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Samaritan Hebrew

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Samaritan Hebrew (Template:Langx) is a reading tradition used liturgically by the Samaritans for reading the Ancient Hebrew language of the Samaritan Pentateuch.

For the Samaritans, Ancient Hebrew ceased to be a spoken everyday language. It was succeeded by Samaritan Aramaic, which itself ceased to be a spoken language sometime between the 10th and 12th centuries and was succeeded by Levantine Arabic (specifically, the Samaritan variety of Palestinian Arabic.

The phonology of Samaritan Hebrew is very similar to that of Samaritan Arabic and is used by the Samaritans in prayer.Template:Sfn Today, the spoken vernacular among Samaritans is evenly split between Modern Hebrew and Samaritan Arabic, depending on whether they reside in Holon or Kiryat Luza

History and discoveryEdit

The early history of Samaritan Hebrew is poorly documented, though it cannot be easily associated with early Israelian Hebrew. Because of the relatively late divergence of Samaritanism from mainstream Judaism its only by the first century BCE that there was definitely a separate Samaritan dialect. The roots of the Samaritan dialect are likely older than this, but were not at this point distinctly Samaritan.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

The dialect did not survive long in a literary form as by the first century CE, it was already being supplanted by Samaritan Aramaic. Though it remained in liturgical use, Samaritan Hebrew eventually nearly stopped being used as a language for new literary compositions.

Starting in the 1300s, a liturgical revival of Samaritan Hebrew began, which resulted in new Hebrew piyyutim.<ref name=":0" />

File:Samaritan letters and Jerusalem coin, Guillaume Postel 1538, Linguarum duodecim characteribus differentium alphabetum, introductio.png
In 1538 Guillaume Postel published the Samaritan alphabet, together with the first Western representation of a coin of the First Jewish Revolt.<ref name=Madden>Frederic Madden, History of Jewish Coinage and of Money in the Old and New Testament, page ii</ref>
File:Genesis 5 18 as published by Jean Morin in 1631 in the first publication of the Samaritan Pentateuch.png
Genesis 5:18–22 as published by Jean Morin in 1631 in the first publication of the Samaritan Pentateuch

The Samaritan language first became known in detail to the Western world with the publication of a manuscript of the Samaritan Pentateuch in 1631 by Jean Morin.<ref>Exercitationes ecclesiasticae in utrumque Samaritanorum Pentateuchum, 1631</ref> In 1616 the traveler Pietro Della Valle had purchased a copy of the text in Damascus. This manuscript, now known as Codex B, was deposited in a Parisian library.Template:Sfn

In five volumes between 1957 and 1977, Ze'ev Ben-Haim published his monumental Hebrew-language work on the Hebrew and Aramaic traditions of the Samaritans. Ben-Haim, whose views prevail today, proved that modern Samaritan Hebrew is not very different from the Hebrew spoken by other local groups in the Second Temple period before Middle Aramaic supplanted it.Template:Sfn

OrthographyEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Samaritan Pentateuch (detail).jpg
Detail of the Nabul Samaritan Pentateuch in Samaritan Hebrew

Samaritan Hebrew is written in the Samaritan alphabet, a direct descendant of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, which in turn is a variant of the earlier Proto-Sinaitic script.

The Samaritan alphabet is close to the script that appears on many Ancient Hebrew coins and inscriptions.<ref>Template:Cite CE1913</ref> By contrast, all other varieties of Hebrew, as written by Jews, employ the later square Hebrew alphabet, which is in fact a variation of the Aramaic alphabet that Jews began using in the Babylonian captivity following the exile of the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE. During the 3rd century BCE, Jews began to use this stylized "square" form of the script used by the Achaemenid Empire for Imperial Aramaic, its chancellery script<ref name="A History of the Hebrew Language">Template:Cite book</ref> while the Samaritans continued to use the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, which evolved into the Samaritan alphabet.

In modern times, a cursive variant of the Samaritan alphabet is used in personal affects.

Letter pronunciationEdit

Consonants

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Vowels

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value main}} main}} main}} main}} (geminate consonant) main}}

PhonologyEdit

File:Mezuzah IMG 2124.JPG
Samaritan Mezuzah, Mount Gerizim

ConsonantsEdit

Samaritan Hebrew consonantsTemplate:Sfn
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar~Uvular Pharyn-
geal 		Glottal
plain emp. plain emp.
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Stop voiceless Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
voiced Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative voiceless Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
voiced Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Trill Template:IPA link

Samaritan Hebrew shows the following consonantal differences from Biblical Hebrew: The original phonemes {{#invoke:IPA|main}} do not have spirantized allophones, though at least some did originally in Samaritan Hebrew (evidenced in the preposition "in" ב- {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}). {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has shifted to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (except occasionally {{#invoke:IPA|main}} > {{#invoke:IPA|main}}). {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has shifted to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} everywhere except in the conjunction ו- 'and' where it is pronounced as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has merged with {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, unlike in all other contemporary Hebrew traditions in which it is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. The laryngeals {{#invoke:IPA|main}} have become {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or null everywhere, except before {{#invoke:IPA|main}} where {{#invoke:IPA|main}} sometimes become {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is sometimes pronounced as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, though not in Pentateuch reading, as a result of influence from Samaritan Arabic.<ref name="bhq">Template:Harvnb</ref> {{#invoke:IPA|main}} may also be pronounced as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, but this occurs only rarely and in fluent reading.<ref name="bhq" />

VowelsEdit

Samaritan vowelsTemplate:Sfn
Front Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː (o)
Open a aː ɒ ɒː
Reduced (ə)

Phonemic length is contrastive, e.g. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} רב 'great' vs. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} רחב 'wide'.<ref name="bh47-48">Template:Harvnb (while Ben-Hayyim notates four degrees of vowel length, he concedes that only his "fourth degree" has phonemic value)</ref> Long vowels are usually the result of the elision of guttural consonants.<ref name="bh47-48" />

{{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} are both realized as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} בית 'house' {{#invoke:IPA|main}} הבית 'the house' {{#invoke:IPA|main}} גר {{#invoke:IPA|main}} הגר.<ref name="bh49">Template:Harvnb</ref> In other cases, stressed {{#invoke:IPA|main}} shifts to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} when that syllable is no longer stressed, e.g. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} דברתי but דברתמה {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name="bh49" /> {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} only contrast in open post-tonic syllables, e.g. ידו {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'his hand' ידיו {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'his hands', where {{#invoke:IPA|main}} stems from a contracted diphthong.<ref name="bhou">Template:Harvnb</ref> In other environments, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} appears in closed syllables and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in open syllables, e.g. דור {{#invoke:IPA|main}} דורות {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name="bhou" />

StressEdit

File:SamaritanTorahScroll.jpg
Samaritan Torah Scroll

Stress generally differs from other traditions, being found usually on the penultimate and sometimes on the ultimate.

GrammarEdit

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} }}

PronounsEdit

PersonalEdit

singular plural
1st person Template:Script ā̊nā̊ki Template:Script ā̊nā̊nnu
2nd person male Template:Script åttå Template:Script attimma
female Template:Script åtti (note the final yodh) Template:Script attən
3rd person male Template:Script ū Template:Script imma
female Template:Script ī Template:Script inna

DemonstrativeEdit

this that
singular masc Template:Script zē alaz (written with a he at the beginning).Template:Citation needed
fem Template:Script zē'ot
plural Template:Script illa

RelativeEdit

Who, which: éšar.

InterrogativeEdit

NounEdit

When suffixes are added, ē and ō in an unstressed syllable may become ī and ū: bōr (Judean bohr) "pit" > buˈrōt "pits". Note also af "anger" > ˈeppa "her anger".

Segolates behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: ˈbeṭen "stomach" > ˈbaṭnek "your stomach," ke′seph "silver" > ke′sefánu (Judean Hebrew kasˈpenu) "our silver," ˈderek > dirkaˈkimma "your (m. pl.) road" but ˈareṣ (in Judean Hebrew: ˈʾereṣ) "earth" > ˈarṣak (Judean Hebrew ˈʾárṣeḵa) "your earth".

ArticleEdit

The definite article is a- or e-, and causes gemination of the following consonant unless it is a guttural; it is written with a he, but as usual, the h is silent. Thus, for example: ˈennar / ˈannar = "the youth"; elˈlēm = "the meat"; aˈʾemor = "the donkey".

NumberEdit

Regular plural suffixes are

  • masc: -ˈēm (Judean Hebrew -im)
    • eyyaˈmēm "the days"
  • fem: -ˈt (Judean Hebrew: -oth.)
    • elaˈmōt "dreams"

Dual is sometimes -aˈyem (Judean Hebrew: -ˈayim), šenatayem "two years," usually -ˈēm like the plural yeˈdēm "hands" (Judean yaˈḏayim.)

Tradition of the Divine NameEdit

Template:See also Similar to Jews, Samaritans have the tradition of taboo avoidance of the Tetragrammaton, either spelling out loud with the Samaritan letters: "Yoḏ Ye Bā Ye", or saying Shema "the Name" in Aramaic, similar to Judean HaShem.

VerbsEdit

Affixes
perfect imperfect
singular plural singular plural
1st person -ti -nu e- ne-
2nd person male -ta -tímma ti- te- -un
female -ti -tên ti- -i te- -na
3nd person male - -u yi- yi- -u
female -a ? ti- ti- -inna

ParticlesEdit

PrepositionsEdit

"in, using", pronounced:

  • b- before a vowel (or, therefore, a former guttural): b-érbi = "with a sword"; b-íštu "with his wife".
  • ba- before a bilabial consonant: bá-bêt (Judean Hebrew: ba-ba′yith) "in a house", ba-mádbar "in a wilderness"
  • ev- before other consonant: ev-lila "in a night", ev-dévar "with the thing".
  • ba-/be- before the definite article ("the"): barrášet (Judean Hebrew: Bere'·shith') "in the beginning"; béyyôm "in the day".

"as, like", pronounced:

  • ka without the article: ka-demútu "in his likeness"
  • ke with the article: ké-yyôm "like the day".

"to" pronounced:

  • l- before a vowel: l-ávi "to my father", l-évad "to the slave"
  • el-, al- before a consonant: al-béni "to the children (of)"
  • le- before l: le-léket "to go"
  • l- before the article: lammúad "at the appointed time"; la-şé'on "to the flock"

"and" pronounced:

  • w- before consonants: wal-Šárra "and to Sarah"
  • u- before vowels: u-yeššeg "and he caught up".

Other prepositions:

  • al: towards
  • elfáni: before
  • bêd-u: for him
  • elqérôt: against
  • balêd-i: except me

ConjunctionsEdit

  • u: or
  • em: if, when
  • avel: but

AdverbsEdit

  • la: not
  • kâ: also
  • afu: also
  • ín-ak: you are not
  • ífa (ípa): where?
  • méti: when
  • fâ: here
  • šémma: there
  • mittét: under

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

BibliographyEdit

External linksEdit

Template:Hebrew language Template:Samaritans Template:Authority control

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