Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 15 - Mishnaic Hebrew: an introductory survey

    • By Moshe Bar-Asher, Department of Hebrew Language, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Edited by Steven T. Katz, Boston University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Judaism
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    22 June 2006, pp 369-403

  • Summary

    Mishnaic Hebrew (MH) is the language of the Tannaim and Amoraim in Palestine and Babylonia. The literature of the Amoraim was formed over a period from the end of the third century down to about 500 CE. Most tannaitic texts were redacted in roughly the period 200-50 CE, when Rabbi Judah the Patriarch completed his compilation of the Mishnah. The language reflected in the texts of rabbinic literature is equally known through external evidence, such as the Copper Scroll from Qumran and the letters of Simon Bar-Koseba discovered in the Judaean desert. Down to 200 BCE, the literary language was Biblical Hebrew (BH), even in the late books of the Bible, such as Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Esther. Most scholars agree that MH originates in the language spoken in various regions of Palestine throughout the period of the Second Temple. Throughout the Second Temple period and for centuries later, Hebrew was in direct contact with other languages.