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As theOld Testament (known as theTanakh) was written in Hebrew, Hebrew has been central toJudaism andChristianity for more than 2000 years.
The study of Hebrew occurred already in somegrammatical notes in theTalmud andMidrash. TheMasoretes continued the study as they fixed the text and vocalization of the Hebrew Bible. Under the influence of Arab grammarians, RabbiSaadia Gaon (tenth century) made the Jewish study of Hebrew grammar almost scientific. Later Jewish grammarians includeDavid Qimhi (known as the Radak),Abraham ibn Ezra andJudah ben David Hayyuj.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is the main revivalist of Hebrew as a modern spoken language, although in his bookLanguage in Time of Revolution, Israeli scholarBenjamin Harshav diminishes Ben-Yehuda's role and attributes the success of the revival to a wider movement in the Jewish society.
The first major non-Jewish grammarian wasJohn Reuchlin (16th century), but it was not until the early 19th century that Hebrewlinguistics was studied in a secular, scientific way. The pioneer of this movement wasWilhelm Gesenius, who published thirteen editions of hisHebräische Grammatik. After Gesenius' death in 1842, the 14th through 21st editions were published byE. Rödiger, and the 22nd through 28th editions byEmil Kautzsch. Many of these editions were translated into English. The 28th edition was published in 1910 byA. E. Cowley and is known today simply asGesenius' Hebrew Grammar. It became the standard Hebrew reference grammar, and although it is somewhat outdated by newer works, it is still widely used in the field in the 21st century.
The largest compendium of Hebrew grammatical material is König'sHistorisch-Kritisches Lehrgebäude der Hebräischen Sprache (1881-97).
Paul Joüon'sGrammaire de l'hébreu biblique (1923) was recently edited and translated into English byTakamitsu Muraoka asA Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (1991; revised edition 2006). Muraoka made this into the most complete and up-to-date reference grammar. Also modern is Rudolf Meyer'sHebräische Grammatik (1966-72), but it is not quite as thorough as Joüon-Muraoka. Of note as well is Mayer Lambert'sTraité de grammaire hébraïque (1931).
The most thorough, well-organized, and analytically incisive Hebrew grammar is the 29th edition of Gesenius' grammar byGotthelf Bergsträsser. However, the author only managed to complete the sections on Phonology (1918) and the Verb (1929) before his untimely death. Although other grammars are more current, Bergsträsser's is unsurpassed due to its depth and insight. Another excellent grammar isHans Bauer and Pontus Leander'sHistorische Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache des Alten Testaments (1917-22) although it, too, lacks syntax. Neither grammar has been translated into English, although Bergsträsser's has been translated into Hebrew (Jerusalem, 1972).
ModernIsraeli scholars in the field of Hebrew linguistics includeNaftali Herz Tur-Sinai,Chaim Menachem Rabin,E. Y. Kutscher,Shelomo Morag,Joshua Blau,Ze'ev Ben-Haim, Haiim B. Rosén,Ghil'ad Zuckermann,Elisha Qimron andMoshe Bar-Asher.
TheAcademy of the Hebrew Language (האקדמיה ללשון העברית) in modernIsrael is the "Supreme Foundation for the Science of the Hebrew Language", founded by the Israeli Government in 1953. It is responsible for coiningneologisms to keep up with today's rapidly changing society. It also has the "final say" concerning matters of spelling and grammar.
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