Being one of the oldest writing systems, the Hebrew Alphabet is one of the types of writing systems that has traversed the ravages of time and is still in use today. Dig in and know more about the Hebrew Writing System by reading below:
Hebrew Alphabet Is in Use by Around 5 Million People Today
More than 5 million people speak and write in Hebrew as of present time, and of course, they do read and write using the Hebrew Alphabet; making it one of the oldest languages and writing systems to be successfully revived from ancient times. Around 500 BC, Hebrew was replaced by Aramaic as the common language of the Israelites and so the writing system and the language both suffered in popularity. It is only about 100 years ago that people begun having an interest in relearning the language and to use it in everyday life as opposed to it being used only in religious and scholarly texts.
Hebrew Alphabet Has Divine Origins
According from spoken history by Hebrews, the writing system was taught by God himself to a man named Adam ha-rishon who taught it to his male offsprings who taught it to their offsprings until it became widely used thousands of years ago.
Hebrew Alphabet is Called Alephbet, not Alphabet
The term ‘alphabet’ was coined by the Greeks to represent the first two letters of their alphabet. The Hebrews, on the other hand calls their letter forms ‘alephbet’ which is also derived from the first two letters of their writing system, Aleph and Bet.
Hebrew Alphabet Has 22 Letter Forms
Actually, those 22 Letter Forms only represents the consonants. Later on, vowel sounds have been added and improved the Hebrew Alephbet to its present form today.
Hebrew Alphabet is Related to Phoenician And Greek Scripts
Around 3000 years ago, several languages and forms of writing developed, and one of those is the Hebrew Alephbet or alphabet. Scholars and researches have studied its origins and have stated that it is either derived from Phoenician Alphabet or it at least developed alongside with. This means that it is indeed one of the oldest forms of writing still in use today.
Hebrew Alphabet Letters have Several Pronunciations
Because it is used to write several variations of Hebrew and Jewish languages, such as Yiddish, Paleo Hebrew, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic, it just follows that pronunciation may differ. To date, the letters in the Hebrew Alephbet can be pronounced in Modern Hebrew phonology, Biblical Hebrew phonology, and Yiddish phonology.
Hebrew Alphabet is Also used as a Number System, the Hebrew Numeral
Much like the use of the Greek Alphabet in Roman Numerals, the Hebrew Alephbet or alphabet is also used to denote number values and is used as a number system up to this day. Usually, it is used as such in the Hebrew Calendar and in religious and mystic context.
Be it an interest in old scripts or perhaps an interest in reading the Bible’s Old Testament in its original text, understanding, knowing and learning the Hebrew Alphabet is a fun adventure to an ancient and modern world all woven together with the use of a common language. We hope that this article has given you some insights and some fun facts about the Hebrew Alphabet.