Hebrew language

Hebrew
עִבְרִית ʿIvrit
Pronunciation	[(ʔ)ivˈʁit] - [(ʔ)ivˈɾit][note 1]
Native to	Israel, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria;[1] used globally as a liturgical language for Judaism
Native speakers	(5.3 million [2] cited 1998)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Canaanite Hebrew
Writing system	Hebrew alphabet Hebrew Braille
Official status
Official language in	Israel
Recognised minority language in	Poland  South Africa
Language codes
ISO 639-1	he
ISO 639-2	heb
ISO 639-3	Either: heb – Modern Hebrew hbo – Ancient Hebrew
Linguasphere	12-AAB-a

Hebrew is the language of Jewish people around the world, an official language of Israel and in linguistics a Semitic language.

Many Jewish people speak English and also speak Hebrew, as Hebrew is part of Judaism. It was first spoken in Israel.

It was spoken by Israelites a long time ago, during the time of the Bible. After Judah was conquered by Babylonia, the Jews were taken captive (prisoner) to Babylon and started speaking Aramaic. Hebrew was no longer used much in daily life, but it was still known by Jews who studied halakha.

In the 20th century, many Jews decided to make Hebrew into a spoken language again. It became the language of the new country of Israel in 1948. People in Israel came from many places and decided to learn Hebrew, the language of their common ancestors, so that they could all speak one language. However, Modern Hebrew is quite different from Biblical Hebrew, with a simpler grammar and many loanwords from other languages, especially English.

As of 2021, Hebrew has been the only dead language that had been made into a living language again.^[3]

The Hebrew Bible was originally written in Biblical Hebrew.
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1. ↑ "CIA's World Fact Book". Archived from the original on 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
2. ↑ "Hebrew language report". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 22 December 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
3. ↑ "Hebrew | Foreign Languages | Monroe Community College". www.monroecc.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-05.