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Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts

Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts

VOLUME 1

AN INTRODUCTION TO APPROACHES AND PROBLEMS

IAN YOUNG
ROBERT REZETKO

WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF MARTIN EHRENSVÄRD

Equinox Publishing Ltd

London Oakville
Published by

UK: Equinox Publishing Ltd., Unit 6, The Village, 101 Amies St., London SW11 2JW
USA: DBBC, 28 Main Street, Oakville, CT 06779

www.equinoxpub.com

First published 2008

© Ian Young, Robert Rezetko, and Martin Ehrensvärd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data


A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN-10 (Hardback) 1845530810 (set)


ISBN-13 (Hardback) 9781845530815 (set)
ISBN-10 (Paperback) 1845530829 (Vol 1)
ISBN-13 (Paperback) 9781845530822 (Vol 1)

Typeset by Forthcoming Publications Ltd


www.forthpub.com

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham


For Our Families

Karyn and Samantha


Mirna, Daniel, Gabriela, Talya and Camila
CONTENTS
VOLUME 1:
AN INTRODUCTION TO APPROACHES AND PROBLEMS

Preface ix
Abbreviations xi

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION 1

Chapter 2
EARLY VS. LATE BIBLICAL HEBREW:
PRINCIPLES AND METHODOLOGY 10

Chapter 3
EARLY VS. LATE BIBLICAL HEBREW:
CRITIQUE OF PRINCIPLES 45

Chapter 4
EARLY VS. LATE BIBLICAL HEBREW:
CRITIQUE OF METHODOLOGY 83

Chapter 5
EARLY VS. LATE BIBLICAL HEBREW:
LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND RATES OF ACCUMULATION 111

Chapter 6
HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS OF THE MONARCHIC PERIOD 143

Chapter 7
DIALECTS AND DIGLOSSIA 173

Chapter 8
ARAMAIC 201

Chapter 9
MISHNAIC HEBREW 223
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Chapter 10
QUMRAN HEBREW AND BEN SIRA 250

Chapter 11
LOANWORDS 280

Chapter 12
ARCHAIC BIBLICAL HEBREW 312

Chapter 13
TEXTUAL CRITICISM 341

Chapter 14
CONCLUSION 361

VOLUME 2:
A SURVEY OF SCHOLARSHIP, A NEW SYNTHESIS
AND A COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbreviations ix

Chapter 1
SURVEY OF SCHOLARSHIP ON THE DATING
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE 1

Chapter 2
SYNTHESIS OF THE ARGUMENT:
EBH AND LBH AS CO-EXISTING STYLES 72

Chapter 3
LINGUISTIC CASE STUDIES 106

Chapter 4
TABLES OF LINGUISTIC FEATURES
SUGGESTED TO BE LBH IN MAJOR PUBLICATIONS 160

Bibliography 215
Analytical Outline of Subjects 284
Index of Hebrew and Aramaic Words 296
Index of Biblical Literature and References 324
Index of Authors 368
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PREFACE

Despite its ‘yawn-invoking title’ (Zevit 2004) considerable interest in the


question of using language to date biblical texts was generated by the
publication of Biblical Hebrew: Studies in Chronology and Typology
(Young 2003a). This was confirmed by the large attendance at a session
on the topic organised by Ziony Zevit at the Society of Biblical
Literature Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas in 2004. That evening,
Rezetko and Young ended up, purely by accident (Ehrensvärd has a
better sense of direction), at a reception for Equinox Publishers hosted by
Philip Davies and Janet Joyce. It had been Philip’s brilliant idea that had
led to the earlier book (the title only shows that you can’t be brilliant all
of the time). In San Antonio he had another one: ‘You guys (Young and
Rezetko figured he was talking to them) should write an introduction to
linguistic dating of biblical texts. It should be easy: I mean, you already
know all the stuff.’
Over three years later we may look back on those inspiring, but not
very prescient, words. As we delved deep into the literature and in par-
ticular, the masses (and masses!) of data, our unease with the current
chronological model grew until we arrived at a new model to compre-
hend the linguistic diversity of the Hebrew Bible. Thus, the first volume
contains a lot more argument than we first planned, and an unexpected
second volume has grown out of the first.
On the way, we decided that having a good sense of direction is no
excuse to avoid hard work and so Ehrensvärd was drawn deeper and
deeper into the web. Working together has been fun and the resulting
volumes are evidence of a true team effort, usually on three different
continents, but occasionally together in person, most notably in Vienna
in July 2007. We have encouraged, learned from and pushed each other,
and still ended up better friends than ever.
Many people have helped in many different ways in this team effort.
George Athas, Robert Holmstedt, Søren Holst and Mark Leuchter read
the completed manuscript for us. Of the many others who helped us
along the way, we mention especially Matthew Anstey, Brian Aucker,
Ehud Ben Zvi, Shani Berrin, Lucy Davey, Philip Davies, Greg Doudna,
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Diana Edelman, Cynthia Edenburg, Michael Fox, Manfred Hutter, Jan


Joosten, Alan Lenzi, Timothy Lim, Raymond Person, Frank Polak, Gary
Rendsburg, Martin Shields, Luis Siddall, Mark Smith, Robyn Vern, Noel
Weeks, and students in the Classical Hebrew program at the University
of Sydney who worked with earlier drafts of the material. None of them
can of course be held accountable for the final product, which is solely
our responsibility.
Finally, we thank Duncan Burns for his expertise in the production of
the manuscript for publication.

Ian Young (Sydney)


Robert Rezetko (Guadalajara)
Martin Ehrensvärd (Aarhus)

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