An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

Late Third Millennium (2350–2000). Traces of ENWS are found in cuneiform
Sumerian and Akkadian texts from a variety of sites, perhaps including Ebla. 11
c Old Babylonian Period (2000–1600). Personal names in the Amorite language
are found in texts from the Babylonian heartland, from the kingdom of Mari (in
the Middle Euphrates valley), and from other Syrian sites. The texts from Mari,
written in Akkadian, also show common vocabulary of Amorite origin. Amorite
names also occur in a series of Execration Texts from Twelfth Dynasty Egypt (ca.
2000–1750). 12
d Late Middle Bronze-Early Late Bronze (1600–1400). The documentary evidence
from this period is slender, confined to the so-called Proto-Sinaitic texts, written
in the earliest form of the linear alphabet. These inscriptions, found on the walls of
Serābîṭ el-Khādem, a turquoise-mining area of the Sinai, are usually dated around
1475, although some scholars have proposed a higher date. Alphabetic signs are
found on jars from Gezer dated to the same period, and a few short texts have
been found in Palestine. 13
e Late Bronze II (1400–1200). There are a small number of alphabetic inscriptions
from Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze II period, but pride of place for ENWS
studies belongs to materials from Amarna and Ugarit. The Egyptian city of
Amarna yielded correspondence sent to the pharaohs Amunhotpe III and his son
Akhenaten between 1400 and 1350, largely from the latter half of the period.
These letters are written in a form of Akkadian strongly influenced by the native
Canaanite or ENWS languages of the scribes, employees of the minor kings of
Syro-Palestinian city-states; the letters also contain Canaanite glosses. 14 Among
the larger of the petty kingdoms of the region was Ugarit. It has preserved not
only texts written in Akkadian but also texts written in the native language,
Ugaritic. The script for these is alphabetic in type but, unlike the writing of the
11 Syllabically written texts from the city of Byblos in the late third millennium may
also witness an ENWS language; see G. E. Mendenhall, The Syllabic Inscriptions
from Byblos (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1985).
12 See, e.g., D. Pardee and J. T. Glass, “The Mari Archives,” Biblical Archaeologist 47
(1984) 88–100; A. Lemaire, “Mari, the Bible, and the Northwest Semitic World,”
Biblical Archaeologist 47 (1984) 101–9.
13 For a recent survey, see E. Puech, “Origine de l’alphabet: Documents en alphabet
linéaire et cunéiforme du IIe millénaire,” Revue biblique 93 (1986) 161–213.
14 The character of the Canaanite materials in Amarna Akkadian is unclear. Most
scholars believe that linguistic interference is involved: the scribes sought to write
Akkadian but failed for lack of expertise in the language. This explanation does not,
however, cover all the facts. On the matter of the linguistic diversity within the
Amarna corpus (and in relation to Ugaritic), see J. Huehnergard, “Northwest Semitic
Vocabulary in Akkadian Texts,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 107 (1987)
713–25.