In 1961 William L. Moran published The Hebrew Language in Its Northwest Semitic Background, in which he presented a state-of-the-art description of the linguistic milieu out of which biblical Hebrew developed. Moran stressed the features found in earlier Northwest Semitic languages that are similar to Hebrew and he demonstrated how the study of those languages sheds light on biblical Hebrew.
Since Moran wrote, our knowledge of both the Hebrew of the biblical period and of Northwest Semitics has increased considerably. In the light of new epigraphic finds and the significant advances in the fields of Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic in the past four decades, the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem convened an international research group during the 2001–2002 academic year on the topic “Biblical Hebrew in Its Northwest Semitic Setting: Typological and Historical Perspectives.”
This volume presents the fruits of the year-long collaboration and contains twenty articles based on lectures given during the year by members of the group and invited guests: Moshe Bar-Asher, Joshua Blau, John A. Emerton, Steven E. Fassberg, W. Randall Garr, Edward L. Greenstein, John Huehnergard, Avi Hurvitz, Jan Joosten, Menahem Z. Kaddari, Geoffrey Khan, André Lemaire, Mordechai Mishor, Adina Moshavi, Alviero Niccacci, M. O’Connor, Frank H. Polak, Elisha Qimron, Gary Rendsburg, and Ada Yardeni. A wide array of subjects are discussed, all of which have implications for the study of Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic.
Steven E. Fassberg is the Caspar Levias Chair in Ancient Semitic Languages at the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Avi Hurvitz is the Benzion and Lina Halper Professor of Bible and Hebrew Language at The Hebrew University.
No comments:
Post a Comment