The Revival of Hebrew? (1879-1908)

PATREON: / samaronow
MERCH: usefulcharts.com/collections/...
BOOK: amzn.to/3dIsHvz
TIPS: www.paypal.me/samaronow
Che Languages:
@CheLanguages
Maps by Omniatlas:
omniatlas.com/
Sources:
Aidan Beatty
"Language Politics: Comparing Irish Nationalism and Zionism"
History Ireland, Vol. 26, No. 1
www.jstor.org/stable/90017338
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
"An Honorable Question"
HaShahar, 18 March 1879
benyehuda.org/read/257
Arie M. Dubnov
"Itamar Ben-Avi: the Strange Life of Israel's First Native Hebrew Speaker"
Jewish Quarterly, No. 249
jewishquarterly.com/articles/...
Jack Fellman
"Concerning the 'Revival' of the Hebrew Language"
Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 15, No. 5
www.jstor.org/stable/30029347
Ofra Tirosh-Becker
"Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and Algerian Jews: Relationship and Language"
Arabic and Semitic Languages Contextualized
www.academia.edu/35336130/Eli...
0:00 Intro
0:59 Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Hebrew with Che Languages
4:35 The Literary Revival of Hebrew
6:35 Ben-Yehuda’s Early Life
8:29 The Method for Modernization
11:11 Becoming Ben-Yehuda
14:30 Ben Yehuda vs. the Old Yishuv
20:10 To Be Continued…

[@moshecallen]

My first day living in Israel, I walked around with my Ben-Yehuda dictionary in hand. I was looking for a hot plate. I looked it up and the dictionary said "luach bishul". So I asked to buy a luach bishul. I got stares of bewilderment. Perhaps, I thought, my accent is off. After all, it was my first day. So I showed them the word in the dictionary. Still, only puzzlement. Finally, somebody said, "Hu rotzeh plata!" ["He wants a 'plata''!"] I got want I wanted. The next thing I bought was a more modern dictionary.

[@SamAronow]

The same thing happened to me after picking up a Japanese-English dictionary from 1910.

[@2MinuteHockey]

@@SamAronow Poland used to be the Jewish capital of the world and was synonymous with "being Jewish" despite also being a Catholic and Tatar Muslim country... how tragically that all changed and that history utterly propagandized and erased

[@MrSuperwim]

@@2MinuteHockey what?

[@2MinuteHockey]

@@MrSuperwim Poland used to be the Jewish capital of the world and was synonymous with "being Jewish" despite also being a Catholic and Tatar Muslim country... how tragically that all changed and that history utterly propagandized and erased

[@TheFlappening]

​@@2MinuteHockeywhat?

[@CheLanguages]

It was a pleasure to work with you on this Sam, languages being my passion and being Jewish a huge part of my identity, I am honored to have helped with this video. Great video on your part!

[@miles8456]

Your part was awesome! So clean

[@CheLanguages]

@@miles8456 thank you!

[@tzvi7989]

Love how you even pronounced the pharyngeals properly! Wish we could go back to doing so in modern Hebrew

[@CheLanguages]

@@tzvi7989 thank you! I pronounce Ayin in Hebrew, mainly because my partner is Mizrakhi so I kinda imitate her speech

[@QuandaleDingleGoofyAhh123]

Awesome part Che!

[@hix1013]

Coptic Egyptian here, just wanted to say Ive been subscribed for a while, and I really appreciate this channel I admire the Jewish people for reviewing Hebrew, I hope one day the same could be done with the Coptic language !.. ✌️

[@dmitrygaltsin2314]

Coptic absolutely deserves that!

[@ASMM1981EGY]

Coptic already means Egyptian; Coptic Muslim, Coptic Jew, Coptic Catholic, Coptic atheist: religion has nothing to do with nationality or ethnicity. You mean you're Christian Egyptian.

[@TheFlappening]

@@ASMM1981EGY Coptic is an ethnicity, egyptian is a nationality

[@ASMM1981EGY]

@@TheFlappening Of course it's igno🌹rant to say being Finnish is a nationality not an ethnicity. Get yourself educated, Coptic already means Egyptian in Latin and ancient Greek languages. There's a Coptic Muslim, Coptic Jew, Coptic Catholic, Coptic atheist: religion has nothing to do with ethnicity.

[@TheFlappening]

@@ASMM1981EGY Copts are a distinct ethnicity from egyptian arabs, they're not the same thing. Also, research ethnoreligions

[@SionTJobbins]

As a Welshman and Welsh speaker,🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 the Hebrew revival is a great inspiration to us. We adapted the Ulpan to our Wlpan in the 1970s. The Hebrew language is the main defining feature of the Israeli state as every citizen speaks it whatever their religion or politics. It's the one thing which unites everyone. Don't allow English to supplant it. Having said that, I wish Ben Yehuda had simplified, or rather, made the modern Hebrew alphabet consistent and adopted vowels! Very difficult to read Hebrew if you don't already speak it. One small request, can you keep the quotations and maps up for longer so we have time to read them?

[@SamAronow]

I don't think English is at risk of replacing Hebrew, considering it was never established as a primary language here. I think that's the main challenge facing other language revivals. Because of the time period, my default point of comparison is Irish. Most people in Ireland already spoke English, most of the Irish diaspora was in English-speaking countries, and English literature had already developed a central place in Irish culture that no language had in the Jewish world. I'm less familiar with Welsh culture (if more familiar with the language itself), but I imagine it's much the same there.

[@secallen]

@SamAronow Welsh is in a very similar situation - as is Gaelic in Scotland. There are small pockets where people take it seriously, otherwise it's just for show on road signs, etc. But then Gaelic too was a 'foreign colonial settler' language that only arrived in Scotland 1500 years ago, displacing whatever British languages were in its path (including our version of 'Welsh').

[@ems4884]

You've got to get the Southern Welsh to speak it, then Welsh will thrive again. Honestly, it might be necessary to borrow ideas from Quebec.

[@SamAronow]

Look for the part of the video where my native accent slips out! CORRECTION: It's not _that_ asinine to translate "kadima" as "east," since "kedma" is an archaic term for "east" in Hebrew. However, Yonas spelled out the "i" sound, so it still wasn't tremendously credible, especially in the context of the essay.

[@MichaBerger]

You mean every time you pronounce the name of the kingdom you and I descend from (and the second word of Eliezer's chosen surname) as though it referred to a small green incredibly adept Jedi? (Just teasing. But your "Ben-Yehudah" did consistently sound like "Ben-Yoda" to my ear.)

[@oaktree__]

You mean how you say "yɪshʊv" instead of "yishuv"?

[@andoreh]

Ye-ooda instead of Yehuda(h) right?

[@oaktree__]

@@andoreh No, that's fine actually (in Modern Hebrew)

[@navetal]

@@andoreh I knew a couple of people called Yehuda who would be called "Yooda" as a nickname so that's not THAT bad.

[@urplereen]

They beat a small boy unconscious, and killed his dog, because his dad had only taught him Hebrew? The fudge!?

[@SamAronow]

Well, in the greater scheme of things, yes. But their claimed justification was that they took offense to the name of the dog, _Maher,_ since they thought it was _Meir_ and that it had been named after one of their rabbis as an insult. FWIW, shit like this does occasionally still happen in Israel. I daresay it's actually becoming more and more common.

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

That's religious radicalism and extreme conservatism. It is still very common in Israel. Frequently and directly confronting police forces on stuff that others may consider as very minor issues. Like a cell phone store that sells Kosher phones, but are not approved by a very certain Rabbinate of a certain sect. Those incidents can potentially happen in NYC too, but there, the communities that want to be completely isolated - can do that more successfully.

[@SamAronow]

@@user-gr9fq9gt9w There was also the recent attacks on a Conservative synagogue in the Golan and on a Christian cemetery in Jerusalem. I fear for this country. There are a lot of problems we should have dealt with at the time of independence. We never achieved civic religion.

[@romeyjondorf]

@@SamAronow What is becoming more common?

[@CheLanguages]

@@SamAronow recently I heard of a group of Chasidim who abused their own child because he was born with Down Syndrome. It's really sad what some Ultra-Orthodoksim do

[@navetal]

19:08 I wouldn't call the tranlation of "Kadima" as "the east" instead of "forward" as baseless, as "Kadima"/"Kedma" was how the direction "east" was commonly called in the bible. It's even referenced in HaTikva - "Ul'fa'atei Mizrah, Kadima". In a similar manner "Westwards" was sometimes called "backwards" (which is why the mediterranean was sometimes called "Yam Ha'ahron" - the sea of the back), "southwards" was "rightwards" (which is a possible etymology for the name of the land of Yemen at the southmost end of the Arabian peninsula - Yamin = right/south) and "northwards" was "leftwards" (which I cannot think of an example for right now but I'm sure there is one somewhere.) So while it's clearly not the intended meaning, I can see how one COULD translate "gather strength and move forward" as "gather an army and march eastward".

[@SionTJobbins]

Interesting. Also interesting that the Welsh words for north and south also mean left and right. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@SamAronow]

@@SionTJobbins Maybe Matt Gray is secretly Welsh.

[@dmitrygaltsin2314]

they did it out of spite, not out of linguistics.

[@NP1066]

With regards to the 'north' being leftwards (as opposite to the south - rightwards - yamin) Arabic is exactly what you're looking for as an example. As the name for Syria in Arabic is al-Sham (closely related to the word for left - shimal) and in classical Arabic Islamic literature meaning "the land to the left" (bilad al-sham) as opposed to bilad al-yaman (yemen) "the land to the right".

[@arielruzitsky4510]

19:08 well the word 'kadima' can legitimately be translated as 'to the east' as the root of the word K-D-M in the bible was used to describe the east "tsafona va'negba, yama va'kedma"(north and south, west and east.

[@AssyrianFire]

Love the use of the first Assyrian flag as the choice for Aramaic, I have that flag hanging in my room at the moment.

[@AssyrianFire]

@@chimera9818 Absolutely right, we are the only group to still speak it as our first, however there are some Jews that speak it as their first language as well. But they are mislabeled as “Kurdish Jews” unfortunately.

[@AssyrianFire]

@@chimera9818 thank you, much appreciated, I hope they will learn more of about us in Israel

[@joaoribeiro5938]

@@AssyrianFire Aramaic used to be the ligua franca (universal language) of the middle east.

[@JacobIX99]

There are many verses in the Bible that has mixture of Aramaic and Hebrew. I know both Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, two important languages for the Judean people.

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

11:04 "By coincidence" Those are the most spoken languages in Israel. But those are mainly slang words that we won't use in a seriously like in articles or books.

[@wordart_guian]

hence "spoken"

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

@@wordart_guian Well yeah, but when we speak formally, we don't use slang words.

[@acorn00]

As a Korean, we went through a similar history. Korean language was regulated and banned during Japanese rule as an assimilation policy, but the scholars and patriots succeed to preserve their own language.

[@Londonistan_Calling]

Only in the final few years under Imperialist rule*

[@brianross9753]

The vav consecutive was lost way before the 16th century. Even by the Mishnaic period it has been lost. The verb tenses also changed significantly between the Biblical and Mishnaic periods. These changes didn’t all occur in the 16th century in Safed.

[@SonofLiberty-zw7op]

What great detail to fill out my simple understanding. Great teaming...lots of knowledge packed in to one vid. Really appreciate your work and effort.

[@mammuchan8923]

Most fascinating, I consider myself lucky to have stumbled across the channel

[@ancienbelge]

I never got a straight answer to why Israel adopted the Hebrew pronunciation it did - the half-baked theory our ulpan teacher told us was that they considered the Yemenite pronunciation most authentic, then proceeded to simplify away the features that would have been impossible for Ashkenazim and European Sephardim to reproduce. I was completely unaware of the Algiers connection of EBY - toda rabba for explaining this!

[@QuandaleDingleGoofyAhh123]

Wow I learnt so much here! Great video

[@nikolavideomaker]

Thank you for your youtube channel! I Randomly your video was recommended to me 1 hour after uplaod and I am glad it was. I have zero connection to jews, but recently I have been interested in Jewish history,, but I couldn't get past the ways that authors portray the Jews, either as victims, demons or as exotic superior people, a very sincere thank you for humanising your people in the eyes of a stranger . Already binging through your channel.

[@damianmccoy6128]

Absolutely fascinating, thank you!

[@nataliesirota2611]

Thank you Sam Aronow and Che Languages for this wonderful video on the "revival" and development of modern Hebrew!

[@Fgjmnz]

Incredible video Sam! I’m curious if you’ll ever do a video on Judeo-Spanish/Ladino as I know there’s been a recent push in reviving/standardizing it and it’s so interesting. Keep up the incredible work!

[@bbenezra1169]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@teddyboragina6437]

it jut occurred to me that this series will end one day. that will be a sad day.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

19:08 The incident recalls to mind a video I watched called _Star War: The Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West_ (a bootleg Chinese translation of _Revenge of the Sith_ translated back into English with subtitles), and the resulting dialogue changes make the film sound rather absurd and oddly humorous. Not exactly the most suitable analogy, but things can get lost in translation, so people might intentionally lose things in translation for reasons. Devices used in translation may be subject to error at times- there’s this KZbinr called _Random Typek_ who made a whole channel out of it!

[@saagisharon8595]

9:50 the word for insertion is החדרה (hachdara) from the root חדר (heder) which means "room"(as in bedroom) but "hachnasa" is the word we use for income

[@rdallas81]

Thanks.

[@BenLlywelyn]

Todah. A lot of my own channel deals with languages. This was worth my time. I don't know how far into Judaism I will go, but Hebrew as a langauge is utterly fascinating and will likely be my 5th language.

[@nicholasstephens1349]

I think this is my first visit to your channel. Very impressive and fascinating history and an equally impressive video.

[@HebaruSan]

Systematizing the creation of new words for an old "dead" language is such a delightful combination of traditionalist and progressive

[@redsamson5185]

the usage of the perfect aspect as the past tense, the imperfect as the future, and the gerund as the present is a pattern used in aramaic.

[@tesilab994]

Curious choice when talking about the Maimonides writing in Hebrew (one major work only, the Mishneh Torah) you show a frontispiece from the work Guide for the Perplexed, translated into Hebrew, but which Maimonides wrote in Arabic, like most of his work. He did write the Mishneh Torah in Hebrew to make it accessible to Jews in Europe, who did not speak Arabic.

[@DanielLLevy]

We were taught most of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's story, of course, but his fortuitous experience of the early Algerian intellectualism that was to shape much of the French cultural output in the 20th Century, was for some reason downplayed. Curricula do have time constraints and I do not blame anyone... This video is brilliant and I loved it!

[@milkoamorenoantelo3106]

Great work!

[@SandyRiverBlue]

That is a really interesting approach to expounding on an extant language. Some time ago I watched a heart surgery in South Korea and was thoroughly surprised at how many terms were in English. My understanding is that a lot of work has been done since then but the point stands.

[@micha-yi3to]

amazing video!

[@Grey000]

I'm an Orthodox Jew who's tried explaining this to people. Everyone thinks I'm being doctrinaire, but the fact is Hebrew was absolutely not purely a liturgical language. Putting aside the literature, the correspondences, Sephardim to this day use Hebrew to converse far more than Ashkenazim did. Just another detail overlooked in this simplified narrative, I suppose.

[@LordJagd]

How about the Mizrahi? Seems like they're excluded from this Ashkenazi-focused narrative too.

[@joaoribeiro5938]

@@LordJagd what do you mean ?

[@LordJagd]

@@joaoribeiro5938 I mean that the Mizrahi's use of Hebrew appears to be ignored in the general history of the language, like how Grey000 said the Sephardi were excluded too.

[@joaoribeiro5938]

@@LordJagd majority of the mizrahi are in fact Sephardic, like the abulafia family. And Ashkenazi Jews are most know in the west are due to their numbers. they are the majority outside Israel, and the large majority in USA and Europe. So naturally, they get the highlights.

[@DanielLLevy]

@@joaoribeiro5938 Definitely not true for Western Europe, which is altogether only a bit more than half Ashkenazi and perhaps not even that, with its largest Jewish community, France, being overwhelmingly Sephardi nowadays. This doesn't matter much as the differences in tradition are mere nuances originating in less than 300 years of not-entirely separate evolution, and modern Hebrew has now largely displaced Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Moroccan and a host of other Jewish parlances.

[@Alex.HFA1]

Takziv as "budget" feels inspired to me, from "Likzov", to measure out/limit. It feels so very natural.

[@LipkaPasha]

So, so good! Thank you for these videos! Also, please leave quotes up for just a bit longer! It's my one and only complaint - I'm a super fast reader but I can still only get through half of them if I'm lucky!

[@shacharh5470]

pause the video?

[@LipkaPasha]

@@shacharh5470 normally a great idea, but if you're watching on a TV via a chromecast, when you pause it the half the screen is covered!

[@flaviospadavecchia5126]

The revival of Hebrew truly is amazing! A lesson for all linguists

[@IlmarKiisk]

I've often heard mentions of Yemen's Jews, but never seen a video or read a full text on them specifically. Perhaps that could be an idea for the future? They didn't have a very small community either, so there could be enough material.

[@thomaspayne3347]

Thank you so kindly for your time and efforts to make known the language, culture,and history of the children of the Yehudim. Past and present. This was my first experience into the expression of the modern Hebrew, leading toward an accurate understanding of the influences, conditions, and trials incurred in a quest to conjoin the nation of Yisra’el into continuity of its people in their return from a near two thousand year diaspora through a renewed language… Hebrew. And it, like they, I believe are a living miracle in our time. As no other people throughout known history? Have so completely been restored. May this rich heritage carry on to their children and their children’s, children, forever! And may they never forget the promise given to them by Him in whom they received this land, blessed be He. Baruk attah, Shalom.

[@emilianohermosilla3996]

This’ fascinating!

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

19:05 "קדמה" ו"קדימה" אלה מילים שונות בתכלית!

[@Daniel-jv1ku]

Wow! You're a fantastic source for Jewish history. After I watch your videos, I feel like I have a comprehensive understanding of our history, instead of just some aspects of each story. I'll give you a 10/10 👍

[@israelilocal]

great video sam

[@jevgenijdan7328]

Hi Sam. Great Video. I know you never promise videos about something beforehand. Still, as a former Simon Dubnow Riga Jewish School student, I would like to know if there will be a seperate episode on Jewish Autonomism. I think the concept is somehow a road not taken and is not necessarily an alternative to Israel but could have been a supplement to organizing the life of the diaspora in cooperation with Israel. Keep up the great work.

[@MarkJohnson-xm6hy]

I have enjoyed the documentaries because with everything in the news and the world I thought it was important to get educated on the issues. I admire both the Hebrew people for maintaining their culture for centuries, and my faith comes from theirs.

[@jankopransky2551]

Thank you for this series! Looking forward to hear more about hebrew. And not really looking forward to when will you reach 1930's.

[@tzvi7989]

Ayy finally!

[@bobg9]

why is translating "lalechet Kadima" as "invadeing(more like going to, but an army "going" somewhere is usually an invasion) the east" so far fetched? "Kedam" is an ancient Hebrew term for "east", the word "Kadima" is used as "eastward" in the literal hebrew anthem, hativka "ולפאתי מזרח קדימה - עין לציון צופיה"

[@johnroscoe2406]

Awesome, been waiting for a new upload! Thanks Sam! I've been catching up from the start of your history videos, this is great stuff. This should be required viewing for high schoolers here in the US.

[@yuvalyeru]

IMHO this should be required viewing in schools here in Israel, especially in these turbulent times. And @Sam Aronow probably knows exactly what I'm talking about...

[@johnroscoe2406]

@@russianfans oh look a bot how nice

[@MindForgedManacle]

As your videos enter the 1900s, will the kibbutz feature into any of the videos? They always seemed fascinating to me, and maybe others might find them interesting too.

[@Ss17405168]

The ultra-orthodox were a problem then as now.

[@Artur_M.]

Yey for Yair! Che Languages has become one of my favourite channels in the last couple of months, and I discovered it thanks to your previous collaboration. Edit: Also, the whole video was immensely interesting.

[@CheLanguages]

Shalom Artur! Thank you for your kind comment!

[@isaacnewton3179]

6:30 sounds great

[@romeyjondorf]

This is awesome! It's so fun going through Jewish history with you :D

[@gabo5876]

Uncovering the reason why I've been stuck in ulpan for almost a year now

[@samhaine6804]

great video anyway

[@marksimons8861]

A master story teller!

[@abelgurfinkiel6423]

The Tapuaj Adama Story made my day? *French Accent* How should we call this? *French Accent* I mean, it is an earth apple, so how about that? GENIUS! LOL!

[@SamAronow]

Dutch also copied it.

[@weirdlanguageguy]

@@SamAronow a few german dialects have too. standard German for potato is Kartoffel, but I believe its Erdapfel in parts of Austria

[@abelgurfinkiel6423]

@@SamAronow Still hilarious! Btw love your videos! I have literaly watch them all and always looking forward for the next one. Thank you for the work you put in on them. P.S. The art style is awesome, and the music (Zelda) made my day when I found your channel! G-d bless you!

[@ems4884]

It's impressive that it was revived after so long. We should do the same with other languages

[@mtblp7459]

well qadima does sometimes means "east" / "to the east" in Biblical Hebrew

[@keithburghardt5948]

Hey Sam! I have a question not directly related to the history you have been teaching but more the maps you have created (e.g., of Jerusalem, Algiers, Paris, etc.). These would appear to be vectorized maps with building footprints or roads/block from that era. Do you base it off of older maps? How do you vectorize these maps without the tedium of hand-tracing? It would appear to be a minor question but the consistency of these maps across all of the videos have made me curious. Thank you!

[@SamAronow]

"Do you base it off older maps?" Yes. "How do you vectorize these maps without the tedium of hand-tracing?" I don't. It _is_ hand-traced.

[@omriorgad7771]

I wouldn't say the translation of קדימה (kadima) as eastward is baseless, as in old hebrew the word קדמה (kedma) meant eastward. Still absurd and likely malicious, though.

[@chcomes]

so interesting!!

[@jonyprepperisrael60]

I remember reading the book that Ben Avi wrote. I remember it was written that after a fight with some kids they sung the french song for peace and later Eliezer beaten him up for singing that. And another time Eliezer was dishearten when he heard his barely alive son, that has just been recovered from a shipwreck, talking in arabic.

[@CheLanguages]

That's really sad

[@miiiiiiiiiiii]

What a great video

[@Axlthekoopakid]

Is there a possibility you’ll cover the Beilis Trial in a future video?

[@rainer1980]

Ancient Hebrew conceptions of tense was not quite as linear in terms of how time was understood, but that can be said of several ancient forms of languages. For example, in Exodus, Ea asher ea translates as "I am that I am," but in antiquity it might have been alternatively understood as "I will be what I will be." So, it's not really nailed down in present tense. The Greeks and Romans introduced Judeo - -Christian thought to linear time.

[@electricVGC]

Just letting you know the link to Che Languages isn't working :( great video with good support

[@ignemuton5500]

An amazing video as usual. I wanted to ask whats your opinion of people today who complain about changes in the language (dropping ayin, hey and het for example) who claim that these happen due to "lazyness"

[@SamAronow]

Well the dropping of ayin was already standard in some dialects of Sephardic Hebrew by this time. But the other stuff is just normal change that happens in all languages. H is also unpronounced in...every Romance language?

[@atbing2425]

This isn't unique to Hebrew, this is literally the case regarding any language anytime anywhere. Do you pronounce the e in camera? Maybe, maybe not. It's called language change.

[@michaelweiske702]

@@SamAronow Romanian and Occitan are perhaps the last holdouts for h.

[@ignemuton5500]

@@SamAronow interesting! I didnt know about the ayin in sephardic dialects thing. Thanks again for the video it was excellent!

[@CheLanguages]

Listen to when I said "Ezra". I tend to pronounce Ayin in Modern Hebrew, but it's kinda because my partner is Mizrakhi so I imitate her speech more kshe'ani medaber be'ivrit

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

So how much difference was there between Aramaic and early Hebrew? Are we talking differences similar to dialects, or Icelandic and Norwegian, or Icelandic and German?

[@SamAronow]

Closer than Icelandic and German but further than Icelandic and Norwegian. Aramaic and Hebrew are both Northwest Semitic languages, but Hebrew is a Canaanite language and Aramaic isn't. So they're first cousins, not siblings.

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

@@SamAronow So basically like Icelandic v. Swedish I imagine. Some similarities, but distant enough that there are notable differences and it's hard to communicate. Thank you. Very interesting.

[@yeshhw8426]

Make a video about language of the old yishuv!

[@yeshhw8426]

plz

[@troelspeterroland6998]

"conversational Hebrew had already been a normal feature of life in cities like Safed for centuries". This sounds very interesting. Can you tell us more about this?

[@emill232]

I believe he already has a video on this topic from a while ago. Try searching "the Safed Circle."

[@troelspeterroland6998]

@@emill232 Thanks a lot for the tip!

[@bear9256]

What's the flag used to represent Aramaic at 10:34?

[@mtblp7459]

I have to say, all in all a very well done and fascinating video. Though I could spot a (small) number of oversimplifications or errors. For example that ashkenazi hebrew (sic!) and yemenite hebrew where closer to ancient and medieval hebrew sephardic pronounciations. Especially for ashkenazi hebrew this is very much wrong and btw according to the communis opinio of hebraists nowadays ashkenazi Hebrew developed in the very late medieval and early modern period out of sephardic hebrew. There is much evidence that the type of hebrew pronounciation used by ashkenazi Jews in the medieval age was essenitially more or less the same as sephardic hebrew (e.g. some medieval vocalized ashkenazi hebrew manuscripts frequently do mistakes that could only arise in sephardic pronounciation, but not in ashkenazi (i.e. confusing Qamats and Pata7). Also the german born medieval rabbi Asher Ben Ye7iel after moving to spain and becoming chief rabbi of Toledo never comments on differences in pronounciation despite otherwise meticiously noting differences. Furthermore what you mean by closeness to medieval pronounciations really much depends on which medieval pronounciation you are talking about. Tiberian, Palestinian or Babylonian, if we are talking about Babylonian (which is the basis of the yemenite pronounciation) or Tiberian, then yes Yemenite Hebrew is close to medieval pronounciation traditions (though not really that close to ancient pronounciations). For Ancient pronounciations however the evailable evidence (especially greek and to a lesser degree latin transcriptions of Hebrew, e.g. wittnesed by the LXX, the Secunda, etc.) resembles the sephardic pronounciation of hebrew (especially the vowel system= waaaaaaayyyyyyy closer than yemenite or even ashkenazi. Otherwise in the english language you'd find words like "Isroel" or even "Isruayl" instead of "Israel"... This is because the english names for places and personal names found in the bible normally entered english through the transcriptions of the LXX and later also latin transcriptions who where themselves influenced by the LXX....) Leaving that and a few other minor errors here and there asside, it was a really good video though...

[@chowyee5049]

Is that the old Assyrian flag at 10:36?

[@SamAronow]

Yes.

[@chowyee5049]

@@SamAronow Glad to see the acknowledgement.

[@BurnBird1]

10:50 Excuse me, but "Carl" and "Earl" are not cognates. Earl would be the English word, while the Norse word would be Jarl, or whatever old form of those words you'd want to use.

[@ArturoStojanoff]

Although Ben Yehuda based his preferred pronunciation of Modern Hebrew on the Sephardic one, over the years, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation ended up having more of an influence on Modern Hebrew.

[@SamAronow]

I've yet to see any evidence of it.

[@yaelthesnail]

Lol Lmao, even

[@SionTJobbins]

I'm guessing the Israeli pronunciation of 'r' came with the German Yekkes in the 1930s as the trilled r was the standard and would have been natural for native Polish or Russian speakers, whilst most German dialects adopted the French r it seems in 18th and 19th centuries and would have used it whilst speaking Hebrew in 1930s. Maybe prestige and affluence of the German Jews in the 1930s contributed to the shift from trilled r to the gluttoral French/German r?

[@stephenfisher3721]

A majority of Yiddish speakers spoke with a back “r” rather than a front one and is the reason that the back or uvular “r” came to dominate Israeli Hebrew (Source: The Three ‘R’s By Philologos April 9, 2004, The Forward.)

[@SionTJobbins]

@@stephenfisher3721 oh wow, didn't know that. Always assumed Yiddish speakers (from what I've heard on KZbin) spoke with the Russian/Polish trilled r. Thanks for this.

[@JB-wc9hn]

Loved the nod to “where’s the bathroom” lol

[@nmvhr]

Crazy Ive been doing similar things with Sanskrit in my own writings

[@Tony-zh1kz]

11:03 In fact, Russian is the third largest spoken language in Israel following the aliyah of post-Soviet Jews. Even Wiktionary has a category for Israeli Russian.

[@bennettbullock9690]

Modern Hebrew has three striking parallels to Arabic dialects - use of a present participle for present tense instead of the imperfect, analytic genitive instead of a construct phrase, and SVO word order. By contrast, Biblical Hebrew and Classical Arabic use the imperfect for the present tense, the construct phrase for possession, and a VSO word order. My belief is that both Modern Hebrew and the Arabic dialects were influenced by Aramaic. In the case of Modern Hebrew, the Aramaic influence probably came through Rabbinic Hebrew, which served as an unconscious grammatical model for the new language, given that a traditional Jewish education required literacy in Rabbinic Hebrew through the Gemorah. In the case of Arabic, my feeling is that Arabic dialects probably evolved from former Aramaic-speaking people adapting to the new language.

[@MrLantean]

Prior to the emergence to Islam, the predominant spoken Semitic language in the Middle East and Near east is Aramaic. A number of empires like Babylon and Assyrian used Aramaic as official language. With the emergence of Islam and over the course of centuries, Aramaic along with other languages in the Near East and Middle East are supplanted by Arabic. Speakers of one Semitic language simply speak another Semitic language. Aramaic had been the highly influenced Semitic language which influenced other Semitic language which include Arabic or rather its precursor and Hebrew. Arabic script is derived either from the Nabatean script or the less widely believed Syriac script which both are derived from Aramaic script. Even Hebrew script itself is derived from Aramaic script. When the Jews started to speak Aramaic instead of their native Hebrew, they incorporated Hebrew words, terms and expressions thus creating their own variants of Aramaic. The same thing happens when Aramaic speakers started to speak Arabic. They incorporated Aramaic words, terms and expressions resulting the creation of various dialects of Arabic. Various forms of spoken Aramaic are preserved by Christian and Jewish communities while Muslims only speak Arabic.

[@JacobIX99]

There are so quite some many dialects in Hebrew, which made the revival so significant imo; to unite.

[@jackfranco9720]

Wow so the series is almost done? Onlt 1 century to go?

[@Dor150]

You put the drawings of Eliezer Ben Yehuda's descendents but no Gil Hovav? shame! nice collab there with Che Languages!

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

That guy can easily turn into a living meme

[@CheLanguages]

@@user-gr9fq9gt9w what do you mean by that?

[@CheLanguages]

Thank you!

[@tesilab994]

At 10:00 minutes you mention the number of Hebrew roots as about 8,000. One compendium of all the roots used in the Hebrew Bible has only 1,995 roots. While it is is possible to expand this a bit further using some postbiblical sources, I have no idea how you arrive at 8,000.

[@diegorivas1991]

9:21 Chile while being the longest country in the world (4000 km from north to south) it's also a thin country (500 km from west to east), but not that mutillated as it appears in that map.

[@SamAronow]

This is (1) before they fully settled the far south and (2) during the War of the Pacific.

[@riton349]

Rly sick story

[@unitedstatesdale]

Does the Hebrew language continue to evolve ? Thanks

[@samhaine6804]

BRO okay, hear me out, might sound weird... 15:48 you mention a 'gal gadot' i presume you arent referring to the actress who played wonderwoman. PLEASE i genuinely beg tell me who this is, because google search only returns results about the actress. . for YEARS i thought that 'gal gadot' was a prime minister of israel during, like, the 60s? i have no idea where this came from. whenever i heard the name i pictured a black and white photograph of a dude in a hat. when the wonderwoman movie came out, i heard someone say that gal gadot was playing wonderwoman. and i was like... um... what? i thought this was, like, some kind of mandela effect false memory; but BRO who was this guy who my mind somehow sorted into the list of israeli prime ministers (or presidents, ive checked both lists and NOTHING matches the name or picture i remember)???????? i genuinely cant find anything except about the actress online. please fr i thought i was going crazy

[@samhaine6804]

are you talking about the actress or someone else? because this has really been messing with me for years.

[@almogz9486]

What are you talking about there is only one female Israeli Prime Minister called golda meir. He wrote gal gadot there as she is descended from the old yishuv the Jewish community that stayed in Israel since long ago gadot family of her fathers side was 6 generations in Israel (meaning her fathers family emigrated to Israel about 150 years ago approx) thats why he wrote her there not cause she was a prime minister or something the only famous gal Gadot is the actress

[@samhaine6804]

​@@almogz9486 okay thankyou. that means i truly am insane. its just that he mentioned the name alongside yitzhak navon, who WAS a former prime minister, and this is a bizarre false memory ive had for YEARS. (the gal gadot i remember was DEFINITELY male btw. like a 50 year old man. not a woman.)

[@SamAronow]

@@samhaine6804 Also: Yitzhak Navon was President, not Prime Minister. Also also: are you thinking of Ehud Olmert? In both cases, Americans sometimes make them French by assuming the "t" is silent.

[@gorgioarmanioso151]

you have a very strong ashkenazi accent .. thanks for the history

[@MooImABunny]

Damn, I've never learned about the violence eliezer and his family faced. Radicals just can't stop ruining everything

[@mencken8]

One of the great ideas of modern times. A culture bases everything on their language; without it they will be assimilated into other cultures.

[@Richard-rb1hf]

Orthodox Jews never stopped using Hebrew. You could find it in rabbinic literature going back over two thousand years.

[@tamarleahh.2150]

I've heard that modern Hebrew is a modern invention from both politically left and right leaning people who didn't grow up speaking it. It's good that you're clearing up some confusion

[@charlesburgoyne-probyn6044]

Contrived in other words

[@patrickkelmer6290]

I repeat: what wouldnt we do without your videos?

[@secallen]

The picture at 17:00 may be a fake fabricated by postcard makers to sell to tourists/pilgrims at the time.

[@_hunter_hunter1048]

They revived the language but not the original accents

[@vulpes7079]

12:51 Sephardic Hebrew's inventory almost exactly matches that of the Brazilian Portuguese I speak. If it weren't for chi and the glottal stop I could probably get the two confused

[@davedark27]

Well, keep in mind that Portuguese, Spanish and Sephardic Hebrew evolved in the same peninsula 😅

[@user-p6-3561]

17:00

[@electricangel4488]

Cant say i like to be in his sons shoes. Couldnt he teach him french after 3 years