Linguistic Analysis of Biblical Hebrew

by Sue Groom

Publisher:

Paternoster

, 2003

Overview

Many linguistic tools and methods are applied to biblical texts in order to gain meaning from them. Such applications do not always take into account the perspective of the investigators, the presuppositions of the methods used and the nature of the material to which it is applied. These are all factors that influence the meaning obtained from the text.

Linguistic Analysis of Biblical Hebrew takes us through the pitfalls and limitations of the methods available, considering textual transmission, comparative philology, diachronic and dialectal variation, and the impact this has on the relationship between reader, author and text. Combining a critical account of long-established approaches to Hebrew meanings with a lucid introduction to newer and more recent methods such as lexical semantics and text-linguistics, this substantial volume provides an in-depth linguistic analysis of biblical Hebrew.

This illuminating read will be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates, those who have previously studied Hebrew and those who know no Hebrew, but would like to start somewhere.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Therein lies the distinction between the sense and significance of a text. The sense can be thought of as the linguistically determined meaning, whereas the significance is the importance of that meaning for a reader or readers.” (Page xx)

“This is no longer the case since the discovery of some early fragments of late biblical books such as Daniel at Qumran. The majority of biblical texts nevertheless have a history of redaction and transmission, so when interpreters claim to have discovered the author’s intention, they need to be able to specify which author. Is it ‘the original author’, a particular redactor like the Deuteronomist, the person or group responsible for the text as it existed at a certain point in time, the Masoretes for instance, those responsible for a particular translation or version of the text like Jerome, or the team which produced the NIV?” (Pages xix–xx)

“‘Verbal meaning is whatever someone has willed to convey by a particular sequence of linguistic signs and which can be conveyed by means of those signs.’” (Page xix)

“The most important idea to be retained from this discussion of definitions is that a semantic field (= lexical field) consists of a group of words which cover a conceptual field (therefore there is some semantic component common to these lexical items), and that their relations to one another can be described in terms of sense relations.” (Page 109)

“The various translations provide information on how the Hebrew texts were understood, or not (as the case may be), by certain people at particular points in time. Naturally, it must be remembered that the interpretation provided by translators has been influenced by their motives, theology, world-view and linguistic ability.” (Page xxiv)

Praise for the Print Edition

Sue Groom. . . guides the reader in a sure-footed way through the study of the nature of Hebrew as a language, the nature of the Biblical text, and the way we may go about understanding the words and the sentences in which their meaning is determined.

—John Goldingay, David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary

I can think of no more effective way of enriching the higher undergraduate and postgraduate study of Hebrew at the present time than by the careful study of this book.

—Graham Davies, Professor of Old Testament Studies, University of Cambrid

This is an admirably lucid, comprehensive and balanced critique of linguistic tools and methods as they have been applied to Biblical Hebrew. . . it is a timely and refreshing study.

—John Sawyer, Professor of Biblical and Jewish Studies, University of Lancaster

Product Details

• Title: Linguistic Analysis of Biblical Hebrew
• Author: Sue Groom
• Publisher: Paternoster
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 184

About Sue Groom

Sue Groom is the Vicar of St. Matthew’s, Yiewsley. She has a degree in Applied Linguistics, an M. Phil in Computer Speech and Language Processing and an MA in Aspects of Biblical Interpretation.