Re: Hebrew and tradition

>> if they could be described together. (And your book seems to treat
>> Masoretic Hebrew as if it were an accurate portrayal of the language as
>> it was when it was last spoken natively many centuries earlier.)
>
>My reading of Hoffman is just the opposite. he clearly claims that
>Masoretic Hebrew is not Biblical Hebrew or Late Biblical Hebrew. You just
>asked why his book is better than Saenz-Badillos. Here's another way.
>Saenz-Badillos puts Masoretic Hebrew in his chapter on Biblical Hebrew.
>Hoffman avoids the mistake you just accused him of.

Yes. I devote significant attention to the question of how well the
various Masoretes captured Biblical Hebrew, noting along the way that
we must not assume that they are the same. One of my complaints about
Saenz-Badillos is that he puts his discussion of Masoretic Hebrew in
his chapter on "Biblical Hebrew in Its Various Traditions." But let
me be clear. As I say in my own book, I think _A History of the
Hebrew Language_ is a wonderful book.

-Joel Hoffman
http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Hebrew and tradition
    ... >>My reading of Hoffman is just the opposite. ... >>Masoretic Hebrew is not Biblical Hebrew or Late Biblical Hebrew. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • LXX (was: "I am both Muslim and Christian" Rev Ann Holmes Redding)
    ... canonical works are different from the Masoretic Hebrew ones, ... translators worked from a different Hebrew original or whether they or ... (This is one reason I don't go along with ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Translatability
    ... The idea that having two different vowels both pronounced /a/ is a ... the slashes indicate phonemes. ... The idea that similarities in appearance among some groups of Hebrew ... (masoretic hebrew pointing indicates some non-phonemic phenomena). ...
    (sci.lang.translation)
  • Re: Bexaida
    ... or any version thereof is. ... the ending coming from the Greek declension? ... though replaced in Masoretic Hebrew by -h. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Classical Hebrew
    ... studying Biblical Hebrew, based on the book of Esther. ... any experience teaching myself Biblical Hebrew and wanted to be sure I ... Civilizations students, for whom a grounding in Hebrew is essential for ...
    (sci.lang)