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Key research themes
1. How do loanwords shape the linguistic and rhetorical identity in specific Biblical Hebrew texts?
This research theme explores the functional and rhetorical roles that loanwords play within particular Biblical books, emphasizing how their distribution and usage contribute to ethno-linguistic identity construction, textual foreignness, and literary effects. This line of inquiry is important because it moves beyond mere lexical borrowing to analyze loanwords as deliberate devices influencing biblical narrative, ideology, and audience perception.
Key finding: Thambyrajah finds that loanwords in Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Exodus appear in concentrated clusters, creating a 'foreign atmosphere' that rhetorically marks otherness and ethnic identity. For example, in Esther and Daniel,... Read more
Key finding: This study reviews the significance of Greek loanwords in Daniel as crucial linguistic evidence for dating the book to the Hellenistic period. Notably, the presence of Greek terms for musical instruments (e.g., κίθαρις,... Read more
Key finding: Noonan establishes rigorous methodological criteria for identifying loanwords, such as unusual morphology and phonological divergence among Semitic cognates, emphasizing the need to distinguish genuine loans from native forms... Read more
2. What is the nature and extent of Hellenistic and Greco-Roman lexical influence on Biblical Hebrew and its historical linguistic context?
Research under this theme investigates the impact of Greek and Roman influence on Hebrew vocabulary, focusing on the diachronic layers of borrowing, sociolinguistic contexts, and the spread of loanwords throughout different historical periods, including Second Temple Judaism and Modern Hebrew. This theme matters because it elucidates the mechanisms of linguistic contact, prestige languages, and functional distribution of borrowed terms, revealing sociocultural dynamics and textual transformations.
Key finding: This study provides a comprehensive overview of Greek and Latin loanwords entering Hebrew twice: once in Rabbinic Hebrew and again in Modern Hebrew, describing a diglossic sociolinguistic situation where Hebrew served as a... Read more
Key finding: This paper documents that over 3,000 Greco-Roman loanwords permeated the lexicon of Second Temple period Hebrew and Aramaic, significantly affecting lexicon, phonology, syntax, and morphology. It highlights the functional... Read more
3. How can lexical variation in Biblical Hebrew be quantitatively characterized to refine linguistic periodization and the identification of loanwords?
This theme addresses methodological advances in studying lexical features in Biblical Hebrew, especially those thought to be 'late' or loan-derived, using quantitative sociolinguistic approaches to evaluate their distribution, frequency, and linguistic significance. It challenges previous assumptions about the extent and dating of late language features and loanwords, directly impacting how scholars understand textual chronology and language evolution within Biblical Hebrew.
Key finding: Rezetko and Naaijer apply a variationist sociolinguistic methodology to examine eighty lexical items classified as Late Biblical Hebrew from Hurvitz’s Lexicon. Their quantitative analysis reveals that these late lexical... Read more
Key finding: This research highlights the challenges of lexicographic databases in distinguishing homonymous lexemes and sub-homonyms in Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, which is critical for accurately identifying lexical variation and... Read more