Introduction to Biblical Hebrew

Ancient Hebrew, the language of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis to 2 Chronicles), is an ancient Semitic language and the oldest language in the world. Ancient Hebrew was succeeded by an intermediary form, Mishnaic Hebrew, about the 3rd century B.C. Modern Hebrew was developed in the 19th and 20th centuries from the ancient written form of the language.

Vowel Points and Dagesh

The dot that appears in the center of some letters is called a dagesh. With most letters, the dagesh does not significantly affect pronunciation. With the letters Bet, Kaf and Pe, however, the dagesh indicates that the letter should be pronounced with its hard sound (the first sound) rather than the soft sound (the second sound).

The schwa is the vowel sound in many lightly pronounced unaccented syllables in words of more than one syllable. It is sometimes signified by the pronunciation “uh” or symbolized by an upside-down rotated e. The word “schwa” is from the Hebrew word שְׁוָא (šěwā’, /ʃəˈwa/), meaning “nought”—it originally referred to one of the niqqud vowel points used with the Hebrew alphabet, which looks like a vertical pair of dots under a letter. This sign has two uses: one to indicate the schwa vowel-sound and one to indicate the complete absence of a vowel. These uses do not conflict because schwa is, in Hebrew, an epenthetic vowel, the equivalent of “no vowel at all”.

A schwa sound can be represented by any vowel. In most dialects, for example, the schwa sound is found in the following words:

• like the ‘a’ in about /əˈbaʊt/ and sofa /səʊfə/
• like the ‘e’ in taken /ˈteɪkən/ and the /ðə/ (if before a consonant)
• like the ‘i’ in pencil /ˈpɛnsəl/
• like the ‘o’ in eloquent /ˈɛləkwənt/
• like the ‘u’ in circus /ˈsɜ(ɹ)kəs/
• like the ‘y’ in sibyl /ˈsɪbəl/

Translation

The rendering of something into another language or into one’s own from another language.

Transliteration

The process of writing Hebrew words in the Roman (English) alphabet is known as transliteration. Transliteration is changing (letters, words, etc.) into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language. Transliteration is more an art than a science, and opinions on the correct way to transliterate words vary widely. This is why the festival of dedication (in Hebrew, Chet-Nun-Kaf-Heh) is spelled Chanukah, Channukkah, Hanuka, and many other interesting ways. Each spelling has a legitimate phonetic and orthographic basis; none is right or wrong.

Numerical Values of Words

Each letter in the alefbet has a numerical value. These values can be used to write numbers, as the Romans used some of their letters (I, V, X, L, C, M) to represent numbers. Alef through Yod have the values 1 through 10. Yod through Qof have the values 10 through 100, counting by 10s. Qof through Tav have the values 100 through 400, counting by 100s. Final letters have the same value as their non-final counterparts.

The number 11 would be rendered Yod-Alef, the number 12 would be Yod-Bet, the number 21 would be Kaf-Alef, the word Torah (Tav-Vav-Resh-He) has the numerical value 611, etc.

Common English-to-Hebrew Terms