Relation to Indo-Ruropean.,— The Hebrew grammar shows, as has been stated, no evidence of relation to the Indo-European tongues.* Lexicographically there is much more agree ment. A great number of Hebrew word-stems agree in sound with Indo-European terms of the same sense. But these are largely confined to onomatapoetic words or to such whose simi larity may be explained as merely fortuitous. They do not establish any historical or generic relation which is inconceivable without agree ment in grammatical structure.
Loan-Words.-- The Hebrew, even in its purest state, contains numerous loan-words, de rived from the languages of the peoples with whom the Hebrews came into contact. Exam pies of such are: from the Egyptian, Y eor, "the Niles ; from the Persian, Pardee, "a park"; Darkemon, "a daric>>; from the Hindustani or Malabari, Tukiim, "peacocks,' Kof, "an ape.* In the later stages of the language these for eign terms increase greatly in number. The Mishnah Hebrew, for instance, contains several hundred terms derived from the Greek and Latin. Conversely, Hebrew loan-words are found in Greek and Latin, notably the former, as for example xPitros, gold, Heb. nin Harms. Many of these terms occur in early Greek writ ings, thus showing contact of the two peoples at a much earlier date than it is known historic ally to have occurred. These Semitic terms in the classic tongues may, however, have been in troduced by the Phoenicians in their commer cial expeditions and not be due to direct contact with the Hebrews.
Mishnah Hebrew.— It is a somewhat gen eral, but erroneous, supposition that during the Babylonian exile the Jews entirely unlearned the colloquial use of the Hebrew, and that the Hebrew of the Mishnah is an artificial tongue, the product of the schools. As a matter of fact the Hebrew continued to be a living language throughout the period of the second temple, though limited to narrowing circles of the peo ple. Because of its being chiefly represented in the Mishnah and other Halachic works, the language of the second Jewish commonwealth is known as Mishnah or Mishnaic Hebrew. It differs greatly from the Biblical Hebrew; but these differences are only sufficient to stamp it as a different dialect, not a different tongue. The main differences are as follows: the Mish naic Hebrew contains a much greater number of foreign terms than the Bible language, its syntax is considerably modified by Aramaic in fluence, the feminine future or imperfect plural forms and the Vav conversive have disappeared, the plural ending n: has become the suffix a, -..am is changed to I, an, the participles are more extensively used, the par ticle shel frequently preceded by the pos .: sessive suffix is often employed as a substitute for the construct state, prepositions and con junctions are more numerous and are used differently than in the Biblical Hebrew and many new terms have been coined from exist ing Hebrew roots. In all this the influence of the schools was no doubt very potent. In the liturgy the language used is much closer to the Biblical model.
The Neo-Hebraic.— With the destruction of the second temple and the scattering of the Jews throughout the world influences disruptive of the Hebrew increased greatly in intensity.
As a medium of spoken intercourse it almost ceased to exist, but as a literary medium it has been cultivated and used continuously up to the present day. This later form of the language is known as Neo-Hebraic or New Hebrew. It is not a uniform language but differs greatly ac cording to the capacity of the writer and the nature of the subject treated, in some composi tions being almost classic in beauty and correct ness, while in others it degenerates into a mixed and corrupt jargon. At present the Hebrew is experiencing considerable of a Renaissance, principally in Russia and Palestine. Works on all possible subjects are written in it and a sys tematic effort is made to qualify it for all the purposes of a modern tongue by the introduction of new terms, coined mainly from the old Hebrew roots, for all modern concepts. Efforts are also made to rehabilitate it as a medium of spoken intercourse by the formation of societies whose members are pledged to speak only Hebrew with each other. In Palestine, where not only historic sentiment but the existence of diverse Jewish elements side by side have made the revival 'of the Hebrew not only desirable but necessary, these efforts have been most suc cessful and the Hebrew has become again to a great extent the spoken language of the Hebrew people.
Bibliography.— For Biblical Hebrew in general consult Gesenius, 'Geschichte der He braischen Sprache und Schrift' ; NOldeke's ar ticle, 'Sprache, hebraische' (in Bibel-Lexicon,> Vol. V) ; Cowley, A. E., 'He brew Language and Literature' ((Encyclopedia Britannica,' 11th ed., Vol. XIII). For the relation of Hebrew to the other Semitic tongues consult Renan, 'Histoire generale et systeme compare des langues semitiques) (5th ed., Paris 1878) ; Hommel, 'Die Semitischen Volker und Sprachen); Brockelmann, (Grundriss der ver gleichenden Grammatik) (Berlin 1907); Wright, W., 'Lectures on the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages' (Cambridge 1890). For Aramaisms consult Kautzsch, 'Die Aram.iismen im Alten Testament.' For the relation between Hebrew and Indo-European tongues consult Abel, 'Einleitung in ein figyptisch-semitisch indo-europiisches Wurzelworterbuch,> and Lewy, H., 'Die semitischen Fremdworter im Griechischen' ; also Muss-Arnolt, 'Semitic Words in Greek and Latin' (in (Transactions' of the American Philological Association, XXIII). Of introductory grammars the best are Davidson, 'Introductory Hebrew Grammar' (9th ed., Edinburgh ; id., 'Hebrew Syn tax' (ib. 1894) ; Gesenius, (Hebriische Gram matik' (ed. Kautzsch, 28th ed., Leipzig 1909; English trans., Oxford 1910). Standard lexi cons are the following: Brown, Briggs and Driver, 'Hebrew-English Lexicon' (Oxford 1892-1906), and Gesenius, 'Thesaurus philologi cus' (Leipzig 1829-58) ; id., 'Hebriisches HandworterbucIP (15th ed., by Zimmern and Buhl, Leipzig 1910). For later Hebrew consult Levy, Wiirterbuch) (Leipzig 1876-89), and Jastrow, of the Tar gumi, etc.' (New York 1886). For Mishnah Hebrew consult Siegfried and Strack, 'Lehr buch der Neu-hebraischen Sp'rache tied Litera tur.' BERNARD DRACHMAN, Rabbi Congregation Zichron Ephraim, New York.