http://www.hallelu-yah.nl/Proto-Semitic.pdf
Introduction: the quest for the script of the earliest books of the Bible
To understand the earliest books of the Bible, we must understand the basics of the languages in which they were written. The scripts used provide an important entry to this understanding. One of those scripts is what is called the Hebrew square script. The alphabet of this script looks like this: א, This was the script used In the Middle Ages to .ת ,שׂ ,שׁ ,ר ,ק ,צ ,פ ,ע ,ס ,נ ,מ ,ל ,כ ,י ,ט ,ח ,ז ,ו ,ה ,ד ,ג ,ב duplicate the manuscripts that have since served as our originals of the books of the First Testament. Many people today are somewhat familiar with it. Often it is alleged that this is the ‘Biblical Hebrew’ script in which the First Testament of the Bible was written originally. However, as most scholars are aware, this is not so. Languages and scripts have been in constant change and development. Only after the Babylonian exile (i.e. about 500 BC) the Jews adopted an early variant of the Hebrew square script from the Assyrians in Babylon (a Jewish name for the script is Ketav Ashuri). However, the majority of the First Testament is much older. Consequently, its writers must originally have used other scripts. We thus have to look further.
When we go further back in time in Israel, past 500 BC, we encounter the Paleo-Hebrew script, and very similar scripts (Phoenician, Moabite, etc.) in the neighboring countries. The alphabet of this looked about this way: ת ,ש ,ר ,ק ,צ ,פ ,ע ,ס ,נ ,מ ,ל ,כ ,י ,ט ,ח ,ז ,ו ,ה ,ד ,ג ,ב ,א. The Paleo- Hebrew script was in use roughly between 1000 BC and 300 BC. With its sister-scripts, it emerged gradually (1100-900 BC; the timeframe in which the state of Israel and various neighboring states became institutionalized, and Biblically Shaul, David and Solomon/Shlomo can be placed) from a common ancestor. Various ancient Northwest Semitic inscriptions from Israel, Edom, Phoenicia, Moab, Syria, Ammon, and Philistea thus enlighten and sharpen our vision of the First Testament books in various ways. The geographical area we look at is the western part of the area that is known as being inhabited at that time by descendants of the Biblical patriarch Sem. Before about 1100 BC many of the languages in this area, were still largely as one, with at most some different local dialects, spread over the area. Populations then of course were a fraction of what they were later. Still further back all Semitic languages were still one. This single language – the (reconstructed) common ancestor of all Semitic languages – has been given the name: Proto-Semitic.3
Now back to scripts. The Paleo-Hebrew script developed from a script that was used in the West- Semitic area during the second millennium BC. Various excavations have found text fragments of it, in a very large area (ranging from current Syria to Egypt to the Sinai desert). Commonly, it is often referred to as Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script, but these denotations do not do justice to its geographical distribution. The common language in this area and era has been named West Semitic or Central Semitic. So, Proto-West-Semitic script or Proto-Central-Semitic script would be more proper choices for the name of this script. This is my somewhat normalized reconstruction of the most importantgraphemesofthisscript: , , , , ,, , , , , ,, ,, , , ,, ,
,
, . As I studied this script and many Semitic words and names formed with it, I discovered that
this script is pictographic in origin, and its pictographs appear to be related to basic notions or
building blocks in the earliest root fabric of the Proto-Semitic language. Since this research shows
that this script and/or the underlying basic notions are very old, I decided to use simply the term old
Semitic script.
This document describes these earliest building blocks of the Semitic languages (the West-Semitic branch in particular), and of this early pictographic script. Our systematic research reveals that the roots of this script are very old (probably predating any other script!) and that in all likelihood
To understand the earliest books of the Bible, we must understand the basics of the languages in which they were written. The scripts used provide an important entry to this understanding. One of those scripts is what is called the Hebrew square script. The alphabet of this script looks like this: א, This was the script used In the Middle Ages to .ת ,שׂ ,שׁ ,ר ,ק ,צ ,פ ,ע ,ס ,נ ,מ ,ל ,כ ,י ,ט ,ח ,ז ,ו ,ה ,ד ,ג ,ב duplicate the manuscripts that have since served as our originals of the books of the First Testament. Many people today are somewhat familiar with it. Often it is alleged that this is the ‘Biblical Hebrew’ script in which the First Testament of the Bible was written originally. However, as most scholars are aware, this is not so. Languages and scripts have been in constant change and development. Only after the Babylonian exile (i.e. about 500 BC) the Jews adopted an early variant of the Hebrew square script from the Assyrians in Babylon (a Jewish name for the script is Ketav Ashuri). However, the majority of the First Testament is much older. Consequently, its writers must originally have used other scripts. We thus have to look further.
When we go further back in time in Israel, past 500 BC, we encounter the Paleo-Hebrew script, and very similar scripts (Phoenician, Moabite, etc.) in the neighboring countries. The alphabet of this looked about this way: ת ,ש ,ר ,ק ,צ ,פ ,ע ,ס ,נ ,מ ,ל ,כ ,י ,ט ,ח ,ז ,ו ,ה ,ד ,ג ,ב ,א. The Paleo- Hebrew script was in use roughly between 1000 BC and 300 BC. With its sister-scripts, it emerged gradually (1100-900 BC; the timeframe in which the state of Israel and various neighboring states became institutionalized, and Biblically Shaul, David and Solomon/Shlomo can be placed) from a common ancestor. Various ancient Northwest Semitic inscriptions from Israel, Edom, Phoenicia, Moab, Syria, Ammon, and Philistea thus enlighten and sharpen our vision of the First Testament books in various ways. The geographical area we look at is the western part of the area that is known as being inhabited at that time by descendants of the Biblical patriarch Sem. Before about 1100 BC many of the languages in this area, were still largely as one, with at most some different local dialects, spread over the area. Populations then of course were a fraction of what they were later. Still further back all Semitic languages were still one. This single language – the (reconstructed) common ancestor of all Semitic languages – has been given the name: Proto-Semitic.3
Now back to scripts. The Paleo-Hebrew script developed from a script that was used in the West- Semitic area during the second millennium BC. Various excavations have found text fragments of it, in a very large area (ranging from current Syria to Egypt to the Sinai desert). Commonly, it is often referred to as Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script, but these denotations do not do justice to its geographical distribution. The common language in this area and era has been named West Semitic or Central Semitic. So, Proto-West-Semitic script or Proto-Central-Semitic script would be more proper choices for the name of this script. This is my somewhat normalized reconstruction of the most importantgraphemesofthisscript: , , , , ,, , , , , ,, ,, , , ,, ,
,
This document describes these earliest building blocks of the Semitic languages (the West-Semitic branch in particular), and of this early pictographic script. Our systematic research reveals that the roots of this script are very old (probably predating any other script!) and that in all likelihood
No comments:
Post a Comment