![]() However, the Hebrew letters themselves do not have meaning. The names of the Hebrew letters do have meaning, since they were directly derived from words. In other words, long before the letters Aleph and Beth were invented, the Hebrew word for “father”, ab, already existed, and it was already pronounced as “ab”. Like other ancient languages, Hebrew was a spoken language long before Hebrew letters were invented. Thirdly, the Hebrew-letter-meanings theory does not consider the history of how languages develop. The Hebrew word for “father”, ab, is spelled with the letters Aleph and Beth because it was pronounced as “ab”, and not because of the meanings of those letters. However, that is not how any language works! In reality, Hebrew words are spelled according to how they are pronounced. Secondly, the Hebrew-letter-meanings theory assumes that Hebrew words are spelled based on the meaning of their letters. Does the Hebrew word for “mother” therefore really mean “the leader of water”-whatever that means? It is spelled with the letters Aleph and Mem, which supposedly signify “ox” and “water” respectively. There are a few problems with the Hebrew-letter-meanings theory.įirstly, the Hebrew-letter-meanings theory is very arbitrary. However, that is not at all how the Hebrew language works! Problems with the Hebrew-letter-meanings theory From this, theorists conclude that the Hebrew word for “father” really means “the leader of the house”. According to the theory, the letter Aleph signifies an ox while the letter Beth signifies a house. ![]() ![]() It is sometimes claimed that each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has meaning, and that the “true meaning” of a Hebrew word can be determined from the meaning of its constituent letters.įor example, the Hebrew word ab, meaning “father”, is spelled with two letters: Aleph and Beth. Do Hebrew Letters Have Meaning? Asher Chee | 10 September 2018
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