New Open Access Book: Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew: Steps Toward an Integrated Approach

Just appeared in ANCIENT NEAR EAST MONOGRAPHS / MONOGRAFIAS SOBRE EL ANTIGUO CERCANO ORIENTE

Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew: Steps Toward an Integrated Approach
Robert Rezetko, Ian Young
ISBN	1628370475
Status	Forthcoming will be available to ship on 12/20/2014
Price:	$109.95
Binding	Hardback
Publication Date	December, 2014
Pages	720

A philologically robust approach to the history of ancient Hebrew
In this book the authors work toward constructing an approach to the history of ancient Hebrew that overcomes the chasm of academic specialization. The authors illustrate how cross-textual variable analysis and variation analysis advance research on Biblical Hebrew and correct theories based on extra-linguistic assumptions, intuitions, and ideologies by focusing on variation of forms/uses in the Masoretic text and variation between the Masoretic text and other textual traditions.

Features:

• A unique approach that examines the nature of the sources and the description of their language together
• Extensive bibliography for further research
• Tables of linguistic variables and parallels

Robert Rezetko is an independent scholar; Honorary Research Associate, University of Sydney; and Associate Researcher, Radboud University Nijmegen. He is the author of Source and Revision in the Narratives of David’s Transfer of the Ark: Text, Language and Story in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13, 15–16 (T&T Clark).
Ian Young is Associate Professor of Classical Hebrew and Biblical Studies at The University of Sydney. He is the author of Diversity in Pre-Exilic Hebrew (Mohr Siebeck).

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UGARITIC GRAMMAR AND BIBLICAL HEBREW GRAMMAR IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UGARITIC GRAMMAR AND BIBLICAL HEBREW GRAMMAR IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
By Mark S. Smith

Introduction

Purpose

At present, a beginning course on Ugaritic might use either D. Sivan, A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (HdO 1/28; Leiden: Brill, 1997), J. L. Cunchillos and J. A. Zamora, Gramática Ugaritica Elemental (Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas, 1995), or J. Tropper, Ugaritisch. Kurzgefasste Grammatik mit Übungstexten und Glossar (Elementa Linguarum Orientis 1; Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2002). These books will be joined shortly by Joel H. Hunt and William M. Schniedewind's work, A Primer for Ugarit: Language, Culture and Literature (in preparation), which will be particularly suitable for beginning students. J. Tropper's Ugaritische Grammatik (AOAT 273; Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2000) is a research grammar appropriate for advanced courses and research. For an advanced course on Biblical Hebrew, one might consult N. Waldman's reference work, The Recent Study of Hebrew: A Survey of the Literature with Selected Bibliography (Bibliographica Judaica 10; Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1989). Readers will find good bibliography (as well as direction) in B. Waltke and M. P. O'Connor's study, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990). Building on these works and others, this work of mine is offered as a resource for the study of Ugaritic grammar and the grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Although such a bibliography may appear tedious, scholars cannot afford to work in a bibliographical vacuum. The linguist E. H. Sturtevant made this point over five decades ago when he wrote that "a writer who neglects the work of his predecessors and contemporaries is wasting his time and the time of his readers."[1]

I have had misgivings about compiling a bibliography on Ugaritic grammar with bibliography of Biblical Hebrew grammar. After all, Ugaritic is not the only West Semitic source to provide important information for the background of Hebrew (especially "archaic Hebrew" and "classical Hebrew"). Indeed, readers will note from the organization of section one that Ugaritic and Hebrew are preceded by -- and therefore located bibliographically within -- their larger context of general linguistics and Semitics. This bibliography generally reflects the overall weight given to Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew over and against other West Semitic material; these, too, are included but to a lesser degree. Missing from the listings for the West Semitic corpora is Aramaic, which deserves a treatment in its own right; readers may turn to J. A. Fitzmyer and S. A. Kaufman, ed., An Aramaic Bibliography, Part I: Old, Official, and Biblical Aramaic (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1992). 

The weight given to Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew may be justified based on the relative distribution of texts that currently survive in the West Semitic languages of the second and first millennia. For continuous texts, Ugaritic and Hebrew clearly enjoy a disproportionately superior place among the attested corpora. Readers may find it nonetheless misleading to juxtapose Ugaritic and Hebrew material in parallel sections, as if to suggest that Ugaritic is a direct antecedent to Hebrew. In order to be clear on this point, I would refer to the balanced view expressed by Anson Rainey over thirty years ago:

Ugaritic is not Hebrew; it is not an older stage of Hebrew; it must even be differentiated from the dialect(s) reflected in the Amarna glosses. Its closest relative is undoubtedly Phoenician; but there are marked differences between them. One might agree that Ugaritic is a North-West Semitic language, evidently standing alongside Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite and the Amarna glosses over against Aramaic.[2]

As this statement suggests, Ugaritic and Hebrew belong to a larger group within the West Semitic languages. As the Ugaritic and Hebrew texts comprise the two largest corpora within this group, comparison of their grammatical features has often proved illuminating despite considerable differences between the two languages. A word about the listing for Hebrew: delineating the boundaries of what constitutes bibliography pertinent to the historical development of biblical Hebrew, or "Hebrew historical grammar," is not always obvious, and what I have provided perhaps tends toward the more inclusive end of the spectrum (with the exceptions of introductory grammars and dictionaries, which are not included here).

In order to make this bibliography more "user friendly," I have presented it in the order of topics found in a grammar. The order here is largely traditional (with the customary division of phonology, morphology and syntax), although since the 1960s linguists have paid a great deal of attention to the interface between these levels of grammar.[3] In section 15, the organization for syntax gives precedence of text linguistics before the syntax of clauses and their subunits, reflecting the current view that the sentence does not constitute the largest unit of grammatical analysis.[4] One might go further and present syntax as theoretically prior to, and the context for, situating morphology, and, by extension, phonology as well; however, the traditional order of grammars is retained here for the sense of familiarity that it affords readers.

I have included bibliography for the alphabet (under section 2), although properly speaking the alphabet is not a grammatical topic but a matter of the graphic representation of languages.[5] However, the alphabet's historical importance for the study of West Semitic languages dictates its inclusion here. I have included some entries for Hebrew phonology or morphology with little or no mention of Ugaritic, in part to be more inclusive in these areas and in part to promote such work in the study of Ugaritic. Also included are entries for the syntax of particles (under 9.2) and for the verb (under 10.2.1) as well as some select individual verbal roots (under 14.11 and following). The bibliography in section 16 includes both basic and illustrative entries in the areas of lexicography, loanwards and semantics as well as personal names, but listings for dictionaries and lexica for Biblical Hebrew have not been included.[6] As this discussion and the many entries in 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 illustrate (not to mention specific references in many other sections), the study of ancient Hebrew has benefited from the application of modern linguistics more than Ugaritic. The borders between some areas of grammar and other subjects are not always simple to delineate. For example, some bibliography for grammatical aspects of Hebrew poetry are included (word-order and semantics), but other aspects of Hebrew poetry are not. Some entries are listed more than once when they pertain to multiple grammatical topics. Standard abbreviations have been used (see the list in the final section of this introduction); these are found also in Ugarit-Forschungen and Journal of Biblical Literature).

This bibliography is not comprehensive. As a work in progress, it contains omissions and mistakes. Moreover, some of terms or words in foreign language fonts as well as some diacritical marks have not come through. I trust that the contexts where these terms or words appear will indicate what foreign words (mostly in Hebrew) they refer to. For words spelled in Hebrew I have substituted English spellings in square brackets. As a result of working on this project at different times, I have produced other inconsistencies of format as well. I hope to correct these flaws in future revisions; in the meantime, I hope this bibliography will nonetheless serve the field.

Origins and Acknowledgments

This bibliography originated in the early 1980s during my studies at Yale University. In the summer of 1981, Marvin Pope hired me to produce a general bibliography regarding Ugaritic mythological texts. The following year Robert R. Wilson put into my hands a basic bibliography for a reading course on Hebrew historical grammar that he had inherited from his own teacher at Yale, S. Dean McBride. Professor Wilson's bibliography as well as the bibliographical learning gained under Professor Pope were useful later for courses that I offered. I have also found it useful to maintain the bibliography as a resource for my own research and for course readings. A couple of years ago I made this bibliography available to interested scholars and students in the form of xerox copies. At that time, it was suggested to me that this bibliography should be published. Despite the flaws of this edition and despite some misgivings, I have decided to proceed with this e-version so that the bibliography can be made more widely available.

I am indebted in particular to the students who went through courses with me. The bibliography was advanced through the labors of the interlibrary office of Drexel Library of Saint Joseph's University. I am grateful also to the Simor Bible Bibliographical Computer Service, which provided me with a printout of its listings for Ugarit and Ugaritic. A number of colleagues kindly provided help with references: Professors S. A. Fassberg, J. Huehnergard, T. Muraoka, F. H. Polak, G. A. Rendsburg and G. Rubio. John Huehnergard generously shared his bibliography with me. I thank Charles E. Jones, Research Archivist and Bibliographer, and Thomas G. Urban, Senior Editor, both of the Oriental Institute, for their time and energy in preparing this work for the web.

---

[1] Sturtevant, An Introduction to Linguistic Science (New Haven/London: Yale, 1947) 2 (cited by A. Hurvitz, "The Relevance of Biblical Hebrew Linguistics for the Historical Study of Ancient Israel," Proceedings of the Twelfth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Division A: The Bible and Its World [Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 1999] 24* n. 6).

[2] Rainey, "Observations on Ugaritic Grammar," UF 3 (1971) 153 (Rainey's italics).

[3] For example, see E. Benveniste, "Les niveaux de l'analyse linguistique," Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Linguists, Cambridge, Mass., August 27-21, 1962 (ed. H. G. Lunt; Janua Linguarum, series maior XII; London/The Hague/Paris: Mouton, 1964) 266-75, with responses on 275-93; and J. Kurylowicz, "The Notion of Morpho(pho)neme," Directions for Historical Linguistics: A Symposium (ed. W. P. Lehmann and Y. Malkiel; Austin/London: University of Texas, 1968) 65-81.

[4] See the response of K. Pike to E. Benveniste, "Les niveaux de l'analyse linguistique," Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Linguists, Cambridge, Mass., August 27-21, 1962 (ed. H. G. Lunt; Janua Linguarum, series maior XII; London/The Hague/Paris: Mouton, 1964) 266-75, on p. 283. See more recently J. Joosten, "The Indicative System of the Biblical Hebrew Verb and Its Literary Exploitation," Narrative Syntax and the Hebrew Bible: Papers of the Tilburg Conference 1996 (ed. E. van Wolde; Biblical Interpretation Series 29; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 54; M. O'Connor, "Discourse Linguistics and the Study of Biblical Hebrew," Congress Volume: Basel 2001 (ed. A. Lemaire; VTSup 92; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2002) 26.

[5] See the response of J. Lee to J. V. Walsh, "Linguistic Factors in the Evolution of the Alphabet," Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Linguists, Cambridge, Mass., August 27-29, 1962 (ed. H. G. Lunt; Janua Linguarum, series maior XII; London/The Hague/Paris: Mouton, 1964) 519-20.

[6] For recent discussions, see M. O'Connor, "Semitic Lexicography: European Dictionaries of Biblical Hebrew in the Twentieth Century," IOS 20 (2002) = Semitic Linguistics: The State of the Art at the Turn of the 21^st Century (ed. S. Izre'el; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2002) 173-212; and G. J. Van Steenbergen, "Hebrew Lexicography and Worldview: A Survey of Some Lexicons," JSem 12/2 (2003) 268-313.

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This first on-line version is presented courtesy of the Research Archives at the Oriental Institute, the University of Chicago. The full text of the bibliography is available in three formats.

• For a .pdf version [610K] Click Here

• For a .doc version [673K] Click Here

• For an .rtf version [852K] Click Here

Open Access Journal: Hebraic Political Studies

 [First posted in AWOL 30 September 2009. Updated 16 March 2014]

Hebraic Political Studies
ISSN: 1565-6640

Hebraic Political Studies is an international, peer-reviewed journal launched in 2005.  The journal is published quarterly by Shalem Press, and edited by Professor Gordon Schochet of Rutgers University and Dr. Arthur Eyffinger of the Huygens Institute in the Netherlands. Hebraic Political Studies publishes articles that explore the political concepts of the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature, the significance of reflections on the Hebrew Bible and Judaic sources in the history of ideas, and the role of these sources in the history of the West. Hebraic Political Studies aims to evaluate the place of the Jewish textual tradition, alongside the traditions of Greece and Rome, in political history and the history of political thought.

• 4:4 fall 2009
• 4:3 summer 2009
• 4:2 spring 2009
• 4:1 winter 2009
• 3:4 fall 2008
• 3:3 summer 2008
• 3:2 spring 2008
• 3:1 winter 2008
• 2:4 fall 2007
• 2:3 summer 2007
• 2:2 spring 2007
• 2:1 winter 2007
• 1:5 fall 2006
• 1:4 summer 2006
• 1:3 spring 2006
• 1:2 winter 2006
• 1:1 fall 2005 - sample issue

See the full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies

Open Access Journal: Cadernos de Língua e Literatura Hebraica

Cadernos de Língua e Literatura Hebraica
ISSN: 2317-8051 

A revista Cadernos de Língua e Literatura Hebraica, destinada à comunidade científica, tem como objetivo incluir todos os elementos que constituem o vasto arco dos estudos acadêmicos judaicos e hebraicos, desde a sua origem, que passa pela Antiguidade no Oriente Médio, até as mais recônditas diásporas judaicas do mundo contemporâneo. São contempladas as áreas de estudos literários e lingüísticos, história, filosofia, sociologia, antropologia, estudos religiosos, estudos do antissemitismo e crítica de arte. Os artigos são submetidos à avaliação de pareceristas nomeados ad hoc, normalmente membros da Comissão Cientifica da revista. São aceitos para consideração artigos originais e também resenhas de livro que digam respeito ao escopo da revista.

n. 10 (2012)

Sumário

APRESENTAÇÃO

Apresentação	PDF
Luis Sérgio Krausz	9-10

LITERATURA HEBRAICA E JUDAICA

O que resta da vida e o contexto histórico: a respeito da identidade judaica e sua expressão na literatura hebraica	PDF
Nancy Rozenchan	11-27

A ideologia sionista e o renascimento da língua hebraica em "Missaviv Lanekudá", de Yossef Haim Brenner	PDF
Gabriel Steinberg Schvartzman	29-49

Na trilha ou o inferno de David Grossman	PDF
Saul Kirschbaum	51-64

Culpa e sátira no divã: duas crônicas jornalisticas de Sayed Kashua	PDF
Juliana Portenoy Schlesinger	65-82

Nombres, exilios, encierros. Susana Gertopán y la(s) escritura(s) judía(s) de Paraguay	PDF (Español)
Liliana Ruth Feierstein	83-92

Cronos, hipnos e tânatos - a concepção do tempo e a concepção histórica no romance "O Beijo de Esaú", de Meir Shalev	PDF
Naama Silverman-Forner	93-111

Georges Perec e a gênese da literatura comparada	PDF
Renata Lopes Araujo	113-119

Bashevis Singer: tradição e modernidade	PDF
Eziel Belaparte Percino	121-132

Entrevista com Yigal Schwartz	PDF
Luis Sergio Krausz	133-139

BÍBLIA HEBRAICA

A eleição de Israel na Torá	PDF
Suzana Chwarts	141-151

CULTURA JUDAICA

O "eruv" na Europa, nos Estados Unidos e no Brasil: novas estratégias de demarcação do espaço judaico	PDF
Marta Francisca Topel	153-164

A cerimônia da hena: as cores da etnicidade	PDF
Wagner Lins	165-193

ANTISSEMITISMO

Israel no Trópico? Mulheres criptojudias e identidades religiosas no Brasil colonial	PDF
Angelo Adriano Faria de Assis	195-208

LÍNGUA HEBRAICA

Os padrões nominais do hebraico: o padrão reflexivo	PDF
Rafael Dias Minussi	209-227

O alfabeto hebraico: origem divina x humana	PDF
Manu Marcus Hubner	229-251

RESENHA

Entre nostalgia e redenção	PDF
Luis Sergio Krausz	253-255

 See the full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies

Quaderni di Vicino Oriente VI - 2013: La percezione dell'ebraismo in altre culture e nelle arti

Quaderni di Vicino Oriente VI - 2013: 

ATTI DEL CONVEGNO “LA PERCEZIONE DELL’EBRAISMO IN ALTRE CULTURE E NELLE ARTI”
8-9 ottobre 2012, Odeion - Facoltà di Lettere, Sapienza Università di Roma
a cura di Alessandro Catastini

Articoli
E. Prinzivalli - "Noi" e "Loro", la lacerazione indicibile. Ebrei e Cristiani nel I e nel II secolo
A. Camplani - Declinazioni dell'antigiudaismo nel cristianesimo siriaco delle origini
A. Gebbia - Il violinista su Hollywood: gli Ebrei e il cinema americano
F. Gabizon - Percorsi ebraici nella letteratura inglese e americana
A. Catastini - La questione delle origini ebraiche
J. Nigro Covre - R. Cilione - Gli artisti e l 'ebraismo tra Italia e Francia intorno al 1930
F. Piperno - Ebrei in Musica
L. Nigro - L 'Archeologia Biblica e la percezione dell 'ebraismo
M. Caffiero - Gioco di specchi. Ebrei e Cristiani in età moderna: rappresentazioni e autorappresentazioni

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Online Companion to Beginning Biblical Hebrew: A Grammar and Illustrated Reader (Baker Academic 2013)

Beginning Biblical Hebrew: A Grammar and Illustrated Reader

This web site is for those actively or interested in teaching with our textbook, Beginning Biblical Hebrew: A Grammar and Illustrated Reader (Baker Academic 2013).

On this site we host a blog, in which we will address questions submitted by instructors or interested instructors, a forum, in which we can interact dynamically with instructors using the textbook, a resource page, where we will post “beta” (in-progress, draft) supplementary materials to use with BBH (and we welcome suggestions!), and links to the eSources that Baker has provided on their BBH textbook site.
Thank you for stopping by!

• Blog
• Forum
• Beta Resources
• Textbook eSources

 See also AWOL's list of Open Access Textbooks and Language Primers

Open Access Journal: Tamid: Revista Catalana d’Estudis Hebraics

Tamid: Revista Catalana d’Estudis Hebraics
Print ISSN: 1138-5561

Tamid ofereix un recull anual de treballs originals dels membres de la Societat Catalana d’Estudis Hebraics dels diferents camps o èpoques en què solen dividir-se els estudis hebraics: l’època biblicotalmúdica, l’edat mitjana (amb la vasta producció cultural dels jueus de la Catalunya medieval) i els temps moderns (incloent-hi l’estudi de la literatura contemporània en llengua hebrea). Els articles que conté aquesta publicació són el fruit d’investigadors que treballen aquests camps d’una manera específica, coneixedors de primera mà de la documentació històrica i filològica pertinent i assabentats dels estudis més recents en la matèria. Però al mateix temps, Tamid inclou, traduïts al català, els treballs d’erudits de fora que, pel coneixement aprofundit que tenen d’algun tema, mereixen ser coneguts entre nosaltres.

2016

Vol. , Núm. (2016): 10 : 2014

2013

8 : 2012

9 : 2013

2011

7 : 2011

2009

6 : 2006-2007

2007

5 : 2004-2005

2004

4 : 2002-2003

2002

3 : 2000-2001

1999

2 : 1998-1999

1997

1 : 1997

See AWOL's full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies

Spanish/Catalan/Portuguese Open Access Journals on the Ancient World