Abstract
Burton, Marilyn E., The Semantics of Glory: A Cognitive, Corpus-Based Approach to Hebrew Word Meaning (Studia Semitica Neerlandica, 68; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. xiv + 349. €105.00/$121.00. ISBN 978-90-04-33961-3.
This thorough and illuminating study of the Classical Hebrew semantic domain of ‘glory’ is a revision of B.'s Edinburgh doctoral thesis, supervised by David Reimer. Her aim is to provide a detailed semantic analysis of the group of nouns in the domain of ‘glory’. In so doing, B. proposes a helpful model for a cognitive semantic approach to Classical Hebrew, which incorporates (and modifies) elements of traditional structuralist semantics. She defines her methodology as cognitive (taking seriously the relationship between human language, thought and culture), relational (investigating word meanings in relation to a group of semantically-related lexemes, as in semantic field approaches), decompositional (identifying and comparing the semantic features of the lexemes, with significant modifications to the assumptions of componential analysis), exhaustive (each lexeme is compared with all other lexemes within the domain, as in semantic frame theory), and corpus-based (including the HB, DSS, and Ben Sirah). In ch. 2, B. carefully outlines her criteria for defining the semantic domain, and this impressively detailed and transparent process results in an identification of 11 semantically related nouns. Chapter 3 carries the weight of research into the domain's semantic features, and the book concludes with a discussion and presentation of the inter-relationship between the lexemes, illustrated by a variety of reader-friendly diagrams and coloured charts. This final chapter demonstrates the distinctive value of B.'s approach for a renewed understanding of the domain of ‘glory’ in Classical Hebrew. This is a masterful contribution to the field of Hebrew lexical semantics, and deserves a wide readership.
Alison R. Gray
Edzard, Lutz (ed.), The Morpho-Syntactic and Lexical Encoding of Tense and Aspect in Semitic: Proceedings of the Erlangen Workshop on April 26, 2014 (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 104; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2016), pp. 239. €58.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10622-1.
This volume is a welcome response to the ferment in linguistics over consistently recurring patterns across the world's languages in two areas: how verbal systems evolve, and how verbal semantics such as tense and aspect (both lexical and grammatical) are encoded. The holy grail is to fit the Semitic languages into these ‘established’ cross-linguistic patterns. Some chapters (M. Streck, ‘Temporal Adverbs in Akkadian’, and S.S. Alvestad and L. Edzard, ‘Aspect in the Biblical Hebrew Imperative from a Modern Slavic Perspective’) present a wealth of data intriguing to the armchair linguist, but almost to the exclusion of theory, which may leave the lone reader frustrated at times for want of discussion. M. Hanitsch provides ample theory in her extensive article, ‘Auf dem Pfad durch das Lexikon—Überlegungen zur Diachronie der Interaktion zwischen grammatischem und lexicalischem Aspekt im Neuarabischen’, in which she charts out the relative distribution of grammatical aspect markers over the main lexical aspects for eight dialects, concluding with a proposed diachronic development of aspect in Neo-Arabic. But of most interest will be those chapters consumed with classifying verbal systems as aspect-prominent or tense-prominent, mirroring scholarly work on the Biblical Hebrew verbal system. N. Boneh in ‘Some Thoughts on Grammatical Aspect in Modern Hebrew’ distinguishes between neutral aspect and overlapping event and reference times, after which she concludes that Modern Hebrew must be tense-based. R. Meyer in ‘Aspect and Tense in Ethiosemitic Languages’ nearly embraces relative tense as the core denotation of Ethiosemitic conjugations, but relinquishes it as empirically absent in recent large-scale studies, and thus perhaps not a valid cross-linguistic category. Complications abound, including an example (in Streck's chapter) of Akkadian iprus, the scholarly prototype for the Proto-Semitic perfective, used unambiguously as an imperfective verb, with the adverb ‘daily’. S. Fakhry in ‘Tempus, Aspekt und Modalität im Bagdad-Arabischen’ notes minimal pairs with the perfective and imperfective conjugations, in which the aspect is identical and only the tense differs. In sum, this volume is a treasure trove of data as untidy as that of Biblical Hebrew, which will long occupy linguists in search of a tidy classification.
Elizabeth Robar
Fuller, Russell T. and Kyoungwon Choi, Invitation to Biblical Hebrew Syntax: An Intermediate Grammar (Invitation to Theological Studies Series; Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2017), pp. 503. $64.99. ISBN 978-0-8254-4257-5. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
This follow-on to the authors’ 2006 work, Invitation to Biblical Hebrew: A Beginning Grammar, is intended as a class textbook, and adopts the same deductive method. There are three main parts: syntax, compositions and accents. The syntax is covered in 24 chapters, with 84 sections. At the end of each of the first eight chapters, and once more at the end of ch. 24 after discussion of different clause types, there are exercises where the student is required to articulate the syntactical distinctions they have read without referring to the text itself. After some of these exercises, there are drills where the student identifies examples from the biblical text. A distinctive feature of the discussion of syntax is the decision to work with the categories of native Arabic grammarians and to reference Arabic grammars. The second part gives 12 English-Hebrew compositions, supplemented by notes that reinforce the earlier syntax, a pointed Hebrew ‘key’ and the unpointed key for practice. The student is expected to study until they can look at the English and recite fluently the composition in Hebrew. The final part gives an in-depth look at Hebrew accents. The student is invited to study and memorize them, and to learn their value for syntax. There are no exercises. The decision to engage with Arabic grammars more than with recent works on Hebrew syntax and grammar and the intimidating pedagogical approach adopted may mean that valuable features such as the compositions do not reach a wider audience.
James Robson
Glinert, Lewis, The Story of Hebrew (Library of Jewish Ideas; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017), pp. xii + 281. $27.95. ISBN 978-0-691-15329-2.
In light of unknowns even after years of intensive study, G. poses a key theme from the start: ‘what the Hebrew language has meant to the people who have possessed it’. A rich survey of an essentially evolving language detached from its ‘native’ land, it teases out the spoken varieties and dialectal differences, through to links with imperialism and the development of midrash, Mishnah and the Talmud. The Masoretic system in the early medieval period regularized what was essential for Jewish unity. Within each period (earliest times to 500 ce, early medieval, 900–1492, 16th century onwards) G. skilfully focuses on Hebrew's survival through its interaction with surrounding cultures, not least in its confluence with Greek, Latin and Arabic in scientific writings, followed by a lengthy treatment of Christian Hebraism amid the vicissitudes faced during the European Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment, through to colonization of the New World. With regular references to Aramaic, Arabic, German and Yiddish, G. carefully discusses the significance of sounds in language development alongside Diaspora identity and the importance of being open to the text for its material significance rather than a search for meaning. Hence the constant tensions between ‘holy’ and ‘mundane’ tongues, the classical and the vernacular, verse and prose, Ashkenazi and Sephardi. Throughout this fascinating information-packed (including helpful figures) story with clear historical, cultural and sociolinguistic observations and analyses, G. introduces colourful personalities who promoted the survival of Hebrew and those who (sub-)consciously chose to suppress it, thereby displaying classical anti-Semitic tendencies! Through various Zionist efforts Hebrew is finally revived and modernised as the principal language in the State of Israel, but not without controversy, irony and borrowings.
Andy S.J. Lie
Hallam, Steven C., Basics of Classical Syriac: Complete Grammar, Workbook, and Lexicon (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), pp. 320. $49.99. ISBN 978-0-3105-2786-2.
This introduction to Syriac would be useful for a graduate student or scholar already familiar with Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. There are two peculiarities to this grammar that make it recommended to be used with an instructor (or at least with the DVD lectures that are also available from the publisher): it uses the earliest Eastern script, Estrangela, with ser⃛o (Western) vowels, a script that historically did not have diacritics; and it does not include spirant marks in the lessons, paradigms or lexicon—only in the biblical exercises—which could be confusing for a beginner to go back and forth, potentially leading to oversight in pronunciation. However, H.'s Basics is approachable and sensitive, with reassurances, simplified explanations and shortcuts. This grammar is aimed at reading comprehension rather than explaining every point of grammar, and the exercises are happily balanced between OT and NT. The drawback of the biblical passages as exercises is that students might depend on English translations or Hebrew for the sense and meaning. There are transliterations throughout, full paradigms, useful appendixes, consistent references to fuller grammars and next steps, and the lessons are well organized. (The DVD lectures mentioned above include 8 total hours of accompanying virtual lessons, which are short—most are 15–20 minutes—and well-paced for those without Hebrew.) The grammar's approachability and simplicity make it a satisfactory contribution to the study of this beautiful and often neglected language. It is an efficient introduction to Syriac that would get a student/scholar of OT, NT, or early Church off the ground and running with Syriac.
Lindsey A. Askin
Hurvitz, Avi, A Concise Lexicon of Late Biblical Hebrew: Linguistic Innovations in the Writings of the Second Temple Period (VTSup, 160; Leiden: Brill, 2014), pp. x + 270. €109.00/$131.00. ISBN 978-9-0042-6611-7.
This book from H. and his team is titled and marketed as a Hebrew lexicon, though it would perhaps be better called a word study. It covers 80 entries, with a sole focus on Late Biblical Hebrew (LBH) (from the beginning of the postexilic period to the end of the Talmudic period). The entries come from the Hebrew Bible, Qumran documents, rabbinic textual material, and extra-biblical, non-rabbinic texts. H. selected the entries ‘specifically for a diachronic investigation of LBH’. He includes neither a semantic range nor exhaustive etymological data for each entry. Instead, he provides linguistic and textual data which suggest that the word should be classified as LBH: (1) the lemma (base form); (2) cognate forms in Biblical Aramaic; (3) alternative words and expressions in Classical Biblical Hebrew; (4) the distribution and usage of the word within extra-biblical written sources; (5) comments; and (6) a select bibliography for each entry. A point of criticism is that the remarks in the commentary appear only in bullet-point form. A helpful addition would have been a better synthesis of the material for each entry explaining H.'s and his contributors’ judgment as to why the term should be considered LBH, as well as the key significance of the term and its use in LBH. This criticism aside, H.'s book provides a wealth of scholarly information. It is extremely well organized, once the reader becomes acclimated to the format, and is a very worthy addition to the library of anyone interested in LBH.
Andrew J. Niggemann
Hutton, Jeremy M. and Aaron D. Rubin (eds.), Epigraphy, Philology and the Hebrew Bible: Methodological Perspectives on Philological and Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Jo Ann Hackett (Ancient Near East Monographs, 12; Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2015), pp. xi + 393. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-88414-081-8 (hardback), 978-0-88414-079-5 (paperback), 978-0-88414-080-1 (e-book).
The Editors’ Introduction explains how the volume honors J.A. Hackett with a methodological emphasis and summarizes the 15 essays. N. Pat-El and A. Wilson-Wright support Hackett's view of ‘Deir ‘Alla as a Canaanite Dialect’ by adding uses of the relative pronoun and infinitives to the elements she adduced. John Huehnergard lists ‘Biblical Hebrew Nominal Patterns’, and G.A. Rendsburg shows how ‘Style-Switching in Biblical Hebrew’ indicates background details. In ‘The Aramaic Root “To Go”— HWK or HLK?’, J.A. Bembry argues for the latter, while S.E. Fassberg contradicts him (‘Translation Technique in Targum Onqelos: The Rendering of Hebrew ך״לה’). F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp traces wittier forms of oral compositions in ‘Inscribed in Vocality’. G.J. Hamilton considers ‘Two Methodological Issues concerning the Expanded Collection of Early Alphabetic Texts’, with his detailed reading of the Jerusalem Ophel Pithos, and J.L. Ellison describes how the stylus was used in ‘The Scribal Art at Ugarit’ (pp. 157-90). For J. Vaynstrub, the Gezer Calendar is an intellectual systematising of practical knowledge: ‘ “Observe Due Measure”: The Gezer Inscription and Dividing a Trip around the Sun’. N.E. Greene and H.D.D. Parker explain the advantages of a new photographic technique, ‘Field of View: Northwest Semitic Palaeography and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)’, and C.A. Rollston dissects ‘The Ivory Pomegranate: The Anatomy of a Probable Modern Forgery’. With two Palmyrene examples, J.M. Hutton and C.E. Bonesho exemplify ‘Interpreting Translation Techniques and Material Presentation in Bilingual Texts: Initial Methodological Reflections’. M.W. Hamilton's theoretical study, ‘Israelite Religion as Communication: An Essay on Method’, takes Hosea as a specimen case, while S. Niditch (‘Vowing Women: Personal Religion, Gender and Power’) sees women's vows as possible indicators of independence, and D.E. Callender (‘Biblical ’ādām and Mesopotamian Adapa as “Primal Human”: A Cognitive Approach’) investigates the social significance of eating and clothing. The Editors have succeeded in creating a stimulating volume worthy of J.A. Hackett.
Alan Mllard
Jones, Ethan C., Valency of the Hithpael: The Contribution of Valency to Lexicography (Arbeiten zu Text und Sprache im Alten Testament, 102; St Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 2017), pp. xi + 155. €24.95. ISBN 978-3-8306-7871-7.
This book, which arises in part from a dissertation at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary under the supervision of George Klein, begins with the observation that current lexica of Biblical Hebrew do not provide consistently clear, systematic entries of verbs. J. focuses on the parts of speech that connect to verbs, seeking to demonstrate how listing these can clarify the particular nuances of a verb and the syntactic context necessary for those nuances. The tool which he uses for this purpose is ‘valency’, a term which has its origin in chemistry, where it concerns the potential of an element to combine with other elements, and has long been used by linguists to highlight the number and nature of linguistic participants that combine with a verb. He makes use of three kinds of valency to study Biblical Hebrew verbs: quantitative valency, which calculates the number of linguistic participants that a verb requires; qualitative valency, which notes the grammatical and syntactic category of each participant; and semantic valency, which analyses the semantic roles and features of the participants. He presents the results of his study in the form of a valency lexicon, in which he analyses every occurrence of the hithpael (and hithpolel, etc.) in Biblical Hebrew. The writing of dictionary entries is never an exact science, and the lexicographer is faced with many choices about what to include within an entry. J. gives a clear demonstration of a systematic methodology which might be applied to this process.
David M. Stec
Juhás, Peter, Die biblisch-hebräische Partikel אנָ im Lichte der antiken Bibelübersetzungen. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung ihrer vermuteten Höflichkeitsfunktion (Studia Semitica Neerlandica, 67; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. xviii + 227. €99.00/$114.00. ISBN 978-90-04-34196-8.
The semantic range of particles is unusually wide, so much so that it is hard to fit them into the standard format of a dictionary. Students who turn first to BDB to check up on –nā’ are provided with what is now an archaism, ‘I pray’, which DCH has modernized to ‘please’. Those dictionaries differ in detail but both subdivide their entries into grammatical rather than semantic sections. The material in their entries is rich if compared to KB3 or even Gesenius18. In this light it was pertinent that the author (together with the supervisor of his thesis) should have selected the particle –nā’ as his subject of research. What we have here is the same body of text that he defended in Leiden just over two years ago (November 2015). Of course, by reading we are offered much more intriguing information than what can be found in any dictionary. He includes perceptive subjective criticism of previous attempts to establish a basic meaning for the particle, and objective criticism of how it was dealt with in Syriac, Greek and Latin translations. What is most imaginative is the detailed analysis of it in different literary genres: narrative (the Pentateuch [except Deuteronomy], Judges, Samuel, Kings, and the Chronicler); the Prophets (especially Isaiah and Jeremiah); and other poetry (Psalms, Job). In concentrating on situations where it seems appropriate to assume it has a Höflichkeitsfunktion (directly connected with the glosses in BDB and DCH), the author has to distinguish carefully how this differs from emphasis (as in Gesenius18).
Mervyn Richardson
Kahn, Lily and Aaron D. Rubin, Handbook of Jewish Languages (Brill's Handbooks in Linguistics, 2; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xx + 760. €149.00/$193.00. ISBN 978-90-04-21733-1.
This work gathers together a group of specialists to survey the various languages from the past and present used by Jews and Jewish communities. It includes 23 languages given an individual treatment, though an Epilogue makes brief reference of some further versions. Some of the languages treated here have extensive literature and have been well studied, such as Yiddish, Ladino (Judezmo), Judeo-Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic. Another group has been subject to specialist studies but are not otherwise widely known, such as Judeo-Italian, Judeo-French, and Judeo-Persian. A final group has been little studied, and is known mainly as spoken languages, including Jewish Georgian, Jewish Malayalam, Jewish Russian, and Jewish Amharic (‘Jewish’ is used to designate this group, whereas ‘Judeo-’ is used of the languages found in written form, usually in Hebrew script). Samples are given of each language, and an extensive bibliography usually ends each individual discussion. This volume fills a gap left by the frequent treatments of the main ancient and literary Jewish languages.
Lester L. Grabbe
Merwe, Christo H.J. van der, Jacobus A. Naudé and Jan H. Kroeze, A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar (London and New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2nd edn, 2017), pp. xxxiv + 605. $75.99. ISBN 978-0-567-66333-7.
What already was a very valuable grammar for intermediate learners of Hebrew and translators of Hebrew texts (as reviewed in B.L. 2000, pp. 214-215) has now become a revised, expanded, and an even more useful and user-friendly grammar. It has been thoroughly revised and enlarged. The Preface of the first edition spells out its aim: to serve translators and exegetes, to explain grammatical matters lucidly and to avoid unnecessary grammatical jargon, to eschew unnecessary details, and not to be linguistically innovative. The Preface to this second edition highlights the new features: the translations of the examples are the authors’ own, the grammatical terminology vis-à-vis the verbal forms has been updated, Biblica Hebraica Quinta has been used when possible, and a more precise system for the transcriptions has been employed. Turning to content, both editions share the same structure and chapter division. When comparing the two, certain changes stand out. First, the Introduction has been significantly extended, with a more detailed discussion of the various types of Hebrew and of the grammatical treatment of Hebrew in earlier grammars. Second, the table of contents is much more detailed (thus making it easier to find what one is looking for). Chapter 6 (‘the other word classes’) has been significantly extended, as has ch. 7 (‘word order’). On the whole, the new edition is 200 pages longer than the earlier one. This grammar is a fantastic resource for scholars of the HB. For those who already have the first edition, it is worthwhile adding the new one to their library.
Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer
Mitchel, Larry A., A Student's Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: Frequency Lists with Definitions, Pronunciation Guide, and Index (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, updated edn, 2017), pp. 128. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-310-53387-0.
This is a revision of the original 1984 edition (reviewed in B.L. 1986 [pp. 140-41] by John Eaton who suggested that vocabulary was best assimilated in context rather than in lists). The main revisions are stylistic, but there have been some updatings in the introductory matter, including in the Select Bibliography, to reflect current language studies. The body of the work comprises, as before, lists of Hebrew words arranged in groups by frequency, from ‘Words occurring more than 2200 times’ (a list of 25 such words) down to ‘Words occurring 10 times’ (a list of 67 such words); and lists of Aramaic words similarly arranged, from ‘Words occurring more than 50 times’ (in which there are 15 entries) down to ‘Words occurring 1 time’ (of which there are 236 entries). A potentially useful section, on Hebrew words occurring less than ten times, was prepared but not included, because ‘most Hebrew students would probably find little use for this section of Hebrew vocabulary’ (p. 10); this could have been the most interesting section.
Margaret Barker
Montanari, Franco, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek (English edition edited by Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, under the auspices of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University; Leiden: Brill, 2014), pp. lx + 2432. €99.00/$125.00. ISBN 978-9-0041-9318-5.
The appearance of a new dictionary is always a major achievement, and this is no exception. This, however, is not an entirely new one, as it might appear from the cover, but a translation and improvement of M.'s Vocabolario della Lingua Greca (3rd edn, 2013; abbreviated as GI). The English editors have in the process of translating from Italian added new data and new headwords, made corrections, and also included proper names. This English edition (abbreviated as GE), as the Italian one, is of a considerable size, comparable to LSJ, and therefore is a significant contribution to scholarship. Readers of the Book List may naturally have the questions whether or not they should now dispense with LSJ or whether this new lexicon will assist them in the study of biblical Greek. The simple answer is that every lexicon has its benefits and its shortcomings, and any new lexicon should be used in conjunction with its predecessors. In this case, one can see the influence of LSJ on some of the entries, with the same glosses and the same number of definitions, and therefore comparison between the two is helpful. At the same time, GE does incorporate evidence from new discoveries, providing examples from papyri and inscriptions for lexemes that were poorly attested in the time of LSJ. This gives more attestations for some LXX and NT words, but also more evidence for morphological formations in koine that can be compared to new words in biblical Greek. Not only is the appearance of this English translation very welcome, but the reasonable price, given the size of the volume, is a reason for celebration.
James K. Aitken
Muraoka, Takamitsu, A Biblical Hebrew Reader with an Outline Grammar (Leuven: Peeters, 2017), pp. xvii + 139. €27.00. ISBN 978-90-429-3490-0.
It is fitting that the author's latest book appeared in the same year that the British Academy awarded him the Burkitt medal for magisterial contributions to Hebrew studies in his lifetime, before and after his ‘retirement’. He follows the format he applied to Biblical Aramaic two years earlier. But for Hebrew he gives his intended audience two pieces of extra advice, both of which stem naturally from someone immersed as much in Modern as in Biblical Hebrew, as he is: read a verse (or more) aloud repeatedly, memorize it and avoid inarticulate, slow, syllabic pronunciations; practise writing out verses without nequdot to prepare oneself to read unvocalized texts. In his translation of Paul Joüon's monumental reference grammar he introduced many innovations appropriate to a later age. Today's teachers who use this manual will find similar new subtleties of description to help them and their students. Morphological differences for gender and number in nouns are exposed by quoting minimal pairs of expressions rather than inventing theoretical lists. The same goes for the binyanim, where we find no paradigms; distinguishing active from passive forms is covered in one paragraph rather than two (or more) chapters. Since today's students access the MT through electronically tagged texts, the chrestomathy avoids printing out the text. But we are given a detailed commentary, including much exegetical material as well as many grammatical observations. The first prose passages involve less complex grammar than the later poetry, which ensures one's first attempts to read the Hebrew Bible itself can begin without learning all the grammar.
Mervyn Richardson
Peters, Kurtis, Hebrew Lexical Semantics and Daily Life in Ancient Israel: What's Cooking in Biblical Hebrew? (Biblical Interpretation Series, 146; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xii + 234. €114.00/$125.00. ISBN 978-9-0043-2245-5.
Cognitive linguistics is combined with food studies in the HB in this timely monograph. Moving beyond etymology, cognate evidence, root meaning and structuralist approaches for the decipherment of word meaning in Biblical Hebrew, P. makes cognitive linguistics accessible for the non-expert in linguistics. Cognitive linguistics sees meaning as located in the mind, and words as vehicles which convey conceptual meanings. To receive the correct meaning of lexemes, the recipient must at bare minimum have a shared conception of the context of the word user. Thus, in order to understand the meaning of words associated with the preparation and processing of food in ancient Israel and Judah, one must understand the conceptual world of preparing and processing food in ancient Israel and Judah. This is not a methodology that can only be applied to cooking lexemes, however; instead, cooking is used as a good starting place because of the recent influx of archaeological information which makes this conceptual world accessible to us today. After deciphering the meanings behind a range of common and uncommon cooking lexemes, P. applies his results to the exegesis of six texts which feature cooking activities. The value of this cognitive approach is evident in P.'s considered interpretations, one example of which is a nuanced understanding of how Exod. 12.8-9 and Deut. 16.7 instruct the Passover lamb to be cooked. This is a useful and insightful work which displays the benefits of interdisciplinary methods and forces a re-evaluation of how word meaning is derived.
Rebekah Welton
Petrovich, Douglas (with a contribution by Sarah K. Doherty), The World's Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew as the Language of the Proto-Consonantal Script (Jerusalem: Carta, 2016), pp. xvi + 262. $84.00. ISBN 978-965-220-884-2. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
P.'s aim is to demonstrate that the Hebrew alphabet is the world's oldest alphabetic system. The evidence adduced is drawn from the author's meticulous study of ancient inscriptions from Egypt, primarily from Sinai. He deals with six inscriptions from the Middle Kingdom period, and twelve from the New Kingdom period, in each case discussing the background and location of the inscription, its palaeographic decipherment, and its translation and orthography, with copious references to and evaluations of the work of earlier scholars. There follows an analysis of the potential historical value of each inscription, and this is where, as he acknowledges, his work is most likely to cause controversy. He takes seriously the chronology of the traditional Hebrew text of Genesis and Exodus, and attempts to demonstrate that the evidence of the inscriptions studied fully supports this chronology. One of his main criticisms of those who do not take biblical chronology seriously is that they have not studied Egyptology adequately. He lays considerable emphasis on the fact that three names mentioned in the Bible (Moses, Asenath and Ahisamach) are attested in the inscriptions studied in this book, and takes this as clear evidence of an Israelite presence in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. It is always stimulating when an erudite attempt is made to slaughter a few academic sacred cows! This book is certainly not light reading, but should provoke significant further discussion of the issues presented.
David J. Clark
Pleins, J. David with Jonathan Homrighausen, Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary by Conceptual Categories: A Student's Guide to Nouns in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), pp. 176. $17.99. ISBN 978-0-310-53074-9.
This book lists Biblical Hebrew vocabulary in four categories: The Created Order; The Human Order; The Social Order; The Constructed Order. The aim is to help intermediate students expand vocabulary (nouns) by ‘logical’ and ‘sensible’ areas in a comprehensive, user-friendly way—much like a child learns concretely and by association—to avoid the experience of the frustrated student who wades through a bulky dictionary, with limited access to specialist literature, and is often asked to learn too abstractly from lists of words. It should open up the reading of Biblical Hebrew, and be an entrée into its lexicography. This book has a ‘Brief Table of Contents’, ‘Detailed Table of Contents’, list of ‘Abbreviations’ (e.g. DCH, HALOT, SDBH), explanatory ‘Preface’, ‘Bibliography’, the categorized words (pp. 27-142), an ‘Appendix One: Guide to Further Reading’ (key works used), ‘Appendix Two: Cluster Verses for Study’ (biblical passages that contain several of the words), a ‘Hebrew Word Index’, and ‘Scripture Index’. This book has an accessible format, and a pragmatic approach (e.g. short lists, arranged alphabetically or in another way, e.g. ‘Human Anatomy’ from head to toe). It is meant to complement other aids such as frequency lists, although many of the words occur less than ten times (marked H [hapax legomenon] or R [rare], with a biblical reference, and often a scholarly reference). The categories are contestable (e.g. ‘Worship/Cultic’ within ‘Social Order’), as are some translations, inevitably. The student is wisely advised by the authors to turn to specialist literature to take matters further.
Hywel Clifford
Polański, Tomasz (ed.), Folia Orientalia, vol. 53 (Cracow: Polish Academy of Sciences, 2016), pp. 439. Price: 225 zloty. ISSN 0015-5675.
Polański, Tomasz (ed.), Folia Orientalia, vol. 54 (Cracow: Polish Academy of Sciences, 2017), pp. 376. Price: 225 zloty. ISSN 0015-5675.
Three articles in issue 53 will be of interest to B.L. readers, particularly in respect of philology: H. Badamchi, ‘The Meaning of “Theft” in Ancient Near Eastern Law’ (pp. 369-86); S. Guth, ‘The Etymology of Generosity-Related Terms: A Presentation of the EtymArab Project—Part II’ (pp. 59-104); and G. Takács, ‘Layers of the Oldest Egyptian Lexicon III’ (pp. 275-325—on anatomical terms, many with equivalents in Hebrew). There are also several contributions on Arabic, Persian and other Middle Eastern languages, as well as book reviews. In issue 54, besides articles on Arabic, Dangla, Omotic and Neo-Persian, as well as book reviews and review articles, there are three articles specifically on the OT: A. Andrason, ‘Against Binarism, Simplicity, Neatness and Stasis: A Theoretical Prolegomenon to the Reality of Verbal Grams in Biblical Hebrew, from the complexity of semantic maps to the uncomplicatedness of psychological conceptualizations’ (pp. 11-34—this follows a previous article in issue 52 [2015], pp. 15-36, and, based on examples in Genesis, argues that ‘the wave-streams model is a more adequate manner of representing verbal grams [i.e. wayyiqtol and qatal] in Biblical Hebrew than neat models built on discrete, binary and static categories’); V.A. Condrea, ‘Σχοῖνος Revisited – LXX Micah 6:5’ (pp. 87-100—suggesting reasons for the choice of that word instead of the expected Σαττιν to translate Heb. Shittim); and G. del Olmo Lete, ‘Le citadin Lamech, l'ancêtre oublié de notre culture’ (pp. 191-200—describing the traits of a surprisingly overlooked biblical character, with references to later literature). The editor is to be congratulated for acquiring funding to continue an important international annual complete with excellent illustrations.
Wilfred G.E. Watson
Porter, Stanley E., Gregory P. Fewster and Christopher D. Land (eds.), Modeling Biblical Language: Selected Papers from the McMaster Divinity College Linguistics Circle (Linguistic Biblical Studies, 13; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xii + 434. €135.00/$175.00. ISBN 978-90-04-30926-5.
The McMaster circle meets monthly, so this set of 13 essays presumably represents only a part of the problems they have been threshing out there recently. All the contributors are concerned to apply to biblical naratives linguistic theories about systemic functionality. They carefully dilute the use of jargon as they introduce the methods they have chosen to apply to the material they have chosen. After a helpful (especially for those of us who are not completely up-to-date with current developments in the circles of pure linguistics) short introduction from the editors, in Part 1 (‘Modeling Language’) we are offered three essentially theoretical essays outlining theories that currently lead the field. Part 2 is reserved for the HB and contains another three essays: Gideon is treated by Mary L. Conway (McMaster), and Samson by Anthony Pyles (Queensland, Australia), while Beth M. Stovell (Calgary) turns her attention to the overall effect of the metaphor of the shepherd, for Yahweh and the rulers, for better or worse, on the rhetoric of Ezekiel 24. The seven essays in Part 3 all focus on the NT, one on the judgment of Pilate and the rest on passages from the epistles. This is one of those books which underline the benefits of keeping the whole Bible in perspective when embarking on critical examinations of its text, especially when it comes to recurring patterns of rhetoric. And that implies that intertestamental narratives should not be overlooked.
Mervyn Richardson
Van Pelt, Mies V., Basics of Biblical Aramaic: Complete Grammar, Lexicon, and Annotated Text (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), pp. xiv + 235. $49.99. ISBN 978-0-310-49391-4.
This is a guide to all Biblical Aramaic: passages that contain ‘Jewish Literary Aramaic’ (distinct from other dialects, e.g. Palestinian, Egyptian); accordingly, 269 verses in Genesis 31, Jeremiah 10, Daniel 2–7, Ezra 4–7. In 22 chapters, it covers the main areas: phonology, the nominal system, and the verbal system (simple active and derived stems). Each chapter contains concise paragraphs (numbered for cross-referencing), charts and paradigms, a section ‘Before you move on’ with bold tick signs to reiterate the important points, brief vocabulary lists (chs. 1–17) that ensure 268 words (91 per cent) that appear four or more times are learned cumulatively without recourse to lexicons, and an exercise for which an answer key is available online. No Aramaic is ‘made up’: everything is based on biblical texts. There are also ‘Charts and Paradigms’ (noun and verb) and an ‘Annotated Biblical Aramaic Text’ (pp. 163-219) with select notes based on classroom experience. Finally, there is an ‘Aramaic-English Lexicon’ with definitions derived from HALOT. This guide has many fine features from the perspective of teaching and learning: regular comparison with Biblical Hebrew on the assumption that most do not begin with Biblical Aramaic, an A4 format that ensures legibility and gives opportunity for annotation, charts that foreground the morphological feature in question by shadowing other letters, and an accessible style inflected with interesting detail. A list of ‘Abbreviations’ includes resources (e.g. Greenspahn, Rosenthal) referred to throughout. An excellent DVD (2 discs) entitled ‘Video Lectures: A Complete Course for the Beginner’ is also available.
Hywel Clifford
Vance, Donald R., George Athas, Yael Avrahami and Jonathan G. Kline (with the BHL text ed. Aron Dotan), Biblical Aramaic: A Reader and Handbook (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2016), pp. xxii + 233. £24.99. ISBN 978-1-61970-891-4. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
Very much in the same vein as their BHS Reader, Vance et al. offer this volume as a means of aiding the reader of the Aramaic texts found in the HB. Unlike their BHS Reader, this volume offers in its apparatus a full (albeit abbreviated) parsing along with what the authors deem to be the most probable gloss drawn primarily from HALOT and English versions such as nrsv and njps. While this will indeed save elementary readers time compared with consulting a lexicon, and reduce the risk of choosing the ‘wrong’ gloss, it also eliminates the student's cultivation of their own powers of adjudication in this respect. Indeed, if a student has access to a Bible software package such as BibleWorks or Accordance, the volume's parsing apparatus on its own is unlikely to be worth its purchase price. What the volume does offer in addition, however, is a series of lists of vocabulary (hapax legomena and words appearing twice or more), parts of speech (including collocations), verbs by stem, by root type and then by frequency of attested form and number of stems, as well as lists of words with suffixes and easily confused words including homonyms and consonantal homographs. The curation and convenience of these lists will undoubtedly aid the elementary/intermediate reader of Biblical Aramaic texts, but whether this volume is worth investing in may well depend on whether one already has, or plans to acquire, one of the abovementioned Bible software packages.
David Shepherd
Williams, Michael, Basics of Ancient Ugaritic: A Concise Grammar, Workbook, and Lexicon (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), pp. 143. $49.99. ISBN 978-0-310-49592-5.
This was written to help novitiates intimidated by the scholarly resources currently available in the learning of this language that are often found to be ‘dry, dusty, and difficult’. W. wants to take ‘the “Ugh” out of Ugaritic’ (p. 10)! It contains 13 chapters, for use in one (US) semester. ‘Lesson 1: Ugarit in a Nutshell’ is an overview of Ugaritic geography, history, literature, and intersections with biblical studies. The other chapters address writing, nouns, adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, verbs, verbal moods, infinitives, thematic stems, weak verbs, adverbs, and miscellanea (e.g. conjunctions, negatives, interrogatives). Each chapter contains concise paragraphs, exercises, and bibliographical recommendations ‘For Further Study’. The ‘Appendices’ contain a variety of material: a chart of ‘Semitic Consonants’ (Ugaritic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and [transliterated] Akkadian in parallel columns), ‘Text Designations’ (referencing conventions: CTA, COS, CAT, KTU, ANET, UT), a non-exhaustive ‘Vocabulary List’ (for the book's exercises, and for the texts of the Ba‘al and Anat cycle), an ‘Additional Bibliography’ (about Grammars, Translations, Lexicography, Dictionaries, Concordances, Bibliographies, Loanwords), and finally an ‘Exercise Answer Key’. There is much to commend here: clarity and accessibility, honesty about the uncertainty in current knowledge of Ugaritic, and a sense of humour in the presentation. As with Basics of Biblical Aramaic (see the entry above on Van Pelt's work), the book has an A4 format that ensures legibility and gives opportunity for annotation. An excellent DVD (2 discs) entitled ‘Video Lectures: A Complete Course for the Beginner’ is also available.
Hywel Clifford
Note also the following books reviewed in other sections of this Book List:
Bachvarova, Mary R., From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic — see p. 207
Braulik, Georg, Studien zu Buch und Sprache des Deuteronomiums — see p. 64
Gross, Carl and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on Ezekiel — see p. 84
Toffelmire, Colin, A Discourse and Register Analysis of the Prophetic Book of Joel — see p. 89