Post by ResLight on Jan 19, 2015 20:43:39 GMT -5
The following is a quote from English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew, by Miles V. Van Pelt, pages 24,25
Believe it or not, the vowel systems now used for reading biblical Hebrew is not original to the authors of the Hebrew Bible. In fact when the Hebrew Bible was first written, no vowel symbols were used. The text was purely consonantal! Just like the representation of Psalm 1:1 above, the Hebrew Bible as the biblical authors wrote it contains no written system of vowels. Take a look at Psalm 1:1 one more time.
Pslm 1:1
Blssd s th mn
wh ds nt wlk n the cnsl f th wckd
r stnd n th wy f snnrs
r st n th st f mckrs.
In order to properly read the text as presented above, you would need to provide the English vowels from memory. Yikes! Of course, the vowels always existed in the spoken form of the language. They simply were not represented in writing. That's how it was done, even during the time of Jesus. If you look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, you will see that there are no vowel symbols present in the text. It wasn't until the second half of the first millennium A.D. (about 500 years after Christ!) that a group of scribes called the Masoretes created a written system of vowels in order to faithfully record the proper pronunciation of the sacred text... If you search the internet, you can easily find photos of the Dead Sea Scrolls and see Hebrew texts without written vowels.
Pslm 1:1
Blssd s th mn
wh ds nt wlk n the cnsl f th wckd
r stnd n th wy f snnrs
r st n th st f mckrs.
In order to properly read the text as presented above, you would need to provide the English vowels from memory. Yikes! Of course, the vowels always existed in the spoken form of the language. They simply were not represented in writing. That's how it was done, even during the time of Jesus. If you look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, you will see that there are no vowel symbols present in the text. It wasn't until the second half of the first millennium A.D. (about 500 years after Christ!) that a group of scribes called the Masoretes created a written system of vowels in order to faithfully record the proper pronunciation of the sacred text... If you search the internet, you can easily find photos of the Dead Sea Scrolls and see Hebrew texts without written vowels.
The statement to the effect that the Masoretes faithfully recorded the proper pronunciation of the sacred text appears to be more of an opinion, since this can only be based on assumption. It would assume that the Masoretes knew the actual phonemes as supplied in the original Hebrew; we should note that Hebrew had been a dead language for several hundred years at the time the Masoretes undertook their work.
Also, it appears that the Masoretes themselves were often not in agreement as to what sounds should be applied. Thus, it is uncertain that the sound system develop by Masoretes is actually the way ancient Hebrew sounded.
Additionally, there is another level for possible errors when it comes to the endeavor of providing corresponding English phonemes for what is perceived to be the phonemes thought to be provided by the Masoretes. Therefore, even if what the Masoretes have given us is 100% accurate as far as reflecting the original phonemes of ancient Hebrew, which is highly doubtful, the way we have come to traditionally connect sounds to those vowel points may not be the same as the Masoretes actually intended.
We know the Masoretes changed the text otherwise in many places, and yet, the Masoretic text -- excluding the addition of the vowel points -- is almost in full agreement with the Hebrew Biblical texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Many make the statement that ancient Hebrew had no vowels. This is incorrect. It is true that ancient Hebrew had no written vowels, but the vowels did exist in the sounding given to the words. In other words, the vowels were not written, but the vowel sounds were used when the words were spoken.
Although the NT Koine Greek does have written vowels, again, a lot of what we find in textbooks about phonemes attached to the Koine Greek alphabet is theory (often actual hypotheses which are often presented as being facts). The reality is that no one on earth today knows for a certainty what the Koine Greek actually sounded like.
Regarding the example given of presenting Psalm 1:1 with English consonants alone, what is given could be misleading, since the original Hebrew did not have spaces between words. Let us, however, use the English Standard Verison of this verse, which reads:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
Now, to have an even more accurate correspondence to what ancient Hebrew looked like using the English Standard Version for translation of Psalm 1:1 would be:
Blssdsthmnwhwlksntnthcnslfthwckdnrstndsnthwyfsnnrsnrstsnthstfscffrs
This can be seen in the pictures provided of the Great Isaiah Scroll at:
dss.collections.imj.org.il/isaiah
