Why was the Old Testament written in Hebrew?

Answer 1

The Hebrew alphabet (אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי) is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as of other Jewish languages, including:

• Yiddish
  
• Ladino
  
• Judeo-Arabic
  
• Judeo-Aramaic
  

The basic alphabet is as follows (from right to left):

א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 Consonants and no vowels. It does not have upper and lower case, but five letters have different forms when used at the end of a word:

ך ם ן ף ץ

Hebrew writing is referred to as an abjad, which is an alphabet with no vowels. As with other abjads, such as the Arabic alphabet, scribes later devised means of indicating vowel sounds by vowel points, known in Hebrew as niqqud. There are about 20 Niqqud symbols, though a few are rare and/or extinct. Niqqud symbols are not considered to be part of the alphabet. Here is a sample text with Niqqud, which are the dots and dashes above, inside, and below the letters:

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ

In rabbinic and Modern Hebrew, the letters א ה ו י are also used as "vowel letters." When used to write Yiddish, the writing system is a true alphabet (except for borrowed Hebrew words). The following letters are used as vowels in Yiddish:

א = a

×¢ = e

×™ = i

אָ = o

ו = u

×™×™ = ei as in weight

×™×™Ö· = ei as in height

In modern usage of the Hebrew alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish (except that ×¢ replaces ×”) and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with these letters acting as true vowels.

There have been two scripts in use. The old Hebrew script is known as the paleo-Hebrew script (which has been largely preserved, in an altered form, in the Samaritan script), while the present "square" form of the Hebrew alphabet is a stylized form of the Aramaic script and was known by Israel's sages as the Ashuri script (Assyrian script), since its origins were alleged to be from Assyria. Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the letters exist.

There is also a cursive Hebrew script.

Answer 2

If by symbols you mean letters, then the Hebrew alphabet uses 22 letters. None of these letters are vowels, instead, a system dots and lines is used to indicate vowel sounds.

So, the alphabet of 22 letters is no more symbols than the 26 in the English alphabet. Also, asking "why" is sort of ambiguous. How else can you represent a written language other than through writing? The symbology of written English is the Latin alphabet.

Many languages, including Malay, Tagalog and Indonesian use the Latin alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet is older than the Latin alphabet but both of them are descendents of the Phoenician alphabet.

The Phoenicians are said to be the inventors of alphabetic symbolism. Paleo-Hebrew alphabet both has influenced and is a derivative of the Phoenician alphabet. The Aramaic alphabet is also another derivative of the Phoenician alphabet. In time, due to exile in Babylonia, Hebrew abandoned Paleo-Hebraic alphabets and adopted Aramaic alphabets. The Aramaic alphabet is a precursor of the modern Arabic alphabet. Meanwhile, the Greek alphabet is also another derivative of the Phoenician alphabet. The Latin and Russian-Cyrillic alphabets are derivatives of the Greek alphabet.

Answer 3

The Hebrew alphabet (אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי) is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as of other Jewish languages, including:

• Yiddish
  
• Ladino
  
• Judeo-Arabic
  
• Judeo-Aramaic
  

The basic alphabet is as follows (from right to left):
א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת
The Hebrew alphabet has 22 Consonants and no vowels. It does not have upper and lower case, but five letters have different forms when used at the end of a word:
ך ם ן ף ץ
Hebrew writing is referred to as an abjad, which is an alphabet with no vowels. As with other abjads, such as the Arabic alphabet, scribes later devised means of indicating vowel sounds by vowel points, known in Hebrew as niqqud. There are about 20 Niqqud symbols, though a few are rare and/or extinct. Niqqud symbols are not considered to be part of the alphabet. Here is a sample text with Niqqud, which are the dots and dashes above, inside, and below the letters:

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ

In rabbinic and Modern Hebrew, the letters א ה ו י are also used as "vowel letters." When used to write Yiddish, the writing system is a true alphabet (except for borrowed Hebrew words). The following letters are used as vowels in Yiddish:
א = aע = eי = iאָ = oו = uיי = ei as in weight ייַ = ei as in height
In modern usage of the Hebrew alphabet, as in the case of Yiddish (except that ×¢ replaces ×”) and to some extent modern Israeli Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with these letters acting as true vowels.

There have been two scripts in use. The old Hebrew script is known as the paleo-Hebrew script (which has been largely preserved, in an altered form, in the Samaritan script), while the present "square" form of the Hebrew alphabet is a stylized form of the Aramaic script and was known by Israel's sages as the Ashuri script (Assyrian script), since its origins were alleged to be from Assyria. Various "styles" (in current terms, "fonts") of representation of the letters exist.
There is also a cursive Hebrew script.

Answer 4

No ancient semitic alphabets have vowels because the ancient peoples that created them didn't find them necessary for writing. Just as in English we don't mark intonation in words, because we don't think it's necessary, even though we add intonation when we read.

Answer 5

The Old Testament was written by Jews, who spoke Hebrew.

Answer 6

It is done for the exact same reason English is written from left to right: because that's how it was designed.

Answer 7

It's right here:

א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת

Answer 8

There is no such thing as a "Hebrew sign" but the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters in it: א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת

Answer 9

All writing systems, including English, use symbols.

Answer 10

This is not a question.