It is my understanding that the 10 commandments V2, were written by Moses at God's dictation. I have always wondered what language Moses used.
As Moses in not a historical person (not outside the bible) dating his lifetime from my research suggests he may have lived from 1,600 BC to 1,100 BC. In either cases literary Hebrew did not exist according to studies in Linguistics, Graphemics and Epigraphy.
The study of the evolution of human languages dates the first written language, Sumerian around 3,300 BC. They also invented the equivalent of a typewriter in the creation of clay tablets called cuneiform which, like the typewriter, is language independent.
It is generally agreed that Canaan was the location for the founding of modern western writing and its alphabet. In the northern Levant, in today’s Lebanon and Syria, the proto-Canaanite language evolved into Phoenician and later Aramaic. However, the Phoenician alphabet would later evolve into the alphabet used around most of the western world today. Few examples of early Canaanite writing have been found. Hebrew in language and writing evolved in Canaan. There is no evidence that as the Hebrew language and writing evolved it did not reach the point of being used as a literary language until sometime in the early 8th century BC.
Thus Moses could not have written in Hebrew or even proto-canaanite. The Egyptians evolved literary writing in their dynasties from the 21st -16th century BC. So a historic Moses could have learned literary Egyptian. Moses read the laws to the crowd and they understood the language which could have also been Egyptian. It seems to me that leaves Egyptian or Akkadian as the only two languages possible. Akkadian used 4 vowels. Ancient Egyptian did not use vowels. However, the biblical narrative and tradition hold that the text was given in the language of the Israelite people alive at the time of Moses.
Insights?
As Moses in not a historical person (not outside the bible) dating his lifetime from my research suggests he may have lived from 1,600 BC to 1,100 BC. In either cases literary Hebrew did not exist according to studies in Linguistics, Graphemics and Epigraphy.
The study of the evolution of human languages dates the first written language, Sumerian around 3,300 BC. They also invented the equivalent of a typewriter in the creation of clay tablets called cuneiform which, like the typewriter, is language independent.
It is generally agreed that Canaan was the location for the founding of modern western writing and its alphabet. In the northern Levant, in today’s Lebanon and Syria, the proto-Canaanite language evolved into Phoenician and later Aramaic. However, the Phoenician alphabet would later evolve into the alphabet used around most of the western world today. Few examples of early Canaanite writing have been found. Hebrew in language and writing evolved in Canaan. There is no evidence that as the Hebrew language and writing evolved it did not reach the point of being used as a literary language until sometime in the early 8th century BC.
Thus Moses could not have written in Hebrew or even proto-canaanite. The Egyptians evolved literary writing in their dynasties from the 21st -16th century BC. So a historic Moses could have learned literary Egyptian. Moses read the laws to the crowd and they understood the language which could have also been Egyptian. It seems to me that leaves Egyptian or Akkadian as the only two languages possible. Akkadian used 4 vowels. Ancient Egyptian did not use vowels. However, the biblical narrative and tradition hold that the text was given in the language of the Israelite people alive at the time of Moses.
Insights?
