[Avodah] Did the Patriarchs Speak Hebrew?

Professor L. Levine llevine at stevens.edu
Mon Dec 18 23:37:41 PST 2017


>From the article at

https://goo.gl/Z3QWs2


Ramban says:


It is possible that he said this to them simply as a means of pacifying them, for there was no proof [that he was Joseph] in the fact that someone in Egypt should speak in the Holy Tongue. In my opinion, Hebrew was a Canaanite language. For Abraham did not bring it from Ur of the Chaldees [in Mesopotamia] and from Haran, for there they spoke Aramaic, as the incident of the pile of stones erected by Laban and Jacob proves [see Gen. 31:47]. And it was not a private language spoken by a single person but a language of Canaan, and many people in Egypt knew it for the countries were close together--particularly the ruler, for it is customary for kings and rulers to know several languages.

For his assertion that Hebrew is "a Canannite language" Ramban makes reference to Isaiah, who does thus refer to Hebrew: "On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 19:18). That the original language of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) was Aramaic is proved to Ramban's mind by virtue of the fact that Laban gave the name "Yegar-sahaduta" to what Jacob called "Gal-ed" (Gen. 31:47), The former had remained in Mesopotamia and continued to speak Aramaic (which Ramban thinks was spoken in Ur and in Haran), while Jacob, who had grown up in Canaan, had learnt the local language.


Please see the above URL for much more on this topic.


YL

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