HEBREW The Semitic language of the ancient Israelites and modern ISRAEL, closely related to Aramaic and Phoenician, more distantly to ARABIC. Hebrew is one of the oldest living languages, best known as the language of the Hebrew or Jewish BIBLE. In biblical times, it was called yehudit (Jewish) and in post-biblical rabbinic literature lashon kodesh (Holy Tongue). Scholars divide it historically into four phases: Biblical Hebrew (c.12c BC–c.AD 70), Mishnaic Hebrew (c.AD 70–500), Medieval Hebrew (6–13c), and Modern Hebrew (from the late 19c). The fourth phase is known to its speakers as ivrit, a revived form developed chiefly in Palestine by European Jewish settlers, especially after 1880. It became the predominant language of the state of Israel after 1948 and with Arabic is one of its official languages. It is often referred to as Israeli Hebrew. The ALPHABET consists of 22 letters, all consonants. Hebrew is written from right to left with or without vowel signs above and below the consonants. Currently, it has about 4 m speakers, most of whom live in Israel.

Hebrew in English

(1) Because of the influence of Bible translations, there have been words and names of Hebrew origin in English since Anglo-Saxon times. They include amen, babel, behemoth, camel, cherub, gehenna, leviathan, manna, rabbi, Sabbath, shekel, shibboleth. (2) A number of religious and cultural terms were introduced during the Renaissance through the works of scholars, such as Cabbala 1521, Talmud 1532, Sanhedrin 1588, Mishnah 1610, mezuzah 1650. (3) Since the 19c, Yiddish has been an indirect source of Hebraisms, by and large colloquialisms such as kosher ritually fit, all right, satisfactory, legitimate, mazuma money, cash, shamus a policeman, detective, chutzpah impudence, gall, goy a gentile, megillah a long story. (4) During the 20c, terms from Modern Hebrew, used mainly by English-speaking Jews, include kibbutz a collective Israeli farming community, hora a Romanian and Israeli round dance, moshav a cooperative Israeli farming community, sabra a native-born Israeli.

English in Hebrew

The lexical and semantic influence of English on Israeli Hebrew has been considerable. During British rule in Palestine (1917–48), English was an official language. Following the establishment of Israel in 1948, the influence of English on Hebrew continued through American Jewish immigration, various English-language periodicals (notably the Jerusalem Post), and English-language motion pictures and television programmes (though most are subtitled in Hebrew). Generally, BrE is the dominant influence, as with karavan (a light mobile home) not AmE trailer, and tships (chips) not french fries, but AmE is becoming increasingly popular and includes such colloquialisms as okey OK and hay Hi. See JEWISH ENGLISH.