Biblical period (XII-II centuries BC)

Post-Biblical period (1st century BC - 2nd century AD)

The Hebrew language of the era of the Talmud and the Masoretes (III - centuries)

Sources:

• drink(religious poetry in Hebrew)
• midrashi(comments and interpretations of the Old Testament)

At this time, in one of the currents of the Jewish religion, calling themselves "masoretes" ("keepers of traditions"), they invent a system of "vowel" signs with "consonant" letters ("nekudot"). This allows you to standardize the pronunciation of vowels when reading ancient Hebrew texts.

Hebrew is significantly enriched with Aramaic vocabulary (this process continues into the medieval era). There is a restructuring of the verb system - the former types (perfect and imperfect) are rethought; as a result of the restructuring of the system of verb tenses, some "qualitative" participles become independent words.

Medieval Hebrew (-XVIII centuries)

• Spanish poetry (Yehuda Halevi, Ibn Ezra, Ibn Gabirol, Alharizi)
• commentaries on the Bible and Talmud (Rashi, Maimonides, Nachmanides, Moses Mendelssohn)
• Kabbalistic literature
• scientific literature (philosophical, medical, geographical, philological, historical)

Hebrew is not a spoken language, but Jews still study it, read religious books in it, write works, communicate with Jews from other countries. The main "competitor" of Hebrew, the Aramaic language, is falling out of use. Several pronunciation norms of Hebrew are being developed: Ashkenazi (Europe - except for Spain) and Sephardic (mainly in Islamic countries, Spain, Greece, part of Italy). The Sephardic norm better preserves the features of the ancient pronunciation, but it has lost the distinction between short and long vowels. The Ashkenazi norm acquires some features of the German pronunciation; long vowels turn into iotated, there is a significant restructuring of the system of vowels and consonants. The adjective finally becomes an independent part of speech.

19th century Hebrew

Hebrew literature becomes part of European culture.

Sources:

• Newspapers and magazines in Hebrew.
• Novels, short stories, plays, short stories, etc. (for example, books by Mendele Moyher-Sforim).
• School textbooks in all subjects of education.

Revived Hebrew (since the beginning of the 20th century)

The language, considered dead for 18 centuries, becomes the language of everyday communication, the official language of the State of Israel. This was made possible through the efforts of a number of enthusiasts, the most famous being Eliezer Ben-Yehuda.

The idea of ​​Hebrew revival was an integral part of the Zionist ideology as such, which sought to break with the legacy of the Diaspora and with the languages ​​spoken by Jews living under alien domination. Indicative in this regard are the words spoken in 1935 by Chaim Weizmann, a scientist, liberal, European intellectual and the future first president of Israel: “ We came to Eretz Israel not to copy the life of Warsaw, Pinsk and London. The essence of Zionism is a change in all the values ​​that the Jews have learned under the pressure of foreign cultures».

More than a hundred years have passed since the Mutual Aid of German Jews (Hilfsverein) founded in 1904 the first teacher's seminary in Jerusalem for teachers of Hebrew, and since the opening in 1905 in Jaffa of the Herzliya Gymnasium, the world's first high school where teaching was conducted in Hebrew. The main guarantee of success was the voluntary (and sometimes forced) choice of Hebrew as the language of everyday communication in the families of second and third wave repatriates who arrived in Eretz Israel in the first quarter of the 20th century, in kibbutzim and agricultural settlements.

In the early years of the existence of the State of Israel, the policy of introducing Hebrew was of an exceptionally rigid nature. Later, when Hebrew finally ousted other Jewish languages, the attitude towards these languages ​​on the part of the Jewish state softened considerably. In 1996, Yiddish and Ladino cultural heritage preservation laws were passed.

Hebrew revival

The enrichment of the language is also happening at the present time, through the efforts of scientists from the Hebrew Language Academy in Jerusalem. This happens in the following ways:

1. Changing the meaning of ancient words

• Word aniva(עניבה) meant a special bow back in the Mishnah (II century), and then in the Middle Ages (found in Maimonides). Now it's a tie.
• Word alyuf(אלוף) in ancient times meant "tribal commander, thousand" from the word eleph (אלף \u003d thousand), now it is a military rank "general", as well as "champion".

2. The formation of new words from the roots existing in the language according to the laws of Hebrew grammar(that is, before that such a word did not exist) and by analogy with already existing words.

• MAHSHEV(מחשב)= computer

(literally: "computer", from the stem HiSheV(חישב = (he) calculated)

similar to old words

• Mazleg(מזלג) = "fork",
• Mazrek(מזרק) = "syringe", etc.

3. Feature of the language - "adjoint construction", a phrase of two or more nouns ( laugh), while the first word sometimes changes according to certain phonetic laws (this form is called nismah).

• Beit Sefer(בית-ספר) - "school", from bait(בית = home) + sefer(ספר = book)
• Shem-mishpakha(שם משפחה) - "surname", from shem(שם = name) + mishpacha(משפחה = family)
• Bat Yam(בת-ים) - "daughter of the sea", "mermaid" from baht(בת = daughter) + pits(ים = sea)
• Kupat-holim(קופת חולים) - "health insurance fund" from kupa(קופה = checkout) + Holim(חולים - sick (plural)).

Sometimes such phrases turn into one word.

For example:

• caduregel(כדורגל) - "football" ( kadour(כדור) = ball, regel(רגל) = leg)
• migdalor(מגדלור) - "lighthouse" ( eyelid(מגדל) = tower, op(אור) = light)

4. Compound words(as in Russian university, collective farm or CPSU)

A double apostrophe (“) is usually placed between the penultimate and last letters of compound words.

• scientist's name Rashi - Rabbeinu Shlomo Yitzhaki(רש“י= our teacher Solomon son of Isaac)
• word tapuz(תפוז= orange) comes from the fusion of two words: "tapuah" and "zahav"(literally = golden apple)
• Hebrew name for the Old Testament Tanakh(תנ“ך), which stands for Torah, Neviim, Ketuvim, i.e. "Pentateuch, Prophets, Scriptures"

5. Borrowing foreign words

Examples: telephone (טלפון), university (אוניברסיטה), bus (אוטובוס), Januar(ינואר), etc.

Hebrew in the USSR

Name

The very word עִבְרִית Hebrew translated from Hebrew as the adjective "Jewish". The feminine gender is used here because the noun שפה safa("language", "speech"), to which this adjective refers by default, is feminine in Hebrew.

Writing and reading

• Hebrew uses the Hebrew alphabet for writing in the so-called. square font, as are the languages ​​Aramaic and Yiddish. The square script was adopted by Hebrew from Aramaic in the 6th century. BC e.; prior to this, Hebrew used a different alphabet, almost identical to the closely related Phoenician.

• Square font is a kind of alphabet (in Hebrew - aleph bet). This means that each sign (letter) corresponds to a certain sound, in contrast to non-alphabetic systems (ancient Egyptian, Chinese), in which each sign denotes a concept (ideogram) or a combination of sounds (syllabary).

• There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, all letters correspond to consonants. There is not a single letter in Hebrew that originally corresponded to any vowel, however, some letters (for example, aleph, ayn, yod, vav) have ceased to be used exclusively for consonants and are also used for vowels. The writing of letters one after the other is from right to left, the letters do not connect with each other (although this is not always the case in manuscripts), and the lines follow one another from top to bottom.

• In the vast majority of texts, vowel marks are not written. Vocalizations are made only in

• religious texts,
• songs and poems
• textbooks for schools and ulpans,
• children's books,
• sometimes in foreign words

and some other texts.

In European literature, a comparison is often made of an unvoiced Hebrew text with a text in a European (for example, Russian) language with missing vowels. For example, the word ספר is compared with the spelling KNG, and it is noted that the latter in Russian can be read both as “KniGa” and as “KonyaGa”. In fact, such a comparison is invalid. The features of Hebrew grammar are such that vowels are not part of the root, and therefore the omission of vowels in a word corresponds in Russian not to the omission of all vowels, but to the omission of vowels in some (not all) suffixes and in some (not all) endings. For example, when writing Russian words by analogy with Hebrew, we would get such a series of single-root words: “program”, “programm”, “programm”, “program”, etc.

• To make text easier to read without vowels to indicate sounds at, about and and put letters in it wav and yod which are not written in the voiced text. Such letters are called mattress lectionis(literally "mothers of reading").

Vocalizations

Vowel marks are used to represent vowel sounds. Pronunciation of sounds a, uh, and, oh, u approximately corresponds to the Russian pronunciation. Hebrew consonants are never palatalized (not softened) before the vowels "i" or "e (e)".

Symbol vocalizations	Name vocalizations	Symbol graphic description	How to read
ַ	Patah	horizontal bar under letter	a
ָ	Kamatz	The "t" icon under the letter	a
ֵ	Caere	Two dots below the letter, placed horizontally	uh
ֶ	Segol	Three dots under the letter, located like an equilateral triangle pointing down	uh
ִ	Hirik	dot under letter	and
י ִ	Hirik with iodine	A dot under a letter followed by a yod	and
ֹ	Holam haser	Dot above the letter	about
ֹו	Holam male	Vav with dot on top	about
ָ	Kamatz katan	"t" badge, below letter (same as camatz)	a
ֻ	Kubbutz	Three dots below the letter, diagonally	at
וּ	Shuruk	The letter vav with a dot inside it	at

In addition, some unstressed sounds ( uh oh oh) can be transferred using the icon seamְ (two dots under the letter, placed vertically), or a combination of a seam with icons segol, kamatz and patah(all are placed under the letter and the latter are called with the addition of the word in front hataf)

Hataf vowels:

Symbol vocalizations	Name vocalizations	Symbol graphic description	How to read
ֳ	hataf kamatz	This is kamatz + seam to his right	unstressed sound about
ֲ	hataf-patah	This is patah + seam to his right	unstressed sound a
ֱ	hataf-segol	This is segol + seam to his right	unstressed sound uh

The fact that several icons correspond to one sound is explained by the fact that in ancient times they denoted different sounds, for example, by longitude. So, patah- was a short sound a, a kamatz- long. Similarly, the rest of the vowels ( uh and oh u). In modern Hebrew, the difference in longitude has disappeared, but the difference in writing remains.

Letters

Main article: Hebrew alphabet

There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

Letter		Numeric value (hematria)	Name			Transliteration			Pronunciation (IPA)
early cf.	con.		Standard	Ashkenazi	Hebrew	Russian	International	Simplified	Israeli	Ashkenazi	Sephardic	Reconstruction
												Mishnah	Bible
א		1	Aleph	Aleph	אָלֶף	"	ʾ	"	[ ʔ, - ]	[ - ]	[ ʔ, - ]	[ ʔ, - ]	[ʔ ]
ב		2	Bet (wet)	Beys (weiss)	בֵּית	b, c	b, ḇ	b, v	[b,v]		[ b, b~~v ]	[b, β]	[b]
ג		3	Gimel	Gimel	גִימֶל	G	g, ḡ	g	[ ɡ ]	[ɡ~ɡ ̊]	[ ɡ, ɡ~ɣ ]	[ ɡ, ɣ ]	[ ɡ ]
ד		4	Dalet	Doles	דָלֶת	d	d, ḏ	d	[d]	[d~d̥ ̊]	[d̪~ð]	[d̪, ð]	[d̪]
ה		5	heh	hey	הֵא	(h), x, d	h, Ḏ	h	[h~ʔ, -]	[h,-]	[h,-]	[h,-]	[h]
ו		6	wav	wow	וָו	in, u, o	w	w	[v]	[v~v̥]	[v]	[w]	[w]
ז		7	Zain	Zain	זַיִן	h	z	z	[z]	[z~z̥]	[z]	[z]	[dz]
ח		8	Hat	Hes	חֵית	X	ḥ	h`,x	[ χ~ħ ]	[x]	[ ħ ]	[ħ, x]	[ħ, x]
ט		9	Tet	tes	טֵית	t	ṭ	t`	[t]	[t]	[t̪]	[t̪ˁ]	[t̪ʼ]
י		10	Iodine	Yod	יוֹד	th	y	y	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j]
‭כ	ך	20	Kaf (khaf)	Kof (hof)	כָּף	k, x	k, ḵ	k, kh	[ k, ]	[k,x]	[k,x]	[k,x]	[k]
ל		30	Lamed	Lomed	לָמֶד	l	l	l	[l]	[l~ɫ]	[l]	[l]	[l]
‭מ	ם	40	meme	meme	מֵם	m	m	m	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m]
‭נ	ן	50	Nun	Nun	נוּן	n	n	n	[n]	[n]	[n̪]	[n̪]	[n̪]
ס		60	Sameh	Somech	סָמֶך	with	s	s	[s]	[s]	[s]	[s]	[ts]
ע		70	Ayin	Ayin	עַיִן	`	`	`	[ ʔ ~ ʕ, – ]	[ - ]	[ ʕ, ŋ, – ]	[ ʕ, ɣ ]	[ ʕ, ɣ ]
‭פ	ף	80	Pe (fe)	Pei (fei)	פֵּא	p, f	p,ph	p,ph	[p,f]	[p,f]	[p,f]	[p, ɸ]	[p]
‭צ	ץ	90	Tzadi	Tsodi, tsodik	צָדִי	s, c	ṣ	s'	[ ʦ ]	[ ʦ ]	[ ʦ ]	[sˁ]	[ʦʼ, ʧʼ, t͡ɬʼ]
ק		100	coffee	Kuf	קוֹף	to	k	k	[k]	[k]	[k]	[q]	[kʼ]
ר		200	Rash	Raish	רֵיש	R	r	r	[ ʁ ]	[ ʀ ]	[r~ɾ]	[ ɾ ]	[ ɾ ]
ש		300	Shin (shin)	Shin (shin)	שִין	w, s	š, ś	sh, lh	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ʃ, s]	[ ʃ, ɬ ]	[ʧ, t͡ɬ, s]
ת		400	Tav	Tov (owls)	תָו	t	t, ṯ	t,th	[t]	[t, s]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪, θ]	[t̪]

Notes

• In Israel, mostly standard letter names with elements of Ashkenazi names are used.
• The Russian transliteration given in the table is approximate.

End letters

Five letters have two different styles - one at the beginning and middle of the word, the other at the end:

At the beginning and middle of a word		At the end of a word
cafe	כ כ	cafe soffit	ך ך
meme	מ מ	meme soffit	ם ם
Nun	נ נ	Nun soffit	ן ן
drink	פ פ	pay-soffit	ף ף
Tzadik	צ צ	Tzadik soffit	ץ ץ

One of the versions of the appearance of the final letters - since in ancient times the words were written together, the final letters were necessary to separate the words. Perhaps all the letters had a special form of writing, but only these five have come down to us. The related Arabic language retains different spellings of initial, medial, and final letters.

Another version - the final form is historically more ancient, and the non-final one arose during cursive writing: the tail, which went down, began to bend towards the next letter, and only at the end of the word, when the writing hand stopped, did the tail point down.

Several letters of the alphabet can also sometimes represent the same sound.

• coffeeק and cafeכ are read to
• wavו and wetב are read in
• hatח and hafכ are read X
• tetט and tavת are read t
• samekhס and synשֹ are read with
• ayinע and alephא both are unreadable

However, the letters: א, ק, ט, ס (and not their “pairs” with the same sounds) are always written in words of foreign origin and non-Jewish names, for example: the word “text” in Hebrew will look like “טקסט”, not “תכשת” ”, or the non-Jewish name “Kostya”: “קוסטיה”. Exception: in the case when the word is borrowed from English, instead of a digraph th a letter is written tav; to emphasize a difference in pronunciation, sometimes to the left of a letter tav put an apostrophe: ת . Example: The name of actress Reese Witherspoon in Hebrew is written as ריס וית"רספון (note the " ת ), because in English it is written as Reese Wi th erspoon. Likewise, letter tav often used in words of Greek origin in place of the letter θ (for example, in the words aesthetics (Hebrew אסת טיקה ‎), athletics (Hebrew את לטיקה ‎), mathematics (Hebrew מת מטיקה ‎) this concerns the first of the two Ts).

For correct writing, it is necessary to memorize words along with their spelling, since words that are different in meaning and spelling can have the same pronunciation.

For example:

• word Osher, starting with a letter aleph- אושר, means "happiness",
• word Osher, starting with a letter ayin- עושר, means "wealth".

The reason for designating one sound with two letters is the same as for the vowel marks: in ancient times, each letter served to designate its own sound (including the letters aleph and ayin), but now the difference in pronunciation has disappeared, and the spelling is preserved (with the exception of the differences in the speech of people from Arab countries).

• There is no difference between uppercase (capital) and lowercase letters in Hebrew.

• letter tires (syn) two different phonemes are recorded, pronounced today /sh/ and /s/ respectively. In the voiced letter, they differ in dots: in the first, a distinctive dot is placed on top near the right “clove”, and in syn- near the left. In unvoiced texts, this distinctive point is not put, and the word has to be memorized along with the pronunciation.

What does the letter "ב" sound like?

For a long time, experts could not answer whether the letter ב (bet or vet - depending on the presence in the letter of the sign "dagesh", usually omitted when writing) can convey the sound "b"? Many linguists believed that the letter ב conveyed only the sound "in". The discussions went on until a clay tablet with a text was deciphered, which told about lambs walking in the field: their bleating was recorded using the letter "ב".

• Some letters change their pronunciation (and in some textbooks, their name) depending on their position in the word. At the beginning of a word, these 3 letters ( cafe/haf, bet/wet and drink / fairies) are pronounced like to, b and P, at the end of the word - X, in and f. In the middle of a word, both pronunciations are possible. In borrowed words, this rule does not apply to the letter drink, which can be pronounced at the end of a word like P, which is indicated in the letter by its usual initial-middle outline (פ).

In a voiced letter, explosive letters cafe, bet and drink can be distinguished from their fricative pairs haf, wet and fairies by a distinctive point inside these letters (the consonant with this point becomes explosive), called Dagesh. In unvoiced texts, this point is absent, and for the correct reading of words it is necessary to know either the words themselves or the grammatical laws by which the pronunciation of the letter is determined. Knowing the words in this case is also necessary for correct writing, since

• sound in can be written in letters wav and wet,
• sound to- letters cafe and coffee,
• sound X- letters haf and hat.

Note that, unlike letters tires and syn, here we are not talking about letters denoting different phonemes, but about pronunciation variants of the same letter, corresponding to the ancient allophones of the same phoneme. In unvoiced texts, you can sometimes check the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word by selecting the corresponding familiar pronunciation single-root word, where this letter is at the beginning or at the end of this word.

For example:

michtav(sound X- This haf or Het?).

Solution:

Most words in Hebrew have a three-letter root. In this word it is KTV. Since the word is translated as “letter”, we recall the same-root word in meaning: KoTeV(= "writing"), there is a sound to, that is, in the first place at the root is the letter cafe(she haf). Therefore, in the word michtav in the first place in the root is the letter haf, but not Het. We note here that in Russian you can sometimes check spelling by finding words with the same root.

Ashkenazi pronunciation

The main differences between the Ashkenazi pronunciation of Hebrew and the Sephardic accepted in Israel are as follows.

• The stress in Ashkenazi Hebrew always falls on the penultimate syllable, while in Sephardic the place of the ancient stress has been preserved (in most cases - on the last syllable, and in some grammatical forms and in some categories of words - on the penultimate one. In the latter case, of course, the stress in Ashkenazi and Sephardic versions are the same).
• In Ashkenazi pronunciation, the difference in the pronunciation of the sound transmitted by the letter has been preserved. ת . In ancient times, this letter, depending on the position in the word, could be read either as T, or as a slotted sound similar to English th in the word think. In Sephardic pronunciation, this distinction was lost, and the letter ת always read as T. In the Ashkenazi version, the slotted pronunciation was preserved, although in a modified form - instead of an interdental sound Θ the sound began With.
• In ancient Hebrew, there was a distinction between vowels by longitude, that is, vowels were long and short. In modern Hebrew there are no differences in vowel length, while the changes in sound were different in the Sephardic and in the Ashkenazi variants. In the Sephardic version, the pronunciation of long vowels coincided with the pronunciation of short ones (that is, for example, "short a" and "long a" are pronounced the same as "a"). In the Ashkenazi version, long vowels A, O and E changed their sound: long BUT began to sound like O(and then in the southern dialects, for example, on the territory of Ukraine, he switched to At); long O changed to diphthong OH(and then in dialects on the territory of Lithuania and Belarus - in a diphthong HEY); long E changed to diphthong HEY. long sounds At and And in the Ashkenazi pronunciation coincided with the corresponding short ones, that is, these two sounds are pronounced in the Ashkenazi version and in the Sephardic version the same way.
• In addition, as a result of the stress shift mentioned above, the vowel O, formed in place of the original long A, was reduced and in words borrowed from Hebrew into Yiddish, it began to be pronounced as E(although in the Hebrew texts proper, for example, when reading prayers, they continued to pronounce O).

For the inexperienced ear of a Russian person, Hebrew and Yiddish are interchangeable concepts, one might say, even synonyms. But is it true, and what is the difference? Hebrew and Yiddish are two languages ​​spoken by Jews, but they differ from each other in age, origin, areas of use, and much more. This article focuses on the main differences between the two linguistic systems. But first you need to give a general description of both languages.

Hebrew: origin

Differences

So, based on all the above facts regarding these two languages, what is the difference? Hebrew and Yiddish have some fundamental differences. Here they are:

• Hebrew is several thousand years older than Yiddish.
• Hebrew belongs exclusively to the Semitic languages, and at the heart of Yiddish, in addition to Semitic, there are also Germanic and Slavic roots.
• The Yiddish text is written without vowels.
• Hebrew is much more common.

Native speakers who know both languages ​​can explain the difference even better. Hebrew and Yiddish have a lot in common, but the main difference, most likely, is not in vocabulary or grammar, but in the purpose of use. Here is a proverb that existed among European Jews 100 years ago about this: "God speaks Yiddish on weekdays, and Hebrew on Saturday." Then Hebrew was the language only for religious purposes, and everyone spoke Yiddish. Well, now the situation has changed exactly the opposite.

The two most common dialects spoken by modern Jews are Hebrew and Yiddish, which, despite their linguistic similarities, still represent two separate independent units. The history of the emergence and development of each of them must be studied in more detail in order to see their features, evaluate the richness of each dialect and understand how and under the influence of what factors these languages ​​changed. So, what is the difference - Hebrew and Yiddish?

History of Hebrew

Modern Hebrew has its origins in the Hebrew language in which the sacred Torah is written. It became independent around the 13th century BC, having separated from the northwestern sub-branch of the Semitic languages. Hebrew has come a long way of development before it took exactly the form that it has now.

It so happened that due to the difficult fate of the Jewish people, who were often under the yoke of other countries and did not have their own state, they had to lead a nomadic lifestyle. At the same time, not having their own dialect, they spoke the language of the state in which they lived and raised their children. Hebrew, on the other hand, was considered a sacred language, it was used only for studying the Talmud and rewriting the Torah scrolls. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the efforts of a group of enthusiasts led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, did Hebrew become the everyday spoken language of many Jews. It has been modified and adapted to modern realities. It has been the official language of Israel since 1949.

What is the history of Yiddish?

It is believed that the Hebrew language Yiddish originated in southern Germany in the Middle Ages (approximately X - XIV centuries). By the beginning of the 18th century, Yiddish speakers (Jews of Ashkenazi origin) settled throughout Central and Eastern Europe and spread this language. In the 20th century, approximately 11 million Jews around the world used Yiddish in their daily lives.

Despite the fact that the Yiddish alphabet borrowed from Hebrew, its basis is Germanic dialects. Thanks to numerous borrowings from Hebrew, Aramaic, German and some Slavic dialects, Yiddish has an original grammar that surprisingly combines the Hebrew alphabet, words with a German root and syntactic elements of Slavic languages. To give a clear answer to the question: "What is the difference - Hebrew and Yiddish?" - you should study the features of each language. The study should begin with the history of the emergence of languages, as well as their structure and morphology. Sufficient time should be devoted to the study of writing, because it is through it that one can trace the history of the development and change of the language.

Yiddish and Hebrew languages: alphabet and grammar

Perhaps the main similarity of the two languages ​​​​is a single alphabet. It consists of 22 letters, each of which has a special style and conveys a certain meaning depending on its location in the word (main or final). Both languages ​​use the Hebrew square script, which consists mainly of consonants.

Square letter means that all letters are written in a special font that resembles small squares. In addition, there are no vowels in this alphabet, they are replaced by auxiliary icons that are placed on top of the letter designations in the form of dots or strokes.

The grammar and morphology of Yiddish and Hebrew are completely different from each other, for this reason both languages ​​are perceived differently by ear. For example, the words "thank you" in Yiddish and Hebrew have nothing in common: "a dank" and "toda!" As you can see, the Yiddish version of the word has a German root, while the Hebrew version has an oriental accent.

What is the difference between Hebrew and Yiddish script?

Both languages ​​use only lowercase letters, which stand apart from each other, and words are written from right to left. The main difference between the Yiddish script and the Hebrew script is that it does not use the system of non-kudots (double dots and dashes), vowels are written to convey soft sounds, which makes reading texts much easier. Unlike Yiddish, Hebrew (whose alphabet also has 22 square letters) does not have vowels, so you need to know the entire root system of words by heart or memorize phonetics in order to understand what the text is talking about. Let's draw an analogy, take, for example, the Russian language. If it used the rules of Hebrew grammar, then the words would be written without vowels, i.e. "bg" could be read as "God" or "running". That is why many words in texts written in Hebrew are first subtracted and only then translated depending on the context.

Hebrew features

The main highlight of the modern language is its special grammar and morphology. It has a clear structure, the words of which are modified strictly according to certain rules. Hebrew is a logically structured language with practically no exceptions, as, for example, in Russian. Yiddish has a more flexible structure, able to adapt to the rule of any language (German or Hebrew). That's the difference (Hebrew and Yiddish).

During the Renaissance, Hebrew underwent many changes. One of the most notable happened in grammar: if in the ancient version the word order in a sentence was VSO, now SVO (the subject comes first, followed by the verb and object). The meanings of many ancient words have also changed, new ones have been formed based on common roots.

Yiddish structure

The peculiarity of Yiddish is that it retains the best qualities of three languages: from German it inherited a rich culture and strict order, Hebrew added wisdom and caustic sharpness to it, and Slavic dialects gave it a soft melodiousness and sad notes.

Yiddish was spread over a large area, as a result of which many dialects of this language appeared. They can be divided into western and eastern: the first was spoken in the west of Germany and Switzerland (now this dialect is already dead), but the eastern dialects are actively used to this day in the Baltic countries, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

Differences between languages

By examining the history of the emergence of two languages, generalizing conclusions can be drawn about them. So, despite the similarities between them, namely the common alphabet, which still has slight differences, and the roots related to the Hebrew and Aramaic dialects, these two languages ​​are absolutely two different worlds. So, what is the difference - Hebrew and Yiddish?

If you structure all the differences between these languages, you can get a fairly large comparative table. Here are the most obvious distinguishing features:

• Yiddish belongs to the Germanic language group, and modern Hebrew is a new, improved version of Hebrew Hebrew.
• Yiddish has a more flexible word control structure, for example, in Hebrew there are only two ways to form a plural from a noun in the singular: you need to add ים (im) or ות (from) at the end of the word root; and in Yiddish, all the rules for declension and the formation of new words depend on the root itself, they seem to consist of many exceptions.
• Of course, it is impossible not to notice the completely different sounds of these languages. Hebrew is perceived softer by ear, while Yiddish has an expiratory stress, which has a strong influence on the language, making it sonorous and assertive.

If you look closely, you can see that Yiddish is a link between Germany and Eastern Europe: thanks to it, many words of Germanic origin and a small number of borrowings from ancient Hebrew penetrated into the Slavic languages. It is amazing to see how Yiddish combines words with German roots with their completely different pronunciation from German. Many words borrowed from Hebrew, thanks to the Yiddish guide, are firmly entrenched in the everyday life of the inhabitants of Germany. As one scholar once said: "Sometimes neo-Nazis use Hebrew words without even realizing it."

Yiddish has had a noticeable influence on several Slavic languages: Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and even some Russian words are taken from it. Thanks to him, the dialects of the Slavic language group acquired color, and Yiddish itself, in turn, traveling throughout Europe, came into contact with almost all local dialects and absorbed the best qualities of each of them.

Now Hebrew is spoken by the entire Jewish population of the State of Israel, numerically equal to 8 million people. Yiddish is used by about 250 thousand people around the world, mostly elderly people and representatives of the most ancient religious communities: Haredim and Hasidim.

Arabic, Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian), Ethiopian and some other languages ​​of Western Asia. Particularly close to Hebrew are the Phoenician and Ugaritic languages, which together with it belong to the Canaanite branch of the Semitic group of languages.

The Semitic group of languages ​​is itself one of the branches of the Semitic-Hamitic language family, which, along with Semitic, also includes Egyptian languages, Berber (North Africa), Cushitic (Ethiopia, Somalia and neighboring territories) and Chadic languages ​​(Northern Nigeria, Northern Cameroon , Chad). The genetic links of Hebrew do not end there yet: according to a number of researchers, the Semitic-Hamitic language family reveals an ancient relationship with the Indo-European family of languages, with the Kartvelian languages ​​(Georgian and others), with the Uralic (Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic), with the Turkic, Mongolian , the Dravidian languages ​​of India and with some other languages ​​of Eurasia, constituting together with them the Nostratic macrofamily of languages.

There are several periods in the history of Hebrew:

1. Biblical Hebrew(12th-2nd centuries BC). The main linguistic monuments of this period are the books of the Bible. As a matter of fact, in the texts of the Bible, only the literal part (that is, primarily consonants) is a true monument of Biblical Hebrew, while diacritics (נְקֻדּוֹת ), which convey vowels and doubling of consonants, were added only at the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. Although the Jewish religious tradition of reading the Bible that they transmit dates back to the pronunciation that prevailed in the biblical period, it also reflects phonetic changes (regular phonetic transitions) in Hebrew of subsequent eras and therefore does not belong to biblical Hebrew. A part of the Apocrypha was also written in Hebrew at the end of the biblical period (see Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha), however, only a few fragments of them have come down to us in the original Hebrew. Among the monuments of biblical Hebrew are a few inscriptions of that era. The oldest of these is the calendar from Gezer, 10th c. BC e.

2. Post-Biblical Hebrew(1st century BC - 2nd century AD). The main Hebrew monuments of this period are the Dead Sea Scrolls texts, the Mishnah, the Tosefta and partly halachic midrashim. If the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are mainly written in a literary language that continues the traditions of Biblical Hebrew, then the Mishnah and Tosefta are close in language to the living colloquial speech of that time and significantly deviate from the norms of Biblical Hebrew. In this era, Hebrew begins to be forced out of everyday use by the Aramaic language - the language of interethnic communication in Western Asia. Hebrew survived as a spoken language for the longest time in Judea (until the 2nd century AD, and according to some sources, perhaps until the 4th century AD), while in the north (in Galilee) it went out of colloquial use earlier , remaining only the language of writing and culture. Mishnaic Hebrew differs from the Biblical language in syntax (sentence construction, use of verb tenses, etc.), in morphology (a modern system of three tenses of the verb has developed, possessive pronouns like שֶׁלִּי [šεl "lī] `my` and many others) have appeared), in vocabulary ( some previously used words were replaced by new ones, a lot of borrowings from Aramaic and Greek penetrated into Hebrew).There were, apparently, phonetic changes (especially in vowels), but they are not reflected in the graphics and therefore hidden from us.

3. Talmudic Hebrew(3rd–7th centuries AD). Having ceased to be a means of oral communication, Hebrew is preserved as a language of religion and writing. The Jews speak mainly dialects of Aramaic: Western Late Aramaic in Palestine and one of the Eastern Late Aramaic dialects in Mesopotamia. Under the influence of Aramaic dialects, three norms of Hebrew pronunciation are formed (when reading biblical and other texts): one in Mesopotamia (Babylonian pronunciation) and two in the Land of Israel (Tiberias and the so-called "Palestinian" pronunciation). All three pronunciation traditions are recorded as created in the 7th–9th centuries. n. e. systems of diacritical vowel marks (נְקוּדוֹת ): Babylonian, Tiberian and Palestinian. The most detailed of them is Tiberias. Over time, it displaced other systems from use and is still used by Jews. The Hebrew of this era experienced significant Aramaic influence also in vocabulary and syntax. The main monuments of Talmudic Hebrew are the Hebrew parts of the Gemara of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds and part of the midrashim. At the turn of this and subsequent eras, the first works of religious poetry were created (see Piyut).

4 Medieval Hebrew(8th–18th centuries AD). Jews living in different countries of Europe, Asia and North Africa continue active literary and cultural activities in Hebrew. The richest Jewish medieval literature in Hebrew covers a wide range of topics and is diverse in genres: religious poetry (piyut), secular poetry (which flourished in the works of Spanish-Jewish poets of the 10th-13th centuries), moralizing stories, translated prose (for example, the school of Ibn Tibbon in the 12th -15 centuries; see Tibbonides), scientific literature (linguistic, philosophical, geographical, historical, mathematical, medical), commentaries on the Bible and Talmud (for example, Rashi), legal literature, theology, Kabbalistic literature, etc. (see Shlomo Ibn Gabirol; Yeh ud ha-Levi; Kabbalah; Maimonides; Responsa; Philosophy). New topics and new genres of literature are associated with the enrichment of vocabulary. The Hebrew vocabulary is enriched through word formation (word production through Hebrew affixes and models from Hebrew and Aramaic roots, word formation by analogy), borrowings (mainly from Aramaic), cripples (on the model of the Arabic literary language, and later - European languages), semantic changes words and the development of phraseology. Syntax is also evolving and becoming more complex. In the Galut countries, Hebrew is influenced by the languages ​​of everyday communication (Middle High German and its descendant Yiddish, Old Spanish and its descendant judesmo(see Jewish-Spanish), dialects of Arabic, Aramaic, Persian and other languages) and evolves phonetically with the evolution of these languages ​​and their dialects. Thus, in line with the development of Middle High German ō in ow in Western dialects of Yiddish (Germany), in oj in central dialects (Poland, Ukraine, Romania), in ej in northern dialects (Lithuania, Belarus): grōs`big` > Western Yiddish - grows, central yiddish - grojs, Northern Yiddish - greys, Hebrew ō experiences the same evolution: עוֹלָם [‘o"lām] `peace (light)` > "owlem, "ojlem, ejlem. This is how the existing and still traditional systems of Hebrew pronunciation (reading of texts) developed among various Jewish communities: Ashkenazi (in Central and Eastern Europe), Sephardic (among immigrants from Spain), Yemeni, Baghdadi, North African, New Aramaic (among the Jews of Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, speaking modern Aramaic dialects), Persian, Bukhara (Central Asia), Tat (in the east of the Caucasus), Georgian and others.

5. Hebrew of the X askala era(18th–19th centuries). The writers and educators of the Haskala introduced Hebrew into the orbit of modern European culture. Hebrew is becoming the language of fiction of modern genres (including the novel and drama) and contemporary themes, the language of journalism, literary criticism, and science of the modern type. The writers of Haskalah sought to cleanse Hebrew of medieval strata and dissociate themselves from the language of rabbinic literature. Some of them (N. G. Wessely, A. Mapu, K. Shulman, I. Erter and others) stood on the positions of extreme purism, trying to write in purely biblical Hebrew, which extremely limited the lexical resources of the language and, when trying to designate objects, did not mentioned in the Bible, forced writers to resort to cumbersome descriptive phrases. This is how the so-called “pompous style” appeared in Hebrew ( סִגְנוֹן מְלִיצִי ) is often difficult to understand. Other writers of Haskala, although they focused mainly on the vocabulary of biblical Hebrew, used, if necessary, words from post-biblical, Talmudic and medieval literature (for example, medieval medical terms שִׁעוּל [ši "ul] `cough` and מַזְלֶפֶת `syringe`, revived by the enlightener Menachem Mendl Lefin in 1789), and often created new words required to express the concepts of modern life.Some of these neologisms have survived in modern Hebrew, for example כְּתֹבֶת ["ktovet] meaning `inscription` and `address`, רְהִיטִים in the meaning of `furniture`, הִתְקָרְרוּת in the meaning of `cold` (neologisms of M. A. Gintsburg, 1795–1846), חֹקֶן ["xoken] ʻenema`, בְּחִילָה `nausea` (neologisms of M. Lefin, end of the 8th century). The work of the most prominent writers, educators and publicists of the Kh askala (for example, Sh. D. Luzzatto, I. L. Gordon, P. Smolenskina) contributed to the modernization and enrichment of Hebrew.

6. Modern Hebrew(from the 1880s to the present day). Mendele Moher Sfarim can be considered the founder of modern Hebrew. In works written after 1886, he creates a new stylistic system based on the use of the language riches of all eras of Hebrew history. The use of words and phrases of the Mishnah, Gemara, Midrash, Rashi and prayers creates the impression of a simple (as if colloquial) style, because in the minds of the reader of that time such words and phrases were associated with the shtetl and the spoken language (since it is to these sources that the Hebrew-Aramaic originates a component of the Yiddish language, proverbs, sayings and winged words that sprinkled the speech of a shtetl Jew). This simple style could be contrasted with a higher and more poetic one (using, for example, the vocabulary of biblical prophets and associated with the literature of Haskala). Thus, the stylistic monotony of Hebrew was overcome and its language resources were expanded. The work of Mendele and subsequent writers (Ahad ha-‘Am, Kh. N. Bialik and others) brought Hebrew closer to life and had a great influence on the further development of the language (see Hebrew New Literature).

At the turn of the 19th century. and 20th c. there is an event unprecedented in the history of languages ​​- the revival of a dead ancient language. It is customary to consider dead languages ​​that do not serve for everyday oral communication and are not native to anyone, even if these languages ​​(like Latin in the Middle Ages and Sanskrit in 1-2 thousand AD) continue to be used in writing, cult and literary creativity. The revival of dead languages ​​in history was not observed and was considered unthinkable. Nevertheless, the dead language, which was called Hebrew, was reborn as a natural living language - the language of everyday communication of an entire people. The pioneer of the Hebrew revival was Eliezer ben-Yeh uda. Arriving in Jerusalem in 1881, he began an intensive propaganda of the revival of spoken Hebrew as an integral part of the spiritual revival of the nation. His propaganda and publishing activities, his Hebrew dictionaries (pocket and full multi-volume) and his personal example (in the Ben-Yeh family only Hebrew was spoken, and his eldest son was the first child whose mother tongue became Hebrew) played a paramount role in transforming Hebrew into the language of everyday oral communication. The initiative of Ben-Yeh udah and his associates was supported by the Jewish repatriates of the first and second aliyah. The most significant factor in the revival of Hebrew was schools in Jewish agricultural settlements, where Hebrew served as the language of instruction and communication. Pupils of these schools later spoke Hebrew in their families, and for their children Hebrew was already their mother tongue.

E. Ben-Yeh ud and the Hebrew Language Committee headed by him since 1890 (Va’ad ha-lashon x ha-‘Hebrew, וַעַד הַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית ) did a lot of work to create the missing words in the language (mainly through the use of Hebrew and Aramaic roots and Hebrew word-formation models) and to normalize the language. This work is continued by the Hebrew Language Academy established in 1953 (on the basis of the Hebrew Language Committee).

According to Ben-Yeh Uda, the phonetics of the revived Hebrew should have been based on the Sephardic pronunciation (that is, on the pronunciation of immigrants from Spain and Eastern countries). The reason for this choice is that the Sephardic pronunciation is closer to the Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew (more precisely, to the conventional school reading that is accepted in European universities and Christian seminaries when studying biblical Hebrew.

Sephardic pronunciation also retained the ancient place of stress in the word, while in Ashkenazi pronunciation in finitely stressed words and forms, the stress is usually shifted to the penultimate syllable: יָתוֹם `orphan` (biblical jā" tōm) in Sephardic and university seminary pronunciation sounds ja "tom, and in Ashkenazi - "josejm and" jusojm. Therefore, the Sephardic pronunciation was perceived as closer to the original, and the Ashkenazi pronunciation was perceived as corrupted, associated with galut and therefore unacceptable.

Indeed, in the above respects (the fate of תֿ, holama, tsere, kamatz and stress), the revived Hebrew is similar to the Sephardic pronunciation. However, in almost all other respects, the usual phonetic norm of modern Hebrew turned out to be close to Yiddish: the guttural ע ['] and ח disappeared as special phonemes (despite the efforts of Ben-Yeh uda and purists), ר is realized as a uvular (grassing) R, the vowel of the first schwa the syllable fell (and did not give e, as in Eastern and Sephardic pronunciation): דְּבַשׁ `honey` - "dvaš, not de" vaš, the intonation in Hebrew is very close to the intonation of Yiddish. The phonetics of Modern Hebrew can be roughly described as "Sephardic Hebrew with an Ashkenazi accent". The reason is clear: most of the immigrants of the first half of the 20th century. came from Russia, from Eastern and Central Europe, and their native language was mainly Yiddish (or German).

In the 3rd–19th centuries n. e., when Hebrew was only the language of writing and culture, its evolution followed the patterns of historical change in dead languages ​​that functioned as languages ​​of culture - such as medieval Latin, classical and Buddhist Sanskrit: grammatical forms of words are conserved (changes can only concern the degree of their use and semantic content of grammatical categories), phonetic changes are only a projection of the phonetic history of spoken languages-substrates, and only vocabulary develops relatively freely: it is replenished with new lexical units due to word formation, borrowing from other languages ​​and semantic change of words; there may be a struggle of synonyms, the disappearance of words from use, etc. After the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, the picture changed dramatically. As in any living language, autonomous (that is, not dependent on the influence of other languages) phonetic changes occur in Hebrew, which originate in vernacular or in the speech of young people and then spread to ever wider sections of the population. This is precisely the nature of, for example, the weakening and complete disappearance of h, especially at the beginning of a word: asi "uR it" xil instead of hasI "uR hit" xil (הַשִׁעוּר הִתְחִיל ) `the lesson has begun`. Changes in morphology now apply to the grammatical forms of the word: in place ktav "tem(כְּתַבְתֶּם ) `you wrote` in colloquial Hebrew is pronounced ka "tavtem (by analogy with other forms in the past tense paradigm: ka "tavti`I wrote`, ka "tavta`you wrote`, ka "tavnu`we wrote`, etc.). As in any living language, such changes in morphology initially occur in vernacular and in the speech of children, and then they can penetrate into the colloquial norm (as the example given) or remain the property of vernacular (as a form ha "zoti`this` in literary and neutral colloquial ha "zot(הַזֹּאת ). Yes, and new processes have appeared in the development of vocabulary: along with new formations that arise in the written speech of writers, journalists, scientists and lawyers or decreed by the Academy of the Hebrew Language, there are many new formations that originate in common speech or slang and from there penetrate into the general colloquial norm, and sometimes into literary language: מְצֻבְרָח `upset` was at first a comic slang neologism derived from meCuC"CaC (passive participle pu"'al from four-consonant verbs) from מַצַּב רוּחַ `state of mind, mood` (colloquially `bad mood`). The comic nature of neologism lies in the fact that the participle is formed from a phrase and the initial m- generating basis simultaneously serves as a participle prefix. However, now the word has lost its comic and slang character and has become colloquial; it is quite widely used in fiction. New words are derived from it: הִצְטַבְרֵחַ `(he) got upset`.

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In the Middle Ages, when Ashkenazi, Karaite and Sephardic merchants, money changers and usurers moved to another country, local residents were hired to serve them, who adopted the language of their masters. Immigrants often determined the economic structure of the country in which they moved, so the debtors of the settlers became a significant part of the population of a particular region. Native debtors, in order to please the lenders, were ready to switch to their language when communicating with them, forgetting their own. The language of the natives, when interacting with those who determined the economic structure of this or that region, underwent significant changes. But you understand that the settlers themselves also borrowed a lot from the language of the natives. Thus, the Tsarfat language arose in medieval Europe. The Tsarfat language was almost identical to the corresponding dialects of Old French (texts in Champagne and Norman dialects are known). The name "Tsarfat" comes from the ancient Sephardic name of one of the countries of residence of the alien traders Zarephath ( צרפת , ts-r-f-t, Tsarfat, originally the name of the city of Sarepta). Sephardic letters ts-r-f, if you read them in reverse order, give f-r-ts. Can you guess how the word FRANCE appeared? In total, there were more than three dozen languages ​​newly formed in such conditions.
In the 19th century the descendants of the settlers began to think about how to create a language that would be understandable to both Ashkenazim, and Sephardim, and Karaites, and any other people, which would help many to identify themselves and find their place in the world. One of those who decided to create this single language was Lazar Markovich Zamenhof. He lived in the city of Bialystok, whose inhabitants spoke several languages. Young Lazar decided that the main reason for misunderstanding between people is caused by the lack of one common language that would play the role of a means of live communication between people who belong to different nations and speak different languages. In 1879, as a student at Moscow University, L. Zamenhof wrote the first Russian grammar of Yiddish, “Experience in the Grammar of the New Hebrew Language (Jargon)”, which he partially published in Russian Vilna in the journal “Lebn un visnshaft” ( Life and Science) in 1909-1910 in the Ashkenazi language. However, no one approved this work. Then he created the language ESPERANTO. For L. M. Zamenhof, the Esperanto language was not just a means of communication, but also a way to spread the ideas of peaceful coexistence of different peoples. Zamenhof developed the doctrine " Homaranismo"(Homaranism). Esperanto never became the lingua franca. The scientists decided not to create a language that would unite Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Karaites, etc., but to REVIVE. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda took up this difficult task.
Tomb of Eliezer ben Yehuda in Jerusalem.

Even in his youth, Eliezer was imbued with the ideas of Zionism and in 1881 he emigrated to Palestine. Here Ben-Yehuda came to the conclusion that only Hebrew can become a language that serves the cause of rallying peoples (Hebrew is a stranger, a wanderer). He decided to develop a language that would be as good as Yiddish. But there were NO native speakers of this language.
It is necessary to make an excursion into history. At the time of the creation of the Mishna, its language is already very different from the language of the Tanakh. Did anyone speak the language of the Old Testament? By the time the Mishnah was created, representatives of the sects that worshiped the Tanakh were scattered in different countries, speaking, as mentioned earlier, in different languages. Each teacher interpreted the sacred texts in his own way. How many interpreters there were, so many understandings of the Tanakh.
However, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda created the Hebrew Language Committee and the Hebrew Academy.
The language itself did not have enough vocabulary to describe the processes taking place in the world - there were no technical terms. For a long time, scientists could not decide which pronunciation in the RECOVERED language is correct: Ashkenazi or Sephardic. Perhaps Krymchak?
Israeli scholar Paul Wexler, for example, claims that Yiddish is not a Semitic language at all, but a dialect of the Lusatian language. In his opinion, all the basic structures of the language and most of the vocabulary are purely Slavic (for example, blood), although the endings of the words are Semitic. Hebrew grew out of Arabic and Yiddish, which is part of the group of Slavic, not Germanic languages ​​(See the article by P. Wexler. “Yiddish is the 15th Slavic language.” - Paul Wexler, Yiddish - The Fifteenth Slavic Language // International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 91, 1991). He later repeated the same idea in Ashkenazi Jews: A Slavic-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity ( The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity.- Columbus: Slavica, 1993). Wexler is one of the first to point out that the Sephardim are the descendants of the Judaic sectarians from North Africa, but not the descendants of the Old Testament Jews. And who can be called the descendants of the Old Testament inhabitants of Judea?
Hebrew - where is it from?