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Copyright

Aaron D. Hornkohl

Published On

2024-11-11

Page Range

pp. 1–24

Language

  • English

Print Length

24 pages

Introduction

  • Aaron D. Hornkohl (author)
Chapter of: Diachronic Diversity in Classical Biblical Hebrew(pp. 1–24)
Despite the suitability of the standard division of Biblical Hebrew (BH) into pre-exilic Classical Biblical Hebrew (CBH) and post-Restoration Late Biblical Hebrew, which presupposes the linguistic unity of the classical phase in which most of the Hebrew Bible is written, there is some evidence pointing to diachronic diversity within CBH, according to which the Torah presents an earlier chronolect than the pre-exilic Prophets and Writings. The implications are significant, not just as they demand greater nuance in the accepted, fundamentally dichotomous theory of BH periodisation, but challenge entrenched theories of the Bible’s literary composition.
This introductory chapter surveys challenges presented by the data, emphasises the need for external controls and a robust methodology, responds to oft-raised objections to diachronic linguistic approaches, and previews the structure of the monograph.

Contributors

Aaron D. Hornkohl

(author)
Associate Professor in Hebrew at University of Cambridge
https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-aaron-d-hornkohl

Aaron D. Hornkohl (PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2012) is University Associate Professor in Hebrew, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge. His research focuses on ancient Hebrew philology and linguistics, especially historical linguistics and ancient Hebrew periodisation; the components of the standard Tiberian Masoretic biblical tradition; and that tradition’s profile in the context of other biblical traditions and extrabiblical sources. This is his third single-author monograph after The Historical Depth of the Tiberian Reading Tradition of Biblical Hebrew (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2023) and Ancient Hebrew Periodization and the Book of Jeremiah (Leiden: Brill 2014). He has also co-edited several volumes and written numerous articles.