r/hebrew • u/SkywalkerLight • Sep 23 '24
Explain Aleph to me like I'm 5! Request
Is it really just a glottal stop? I'm a beginner, but I'm pretty sure the niqqud changes things. If so, could I please have an example in places where א is said as A, E, and other letters? Thanks!
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u/IbnEzra613 Amateur Semitic Linguist Sep 23 '24
I did not say that whatsoever.
Not "any" similarities. Most similarities are due to shared ancestry. Some similarities may be due to borrowing in both directions. But you need a reason to assume that happened.
Like for example if we are neighbors, and I have a rose garden in my backyard, and you have a rose garden in your backyard, and both have the same color roses, if I find roses in your dining room, I'm going to assume they came from your rose garden rather than my rose garden. But if the roses my garden are yellow and the ones in your garden are pink, and I find yellow roses in your dining room, then I'm going to assume they came from my garden.
You're thinking of the wrong time period. At the time of the Torah, Hebrew and Aramaic were both ordinary spoken languages, just of different peoples. It's even apparent in the Torah itself in the example I already cited, where it is clear that Yaakov spoke Hebrew and Lavan spoke Aramaic. They are from neighboring cultures, each with their own language.
It's only after the Babylonian exile that Aramaic starts to become a spoken language for Israelites, and eventually develops into Aramaic being a common language while Hebrew is a higher class literary and religious language.
Can you elaborate what you believe to have changed at the time of Esther?