscriptions by Sir Flinders Petrie at Sar. These were short texts inscribed in an unknown pictographic script of approximately the middle of the second millennium B. ![]() The letter Aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet and therefore it is a natural place to start if you are interested in learning the Hebrew language. I have incorporated an activity page which corresponds to Hebrew learning, Jewish values and things to do with my first book. ![]() C. E. The first steps toward decipherment of these texts were taken 1. Sir Alan Gardiner, who noted a recurrent series – oxgoad (= Canaanite lamd); house (= bayt); eye (= . Since then many attempts at decipherment have been made. The most eminent study is that of W. F. Albright, who believes that it is possible to identify 2. Accepting Gardiner's Canaanite acrophonic theory and assuming that these texts are votive inscriptions written by West Semites who were employed by the Egyptians in the turquoise mines of Sar. However, at some sites in Palestine several similar pictographic inscriptions were found. Most of them are of a later date than the Proto- Sinaitic texts (mainly from Lachish, but also from Ha. This early Palestinian epigraphic corpus consists mainly of inscribed shards and jar inscriptions (partly fragmentary), but there are also inscriptions on seals, a dagger, and javelin heads. The latest specimens (from the end of the Late Bronze period and from the very beginning of the Iron Age) display simplified linear letter forms which developed from the early pictographs. The script of these texts is called Proto- Canaanite (see figure 1). The order of the early alphabetic texts is suggested by F. M. Some Canaanite communities adapted the method of writing as in the Akkadian cuneiform syllabic script (i. Akkadian cuneiform was used in the latter half of the second millennium for international correspondence even between the Egyptian pharaoh and his vassals in Palestine (see. ![]() The cuneiform alphabet was not limited to Ugarit in northern Canaan; specimens of this script were found at three sites in Palestine (Beth- Shemesh, Taanach, and Na. However, whereas the cuneiform alphabet, as far as is known, ceased to exist with the beginning of the Iron Age (1. B. C. E.), the Proto- Canaanite script was the source of all alphabetic scripts which later spread throughout the entire world. From this script the Proto- Arabic script branched off in the course of the 1. B. C. E. This script, using letters for consonantal phonemes (i. Gelb's opinion, a system of syllabic writing. While it is true that the West Semitic system of writing is a less developed stage than the Greek, the term alphabet itself does not mean that each letter must stand for either a consonant or a vowel, or for a consonant plus any vowel. Alphabet means a number of letters (2. The first abecedary known until now, found in Ugarit, belongs to the 1. B. C. E., and its order (after omitting some letters) generally fits that of the Hebrew alphabet (figure 3). The reduction of the symbols to represent consonantal phonemes was a revolutionary step toward spreading literacy, and the systematic insertion of the vowel signs into the script was only a further, though important, step in this process. Therefore there is no reason to restrict the term alphabet to Greek or Latin scripts. The Phoenician Script. The Proto- Canaanite and the cuneiform alphabetic (as well as the South Arabic and the Classical, or North Arabic) scripts have 2. The Proto- Canaanite inscriptions were written either in vertical columns, in horizontal lines or, quite frequently, in boustrophedon. In the 1. 1th century B. C. E., with the development of the linear letter forms, the stabilization of the right- to- left direction, and the reduction of the number of letters to 2. Proto- Canaanite developed into the Phoenician script. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called 'Aleph' (pronounced 'ah-lef'). Aleph has no sound of its own, but usually has a vowel associated with it. This is a transcription of the audio lecture audio 02 The Hebrew Letter Aleph . Learn the Aleph-Bet: The Aleph Bet, the Hebrew Alphabet (the Hebrew Alphabet), has 22 letters (five of which appear in a different form at the end of a word) which. The Meaning of the Hebrew Alphabet — And a Survey per Hebrew Letter — The Hebrew alphabet is not simply a collection of abstract linguistic elements, like the. Aleph The first Hebrew letter - Aleph - represents the unification of opposites. At the end of the Passover Seder there is the song,?Who Knows One?? Aleph is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ' ![]() When the Hebrews and Arameans adopted the Phoenician script they could not express in writing these phonemes which did not occur in Phoenician. In Hebrew, for example, there exists . Most of these inscriptions, however, originated in Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Carthage. Amazon.com: Occult Symbolism Of The First Hebrew Letter, Aleph - Pamphlet (9781428682047): Harriett Augusta Curtiss: Books. The Carthaginian inscriptions and those which were found in the western Phoenician colonies are called Punic inscriptions. While it is possible to distinguish between the dialects which were spoken in Phoenicia proper, in Cyprus, and in the Punic colonies, no special local characteristics in the scripts of the various centers developed. This one- trend evolution seems to be reflected in the scarce ink- written cursive material, but it is especially obvious in the many monumental (mainly votive) inscriptions. Whereas the Phoenician inscriptions of eastern origin after the third century B. C. E. It seems likely that in this period there developed in the west an independent cursive, which was later adapted to monumental writing by the neo- Punic communities existing in North Africa after 1. B. C. E. This is the neo- Punic script. The Hebrew Script. The Hebrews adopted the alphabetic script together with other cultural values from the Canaanites in the 1. B. C. E. They followed the current Phoenician script until the ninth century, when they began to develop their own national script. Early Inscriptions. The *Gezer Calendar is considered to be the earliest Hebrew inscription known. Its script resembles the scripts of the tenth century Phoenician inscriptions from Byblos. The spelling of two words reflects the contraction of the diphthong ay, which is either a Phoenician or a North Hebrew (cf. Samaria ostraca) linguistic feature. On paleographical grounds, the Gezer Calendar should be dated in the late tenth century B. C. E. The fact that up to the present almost no Hebrew inscriptions have been found from the ninth century is accidental, but the quantity of the epigraphic material from the eighth century onward shows a gradual increase of the spread of the knowledge of writing among the people of Israel and Judah. Development of the Independent Hebrew Script. The evolution of the independent Hebrew script is one of a specific cursive character: the further it diverges from the (Phoenician) mother script, the more it drops the lapidary features. This one- trend development is obvious in the eighth- century engraved inscriptions, namely the Siloam Inscription, the Royal Steward (figure 6), and other tomb inscriptions (all from Jerusalem), as well as from the fragmentary Hebrew inscription on an ivory which was taken as booty (probably from Samaria) to Nimrud, and the hundreds of the eighth- to the sixth- century Hebrew seals from various sites. These inscriptions on hard material were written in a cursive style, copying even the shading, which is a natural feature of pen- and- ink writing. This lack of lapidary script may indicate that the custom of erecting stelae by the kings and offering votive inscriptions to the deity was not widespread in Israel. Such an assumption would explain how the specific lapidary element could disappear from the Hebrew script. Hebrew Epigraphic Materials. There is some indication of the common use of papyrus. In addition to the seventh- century palimpsest papyrus, preserved in the dry climate of Wadi Murabba. About 1. 00 jar inscriptions are known today. Sixty jar handles, inscribed after firing, were found in Gibeon, and other jars bear inscriptions on their bodies. Some were incised or written in ink after firing, but others were inscribed before firing the vessels. These inscriptions are mainly the names of the owners or the names of those responsible for their capacity, and others indicate the measure of capacity (bt lmlk, . Toward the end of the seventh century B. C. E. Heltzer, in: Epigrafika Vostoka, 1. The most important Hebrew epigraphic material consists, of course, of ostraca, some of which were incised (e. Tell Qasile, a name- list, and a message- like short letter from Samaria), but most were written in ink. The majority of ostraca were found in Samaria, Lachish, and Arad. This corpus, together with the Siloam Inscription and an ostracon from Me. They were found in the storage rooms of the royal palace and describe shipments of wine and oil brought in by farmers from various places, presumably as taxes. This material is the main source for the study of the Hebrew dialect spoken in the Northern Kingdom, while the other material reflects the Judahite, or Jerusalemite, dialect. The Siloam Inscription describes the building of the tunnel through which the water of the Gihon was brought into the city of Jerusalem, presumably in the time of Hezekiah (II Kings 2. II Chron. 3. 2: 3. The ostracon found at the seashore fortress called today Me. The reaper complained to the local governor of the confiscation of his garment (cf. The Arad ostraca, which have only been partly published, were found in various levels of the eighth and seventh centuries. The published material from about 6. B. C. E. These ostraca reflect the most developed cursive hand (figure 8). The Paleo- Hebrew Script. The Hebrew script did not cease to exist after the Babylonian capture of Judah, when most of the nobles were taken into exile. It was used by the people who remained to work the fields; the sixth- century inscribed jar handles from Gibeon, on which the names of winegrowers are listed, are an example. However, from the fifth century onward, when the Aramaic language and script became an official means of communication, the Paleo- Hebrew script (i. Hebrew characters as used in the time of the Second Temple) was used for writing Hebrew both in Judah and Samaria.
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