On the whole, the derivation of Ibri (Hebrew) from Kber seems to have most in its favor and least against it. (See on this side Augustine, J)e Cirit. Dei,Yi, 11; Buxtorf, Diss, iii, 27 ; Bochart, riuihri, ii, 14 ; Hottinger, Thes. Phil. p. 4 ; Leusden, PhU. Ihh. Diss, xxi ; IMorinus, De Ling. Primcev. p. G4; PfeifFer, Diff. Script. Locc, 0pp. p. 49; Caqizov, Crit. Sac. p. IGo; Hezel, Gesch. d. Jhhr. Spr. sec. 4; EyfaW, Arisjiifn-l. Lekrbuck cler Heb. Gram. p. 19, 5th edit. ; Geschichte des V. Israel, i, 334 ; lliivernick, Introd. to the 0. Test. p. 125; Baumgarten, Thcol. Comment, zum Pent, ad loc. On the other side, sec Theodoret, Qumst. in Gen. 16 ; ChrA-sost., 1/om. 35 in Gen. ; Selden, Be Diis Syris, p. 13 ; Walton, Prolegg. p. 15 sij., in Dathe's edit. p. G8 ; Gussetius, Comment. Ling. Heb. Diss. Proem, p. 7 ; Michaelis, Sjncileg. Geogr. Heb. Ext. ii, 66 ; Gescnius, Gesch. der Heb. Sjjr. p. 11 ; Gram- mar, sec. 2.) — Kitto ; Smith. See Jew.
HEBREW OF THE HEBREWS (EjSparog iK 'Ej3paiwi', em])hatically a Hebrew, one who was so by both parents, and that by a long series of ancestors, without admixture of Gentile or even proselyte blood. In this way tlie Hebrews formed a superlative of inten- sity— as " holy of holies," i. e. the most holy place ; " vanity of vanities," i. e. exceedingly vain ; " heaven of heavens," i. e. the highest heaven. Hence Paul, when speaking of the ground of precedence which he might claim above the false teachers at Philippi, says that "he is a Hebrew of the Hebrews" (Phil, iii, 5), i. e. one of full Hebrew descent, and acciuainted with the Hebrew language. Although he was bom at Tarsus, he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts xxii, o). To this same fact he seems to appeal again in a similar case, '-Are they Hebrews / so am /" (2 Cor. xi, 22). He was a genuine Hebrew man m every important respect (Acts xxi, 39, 40).
HiiKiiEws, The (Acts vi, 1), i. e. Hebrew-speaking Je\vs, in contrast with those speaking the Greek lan- guage. See Hellenist.
Hebrew Language, the language of the Hebrew people, and of the Old-Testament Scriptures, with the exception of the few chapters written in Chaldee. See CiiALDEE Language. In treating this subject we shall mainly avail ourselves of the articles in Fairbaim's Dic- tionary and Kitto's Cyclopwdia, s. v. (See Ewald's He- brew Grammar, § 1-18, 135-160.)
In the Bible this language is nowhere designated by the name Hebrew, but this is not surprising when we consider how rarely that name is employed to designate the nation. See Hebrew. If we except the terms " lip of Canaan" (',"3D TSb) in Isa. xix, 18— where the diction is of an elevated character, and is so far no evi- dence that this designation was the one commonly em- ployed—the only name bj' which the Hebrew language is mentioned in the Old Testament is " Jewish" (H'^lin^, used adverbially, Judaice, in Jewish, 2 Kings xviii, 26, 28 ; Isa. xxxvi.ll, 13 ; 2 Chron. xxxii, 18 [in Neh. xiii, 24, perhaps the Aramaic is meant]), where the feminine may be explained as an abstract of the last formation, according to Ewald's Hebr. Gram. § 344, 457, or as refer- ring to the usual gender of 'T^i understood. In a strict sense, however, " Jewish" denotes the idiom of the king- dom of Judah, which became tlic predominant one after the deportation of the ten tribes. It is in the Greek writings of the later Jews that "Hebrew" is first applied to the language, as in the tjipaiari of the prologue to Ecck'siasticus, and in the yXw&aa twv 'Ejipuiwv of Jo- sephus. (The ifipa'iQ cidXeKTOc of the New Testament is used in contradistinction to the idiom of the Hellenist Jews, and does not mean the ancient Hebrew language, but the then vernacular Aramaic dialect of Palestine.) Our title to use the designation Hebrew language is therefore founded on the fact that the nation which spoke this idiom was properly distinguished by the eth- nographical name of Hebreics.
The Hebrew language belongs to the class of lan- guages called Shemitic — so called because spoken chief- ly by nations enumerated in Scripture among the de- scendants of Shem. The Sanscrit, Persian, Greek, Lat- in, with the Germanic and Celtic languages, are the principal members of another large class or group of languages, to which have been aflixed the various names of Japhetic, Indo-European, Indo-Germanic, and An-an. This latter class embraces most of the languages of Eu- rope, including of course our own. The student, there- fore, who, besides mastering his own language, has pass- ed through a coinrse of Greek, Latin, French, and Ger- man (and few of our students, except with a professional view, extend their linguistic studies tartlier), has not, af- ter all his labor, got beyond tlie limits <jf the same class of languages to which his mother tongue belongs, and of which it forms one of the most important members. But when he passes to the study of the Hebrew lan- guage he enters a new field, he observes new phenome- na, he traces the operation of new laws.
I. Characteristics of the Shemitic Languages, and in particular of the Hebrew. — 1. With respect to soumls, the chief peculiarities are the four following :