Ibrani Kuno

The Ancient Hebrew
Research Center
(Part: 001)
By Jeff A. Benner
(ancient-hebrew.org)
Please feel free to use, copy or distribute any

Copyright 1999-2017 material on this site for non-profit educational
Ancient Hebrew purposes only. All we ask is that you note that it
Research Center comes from us and include a link to the
appropriate page.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... 2

The AHRC Logo ................................................................................................................ 4
About the Ancient Hebrew Research Center ..................................................................... 6
Website Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 13
History of the Hebrew Alphabet ........................................................................................ 15
The Ancient Semitic (Early) Alphabet .............................................................................. 18
The Paleo-Hebrew (Middle) Alphabet ............................................................................... 22
The Ancient Hebrew Alphabet .......................................................................................... 27
Aleph ...................................................................................................................... 27
Beyt ........................................................................................................................ 29
Gimel ...................................................................................................................... 31
Dalet ....................................................................................................................... 33
Hey ......................................................................................................................... 35
Vav ......................................................................................................................... 37
Zayin ...................................................................................................................... 39
Hhet ........................................................................................................................ 41
Tet .......................................................................................................................... 43
Yud ......................................................................................................................... 45
Kaph ....................................................................................................................... 47
Lamed ..................................................................................................................... 49
Mem ....................................................................................................................... 51
Nun ......................................................................................................................... 53
Samehh ................................................................................................................... 55
Ayin ........................................................................................................................ 57
Pey .......................................................................................................................... 59
Tsade ...................................................................................................................... 61
Quph ....................................................................................................................... 63
Resh ........................................................................................................................ 65
Shin ........................................................................................................................ 67
Tav .......................................................................................................................... 69
Ghayin .................................................................................................................... 71
[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 2

Parent Roots of Hebrew Words ......................................................................................... 72
Anatomy of Hebrew Words ............................................................................................... 76
Ancient Hebrew Timeline .................................................................................................. 83
How to Write Hebrew ........................................................................................................ 94
AHRC helps bring Paleo-Hebrew back to life in Jerusalem .............................................. 98
Edenics: Origins of Languages .......................................................................................... 100
Alphabet Chart ................................................................................................................... 107

The AHRC Logo
Plowing Through History, From Aleph to Tav.
By Jeff A. Benner
The most common word in the Hebrew Bible is the word (et). The first letter is the ,
called an aleph, and is the first letter of the Hebrew alephbet. The second letter in the word
(et) is the , called a tav, and is the last letter of the Hebrew alephbet. These two letters
are the "first and the last," the "beginning and the end" and the "Aleph and the Tav" (which is
translated as "the alpha and the omega," the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, in the
book of Revelation). The Hebrew the Hebrew language the word (et) is used as a noun
and as a preposition.
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your

pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, "I
am a warrior."
(Joel 4:10; 3:10 in Christian Bibles)
The word "plowshares," in the passage above, is the Hebrew noun (et), which appears in
the Hebrew bible five times. A plowshare is the metal point of the plow which digs into the
soil creating a furrow for planting seeds. When we examine the original pictographic script
used in ancient times to write Hebrew, we can see a clear connection between the letters of
this word and its meaning. The modern Hebrew form of the letter aleph is , but is an
evolved form of the original pictograph , a picture of an ox head. The ancient pictographic
form of the letter is , a picture of two crossed sticks which are used as a marker. When
these two pictographs are combined we have the meaning "an ox toward the mark." Fields
were plowed with a plow pulled behind an ox (or pair of oxen). In order to keep the furrows
straight the driver of the ox would aim toward a mark, such as a tree or rock outcropping in
the far distance. As we can see, this meaning of driving the ox toward a mark, can be seen in
the letters of the Hebrew word (et).
The word is also used as a preposition very frequently (over 7,000 times) in the Hebrew
bible and first appears in the very first verse of the Bible.

Because the preposition has no equivalent in the English language, it is not translated, but
to demonstrate its meaning in this verse I will translate Genesis 1:1 into English, but retain
the word in its correct position.
In the beginning Elohiym filled the sky and

the land
The word is used as a grammatical tool to identify the definite object of the verb. In the
example of Genesis 1:1 the verb is the Hebrew word (bara), meaning "to fill," and the
definite objects, the ones receiving the action of the verb, are the sky and the land and
therefore the word will precede these words. Just as the "ox" moved toward the "mark"
when plowing, the word (the plowshare) plows the path from the verb of a sentence (the
ox) to the definite object (the mark).
Just as the phrase "heaven and earth" is an idiomatic expression meaning "all of creation," the
phrase "aleph and tav" is an idiomatic expression meaning "the whole of the alephbet." It is
the mission of the Ancient Hebrew Research Center to search out the history and meanings of
the Ancient Hebrew alephbet, as well as the roots and words which are created out of them.
"In the beginning was ..."

About the Ancient Hebrew Research Center
By Jeff A. Benner
Shalom. My name is Jeff A. Benner (More about me and my family) and my wife is
Denise. We would like to welcome you to the "Ancient Hebrew Research Center" and hope
you enjoy your visit here.
I am often asked why my definitions of Biblical Hebrew words differ from all other resources
available such as Strong's dictionary and why my translations of the Bible are unlike any
other English translation. Most people believe that an English translation of the Bible is a
fairly good representation of the original Hebrew text. But, have you ever heard the
expression "lost in the translation?" Through my research I have found that the original
meanings of Hebrew words are not only lost to us in the translations but have long been
buried and hidden from our sight. I believe it is time that we read the Hebrew Bible from the
perspective of its original authors rather than from our own modern perspective.
I am also frequently asked for my "credentials" to teach Hebrew. Well, I guess I don't have
any unless you count the thousands of hours I have spent in research and study. I have
attempted to use as many resources as I could from the fields of history, linguistics,
archeology, anthropology and theology in order to uncover the original Hebrew alphabet,
language, thought and culture.
In October, 2007, I did an interview with Dr Timothy Sakach of Lift up your voice where
we discuss some of the unique aspects of the Hebrew language of the Bible, how I got started
in my research into the Ancient Hebrew language and the origins of the Ancient Hebrew
Research Center. Click Here to listen to the audio file. This is a 23 Mb file and runs for 33
minutes and 27 seconds.
Translations
Most Bible readers expect the translation of the Bible they are using to be accurate to the
Hebrew text. So, do the "standard" translations always translate the text correctly?
Most translations have "my punishment is greater than I can bear" for the end of Genesis
4:13. The Hebrew word translated as "punishment" is "avon," which means "iniquity" (or,
more correctly, crookedness from an Hebraic perspective). This same word is used hundreds
of other times where it is correctly translated as "iniquity." The literal rendering of Genesis
4:13 is "great is the burden of my iniquity," the opposite of how it is generally translated.
In Exodus 34:28 we find the phrase "ten commandments" in every translation. Grammatically
speaking, this is a poor translation. The Hebrew behind this translation is "aseret hadevarim."
The word aseret is the construct state of the word asarah and should be translated as "ten
of..." The word hadevariym means "the words" Therefore, aseret hadevariym should correctly
be translated as "ten of the words."
These are only a few examples of many. Many translations should be called "interpretations"
as they are the translators opinion of what the text states and not always what the text literally
says.

My first word studies
When I first began studying the Bible I loved to do word studies. I would select a word and
study its uses and contexts in as many verses as I could find them. One of these studies was
with the word "heart" and I would look up verses such as these below.
1. Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
2. Exodus 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my
wonders in the land of Egypt.
3. Exodus 23:9 And a sojourner shalt thou not oppress: for ye know the heart of a
sojourner, seeing ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt
4. Proverbs 2:2 So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to
understanding;
5. Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; Yea, thy law is within my heart.
6. Psalm 55:4 My heart is sore pained within me: And the terrors of death are fallen
upon me.
However, I was soon to discover that there was a flaw in this type of word study. I purchased
a Concordance, a book with a complete list of all the words in a particular translation, which
would cross reference any word in the translation with Strong's Dictionary. This would give
you the Hebrew word behind the English translation as well as a definition of that word.
With this tool I discovered that the English translation was not very consistent on how it
translated Hebrew words. For instance, in the examples I gave above, the word heart is a
translation of three different Hebrew words. The Hebrew word Lev, which is the Hebrew
word for "heart," is translated as "heart" in verse #1, #2, #4 and #6 above. The word nephesh,
which is usually translated as soul, is translated as "heart" in verse #3. Me'ah, which is
literally the intestines, is translated as "heart" in verse #5. Each of these Hebrew words has a
specific meaning but the translators chose to ignore this and just translate all three as "heart."
The use of the concordance also revealed that the Hebrew word lev (heart), was translated
with other English words as you can see in the verses below.
1. Genesis 31:20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told
him not that he fled. (A literal translation of the Hebrew is "And Jacob stole the heart
of Laban the Aramean because he did not tell him that he fled.")
2. Exodus 9:21 And he that regarded not the word of Jehovah left his servants and his
cattle in the field.
3. Numbers 16:28 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that Jehovah hath sent me to
do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.
4. Job 36:5 Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: He is mighty in strength of
understanding.
5. Psalm 83:5 For they have consulted together with one consent; Against thee do they
make a covenant:
6. Proverbs 19:8 He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: He that keepeth
understanding shall find good.

All of this playing with words in the English translations did not settle well with me. How
was a person to properly interpret the Bible if there was no consistency in how the Hebrew
was translated? If one is given the proper translations and definitions some interesting
revelations appear.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is

exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
I had previously thought, based on the above verse, that the heart (in the sense of emotion)
was deceitful but the mind was logical and trustworthy. After discovering that the heart to the
Hebrews was the mind, I realized that Jeremiah was saying that the "mind" was deceitful. In
other studies I discovered that emotion, which we consider to be the heart, is actually the
kidneys to the Hebrews.
I should point out that this is not an isolated case by any means, in fact, I have seen this same
scenario played out time after time with many different words and in all translations. Anyone
desiring to do a serious word study can never rely on an English translation alone, at a
minimum a concordance and dictionary are going to be essential.
The need to learn Hebrew
There would be times when I was unable to determine what a verse was saying with the use
of a concordance and Strong's dictionary. As an example, when you look up the word
"savior" (a noun) in Strong's Dictionary you are told that the Hebrew word was "yasha," a
verb meaning "to save." Another example is the word "shepherd" (a noun) which I was being
told was the verb "ra'ah" meaning "to see." What did "seeing" have to do with a "shepherd"
and why did the translators translate the word "ra'ah" meaning "to see" as shepherd? At this
point I realized that a deeper understanding of Hebrew was going to be necessary if I wanted
to get the real meaning behind the Hebrew text.
My next step was to learn Hebrew which I soon discovered was a fairly simple language (for
at least the older books of the Bible) and within a couple of years I was able to read the Bible
in Hebrew with a fair amount of accuracy especially with the help of a lexicon. One such
lexicon that I found invaluable was Benjamin Davidson's Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee
Lexicon which alphabetically lists each word in the Hebrew Bible, as it appears in the text
with all prefixes and suffixes attached, and provides the morphology (identifying the Hebrew
word and the meaning of any prefixes and/or suffixes attached to the word) of each word.
My introduction to the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet
One day I saw a newspaper article about an ostraca (a broken

fragment from a piece pottery) which was a receipt for a donation to
the "House of YHWH," the temple. What I found most interesting
was that the script used on this Hebrew inscription was not the
Hebrew script I had learned but something very different. This lead
me on a quest to learn this more ancient Hebrew script which I was to
come to find out was the script originally used to write the Hebrew
Bible.

After researching the Ancient Hebrew alphabet I discovered that each letter was a picture and
this picture provided a meaning to that letter. I also found that the meaning of a Hebrew word
could be found within the letters of that word. A good example of this is the Hebrew word
(av) meaning "father." The first letter in this word is the aleph, a picture of an ox head and
meaning "strength." The second letter is the beyt, a picture of a tent. When the meaning of
these two letters are combined we have "the strength of the house," the father.
My introduction to Ancient Hebrew Thought
While attending Bible studies through a local Messianic group I was introduced to several
scholars who through their presentations showed that the Hebrews who wrote the Bible did
not view their world the same as we do and proper Biblical interpretation can only come
through a good knowledge of Hebrew thought. A simple example of this is the past and the
future. In our modern western culture the past is behind us and the future in front. However,
in the Hebrew mind it is the opposite, the past is in front because it is known or "seen" to us
while the future is behind us because it is unknown and cannot be seen.
Another resource that I found invaluable was Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek by
Thorleif Boman and was amazed to find that the Ancient Hebrew culture viewed such
subjects as time, space, heaven, family, life and death in terms differently than we would and
if I was going to read the Bible correctly I was going to have to change my perspective to
more reflect the perspectives of the Ancient Hebrews who wrote the Bible.
The Ancient Hebrew Research Center
I first went "online" in 1999 and I immediately began searching the net for information on
"Ancient Hebrew" and was surprised to find that there was none. Yes, there were plenty of
websites on Hebrew, from a modern perspective, but not the Ancient Hebrew script or
thought. At the same time I was sharing with others some of what I have been learning and I
realized that there were many who would be interested in this information. I began the
Ancient Hebrew Research Center in 1999 with the specific goal of teaching the Hebrew
alphabet and language of the Bible from an Ancient perspective.
A New Lexicon
These three pivotal events, recognizing that the English translations are not completely
reliable, the Hebrew script used today is not the same as used to write the Hebrew Bible and
Hebrews think and act differently than we do, caused me to pursue a more accurate
understanding of the Hebrew alphabet, language and culture.
To assist me with my Hebrew education I began creating my own dictionary. Through a

careful process of word studies I began to recognize a series of patterns within the roots. The
first of these was that roots which share two letters in common were closely related in
meaning. An example are the roots (APN) which is the turning of a wheel,
(PNH) the turning of the face, (PWN) a turning in distraction, and
(PYN) the turning of a corner. I further noticed that each of these root groups shared another

commonality, they always contained within those two letters the same four letters, the ,
, and which I later came to find out were used as vowels (in modern Hebrew these are
only consonants) in the ancient texts as well as consonants. I also discovered that the two
letters common to each of these root groups also had the same meaning, in this case the word
(PN) which is a Hebrew word meaning "corner." I began calling the two letter roots
the "parent root" and the three letter roots the "child roots."
I also discovered that all of the words derived from one root were also closely related. This
brought about a new understanding to some Hebrew words. For instance, out of the root
(DBR) are formed the words (devorah) meaning a bee, (midvar)
meaning wilderness and (davar) meaning a word. While there does not appear to be
any connection between these words from our modern western perspective, they did to the
Ancient Hebrews where each of these words are related to "order." A "bee" is a part of a
colony, a perfectly ordered society, the "wilderness" is a place of balance and order and
"words" are structured in an orderly fashion to form sentences.
This began my interest in creating a lexicon that related each word and root to the culture of
the Hebrews which will allow the reader to understand the Biblical text from an Ancient
Hebrew perspective. The lexicon would also group all of the parent and child roots together
along with all of the words derived from them. After several years of research the Ancient
Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible was published in August of 2005.
A New Translation
Once I learned to read the Bible in Hebrew I found many cases where the English translations
had "fixed" the text by adding or subtracting words so that it read more smoothly. One
example of many can be found in Genesis 4:1 which the Revised Standard Version reads
"Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, 'I have gotten a
man with the help of the LORD.'" The word "help" in this translation is an addition to the text
and is not found in the original Hebrew text. The King James Version renders the end of that
verse as "I have gotten a man from the LORD" and the word "from" is also an addition and
not found in the original Hebrew text. I believe the translators did this so that the reader
would not have to study the text too hard in order to understand it. Unfortunately, this method
distorts or even erases the original reading and in some cases the meaning of the original
Hebrew. I believe that there are many people who would be willing to put the time into some
study and read the text for what it says rather than what the translator wants you to think it
says.
I began formulating a translation style that would eliminate, or at least minimize, personal
and religious bias from the translation. I came up with what I call a "Mechanical Translation."
This translation would translate each Hebrew word, prefix and suffix, using the Ancient
Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible as its foundation, exactly the same way each time it occurs and
in the same sequence as they appear in the Hebrew text. The first advantage to such a
translation is that it will assist those who are learning to read Hebrew by identifying the
different parts of a word or sentence and their meanings. Because each Hebrew word is so
diverse and dynamic it cannot be translated sufficiently with one or two words so a dictionary
would be included in the book so that the reader can dig deeper into the meaning of each
word. Because Hebrew syntax (sentence structure) is so different from our own English

language it was necessary to include a second translation (what I call the "Revised
Mechanical Translation") which would rearrange the words of the translation into sentences
that would make sense to the average reader.
In September of 2007 A Mechanical Translation of the Book of Genesis , the first

installment of this new translation, was published. Below is an excerpt from this translation
(Genesis 1:27) which will demonstrate its usefulness in proper Biblical interpretation.
Mechanical Translation: and~ he~ will~ Fatten "Elohiym [Powers]" At

the~ Human in~ Image~ him in~ Image "Elohiym [Powers]" he~ did~
Fatten At~ him Male and~ Female and~ he~ will~ Fatten At~ them(m)
Revised Mechanical Translation: and "Elohiym [Powers]" fattened the
human in his image, in the image of "Elohiym [Powers]" he fattened him,
male and female he fattened them,
To get a more Hebraic understanding of this verse I have included the dictionary entry for a
few of the words found in the Mechanical Translation.
Fatten: To make more substantial, fleshy or plump. fatten or fill up. The
filling of the earth in Genesis 1 with sun, moon, plants, animals, etc. And
the filling of man with life and the image of God.
in~: A preposition meaning in or with.
Image: A reproduction or imitation of the form of a person or thing. The
form of something as a shadow of the original.
With the help of the translation and dictionary we find that this verse can be interpreted as
"And Elohiym filled the human with his shadow, with the shadow of Elohiym he filled him,
male and female he filled them." With this interpretation we could say that Elohiym placed a
representation of himself (his shadow) within the man and woman.
The Greek Influence of the Hebrew Scriptures
Throughout my research I had noticed another problem with today's Hebrew dictionaries and
English translations, a prolific influence of the Greek language and culture on the Hebrew
text.
This influence comes from many different angles. The Greek Septuagint (a 2,000 year old
Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) has greatly influenced translators in their work, often
to the point of ignoring the Hebrew language and culture in preference to the Greek. Our own
culture, called Greco-Roman, has greatly influenced the way we read the Bible. Christians are
not alone in their Greek way of thinking but the Jews as well, who for centuries have lived in
European countries, are also heavily influenced by the Greco-Roman culture.
This Greek influence can be clearly seen in names such as Moses which comes to us from the
Greek Septuagint whereas in the Hebrew it is Mosheh. Another example is the name Eve,
again from the Greek, where the Hebrew has Hhawa. The list is about as long as the number

of names in the Bible. A little more serious is how the translations have actually used the
Greek Septuagint for its translation rather than from the Hebrew text. An example is Genesis
25:27 where all the translations use the words "plain", "quiet" or "simple" to describe the
character of Jacob. However, the Hebrew word is "tam" and it is properly translated in Job
1:1 as "perfect" to describe the character of Job. Why is this one Hebrew word translated as
"plain" in one place but "perfect" in another? The answer is that the translators are using the
Greek Septuagint rather than the Hebrew for the translation of the Hebrew Bible.
Putting it all together
Most of you are probably very familiar with the King James Version of Numbers 6:24-26
which reads as follows.
The LORD bless thee and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon
thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon
thee, and give thee peace.
You have probably read or heard this passage countless times but have you ever asked
yourself what these words 'really' mean? If you're like me you probably thought of these
words as 'nice' but never really dug into their meaning. Without going into any details here
about the Hebraic meanings of each of the words in this passage (for a more in-depth look at
each of the words in this passage click here) let me give you my translation of it based on
what I have found from the Hebrew language.
Yahweh (he who exists) will kneel before you presenting gifts and will
guard you with a hedge of protection, Yahweh (he who exists) will
illuminate the wholeness of his being toward you bringing order and he
will provide you with love, sustenance and friendship, Yahweh (he who
exists) will lift up his wholeness of being and look upon you and he will set
in place all you need to be whole and complete.
The rest is up to you
I will close with this question to you, "Are you willing to put in the extra time to research and
study the Bible to find its hidden nuggets of truth and wisdom?" If you are, then I invite you
to begin by using the resources available at this site, I don't think you will be disappointed. If
you are ready to begin I recommend you start with the Introduction. If your desire is to learn
to read the Bible in Hebrew then feel free to jump right into our free Lessons. Finally, if you
have any questions, comments or suggestions please E-mail me. If you would like to be
updated on new web site articles, AHRC products or upcoming events please sign up with
our Mail List.
Jeff A. Benner
AHRC Founder and Administrator

Website Bibliography
Ancient Alphabets and Inscriptions
"Writing," Smith's Bible Dictionary, 1987 ed.: 327.

"Alphabet," The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, 1976 ed.: 30.
"Writing," NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible, 1989 ed.: 632-3.
"Archeology and the Bible," The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1986 ed.: 38.
"Writing," Harper's Bible Dictionary, 1973 ed.: 829.
E. Raymond Capt, Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets (Thousand Oaks,
Ca.: Artisan Sales, 1985) 24, 44.
Ernst Doblhofer, Voices in Stone (New York, Viking Press, 1961) 35
Hebrew Culture
William Smith, Smith's Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondarvan, 1948)
J.I. Packer, Merril C. Tenney, William White, Jr., Nelson's Illustrated Encyclopedia
of Bible Facts (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995)
Madelene S. Miller and J. Lane Miller, Harper's Bible Dictionary, (New York,
Harper, 1973)
Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Bible Dictionary, (Chicago, Moody, 1977)
Henry H. Halley, Halley's Bible Handbook(Grand Rapids, Mi: Zondervan, 24th)
The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (Philidelphia, Westminster, 1976)
NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1989)
The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible, (Tring, Lion, 1986)
Fred H. Wight, Manners and Customs of Bible Lands (Chicago: Moody, 1983)
Madeleine S. Miller and J. Lane Miller, Encyclopedia of Bible Life (New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1944)
Holman Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, Holman, 1991)
Mary Ellen Chase, Life and Language in the Old Testament (N.Y., W. W. Norton and
Company Inc. 1955)
Emmanuel Anati, Palestine before the Hebrews, (N.Y., Alfred A. Knopf, 1963)
Donald Powell Cole, Nomads of the Nomads, (Arlington Heights, Ill., Harlan
Davidson, Inc., 1975)
Werner Keller, The Bible as History, (New York, William Morrow and Co., 1981 2nd
ed.)
Word Studies
James Strong, New Strong's Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible,
(Nashville, Nelson, 1995)
W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White, Vine's Expository Dictionary of
Biblical Words, (Nashville, Nelson, 1985)
Benjamin Davidson, The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, (London, Samuel
Bagster)
Isaac Mozeson The Word: the Dictionary that reveals the Hebrew origin of English
(New York. S.P.I. Books, Inc.)
Ehud Ben-Yehuda, David Weinstein, English-Hebrew Hebrew-English Dictionary,
(N.Y., Washington Square Press, Inc., 1961)

Rev. Walter W. Skeat, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,
(N.Y., Capricorn Books, 1963)
Hebrew Thought
Mary Ellen Chase, Life and Language in the Old Testament (N.Y., W. W. Norton and
Company Inc., 1955)
Thorleif Boman, Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek (N.Y., W.W. Norton and
Company, 1960)
Hebrew Language
Gesenius' Hebrew Grammer, (London, Oxford Press, 2nd English Ed. 1910)
William R. Harper, Elements of Hebrew, (N.Y., Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895)
Edward Horowitz, How the Hebrew Language Grew, (KTAV, 1960)
Ancient Language and Origins
John Philip Cohane The Key, (N.Y., Crown Publishers, 1969)

Charlton Laird The Miracle of Language (Greenwich Conn., Fawcett, 1953)
Giorgio Fano, The Origins and Nature of Language, (Bloomington In., Indiana
University Press, 1992)
Bibles
Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensia

The Holy Bible, New International Version (Grand Rapids, Zondervan Bible
Publishers, 1973, 1978, 1984)
The Stone Edition Tanach (Brooklyn, Mesorah Publications Ltd., 1996)
The Holy Bible, King James Version
The Aleppo Codex (Hebrew Masoretic Text)
The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament)

History of the Hebrew Alphabet
By Jeff A. Benner
Early Hebrew
The early Hebrew (Semitic) alphabet was used by many Semitic peoples of the ancient Near
East, including the Canaanites, Moabites, Arameans, Phoenicians, Amonites and the
Hebrews. This alphabet existed between the 20th and 12th centuries B.C. However, note that
the 20th century date is based on the oldest inscriptions found thus far and it is possible that
future discoveries may push the date of the Semitic alphabet back even farther into history.
To date, the Wadi El-Hhol inscriptions found in southern Egypt are the oldest Semitic
inscriptions found and date to between the 19th and 20th centuries B.C. The Sinaitic
inscriptions from the Sinai Peninsula date to about the 15th century B.C.
The Wadi El-Hhol inscription
Ancient inscription from Serabit El-Khadim
Middle Hebrew
About the 12th Century B.C. the middle Semitic alphabet evolved out of the ancient Semitic
alphabet. Like the more ancient alphabet, this middle alphabet was used by many ancient
peoples of the Near East including the Hebrews. The Gezer calendar, the Ketef Hinnom
Amulets and the Lachish inscription date to this time period.

The Gezer Calendar
The Siloam Inscription
Lachish Ostracon

Late Hebrew
The late Semitic alphabet, which is the square Aramaic script, was in use between 4th century
BC and into the early part of the modern era. The majority of the scrolls from the Dead Sea
Caves is written in the late Semitic script and date to between the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C.
A portion of the Great Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Caves
Modern Hebrew
Derived out of the later Hebrew alphabet is the Modern Hebrew alphabet, which began
around the 11th Century A.D. The Masoretic Hebrew texts of the Bible, written in the 11th
Century, used this script and have changed very little to the present day.
Text from an 11th Century Masoretic Hebrew Bible
Text from a Modern Hebrew Bible

The Ancient Semitic (Early) Alphabet
By Jeff A. Benner
In 1905, Flinders Petrie, a renowned Egyptologist and pioneer in modern archeology,

discovered inscriptions of previously unknown symbols at Serabit el-Khadim.
Dr. Alan H. Gardiner, Another renowned Egyptologist, studied these inscriptions in detail.
He discovered that these Sinaitic inscriptions consisted of a total of thirty-two symbols.
Because of the limited number of symbols Dr. Gardiner determined that this was an alphabet.
Gardiner was then able to easily identify this Sinaitic alphabet as Semitic because of the
pictographic nature of this alphabet. The name of each Hebrew letter is a Hebrew word with
meaning.
The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called the aleph, a Hebrew word meaning "ox," The
tenth letter is called the yud or yad meaning "hand" and the sixteenth letter is the ayin, a word
meaning "eye."
Dr. Gardiner found that the letters in these ancient Sinaitic inscriptions were pictures of the
very names of the Hebrew letters. The image of an ox head (left) was the letter aleph, the
image of the hand (center) was the letter yad and the image of an eye (right) was the letter
ayin.
This relationship between the pictograph and the names of the Semitic letters, Dr. Gardiner
proposed, proved that this was the precursor to the previously known Phoenician/Old Hebrew
alphabet.

Once it was determined that the new script was Semitic, Dr. Gardiner, in 1916, was able to
translate a portion of one inscription. This inscription includes the letters lamed, beyt, ayin,
lamed and tav, which form the Semitic word (l'balt), meaning "to the lady."
In 1999, John and Deborah Darnell were surveying ancient travel routes in the deserts of
southern Egypt when they came upon another set of inscriptions very similar to the Sinaitic
inscriptions found by Petrie.
Each letter represents a sound and a concept. The first letter, (Note that Hebrew is read
from right to left), is the aleph (pronounced ah-leph) and represents the "Ah" and "Eh"
sounds. Aleph is a Hebrew word meaning "ox," and this letter is a picture of an ox head and
represents the concept of "strength," from the strength of the ox.
The letter lamed, , the twelvth letter, is a picture of a shepherd staff and represents the
sound "L" as well as the concept of "authority," from the authority of the shepherd over the
flock.
When these two letters are combined, we have the Hebrew word (EL, written as in
the Modern Hebrew alphabet, Strong's #410), the "strong authority."
It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt.

(Genesis 31:29, KJV)

This passage includes the Hebrew word EL, which in the King James Version is translated as
"power." However, a better translation, based on the pictures of the word EL, would be
"There is strength and authority in my hand to do you hurt."
Blessed be Abram of the most high God,

possessor of heaven and earth. (Genesis 14:19,
KJV)
This passage also uses the same Hebrew word EL, but in the King James Version it is
translated as "God." Based on the pictures of the word El, a better translation would be
"Blessed be Abram of the most high strength and authority, possessor of heaven and earth."
When we see the word "God" from a western perspective we see an old bearded man sitting
on a throne in the clouds. When the ancient Hebrew's see the word "EL," they see the
strength of an ox and the authority of a shepherd.
The Characteristics of the Early Alphabet
In our modern English Alphabet each letter is associated with two characteristics, a form and
a sound. The first letter of our alphabet has the form of "A" and has the sound "a". The
Ancient Hebrew alphabet has four characteristics: form, sound, name and meaning.
represents a sound. Each letter in Ancient alphabets represented much more, pictograph
(picture), syllable (name), mnemonic (meaning) and phonetic (sound). This unique
relationship between the characteristics of the Hebrew letters are used to assist in
reconstructing the original Hebrew alphabet and in turn will assist in root and word
definitions and relationships.
Form (Pictographic)
Each Early letter is an obvious picture representing something concrete. The Ancient
pictograph represents a mouth, the represents an eye, represents a water, and the
represents the palm of the hand. Sometimes the picture of the letter is not as easily
recognizable. For instance the picture may be difficult to determine. However, a thorough
knowledge of the ancient Semitic peoples culture and lifestyle will help to reveal the meaning
of the pictograph. In the case of the , with an understanding of the semitic peoples tents we
know that this picture is a perfect representation of the floor plan of the tent.
Meaning (Mnemonic)
The mnemonic meaning of a pictograph is the extended meanings, related to the pictograph,
usually related to the function rather than appearance of what the letter symbolizes. For
example, the pictograph has the extended mnemonic meanings of speak, blow and open.
While each Hebrew letter has a name identifying the picture, the extended meanings can
often be found in words derived from the name. For instance, the Hebrew word (sin)
literaly means thorn, and the pictograph for this letter is a picture of a thorn. The word sin is a
parent root and some of the other meanings of this letter are "hate, protect and grab." These
ideas are found in the words derived out of this parent root which include; saney = hate, sa'an
= pierce, sa'on = weapon, sinah = shield (protection). The idea of "grab" comes from the

function of the thorn which is grab hold of the fur of an animal so that it can be transported to
another location and also hate, which grabs hold of you, a weapon and shield, which you also
grab hold of.
Name (Syllabic)
Each pictograph is associated with, usually, a single syllable of two consonants. Besides this
syllable being the name of the pictograph, it is also the Semitic/Hebrew word for what the
pictograph symbolizes. The name of the pictograph is "peh" and is also the Hebrew word
for "mouth." Centuries before the ancient semitic pictographs were discovered, each Hebrew
letter was identified with a name. As an example, the name of the Hebrew letter is "resh,"
which is also the Hebrew word for "head." When the ancient pictograph letter , clearly a
picture of a "head," was discovered, it was not to difficult to figure out that this was the
ancient form of the letter .
Sound (Phonetic)
The first letter of the syllabic name provides a singular sound for the purpose of forming
words and sentences. The phonetic value of the pictograph is "p."

The Paleo-Hebrew (Middle) Alphabet
By Jeff A. Benner
Old Hebrew and the Samaritan Alphabet
The Samaritans are, according to themselves, the descendants of the Northern Tribes of Israel
that were not sent into Assyrian captivity, and have continuously resided in the land of Israel.
The Torah Scroll of the Samaritans use an alphabet that is very different from the one used on
Jewish Torah Scrolls. According to the Samaritans themselves and Hebrew scholars, this
alphabet is the original "Old Hebrew" alphabet, also called "Paleo-Hebrew."
Even as far back as 1691, this connection between the Samaritan and the "Old" Hebrew
alphabets was made by Henry Dodwell; "[the Samaritans] still preserve [the Pentateuch] in
the Old Hebrew characters."
Humphrey Prideaux also writes in 1799; "And these five books [of the Samaritans] still have
among them, written in the old Hebrew or Phoenician character, which was in use among
them before the Babylonish captivity, and in which both these and all other scriptures were
written, till Ezra transcribed them into that of the Chaldeans [Aramaic]."
This same theory is presented in the 1831 edition of the Encyclopedia Americana; "During
the Babylonish captivity , they received from the Chaldees the square character in common
use; and in the time Ezra, the old Hebrew manuscripts were copied in Chaldee [Aramaic]
characters."
Prior to the Babylonian captivity, the Jews used an alphabet very similar to what is found in
the Torah scrolls of the Samaritans.

However, during the Babylonian captivity, the Jews adopted the Aramaic square script.
While paleo-Hebrew continued to be used by the Jews into the first century A.D. on a limited
basis, it was the Aramaic square script that was most predominately used to write Hebrew
and this is the script used in most scrolls found in the Dead Sea caves.
Old Hebrew and the Phoenician Alphabet
While Prideaux noted that the Old Hebrew alphabet was the same as the Samaritan alphabet,
he also pointed out that it is identical to the Phoenician alphabet.

When we compare the letters of these three alphabets, we can see this similarity.
This is the letter beyt in the Old Hebrew alphabet, the Samaritan alphabet and the Phoenician
alphabet. Note the close similarity of each.
The 1831 edition of the Encyclopedia Americana also makes this connection between the
Phoenician, Samaritan and Hebrew alphabets; "[the Hebrews] written characters were the
same as the Phoenician, to which the letters of the Samaritan manuscripts approach the
nearest."
The Phoenicians lived north of the land of Israel centered around the Biblical cities of Sidon
and Tyre, in modern day Lebanon, between the 16th and 3rd Century BC.
The Phoenicians shared the same alphabet with the Hebrews and the Samaritans. It was also
evident that the Phoenicians and Hebrews spoke the same language as the "Foreign Quarterly
Review" wrote in its 1838 publication; "The learned world had almost universally allowed
that the Phoenician language was, with few exceptions, identical with the Hebrew."
The first major discovery connecting the Phoenician alphabet and language with Hebrew
occurred on January 19th, 1855, when Turkish laborers accidently uncovered an ancient
sarcophagus in Sidon, a Phoenician city. On this sarcophagus was a lengthy inscription
written in the Phoenician alphabet and language, which was found to be identical to Hebrew
with only a few exceptions.
Old Hebrew and the Aramaic Alphabet
As previously mentioned, the old Hebrew alphabet was used by all Semitic peoples including
the Arameans (also called the Chaldeans), but evolved independently from the Hebrew.

By the 5th century B.C., the time of the Israelites captivity in Aramea (or Babylon), it no
longer resembled the old Hebrew it came from and it is this Aramaic "square" script that
Israel adopted during their captivity.
Old Hebrew and the Greek Alphabet
The Old Hebrew alphabet, was adopted by the Greeks around the 12th century BC.The first
five letters of the Hebrew alphabet are aleph, beyt, gimel, dalet and hey. These same letters,
adopted by the Greeks, became the alpha, beta, gamma, delta and E-psilon (meaning "simple
E"). While Hebrew is usually written from right to left, Greek was written left to right and the
orientation of the letters were reversed from the Old Hebrew.
Over the centuries, these ancient Greek letters evolved into their Modern Greek forms.
Our English alphabet is Roman, and because the Romans adopted the Greek alphabet, we are
able to see our own modern English alphabet in these ancient Hebrew turned Greek letters,
the A, B, C, D and E.

The connection between the Middle Hebrew Alphabet and the Modern Roman Alphabet can
be clearly seen in the image below.

The Ancient Hebrew Alphabet
By Jeff A. Benner
Aleph
Early Middle Late Modern

Hebrew Hebrew Hebrew Hebrew
Pictograph: Ox Head
Meanings: Power, Authority, Strength
Sound: ah, eh
History & Reconstruction
The original pictograph for this letter is a picture of an ox head ( ) representing strength
and power from the work performed by the animal. This pictograph also represents a chief or
other leader. When two oxen are yoked together for pulling a wagon or plow, one is the older
and more experienced one who leads the other. Within the clan, tribe or family the chief or
father is seen as the elder who is yoked to the others as the leader and teacher.
The Modern name for this letter is aleph and corresponds to the Greek name alpha and the
Arabic name aleph. The various meanings of this root are oxen, yoke and learn. Each of these
meanings is related to the meanings of the pictograph . The root ( )is an adopted
root from the parent root (el), written as in the original script, meaning, strength,
power and chief and is the probable original name of the pictograph .
The is a shepherd staff and represents authority as well as a yoke (see the letter lamed).
When combined these two pictographs mean "strong authority." The chief or father is the
"strong authority." The can also be understood as the "ox in the yoke." Many Near
Eastern cultures worshipped the god El ( ) and was depicted as a bull in carvings and
statues. Israel chose the form of a calf (young bull) as an image of God at Mount Sinai
showing their association between the word and the ox or bull and is also commonly
used in the Hebrew Bible for "God" or "god."
The concept of the ox and the shepherd staff in the word has been carried over into
modern times as the scepter (as a staff) and crown (as horns) of a monarch, the leader of a
nation. These modern items are representative of the shepherd staff, an ancient sign of
authority, and the horns of the ox, an ancient sign of strength.

In Modern Hebrew this letter is silent but was originally used as the vowels "a" and "e." The
Greek letter alpha, derived from the aleph, is also used for the "a" sound.
The Early Semitic pictograph was simplified to and in the Middle Hebrew script and
continued to evolve into the in the Late Hebrew script. The Modern Hebrew letter
developed out of the Late Semitic. The Middle Semitic was adopted by the Greeks to be the
letter "A" (alpha) and carried over into the Roman "A." The Middle Semitic became the
number "1" that we use today.
Semitic Script Charts

Beyt
Pictograph: Floorplan of a Tent

Meanings: Family, House, In
Sound: B, Bh (v)
Several variations were used for the original pictograph including , , and . Each
of these pictographs is representative of a house or tent. The pictograph is chosen as it best
represents the nomadic tents of the Hebrews. The tent was divided into two sections, men's
and women's, with the entrance at the front of the tent in the men's section and an entrance
from the men's to the women's section.
The Hebrew word (beyt), the name of this letter, means house or tent as well as family.
A common designation for a family is to identify the "house" of the family patriarch such as
in "The house of Jacob."
The meanings of this letter are house, tent, and family as well as in, with, inside or within as
the family resides within the house or tent.
The Hebrew name for this letter, beyt, is equivalent to the Greek name beta and the Arabic
name beyt. This letter is pronounced as a "b" when sounded as a stop, such as in the word
beyt, or a "bh" (v) when used as a spirant, as in the word shubh (shoov).
This letter is commonly used as a prefix to words to mean "in" or "with" as in be'erets
meaning "in a land."
The Early Semitic letter evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and into in the Late
Semitic script. The Modern Hebrew letter developed out of the Late Semitic. The Middle
Semitic script was adopted by the Greeks to become the letter (a reverse direction due to
being written from right to left instead of left to right) and the Roman B and b. The Late
Semitic became the number 2.


Gimel
Pictograph: Foot
Meanings: Gather, Walk
Sound: G
The earliest known pictograph for this letter is and is a picture of a foot. The Modern
Hebrew name for this letter is gimel," an adopted root. The original name to this letter is most
likely gam, the parent root of gimel. This letter is the origin of the Arabic letter Geem and the
Greek gamma supporting the theory that the original name for the letter did not include the
"L."
The word gam means to gather together as a group of animals gathering at the water hole to
drink. The pictographic script for the word gam is . The is the foot representing
"walk" and the is "water" (See the letter mem). When combined these letters mean "walk
to the water."
The letter has the meanings of walk, carry or gather. The sound associated with this letter
is a "g" as in "go."
The Early Semitic became in the Middle Semitic script. This letter further developed to
in the Late Semitic script. The Late Semitic script further developed into the Modern
Hebrew ).
The Middle Semitic script became the Greek (a reversal of the letter due to direction of
writing) as well as the Roman C and G. The Late Semitic became the number 3.


Dalet
Pictograph: Door
Meanings: Move, Hang, Entrance
Sound: D
There are two possibilities for the original Early Semitic pictograph for this letter, the picture
of a fish - and a picture of a door - . The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is dalet
and means "door." The word dalet is a derivative of the parent root dal also meaning "door."
The Arabic name for this letter is dal giving support to the parent root as the original name.
As the Hebrew word for a "fish" is dag, it is unlikely that the is the pictograph for this
letter but, rather the .
The basic meaning of the letter is "door," but has several other meanings associated with it.
It can mean "a back and forth movement" as one goes back and forth through the tent through
the door. It can mean "dangle" as the tent door dangled down from a roof pole of the tent. It
can also mean weak or poor as one who dangles the head down.
The sound for this letter is a "d" as in "door" as it is with the Greek and Arabic equivalents.
The Early Semitic pictograph evolved into the Middle Semitic letter . The Middle
Semitic then evolved into the Late Semitic letter , the early form of the Modern Hebrew .
The Middle Semitic letter is the origin of the Greek letter , The Roman D and the number 4.


Hey
Pictograph: Man with arms raised

Meanings: Look, Reveal, Breath
Sound: H, eh
The original pictograph for this letter is , a man standing with his arms raised up. The
Modern Hebrew, and original name for this letter, is hey, a Hebrew word meaning "behold,"
as when looking at a great sight. This word can also mean "breath" or "sigh," as one does
when looking at a great sight. The meaning of the letter is behold, look, breath, sigh, reveal
and revelation from the idea of revealing a great sight by pointing it out.
This letter is a consonant, with an "h" sound, but also used as a vowel with the "eh" sound.
When the Greeks adopted this letter it became the epsilon (E-psilon meaning "simple E")
with an "eh" sound.
This letter is commonly used as a prefix to words to mean "the" as in ha'arets meaning "the
land." The use of this prefix is to reveal something of importance within the sentence.
The Early Semitic evolved into the Middle Semitic by rotating the letter 90 degrees to
the left. This letter then evolved into in the late Semitic script that developed into the
Modern Hebrew . The Middle Semitic was adopted by the Greeks and the Romans to
become the E (reversed from its Semitic origin due to the direction of writing). This Middle
Semitic letter also became the number 5.


Vav
Ancient Name: Waw

Pictograph: Peg
Meanings: Add, Secure, Hook
Sound: W, ow, uw
The original pictograph used in the Early Semitic script is a , a picture of a tent peg. The
tent pegs were made of wood and may have been Y-shaped to prevent the rope from slipping
off.
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is vav, a word meaning "peg" or "hook." This letter
is used as a consonant with a "v" sound and as a vowel with a "ow" and "uw" sound. The
consonantal and vowel pronunciations of each of the consonant/vowel letters of the Ancient
Hebrew language, which include the aleph,, hey,, vav, and yud, were closely related. For
instance, the letter hey is "h" and "eh" and the pronunciations of the letter yud is "y" and "iy."
Following this pattern, it is probable that the original pronunciation of the letter was "w" as
the vowel sounds associated with this letter are "ow" and "uw." In addition, in the Modern
Arabic language, this letter is pronounced with a "w." Therefore, the original name of this
letter would have been waw instead of vav, as it is in Modern Hebrew.
As the pictograph indicates, this letter represents a peg or hook, which is used for securing
something. The meaning of this letter is to add or secure.
This letter is frequently used as a prefix to words to mean "and" in the sense of adding things
together.
The Early Semitic evolved into the in the Middle Semitic script. This letter then became
the in the Late Semitic script and evolved into the Modern Hebrew . The Middle Semitic
letter was adopted by the Greeks and the Romans to be the letter F, but was dropped from the
Greek alphabet and does not exist in the Modern Greek alphabet. The Late Semitic form of
the letter became the number 9.


Zayin
Ancient Name: Zayin?, Zan?

Pictograph: Mattock / Hoe / Plow
Meanings: Food, Cut, Nourish
Sound: Z
The ancient pictograph for this letter, , is some type of agricultural implement similar to a
mattock or plow. The meanings of this letter are "harvest," "food" as from the harvest, "cut"
from the function of the implement and "broad" from its shape.
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is zayin but was originally the parent root zan. When
the Greeks adopted the letter its name was originally zan, but later became zeta, the modern
name for this letter in the Greek alphabet.
The phonetic sound for this letter is a "z" as it is in Greek and Arabic.
The Early Semitic was simplified to in the Middle Semitic script, which then evolved
into in the Late Semitic script. This form evolved into the Modern Hebrew letter . The
Greeks and Romans adopted this letter to become the letter "Z." The Late Semitic became
the number 7.


Hhet
Ancient Name: Hhets

Pictograph: Wall
Meanings: Outside, Divide Half
Sound: Hh
The ancient pictograph is a picture of a tent wall. The meanings of this letter are "outside,"
as the function of the wall is to protect the occupants from the elements, half, as the wall in
the middle of the tent divides the tent into the male and female sections, and secular, as
something that is outside.
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is hhet meaning a string. A very similar Hebrew
word is hhets, which means a wall and is most likely the original name for this letter. The
sound of the letter, in ancient and modern times, is a guttural "hh" (as in the "ch" in the name
Bach).
The early Semitic pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script by being rotated
90 degrees. This letter continued to evolve into in the Late Semitic script. The Middle
Semitic script is the origin of the Greek and Roman H. The late Semitic script became the
Modern Hebrew . The Middle Semitic form of this letter became the number 8.


Tet
Ancient Name: Thet?

Pictograph: Basket
Meanings: Surround, Contain, Mud
Sound: Th
The original pictograph for this letter is , a container made of wicker or clay. Containers
were a very important item among the nomadic Hebrews. They were used for storing grains,
tools, foods, housewares and other items. Wicker baskets were used as nets for catching fish.
The meanings of this letter are basket, contain, store and clay.
The twenty-second letter of the Hebrew alphabet is a tav, with a "t" sound. It is unlikely that
the original Hebrew had two letters with the same sound. When the Greeks adopted the
Hebrew alphabet this letter became the Greek theta. It is likely that the original sound for this
letter was a "th," as adopted by the Greeks.
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is tet, but probably originally pronounced thet,
which means "mud" or "clay," materials used to make baskets.
The Early Semitic letter remained unchanged into the Middle Semitic script, but became
in the Late Semitic script. The Late Semitic letter became the (Theta) in the Greek
alphabet, the Modern Hebrew and our number 6.


Yud
Ancient Name: Yad

Pictograph: Arm and closed hand
Meanings: Work, Throw, Make, Praise
Sound: Y, iy
The Early Semitic pictograph of this letter is , an arm and hand. The meaning of this letter
is work, make and throw; the functions of the hand. The Modern Hebrew name yud is a
derivative of the two letter word (yad), a Hebrew word meaning "hand," the original
name for the letter.
The ancient and modern pronunciation of this letter is a "y." In Ancient Hebrew this letter
also doubled as a vowel with an "i" sound. The Greek language adopted this letter as the
vowel iota, retaining the "i" sound.
The ancient pictograph became the in the Middle Semitic script. The letter continued to
evolve into the simpler form in the Late Semitic script. The Middle Semitic form became
the Greek and Roman I. The Late Semitic form became the Modern Hebrew .


Kaph
Ancient Name: Kaph

Pictograph: Open Palm
Meanings: Bend, Open, Allow, Tame
Sound: K (stop), Kh (spirant)
The Ancient form of this letter is the open palm of a hand. The meanings of this letter are
"bend" and "curve," from the shape of the palm, as well as to "tame" or "subdue" as one who
has been bent to another's will.
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is kaph, a Hebrew word meaning "palm" and is also
the ancient name for this letter. This letter is pronounced as a "k," as in the word kaph, when
used as a stop or as a "kh" (pronounced hard like the "ch" in the German name Bach), as in
the word yalakh (to walk) when used as a spirant.
The Early Semitic evolved into in the Middle Semitic script. This letter continued to
evolve into in the Late Semitic script and becoming the Modern Hebrew and the (final
kaph). The Middle Semitic became the Greek and Roman K (written in the reverse
direction from the Hebrew).


Lamed
Ancient Name: Lam?

Pictograph: Shepherd Staff
Meanings: Teach, Yoke, Bind, Toward
Sound: L
The Early Hebrew pictograph is , a shepherd's staff. The shepherd staff was used to direct
sheep by pushing or pulling them. It was also used as a weapon against predators to defend
and protect the sheep.
The meaning of this letter is "toward" as moving something in a different direction. This
letter also means "authority," as it is a sign of the shepherd, the leader of the flock. It also
means "yoke," which is a staff on the shoulders, "tie" or "bind" from idea of the yoke that is
bound to the animal.
This letter is used as a prefix to nouns meaning "to" or "toward."
The Modern Hebrew name of this letter is lamed and is carried over into the Greek name
lamda. The Arabic name however is lam, retaining an older two letter root name for the letter
and the probable original name. The phonetic sound for this letter is "l."
The original pictograph for this letter is and has remained virtually unchanged through
Middle Hebrew as well as the Greek and Roman scripts. In Late Semitic this letter changed
slightly to and became in the Modern Hebrew script. The Early Semitic is the origin of
the Greek (upside down from the Hebrew) and the Roman L.


Mem
Ancient Name: Mem?, Mayim?, Mah?

Pictograph: Water
Meanings: Chaos, Mighty, Blood
Sound: M
The Early Semitic pictograph for this letter is , a picture of waves of water. This
pictograph has the meanings of liquid, water and sea, mighty and massive from the size of the
sea and chaos from the storms of the sea.
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is mem probably from the word mayim meaning
"water." The word mayim is the plural form of mah, probably the original name for this letter,
meaning "what." To the Hebrews the sea was a feared and unknown place, for this reason this
letter is used as a question word, who, what, when, where, why and how, in the sense of
searching for an unknown. The Greek name for this letter is mu, which is a Hebrew word
closely related in roots and meaning to the Hebrew word mah. The sound for this letter is
"m," as it is in all other languages.
The Early Semitic evolved into in the Middle Semitic and continued to evolve into in
the Late Semitic script. The Late Semitic script evolved into the and (final mem) in the
Modern Hebrew script. The Early and Middle Semitic script is the origin to the Greek and
Roman M.


Nun
Ancient Name: Nun

Pictograph: Sprouting Seed
Meanings: Continue, Heir, Son
Sound: N
The ancient pictograph is a picture of a seed sprout representing the idea of continuing to
a new generation. This pictograph has the meanings of "continue," "perpetuation,"
"offspring" and "heir."
The Modern Hebrew name is nun, a Hebrew word meaning to "continue," "offspring" and
"heir." This two-letter word is the original name for the letter. The phonetic sound for this
letter is "n," as it is in all other languages.
The Early Semitic evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve
into in the Late Semitic script. The Late Semitic script became the Modern Hebrew and
(final nun). The Middle Semitic script became the N (written in reverse direction from the
Hebrew) in both the Greek and Roman alphabets.


Samehh
Ancient Name: Sin?

Pictograph: Thorn
Meanings: Grab, Hate, Protect
Sound: S
There are several possibilities for the original Semitic pictograph including (a fish),
(possibly a thorn), (a window?) and (a thorn). The pictograph is used almost
exclusively throughout the early and middle history of this letter. This picture has the
meanings of "pierce" and "sharp." This letter also has the meaning of a shield, as thorn
bushes were used by the shepherd to build a wall, or shield, to enclose his flock during the
night to protect them from predators. Another meaning of this letter is to "grab hold" as a
thorn clings to hair and clothing.
Of all the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, this is the most difficult to reconstruct due to its
limited archeological and textual support. The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is samech,
which is a word that means "support," with no apparent connection to a two letter parent root
or to the meaning of the original picture of this letter. The Arabic alphabet does not have this
letter and the Greek letter derived from this letter is called the ksi. The 21st letter of the
Hebrew alphabet has two names and sounds, Shin (sh) and Sin (s). All the words using the
sin are related in meaning to the words using a samech in the same place as the sin. It is
possible that the original name for the samech was sin, which is the Hebrew word for a thorn,
and at some point divided into two letters, the samech and sin and then the sin became
associated with the letter shin.
The original sound for this letter must be an "s," to which the samech and sin both agree. The
Greek sound for the letter is "ks," a sound that is similar to the "s."
The early Semitic evolved into the in the middle Semitic. This letter continued to evolve
into in the late Semitic. This letter became the in the Modern Hebrew alphabet. The
Middle script became the Greek letter and the Greek letter became the Latin X.


Ayin
Ancient Name: ayin

Pictograph: Eye
Meanings: Watch, Know, Shade
Sound: Silent
The Ancient picture for this letter is and is a picture of an eye. This letter represents the
ideas of seeing and watching as well as knowledge, as the eye is the window of knowledge.
The name of the letter is ayin, a Semitic word meaning eye. This letter is silent in Modern
Hebrew. There is no indication that the ancient Semitic had a sound for this letter as well and
appears to have been silent in the past. The Greek language assigned the vowel sound "o" to
the letter and may be the origin of the number 0. As Hebrew did not have one letter for the
"o" sound the Greeks took this silent letter and converted it into a vowel.
The early Semitic evolved into the simpler in the middle Semitic and remained the same
into the late Semitic period. This letter evolved into the in the Modern Hebrew script. The
middle Semitic became the O in Greek and Latin.


Pey
Ancient Name: Pey

Pictograph: Mouth
Meanings: Open, Blow, Scatter, Edge
Sound: P (stop), Ph (f) (spirant)
The Semitic word pey means a "mouth" and there are several ancient Semitic pictographs
believed to be this letter, none of which resemble a mouth. The only exception is the South
Arabian pictograph . This pictograph closely resembles a mouth and is similar to the later
Semitic letters for the letter pey.
This pictograph has the meanings of "speak" and "blow" from the functions of the mouth.
This letter also means "edge" as the lips are at the edge of the mouth.There are two sounds for
this letter, the stop "P" and the spirant "Ph" (f).
The early Semitic evolved to the letter in the middle Semitic scripts. The letter
continued to evolve into the in the late Semitic script and the and (final pey) in the
modern Hebrew script. The middle Semitic became the Greek and the Latin P.


Tsade
Ancient Name: Tsad?, Tsade?

Pictograph: Trail
Meanings: Journey, Chase, Hunt
Sound: Ts
The three Ancient pictograph possibilities for this letter are , and . The word tsad
means "side," but is also related to the idea of a stronghold, which is often built on the side of
a mountain. The pictograph is a picture of a trail as leading up to a destination or stronghold.
Most ancient Semitic alphabets used pictographs which closely resemble , indicating that
this was most likely the original form of the letter.
The modern name for this letter is tsade, also meaning side, and is a child root from the word
tsad . The phonetic sound of this letter is a "ts" in both ancient and modern Hebrew.
The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and continued to evolve
into in the Late Semitic Script. From the middle Semitic script came the Modern Hebrew
and . Modern Greek and Latin have no letter derived from this Semitic letter.


Quph
Ancient Name: Quph

Pictograph: Sun at the horizon
Meanings: Circle, Revolution, Condense, Time
Sound: Q
Most of the pictographs used for this letter are , and . Ancient Semitic letters that
were originally oriented in a horizontal plane were tilted to a vertical plane. More than likely
this letter was originally written as .
The name of this letter is quph, a parent root. When all of the words derived from this parent
root are compared the common theme of a circle or revolution is found. The pictograph of
this letter is probably a picture of the sun at the horizon in the sense of a revolution of the
sun.
The various meanings of this letter are "sun," "revolution," "circle" and "horizon." This letter
can also mean condense as the light gathers at the sun when it is at the horizon. It can also
mean time, as the revolution of the sun is used to calculate time. Hebrew, Greek and Arabic
agree that the sound for this letter is "q." The Modern Hebrew and Arabic name for this letter
is quph, a parent root.
into in the Late Semitic Script. From the middle Semitic script is derived the Modern
Hebrew ). The Middle Semitic script is the origin of the Latin letter Q.


Resh
Ancient Name: Resh, Rosh?

Pictograph: Head of a man
Meanings: Head, first, top, beginning
Sound: R
The Ancient picture for this letter is , the head of a man. This letter has the meanings of
"head" and "man" as well as "chief," "top," "beginning" and "first," each of which are the
"head" of something.
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is resh, a Hebrew word meaning "head." Hebrew,
Aramaic and Greek agree that the sound for this letter is an "r."
The early pictograph evolved into in the Middle Semitic script and became in the Late
Semitic Script. From the Late Semitic script is derived the Modern Hebrew . The Middle
Semitic script is also the origin of the Greek letter and the Latin R.


Shin
Ancient Name: Shin

Pictograph: Two front teeth
Meanings: Sharp, Press, Eat, Two
Sound: Sh
The Ancient picture for this letter is , a picture of the two front teeth. This letter has the
meanings of "teeth," "sharp" and "press" (from the function of the teeth when chewing). It
also has the meaning of "two," "again" and "both."
The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is shin, a Hebrew word meaning tooth. Hebrew and
Arabic agree that the sound for this letter is "sh."
Hebrew . The Middle Semitic script is also the origin of the Greek letter and the Latin S.


Tav
Ancient Name: Taw

Pictograph: Crossed Sticks
Meanings: Mark, Sign, Signal, Monument
Sound: T
The Ancient picture is a type of "mark," probably of two sticks crossed to mark a place,
similar to the Egyptian hieroglyph , a picture of two crossed sticks. This letter has the
meanings of "mark," "sign" and "signature."
The Modern Hebrew, Arabic and Greek names for this letter is tav (or taw), a Hebrew word
meaning, "mark." Hebrew, Greek and Arabic agree that the sound for this letter is "t."
Hebrew ). The Early Semitic script is the origin of the Greek and the Latin T.


Ghayin
Ancient Name: ghah?, ghayin?

Pictograph: Rope of twisted fibers
Meanings: Twisted, Dark, Wicked
Sound: g, gh or ng
While this letter existed in ancient Semitic languages and some modern Semitic languages, it
no longer exists in the modern Hebrew. Instead it has been absorbed into the letter (ayin).
While the evidence exists showing that this is in fact a separate letter, there is very little
evidence for reconstructing its original pictograph. The Ugarit and Arabic languages wrote
this letter the same as the ayin but with an additional line or dot. The closest candidate for
this letter is the , a twisted rope, which is found in some ancient Semitic inscriptions.
In the Arabic language this letter is called the ghayin and is probably related to the Hebrew
word ghah meaning "twisted."
Because the Greek language transliterates this letter with a gamma ("g" sound) we know that
this letter originally had a type of "g" sound, possibly a "ng" as in the word "ring."

Parent Roots of Hebrew Words
By Jeff A. Benner
The Proto-Semitic language was originally written with pictographs (picture writings), such
as in the letter/pictograph , a picture of the hand. The Semitic word for a "hand" is "yad"
and is the name of this letter, which represents the phonetic sound "Y." Each letter/pictograph
in the Hebrew alphabet represents an idea. In the case of the letter , it represents "work,"
the function of the hand.
When two letters/pictographs are put together, a Parent Root word is formed. When the (B
- beyt, a house) is combined with the (N - nun, a seed which continues the next
generation) the Parent Root (BeN) is formed. The two letters of this root have the
combined meaning of the "house continues" and is usually translated as a "son", the one who
continues the house to the next generation.
Another example is the Parent Root (shaph). The , (the letter shin), is a picture of
the two front teeth meaning "sharp" and the , the letter pey, is a mouth. This Parent Root
means "a sharp mouth" or simply "a serpent," whose sharp fangs are in the mouth.
When we wish to find the definition of an English word we go to a dictionary. While this is
also true with Hebrew words, there are additional methods of determining the meaning of a
Hebrew word. One such method, which has been previously demonstrated, is to examine its
roots which provide additional insight into that word.
Examples of Parent Roots
The Hebrew biliteral root A-B
The Hebrew word (av) is spelled with two Hebrew letters, (aleph) and the (beyt).
In Hebrew, the word "aleph" means "ox" and the original pictograph of this letter is an image
of an ox head, which represents the idea of "strength." The beyt, a Hebrew word meaning
"tent" or "home," is an image of a tent, the home. When the meaning of these two letters are
combined we have the "the strength of the tent" and is descriptive of the tent poles which
provide strength to the tent. As the beyt can also represent the home, this word also means
"the strength of the home," and is the Hebrew word for "father."

The Hebrew biliteral root B-N
The Hebrew word (ben) is spelled beyt-nun. In the original pictographic script the
letter (beyt) is, as we mentioned, an image of the home. The letter (nun), a Hebrew
word meaning "continue," in its original pictographic script is an image of a "seed," and
represents the idea of "continuing" as the seed continues the next generation. When these two
letters are combined we have the "the home continues" and is descriptive of a "son," the one
who continues the home.
The Hebrew biliteral root A-M
The Hebrew word (eym) is spelled aleph-mem. In the original pictographic script the
letter (aleph) is the ox head representing "strength." The Hebrew letter (mem), a word
meaning "water" in Hebrew, is an image of "water." When combined these two letters mean
"strong water" which is "glue" and is the Hebrew word for "mother," the one who is the
"glue" of the family.
The Hebrew biliteral root A-L
The Hebrew word (el) is spelled aleph-lamed. The (aleph), the picture of an ox,
represents strength and the (lamed) is a picture of a shepherd staff representing
"authority." These letters form the Hebrew word meaning the "the strong authority" and is the
Hebrew word for God.

Rabbi Matityahu Clark on bi-literal roots
All Hebrew linguists recognize that most Hebrew words are derived from a triliteral (or three
letter) root. However, there are some linguists who have suggested that these triliteral roots
are themselves derived out of a Biliteral (or two letter) root.
Rabbi Matityahu Clark, in his book Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, records and
organizes Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentaries of the Bible which relate to the
Hebrew language. Rabbi Clark stated; "The second major analytical tool in the Hirsch system
we will call Gradational Variants. This involves five special consonants: (aleph), (hey),
(waw), (yud) and (nun). These consonants play a special role with respect to roots whose
third consonant is identical with the second. The new root form does not change the basic
meaning of the original root, but adds some nuances of meaning."
The Hebrew biliteral root Ts-R

(In Modern Hebrew)
Rabbi Clark then provides many of examples of these "Gradational Variants" including; the
triliteral root (tsarar), which means "forcing, constraining, oppressing." As mentioned,
the second and third consonants are identical, the letter (resh). The Gradiant Variants of
(tsarar) are; (natsar) - guarding or protecting; (yatsar) - forming or creating;
(tsur) - fencing or enclosing.
The Hebrew biliteral root R-D

(In Modern Hebrew)
The meaning of the triliteral root (radad) is a "flattening down or submitting totally." The
Gradiant Variants are; (radah) - ruling over or having dominion over; (yarad) - going
down; (rud) humbling.
Wilhelm Gesenius on bi-literal roots
Wilhelm Gesenius, one of the greatest Hebrew scholars of all time, wrote in his book
Gesenius Hebrew Grammar, "..a large number of triliteral stems really point to a biliteral
base, which may be properly called a root, since it forms the starting-point for several
triliteral modifications of the same fundamental idea."

The Hebrew biliteral root K-R
(In Modern Hebrew)
Gesenius then cites the following example; "The biliteral root (K-R) is the root of ( K-
R-R), (A-K-R), (K-W-R) and (K-R-H), each being related to the idea of
"digging." Another example he provides is the biliteral root (D-K), the root of (D-K-
A), (D-K-K), (D-W-K) and ( D-K-H), each being related to the idea of "striking"
or "breaking."
Edward Horowitz states in his book How the Hebrew Language Grew, "Scholars are fairly
convinced that back of these three lettered roots lie old primitive two-lettered syllables. These
two-lettered syllables represent some simple primitive action or thing. It does seem quite
clear that there existed a bi-literal or two-letter base for many, if not most, of our three
lettered roots."
The Hebrew biliteral root G-Z

(In Modern Hebrew)
Horowitz then provides the following roots, (G-W-Z), (G-Z-R), (G-Z-A), (G-
Z-Z) and (G-Z-H), each meaning to "cut," and all coming from the root (GZ) meaning
to "shear." Horowitz noted, "Do not be surprised if so many of these comparatively few two-
lettered roots mean to cut, to split, to slit, or slice. After all, everything that primitive man did
in the way of making a living for himself and his family in some way or other involved a
cutting action."

Anatomy of Hebrew Words
By Jeff A. Benner
Root System of Hebrew Words
Hebrew words are derived out of the many Hebrew root words (parent, child and adopted
roots), as demonstrated in the graphic below.
The parent root L-K and its derivatives

(Note: The letter kaph is written as when at the end of a word and as everywhere else)
Derived from the parent root (LK) are two child roots, (HLK) and (LAK), and
one adopted root, (MLK). The child is formed by adding the letter (H) to the
beginning of the parent, the child by adding the letter (A) in the middle and the
adopted by adding the letter (M) to the beginning.
Hebrew roots can be used as a verb or a noun. In English, a verb is a word of "action" and a
noun is a "person, place or thing," something void of action. In Hebrew, a verb is a word for
the "action" of "a persona, place or thing," and a noun is a word for "a person, place or thing"
in "action." As an example, the root (MLK) can mean "the rule of the king" as a verb, or
"the king who rules" as a verb (Strong's #4427), or "the king who rules" as a noun (Strong's
#4428).
Other words are derived out of the child and parent roots by adding specific letters to the
roots. As an example, the noun (MLKH, Strong's #4436) is formed by adding the
letter (H) to the end of the root and means "the female king who rules" or "queen," and the

noun (MLKUT, Strong's #4438) is formed by adding the letters (UT) to the end of
the root and means "the region ruled by the king" or "kingdom."
Once we understand how to properly interpret and define Hebrew words based on their
relationships to their roots and the culture in which the words were used, we can then
properly interpret Biblical passages from a Hebraic perspective.
And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
(Exodus 20:6)
Our normal understanding of the word "keep" within this verse is to "obey," however this is
not the case. The Hebrew verb used here is (shamar, Strong's #8104), which literally
means "to guard" or "to protect."
They will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.
(Deuteronomy 31:20)
Similarly, our normal understanding of "break" within this verse is to "disobey," but again
this is not the case. The Hebrew verb here is (parar, Strong's #6565) and means "to
trample underfoot."
The "keeping" or "breaking" of the commandments of God is not about obedience and
disobedience; it is about one's attitude toward them. Will we guard and protect them as we
would our family, or will we throw them on the ground and trample them as we would
garbage?
Hebrew Nouns
The most common noun form is the use of the two or three letter root. The parent root
(AB, Strong's #1) is a noun and means "father." The child root (A.W.R), can be a verb
meaning to "enlighten" (Strong's #215), but is also used as a noun meaning "light" (Strong's
#216). The adopted root (P.T.Hh), can be a verb meaning to "open" (Strong's #6605)
but is also used as a noun meaning a "door," or opening (Strong's #6607).
Noun Derivatives
Additional nouns are formed out of the root by adding specific letters in specific places
within the root. The noun derivative (maph'tach), meaning a key, is formed by adding
the letter (m) to the front of the root (P.T.Hh). The most common noun derivatives are
formed by placing a (m) or ( t) in front of the root or by placing a (i) or (o or u) inside
the root.
Feminine Derivatives
In Hebrew all nouns are either masculine or feminine. In most cases a feminine noun is
formed by adding (ah), (et) or (iyt) to the end of a noun.

Plural Nouns
Masculine nouns are made plural by adding the suffix (iym) and Feminine nouns are made
by adding the suffix (ot). In some cases masculine words, usually very ancient words, will
use the (ot) suffix. For example, the Hebrew words (av - father) and ( or - light) are
masculine words but are written as (avot) and '(orot) in the plural.
Grammatical Tools
Hebrew uses nouns for other functions within the sentence. They can be used as adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, conjuctions, etc. The noun (eqev) is a noun meaning the "heel" of
the foot, but it can also be used as a particle and is translated as "because," in the sense of
"what has been said" is on the "heel" of what is "about to be said."
Hebrew Verbs
Because the Hebrew language is an action oriented language rather than descriptive, it is
prolific with verbs. When a Hebrew verb is conjugated in a sentence it identifies person,
number, gender, tense, mood and voice. Understanding these different aspects of a verb,
while not essential for proper Biblical interpretation, it is very helpful when learning how to
translate the Hebrew text.
Person
Each verb identifies the subject of the verb as first (I), second (you) or third (he/she) person.
Number
Each verb also indicates the subject of the verb as singular or plural (we, you or they).
Gender
Each verb also indicates the subject of the verb as masculine or feminine.
Tense
There are four tenses in Hebrew verbs, perfect, imperfect, participle and imperative. In the
English language the verb tenses are related to time; past, present and future, while the
Hebrew verbs are all related to action. The perfect tense is a completed action and in most
cases is related to the English past tense (he cut). The imperfect tense is an incomplete action
and is closely related to the English present and future tenses (he cuts or he will cut).
When a Hebrew verb is prefixed with the letter vav it means "and," but it also reverses the
tense of the verb. For example, the verb (amar) means "he said," and is in the perfect
tense, but when it is written as (v'amar) it means "and he will say."

Voice
Each verb also includes voice of which there are three; active, passive or reflexive. The active
voice identifies the action of the verb as coming from the subject (he cut). The passive voice
does not identify the origin of action placed on the subject of the verb (he was cut). The
reflexive voice places the action of the verb onto the subject (he cut himself).
Mood
Each verb also includes mood of which there are three; simple, intensive or causative. The
simple mood is simple action of the verb (he cut). The intensive mood implies force or
emphasis on the verb (he slashed or hacked). The causative mood expresses causation to the
verb (he casued a cut).
The voice and mood of a verb are identified by seven different names as shown in the table
below.
Form Mood Voice Example

Paal (Qal) Simple Active He cut
Niphal Simple Passive He was cut
Piel Intensive Active He slashed
Pual Intensive Passive He was slashed
Hiphil Causative Active He made cut
Hophal Causative Passive He was made cut
Hitpael Intensive Reflexive He slashed himself
Here are a few examples of the conjugated verb (ABD), meaning "to perish."
Verse Exodus 10:7

Hebrew

Transliteration av'dah
Person 3rd
Number Singular
Gender Feminine
Tense Perfect
Voice Simple
Mood Active
Translation she perished

Verse Leviticus 23:30
Hebrew
Transliteration v'ha'vad'tiy
Person 1st
Number Singular
Gender Common
Tense Perfect
Voice Causative
Mood Active
and he I will cause
Translation to perish (I will
destroy)
Verse Numbers 16:33

Hebrew

Transliteration vai'yov'du
Person 3rd
Number Plural
Gender Masculine
Tense Imperfect
Voice Simple
Mood Active
Translation and they perished
Verse Numbers 33:52

Hebrew
Transliteration v'iy'bad'tem
Person 2nd
Number plural
Gender Masculine
Tense Perfect
Voice Intensive
Mood Active
and you will utterly
Translation
destroyed

Pronunciation of Hebrew Words
The following rules will assist the reader with pronouncing the Hebrew words without
relying on the nikkud (vowel pointings) as found in modern Hebrew Bibles, lexicons and
dictionaries.
Spirants and Stops
Three Hebrew letters, the beyt, kaph and pey, have more than one pronunciation, one called a
"spirant" and the other a "stop." A spirant is a letter whose sound can be prolonged. Some
examples of this from the English language are the v, z, f, and sh. A stop is a letter whose
sound ends abruptly such as the b, p, d and t. A few of the Hebrew letters will have a
different pronunciation depending on their position within the word. The letter (beyt) will
usually be pronounced as a stop (b) when at the beginning of the word and as a spirant (v)
when it is anywhere else in the word. For example the word begins with the letter beyt,
which is pronounced with a "b" so the word is pronounced "bar." The word has the letter
beyt at the end of the word so it is pronounced with a "v" and the word is pronounced rav.
Vowels
Four Hebrew letters double as consonants and vowels. These are the (aleph), (hey),
(vav) and (yud). As a consonant, the aleph is a glottal stop (silent pause) and as a vowel it is
pronounced ah or "eh." The hey is a h as a consonant or an eh as a vowel. The vav
(waw in Ancient Hebrew) is a w as a consonant or an ow or uw as a vowel. The yud is
a y as a consonant or an iy as a vowel.
Besides the four vowels mentioned previously, there is another type of vowel, the implied
vowel. This means that the vowel is not written but is necessary in order to pronounce the
word. An example of this is the word (meaning "grain"), which consists of the two
consonants with the sounds "B" and "R" and cannot be pronounced without a vowel between
them. In most cases the implied vowel will be an a or an e. In this case the implied vowel
is the "a" and the word is pronounced BaR.
Syllables
There are two types of syllables, open and closed. A closed syllable will include a consonant-
vowel-consonant combination while an open syllable will have a vowel-consonant
combination. The vowel may be one of the four consonant/vowel letters, usually the yud (I)
or the waw (O or U) or an implied vowel. In most cases the final syllable will be a closed
syllable. The word (covenant) will have two syllables. The first is , an open syllable
pronounced be, and the second is , a closed syllable pronounced riyt.
Generally a word with three consonants will be divided as Cv-CvC. A word with four
consonants will be divided as Cv-Cv-CvC or CvC-CvC. When a word includes five
consonants the breakdown is usually Cv-Cv-Cv-CvC or CvC-Cv-CvC.
If the word includes one of the four consonant/vowel letters, its position within the word will
determine if it is used as a consonant or a vowel. Generally, when the consonant/vowel is
placed at the beginning of a syllable or the end of a closed syllable it will take on the

consonantal sound. When it is in the middle of a closed syllable or the end of an open syllable
it will take on the vowel sound.
Masoretic Vowels
The Hebrew text of the Bible was originally written with only the twenty two letters of the
Hebrew alphabet. About one thousand years ago a group called the Masorites created a
system of dots and dashes called "nikkud" (nikkudot in the plural) and placed them above and
below the Hebrew letters to represent vowel sounds. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were
discovered it was found that the four Hebrew letters, (aleph), (hey), (vav) and (yud),
were used as vowels. The Masorites removed many of these vowels (usually the waw and
yud) and replaced them with the nikkudot. In the table below are some examples of Hebrew
spellings of some Hebrew words in the Masoretic text compared to how they are written in
the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Verse English Masoretic Dead Sea Scroll

Isaiah 2:2 All
Isaiah 2:3 God of Jacob
Isaiah 2:4 And not

Ancient Hebrew Timeline
By Jeff A. Benner
Year Events Alphabets Inscriptions Hebrew Bible Translations
20th C. BC
Early Semitic
The known beginning of the
early Semitic alphabet is
used in Egypt and Sinai
penninsula.
Wadi El-Hhol
The oldest early Semitic script is
inscibed on rock in Wadi-El-
Hhol, Egypt.
19th C. BC
18th C. BC
17th C. BC
The Patriarchs
The patriarchs, Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, the first
recorded Hebrews, who
lived in Canaan.
16th C. BC

15th C. BC
Siniatic
The early Semitic script is
inscribed on rocks at Serabit El-
Kadim.
14th C. BC
13th C. BC
Middle Semitic
The early Semitic alphabet
evolves into the middle
Semitic alphabet, also called
paleo-Hebrew.
12th C. BC
Moses
The Israelites leave Egypt.

11th C. BC
Tel Zayit
This abecedary is inscribed using
the middle Semitic script.
10th C. BC
Greek Alphabet
The middle Semitic alphabet
is adopted by the Greeks.
Gezer calendar
Inscribed using the middle
Semitic script.
9th C. BC
Greek
The Greek alphabet evolves
into the more modern form.
King David Mesha Stele

Rules over the southern Also called the Moabite stone, is
kingdom of Judah. inscribed using the middle
Semitic script.

Siloam Inscription
Inscribed in Hezekiah's tunnel
with the middle Semitic script.
Tel Dan Inscription

The inscription, which mentions
the "house of David," is inscribed
using the middle Semitic script.
8th C. BC
Roman
Romans adopt the Greek
alphabet.
Ketef-Hinom Scrolls
Israel Captured Small silver scrolls, inscribed
The northern Kingdom of with the Aaronic blessing and
Israel is captured by the other prayers, are inscirbed using
Assyrians and the the middle Semitic script and
Israelites are taken into placed in a tomb at Ketef Hinnom
captivity (720 BC). in Israel.

7th C. BC
Lachish Ostraca
The Lachish inscriptions are
inscribed using the middle
Semitic script.
6th C. BC
Late Semitic
The middle Semitic script
evolves into the late Semitic
script, also called the Square
Judah Captured Aramaic script.
The southern Kingdom is
captured by the
Babylonians and the Jews
are taken into captivity
(586 BC). Sarcaphogus
The Phoenician Sarcophagus in
Sidon is inscribed using the
middle Semitic script.
Judah Returns
The Jews return to Israel
from Babylon and rebuild
the temple (516).

5th C. BC
4th C. BC
Septuagint
Jewish scholars translate the
Torah, the first five books of
Moses, into Greek.
3rd C. BC
Nash Papyrus
Written in Egypt using the
late Semitic script.
2nd C. BC
Dead Sea Scrolls

The first of the Dead Sea
Scrolls are written, mostly in
the late Semitic script, but
some are written in the
middle Semitic script.

1st C. BC
1st C. AD
Temple destroyed
The second temple in
Jerusalem is destroyed by
the Romans (70 AD).
Targum Onkelos
The Torah is translated into
Aramaic by Onkelos, a
Roman convert to Judaism.
Targum Jonathon
The Prophets are translated
into Aramaic by Jonathon
Ben Uziel, a student of Hillel
the Elder.

2nd C. AD
Jewish Revolt
Revolt ends in failure and
the Jewish people are Bar Kockba letters
expelled from the land of Septuagint
The letters from General Simon The writings and the
Israel. The Hebrew Bar Kockba, during the second
language ceases as their prophets were translated into
Jewish revolt against Rome, were Greek by unknown
native language (135 AD). written using the late Hebrew translators.
script (135 AD).
3rd C. AD
Talmud
The Talmud is written in Peshitta
the Late Semitic script. The Hebrew Bible and the
New Testament are
translated into Aramaic.
4th C. AD

5th C. AD
Vulgate
A Latin translation by
Jerome of the Hebrew Bible
and the New Testament.
6th C. AD
7th C. AD
English
English langauge adopts the
Roman alphabet.
8th C. AD
9th C. AD
10th C. AD
Modern Semitic
The development of the
vowel pointings that are
inserted into the text to
represent vowel sounds.
Aleppo Codex
The oldest known Hebrew

Bible, is written with the
modern Hebrew script by
Jewish Masorites.
11th C. AD
12th C. AD
13th C. AD
14th C. AD
15th C. AD
Gutenburg Bible
The first Bible, a copy of the
Latin Vulgate, printed on
moveable type.
16th C. AD
17th C. AD
King James Bible

English translation of the
Bible published.(1611).

18th C. AD
19th C. AD
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Begins a revival of the
Hebrew language for the
Jewish people.
20th C. AD
Nation of Isarel
The state of Israel is
established and Hebrew
becomes the official
language of Israel (1948).

How to Write Hebrew
By John J. Parsons
I would like to thank John J. Parsons who has designed these handwriting helps. They have
been excerpted from his web site Hebrew4Christians with his permission. If you have not
already visited his web site I highly recommend it for furthering your Hebrew studies and
learning.
Aleph
Beyt
Gimel
Dalet
Hey
Vav

Zayin
Hhet
Tet
Yud
Kaph
Final Kaph
Lamed

Mem
Final Mem
Nun
Final Nun
Samehh
Ayin
Pey

Final Pey
Tsade
Final Tsade
Quph
Resh
Shin
Tav

AHRC helps bring Paleo-Hebrew back to life in Jerusalem
On May 18, 2009, I received the following E-mail from Saul A. Fox about the
Archaeological Garden in Jersusalem;
Dear Mr. Benner-
Thank you so much for opening my mind. Your teachings inspired me to add Paleo-Hebrew
to the dedication inscriptions that now stands in front of the Archeological Garden
constructed at the Knesset. Paleo-Hebrew is now alive again in Jerusalem at the very center
of the reestablished State of Israel.
Below is my dedication speech.
Thank you again. You have made Paleo-Hebrew live again in Jerusalem.
Most sincerely,
Saul Fox
The Archeological Garden in the Knesset | Peace be within thy Palaces | Jerusalem
Antiquities in the Knesset
Speech Presented by: Saul A. Fox (May, 5th 2009)
My family feels extraordinarily fortunate to have been asked by the Israel

Antiquities Authority to assist in a small way with the construction of this
magnificent archeological garden, truly an un-walled museum, exemplifying the
history of the land of Israel, here in the very midst of Jerusalem, our sacred ancient
capital and the holiest of cities, affixed to the Knesset the most significant Jewish
edifice of our era where we, the children of Israel, having returned from compelled
dispersion to liberate and resettle the Promised Land and having reestablished Israel
as a nation among the nations, through prodigious and arduous efforts and sacrifice,
democratically and righteously govern our own affairs.

Paleo-Hebrew as part of the Dedication Plaque at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 2009

Edenics: Origins of Languages
By Isaac Mozeson
Introduction
"I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord to
serve him with one consent." - Zephaniah 3:9
If the link between the ear and the sense of balance is a relatively recent medical discovery,
why is it that the ancient Hebrew language has the same linguistic root for both words?
Science fiction, or science fact? Is Hebrew the first human language?
Only Hebrew language dynamics with its built-in synonym and antonym system explains
why LeaF and FoLio (LF=FL) mean the same, or why a person who knows Hebrew well can
fully understand English, Basque or Swahili.
The majesty of Hebrew is only faintly visible in its offspring. Yet, some continue to maintain
that most words are random, meaningless symbols which evolved from your basic caveman
grunting.
Hebrew, with its right brain/left brain neurological keyboard demonstrates that Greek and
Latin are merely grandparents, while Hebrew is the common ancestor, the original computing
language of our biological random access memory, which was scrambled during the output
stage by the Master Prog rammer (Tower of Babel story in Genesis).
Don't worry if you have never heard a word in Hebrew or read anything on language, you
will soon find out that you have never heard a word that wasn't Hebrew.
While the spelling of biblical words is highly significant, much meaning is lost to those who
ignore the sound-alike letter substitution -- one aspect of the divine music that remains
unattainable to those who rely solely on available translations. One special aspect of biblical
craft remains lost in translation to Greek, Latin, or English.
The language disk in our brain is formatted for language. A unique neurological disturbance
may be involved in a phenomenon which allows patients with multiple personalities and
people who "speak in tongues" a mysterious facility with unlearned languages.
To uncover the true miracle of language and understanding, we must go on an archeological

dig. We must remove the sands of millenia and put away the dictionaries with their quaint
myths of standaraized spelling and pronunciation.
The Hebrew etymon breaks the cherished icons of the high priests of voodoo linguistics and
secular humanism -- as exemplified in the polygensis theory of language origin, that
languages evolved independently. Why do peoples with divergent grammars, the Maya, the
Chinese, the Persians and the Greco-Romans, have variations of the Bible's Tower of Babel
account or The Flood? Hebrew's extensively related synonyms and antonyms, along with its
modular, reversible two-letter roots, represents a profound system of language that resembles
the organicism of natural science rather than the product of human development.

Through the primal Hebrew root hidden behind every English word, a whole new world of
order and meaning unfolds.
I shall be providing for this column samples of words from many languages, not just English
(where I have 23,000 examples), to reveal their ultimate origin in the language of our first
ancestors, Adam and Eve. I call this original language Edenic, combining Proto-Semitic roots
defined in Biblical Hebrew and other Semitic languages. Besides the usual skepticism from
Eurocentrics, more intelligent opponents correctly cite that many coincidences result from
there being so few different sounds in the human mouth. True, one may say there only seven
basic letters, since all vowels, lip letters (plosives b,f, p, v, w), gutturals (hard c, g, h, j, k, q,
x), tooth letters (dentals d, t), liquids (l,r), nasals (m,n) The trouble with this mathematical
objection to my findings (say, linking SKUNK to TSaKHaN, stinker) is that there are a
billion billion things/meanings in the universe and I am not linking SKUNK to a word that
means giraffe, cupboard, them or heavy.
I want to land a major blow before going several rounds and taking you through lists of
common or exotic words and introducing you to their long-lost ancestors (lost since the big
bang at Babel, though language corruption continues today, ask anyone in the inner city.) A
great deal of work has been done tracing the thousand of languages back to only a dozen
superfamilies. For example, Stanford professor JosephH. Greenberg proved that there were
only three major American Indian languages, and that the hundreds of "languages" counted in
1985 were merely dialects. Greenberg's work involved comparative vocabulary, like my own.
He was furiously attacked by historical linguists until genetic studies with DNA (similar to
the work that proved all homo sapiens derive from one initial "Eve") precisely corroborated
his findings both on Native American and African languages.
In Merritt Ruhlen's 1994 book, The Origin of Language (Wiley, NY) there is a chart (page
103) of the best preserved/reconstructed words from a dozen of the planet's language
families. I will attempt to demonstrate that Edenic words provide the clearest origin for these
terms, and should not merely be classified as one branch of the Afro-Asiatic family -- which
includes Semitic. Letters A, B, and C refer to the African language families called Khosian,
Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Kordofanian. D, being Afro-Asiatic and including Hebrew, is the
only family where a Semitic source should fit. Language family E is Kartevilian and F is
Dravidian (India). G is Eurasiatic (includes Latinate, Germanic and Slavic), H is Dene-
Caucasian (includes Chinese). Further from Europe is I (Austric), J (Indo-Pacific), K
(Australian) and L (Amerind). In one example, only families B and F do not have an M-
vowel or M-N word for "what?" Four of the groups have MA for "what?" In other words
Hebrew Ma (what) is the most popular form of "what?" on the planet. Four other families
have an M-N term, like the manna of Exodus 16:15 "for they said to one another 'What is it?'"
M-N "what?" terms exist in Amorite and Old Arabic; Aramaic has a similar word meaning
"who?" The above example may have disappointed you for not having an English term
offering the shock of the familiar. It disappointed me, because the Edenic fit too easily, as if
dispersed mankind clearly remembered the word from Eden rather than used Edenic roots to
form a new word slightly "confused" (BiLBaiL since being BaLLed up in the linguistic
mixing BowL of Babel) version.
The next example is all about BiLBaiL (confusion). Eight of the twelve language families
have a B-L (P-L or B-R) word for "two," since two infers the ambiguous, confusing
challenge of multiple alternatives. (As opposed to one; more than two is already a quantity,

not a dilemma.) Two, twain, twin, German zwei or Latin duo are familiar, but they do get
reconstructed to the most common Euriasiatic "two" - which is ALA. The Edenic sources for
these familiar "two" words include TeoM (twin) and Du- (two, a Hebrew prefix from
Aramaic). Besides BaLaL (to mix up), there is BaLooL (blended), the BL root suffixed to
IRBaiL (to mix, cause to whirl, confuse) or the words for casting lots: HiPeeL PuR (Esther
3:7). Now you know why REVOLVING BALLS or pelotas (Spanish), blended BALLET
movements, choosing by BULLET or BALLOT is as much a BL/BR term of confusion as is
the incoherent BABBLE of BARBARIANS (as heard by Latin speakers). You probably don't
know that two is mbili in Swahili, and so you'd still like to see a primordial Eurasiatic term
that you could recognize in English.
The next Eurasiatic word in Ruhlen's chart of the oldest and most common words in every
corner of Earth is "ak(w)a" (water) - which you will recognize in words like AQUATIC. The
first time lower water appears in Genesis (1:9) it is [Ye]KaVoo haMaYiM (the waters
gather). A MiKVA is a pool of water because water finds its level, and the two-letter root KV
or QV means a line or measuring line. People waiting on a British QUE (line), living near the
EQUATOR or waiting to live with EQUALITY aspire to the linear quality of Edenic water.
Seven of the twelve language families have some form of Kuf-Vav term for water. The
reconstructed terms for water in those groups that do not use the Edenic root for AQUA-
words, prefer other Edenic roots, like those found in MaYiM (water), NaHaR (river) and
RaToV (wet). If you could taste WET, WATER and VODKA in the Resh-Tet (R/WR-T/D)
of this last Edenic word than you should be helping with the research.
The remaining examples are of less interest to those who want to hear Edenic echoes in
English. To fly through them, the world's dominant Dental-Guttural term for "one" or
"finger" (seen in DIGIT) is KhaD (the Aramaic one, like EKHaD, one, which should be read
backwards), the world's most popular word for "arm" links up to KaNeH (source of CANE
and used for the arm of a lampstand), the top (and related to SUMMIT) "hair" term is
traceable to ZeMeR (wool, animal hair), "smell" words are scented from the S-M root of
Edenic words for spices and incense, and, lastly, one has to pluck the PR root of the Edenic
bird (ZiPPOR is the source of SPARROW), the flea, the butterfly and the word for departing,
fleeing and scattering to catch the PR term of flight that most world languages share. Many
decades before this immense research was available, linguists knew that words like MAMA,
PAPA and SACK were nearly universal. Rather than turning to their biblical EMA or ABBA
(mom and pop), the anti-Semiticists put their heads in a SaQ (sack), cried "coincidence" or
concocted theories.
Animal Names from Eden
"..And Adam called out names to for all the beasts, for the birds of the sky and all the living
things of the field..." Genesis 2:20
The bible places a profound emphasis on the naming of every person, place or thing. What's
in a name? Everything, apparently. Semites are named for the son of Noah named SHeM
(name). The name is the essence of the thing, its SHAY-Ma or reputation. Commentaries
have much to say about each unknown person in a list of begats and begots or each unknown,
one cametotown on the journey to somewhere else. Reputation -- or name -is something to
live for or die for to a Semite. No less than the supreme deity is referred to by the Jews as

HaShem, The Name. The name of an animal is therefore far more than an echoic device for
identification. If the chinese call a cat something like a meow (it sounds much like it) and if
we've named a bird a Chickadee (after its call) --these are sure signs that the creature was not
named at Eden by our first human ancestors.
None of the animals are so specialized that a sub-species is named in the bible. All primordial
animal names are generic: Bird or Raven, and even the "children of the raven" (Psalms ) --but
never Crow, Blackbird or Grackle. Gen 2:19-20 Seals in Middle East? SEECATCH.
Otherwise, general terms like /TSAKHAN so the Algonquin Indians could name their stinker
(the skunk).
"Who Named the Animals?" Where did animal names come from? According to the bow-
wow theory, all words are echoic, some grunting caveman's attempt to capture the essence of
a thing by it's sound. Among the many thousands of animal names, however, only a few
creatures like the chickadee have an echoic name. Even in Chinese, where the cat word
sounds like "meow meow," echoic names are the exception. A larger set of animal names are
clearly descriptive, like the grasshopper or hippopotamus (Greek for river horse). Most of the
older, more generic animal names have unknown origins, suggesting that the bow-wow
theory is for the dogs. Now the world's oldest etymological text is the last place that an
academic would look, but Genesis 2:20 relates that "Adam called out names for all the beasts,
for the birds of the sky and all the living things of the field..." Let us see if Biblical Hebrew
offers any insights into animal names of unknown origin and meaning.
The carrion-eating BUZZARD is traced only as far back as Old French busart, a word
without apparent cognate or meaning. In Hebrew, BuZ means a hawk and BeeZa spoils (of
war). BoZeZ would mean the plunderer or looter, while a BuZiaR is a falconer. Unlike the
EAGLE (from oKHeL, to eat or destroy), the BUZZARD is merely a scavenger who
emBeZZles WaSte or BooTy. (These BZ, BT and W-ST words are related to our Bet-Zayin
family of words of plunder).
The Kiowa plains Indians named this same bird a bosen for good reason. If you think the
GIRAFFE is a strange animal, check out its wierd (given) etymology. French girafe and
Italian giraffa is aid to be a corruption of Arabic zirafah, although the term is meaningless is
Arabic too and a G from a Z corruption is unnatural.. Using Emetology instead of etymology,
one could suppose that zirafah is a common jumble (called metathesis in linguistics and relat!
ed to the neurological disorder called dyslexia) of Hebrew [T]ZaVaR (neck). While Adam or
any ancient human would do well to call the GIRAFFE a "neck" creature, the Hebrew term
stresses the throat or front of the neck rather than the GIRAFFE's prominent back or scruff of
the neck. The Hebrew for this part of the anatomy is OReF, more correctly pronounced by
Sephardim as KHoReF or GHoReF. Now we've got the perfect sound and sense for
GIRAFFE, since GHoReF means the scruff of the neck. Like SCARF, SCRUF is a neck word
whose initial S is non-historic.
Any word with more than 3 root letters in Hebrew or any language is carrying extra baggage
around the root or roots. These CRF neck words come from Biblical Hebrew KHoReF (neck)
just like the CRAVat (necktie). A related Gimel-Resh term, GaRoN (throat, neck) gives us
other long-necked animals, like the CRANE, EGRET and HERON, along with neckwear like
the GORGEOUS GORGET, the throaty GROAN of a CROONer and the GARGLING of a
GOURMET GARGOYLE.

Returning to animals and addressing the interchangeable C/G/H/K sounds above, both the
Hebrew Ayin and the Gimel are gutturals that can harden to make the hard C of Latin corvus
(raven) and French corbeau (raven) or soften to make the soft H of Anglo-Saxon hraefn
(raven). Do these disparate Indo-European cousins meet when linked to a common Semitic
ancestor? The Hebrew raven is an OReV or KHoReBH (Ayin-Resh-Bet). Etymologists don't
have to dig far to get true word origins, but they refuse to consider Hebrew. The prolific
digger among American rodents (and net surfers) is the GOPHER. The given guess in our
dictionaries is an attribution to French gaufre (a honeycomb or waffle). Those who dig for a
true source will consider Hebrew KHoPHeR (digger).
Now a HORSE is a horse of course, and of course there is no known meaning for this term. It
doesn't relate to the German horse (Pferd, a knock-off of the Hebrew PHeReD or mule) or the
Latin equs (an echo of Hebrew AQeV--heel or HooF). The mystery unraveled when I noticed
the similarity of HORSE and HEARSE (a funeral wagon named for an elaborate plow).
Unlike their Continental forbears, the British plowed with horses instead of oxen. The horse
was the plower, and plower in Hebrew is HoReS[H]. The Americans continued the awkward
tradition of plowing with a horse, which needs blinders and constant attention. The God-
given plowing animal is clearly the SHoRe (ox), witch innately knows how to plow a SHuRa
[Ya]SHaR (straight row or SuRe SeRies). True, the ox doesn't sound like the ShoRe at all,
but Aramaic constantly corrupted the Hebrew Shin to a T, later giving us the Latin taurus
(bull) and Spanish toro. Reject the bull and discover a world of meaning-- with the majesty
and science of! Hebrew.
The ABCs of Creation
In my 20 year-project on words, I am confirming that sound is sense, and that human

vocabulary (all variants of the original Edenic - Hebrew plus proto-Semitic roots) is from the
same creator of physics and chemistry. I was taught otherwise in graduate English studies,
that words derived from the evolved grunting of cavemen. I did learn that all spelling is a late
and arbitrary convention, although most skeptics and agnostics seem to think that dictionaries
were carved in stone and any creative variations are a sacrilege.
My thesis is as old as Genesis 11, yet my work remains radical (pun intended). As a root
doctor, I seek sub-roots, and follow the shifts in sound and space of each root letter. I mostly
listen to phonemes, the sound of two root letters combined. Anything longer than two letters
is a combination of meaning elements, just as anything including H2O has been added to
water. I have not done much with the history or shape of the Torah's alphabet/Aleph-Bet.
There are books on the mystical symbolism and meaning of each letter, and I defer and refer
you to them. They are largely homiletic, symbolic, or kabalistic. I have been challenged to
consider questions about the origin of writing and of the design of the Torah's Aleph-Bet
from a more scientific perspective.
The earliest Hebrews spoke Hebrew, but we may never know if the patriarchs had the Torah's
Aleph-Bet, which bears little resemblance to the ancient hieroglyph alphabets of the Middle
East. The Semitic 8th Century B.C. alphabet is far more evident in the English and Greek
alphabets (the Z or L is identical), while sometimes the glyph must be rotated (the glyph for
an ox or aleph is an A fallen to the left). These Aleph-bets were so common that most (non-
clerical)Israelites used the wavy line of mayim (water) seen in the English letter M. That the

hieroglyphic letters did not evolve to the Torah letters is evident, for example, from the
ancient B (the English b turned on its head) not resembling the Bet. The Ktav Ashurit of the
Torah was only standardized by Ezra in the 2nd Temple period, when the Semitic aleph-bet
was in decline and Hebrew might otherwise be recorded in Greek letters. Non-scribes would
have surely forgotten the sacred Aleph-bet, as happened to venerable alphabets in India and
Japan.
Unique among ancient writing systems, the Torah's Aleph-Bet, or Ktav Ashurit, depicts the
shape of the human mouth and air flow necessary to pronounce each letter.
Bet, like Pey, is a graphic of the human lips, or what linguists call a bilabial plosive. What is
the only difference between the similar looking Bet and Pay?
The Pay indicates muscular stress on the upper lip - precisely that which differentiates a P
sound from a B. Mem and Nun in Ktav Ashurit are not graphics snakes or water. They do
both have the backward L graphic of a nose. (O.K., not a little Dutch nose; we are talking
Semitic.) If these two nasals (in linguistics) are noses, why is there the whole C-like or Bet-
like structure to the right of the Mem? Unlike N, one needs a closed mouth behind the nasal
to make the M sound. M is a nasal, but it also uses the nearly closed lips.
Liquids (L and R) are interchangeable in linguistics (ask any Asian), and so the Lamed and
Resh nearly look alike. Both letters show the tongue curled upward in an open mouth. The
crucial difference between them is the Lamed's upward extension, indicating the tip-of-
tongue stress on the roof of the mouth. Daled and Tet are another good pair, of
interchangeable sounds called Dentals. In both the tongue is stiffly vertical to the teeth ridge.
The difference between D and T is the solid engagement of the top, indicated by the Daled's
T-like axis, and the slight gap and quicker, lighter engagement of the teeth ridge by the
(ironically) D-like Tet.
Gutturals Het, Kof and Kuf indicate air being forced out harshly. The Hey and Het are most
identical and are easiest to sound out the difference between a similar sound with air expelled
openly and with ease or closed to make that guttural noise. Pull the leg of the Hey and you
get a Kuf. Go deeper in the throat to pronounce the deeper guttural. What about the whistling
sibilants like Zayin, Samech and Shin? The tongue is positioned for Zayin almost like a
Dalet; the two similar letters are linked in some languages, so that AUDIENCE , an ADN
term, came from AZN, OzeN,the Hebrew ear. The tongue closes a circle for the Samech,
while air streams out from both sides of the upraised tongue for the Shin and Sin. Thus the
graphic resembling two air streams split by the upraised tongue in the middle of the mouth.
The unique alphabet that diagrams the movements in the human mouth spells out words in
the one language where synonyms and antonyms sound alike because they were engineered
as matter and anti-matter. (A poor strategy for words to evolve by humans for mere semantic
utility.) For example: While Samech-Vav-Resh , SVR, SooR means to stray from the straight
and narrow (source of SWERVE), Shin-Vav-Resh-Hey, SH-V-R-H, ShooRaH means a row
or straight line (source of SERIES). Like-sounding synonyms include YaSHaR, straight
(source of SHEER).
Once a two-letter root or phoneme is isolated with a meaning, one can even play with the
sub-root on the Aleph-bet keyboard. For example, Bet-Lamed meansintertwined, as in BaLaL
(to mix or BALL up), Babel and BABBLE. Let's build on BL, just as one can make water by

adding oxygen atoms to hydrogen. We'll go up the piano scale of intensity as we add
gutturals to Bet-Lamed. (1) GeBHel is a plait or braid, (2) HeBHeL is a string or rope, and
(3) KeBHeL is a very strong rope or cable (Yes, of course it's the source of CABLE). We
went up the keyboard of gutterals, Gimmel to Khet to Khuf, just as we intensified the
interweaving threads of the semantics.
Granted, then, Hebrew may be the most venerable and unique language we currently know,
and, together with data showing how it links to all human vocabularies better that Indo-
European roots, Nostratic or other laboratory concoctions, it may be a leading candidate for
the language of creation. Even if one speculates that Adam and Eve were programmed with
Hebrew as their computing language, and that this Urshprache got scrambled into
superfamilies in a Big Bang at Babel (which de-evolved over the millennia to thousands of
dialects), how did the first Hebrew get Hebrew? Was not the language of Eden and the
Aleph-Bet lost in the mixing BOWL (another BL term of confusion)? In fact, isn't it true that
Abraham's family spoke a Mesopotamian language that was not Hebrew? These are good
questions that I have been forced to ponder.
I will dispense with legends about angels teaching Abraham Hebrew, and presume that the
Hebrews were literate well before phrases were carved in stone for them at Sinai. Joseph, for
instance, was invaluable to his bosses for the same reason that Jews were the accountants of
pre-Europe Europe. They had the magic of counting and spelling in letters. Only Hebrew has
letters that are numbers. PhDs in Biblical literature who are unfamiliar with the numerical
values of key phrases are only skimming the surface of the Hebrew text. That's why a shpiel,
even a good shpiel like the Go-SPELL, is from SaPHeR (to count). That's why an accounting
(retelling) is like counting. Perhaps literacy knew the first Cro-Magnon from Adam. My data
shows that Adam's names for even distant animals seem to have stuck. (SKUNK only means
stinker in Hebrew; many more at my web site.) The first language and perhaps this
biologically correct alphabet should have made it to the deluge.
The flood survivors were not likely to forget their language, and may even have had some
writings equivalent to the alphabet-learning cuneiform shards found in the ancient Near East.
It is conjectured that Shem (the first Semite) taught the antediluvian language to Abraham.
They shared fifty years of life, and I visited the Galilee cave where this learning is thought to
have taken place. Abraham did not need to learn just any language, but he might be taught
readin', writin' and 'rithmatic with the Ktav Ashurit if it were something special and worth
preserving.
It would not matter if carbon 14 dating of Sumerian shards are earlier than Abraham's Late
Bronze Age. Hieroglyphic systems are certainly older than any widespread use of Ktav
Ashurit, but it may be that the Aleph-Bet was quietly passed down the generations, from
Adam to Shem, from Abraham to a baby crying in a Tel Aviv street. The proof is in the
pudding. There is far too much intelligent architectonics in Hebrew and its Aleph-Bet for it to
produced by humans. If one is uncomfortable with the concept of a superhuman who created
Mother Nature, this natural alphabet and language, then at least consider an extraterrestrial
designer. I suspect that those who still believe that language is the evolved grunting of
cavemen may need to step out into the light and study the topic a bit deeper.

Alphabet Chart

Ibrani Kuno

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ibrani Kuno

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Ancient Hebrew

Please feel free to use, copy or distribute any

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... 2

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 2

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 3

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 4

In the beginning Elohiym filled the sky and

"In the beginning was ..."

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 5

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 6

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 7

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is

The need to learn Hebrew

My introduction to the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet

One day I saw a newspaper article about an ostraca (a broken

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 8

My introduction to Ancient Hebrew Thought

The Ancient Hebrew Research Center

To assist me with my Hebrew education I began creating my own dictionary. Through a

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 9

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 10

In September of 2007 A Mechanical Translation of the Book of Genesis , the first

Mechanical Translation: and~ he~ will~ Fatten "Elohiym [Powers]" At

The Greek Influence of the Hebrew Scriptures

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 11

Putting it all together

The rest is up to you

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 12

"Writing," Smith's Bible Dictionary, 1987 ed.: 327.

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 13

Ancient Language and Origins

John Philip Cohane The Key, (N.Y., Crown Publishers, 1969)

Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensia

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 14

The Wadi El-Hhol inscription

Ancient inscription from Serabit El-Khadim

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 15

The Siloam Inscription

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 16

Text from an 11th Century Masoretic Hebrew Bible

Text from a Modern Hebrew Bible

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 17

In 1905, Flinders Petrie, a renowned Egyptologist and pioneer in modern archeology,

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 18

It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt.

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 19

Blessed be Abram of the most high God,

The Characteristics of the Early Alphabet

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 20

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 21

Old Hebrew and the Samaritan Alphabet

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 22

Old Hebrew and the Phoenician Alphabet

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 23

Old Hebrew and the Aramaic Alphabet

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 24

Old Hebrew and the Greek Alphabet

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 25

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 26

Early Middle Late Modern

History & Reconstruction

[February 2017/Shevat 5777] Page 27

Semitic Script Charts