The Academy is the premier institution for research of the Hebrew language; our primary enterprise is the Historical Dictionary Project (HDP), formally established in the 1950s. The overarching goal of the HDP is to present the history and development of the Hebrew lexicon, tracking words through shifts in form, meaning, and frequency of usage from their earliest attestations in the sources until their most recent documentation, up to the mid-20th century.
A historical dictionary requires a large textual database. Whereas historical dictionaries of European languages make do with select quotations from previous centuries, the HDP set itself the ambitious goal of creating a computerized database containing all extant Hebrew texts composed up to the 11th century CE and a large selection of Hebrew works since then, up to the founding of the State of Israel, spanning more than 2000 years of Hebrew writing. To manage the tremendous amount of data and optimize access to the texts and to the information the HDP recorded about them, the HDP was among the world pioneers in utilizing modern technology for a computerized concordance. This concordance has grown into a vast treasure trove, an incredible research tool in its own right. We have made the database available to the public on the Ma'agarim website, which supports sophisticated textual searches as well as browsing of entire compositions.
- Early Days of the HDP
- Ancient Literature
- Medieval Literature
- Prose
- Poetry
- Modern Literature
- Archive of the Hebrew Language
Background and Early Days of the HDP
Credit for the first historical dictionary bringing together Hebrew from different periods (A Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew, 1908–1959) belongs to journalist and Hebrew scholar Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858–1922), shown here at work in his study (at right; courtesy of the Central Zionist Archives). However, one person could not truly complete such a monumental task alone: he died before finishing his dictionary, and the latter volumes were written or edited by others.
As early as 1937, Prof. N. H. Tur-Sinai (pictured at right), then president of the Language Committee and later the first president of the Academy, proposed the establishment of “a large enterprise for the preparation of an academic dictionary of our language, encompassing all its periods and all the transformations that it has undergone from its earliest historical documentation to the present day.” Upon the founding of the Academy in 1953, we decided to pursue this colossal project as our central undertaking.
Prof. Ze’ev Ben-Ḥayyim (at right), one of the founders of the HDP, served as the first editor-in-chief (1956–1992). He spent the beginning of his term developing the vision and methodology for such a large undertaking. While on a six-month research stint in Europe in 1957–1958, he visited historical-dictionary projects in several countries. Upon his return, he reported on what he’d learned to the HDP editorial board and proposed a plan of action, including the use of computers, a revolutionary idea at the time.
After some initial debate about whether to produce a series of dictionaries (e.g., by period or by literary genre) or a single comprehensive dictionary, in 1959 the HDP editorial board accepted Prof. Ben-Ḥayyim’s recommendation to pursue the latter. The HDP staff began by compiling a catalog of Hebrew texts, recording the particulars of each composition, including the extant manuscripts of it.
Manuscripts offer a much more accurate view of the language than do printed editions. Working with manuscripts, including small fragments found in the Cairo Geniza, demands considerable time and effort but rewards the extra investment with invaluable linguistic information. If there are multiple extant manuscripts of a composition, the HDP selects the best and most complete one available.
The HDP’s researchers process each composition in two stages: first they transcribe it and add markups; then they analyze each word grammatically and assign it to a dictionary entry, adding a tag if warranted. At each stage, two additional HDP researchers review the work of the first one. The processing of texts began with post-Biblical ancient literature (200 BCE–1100 CE) and then moved on to modern literature (since 1750).
The compositions processed by the HDP include not just “literature”: among the ancient texts, for example, are inscriptions (on coins, tombstones, etc.); the Judean Desert scrolls; the Bible and the Talmud; midrash; liturgy; poetry; Karaite literature; and Geonic texts. The HDP has completed the processing of material from the ancient period.
The work on modern literature began in 1969. The material from this period supplies a wealth of genres, including belles-lettres; scientific, natural, and medical texts; historical and geographical works; and journalism and periodicals. Because of the tremendous amount of material, the HDP includes only selections from each genre. However, for three distinguished authors the HDP decided to make an exception and include their entire corpus: Mendele Mokher Sforim, H̱ayyim Naẖman Bialik, and Shmuel Yosef Agnon. By 2010 some 600 works from 80 authors had been entered into the dictionary, on the whole according to the first edition of each work.
During the past decade work has begun on medieval literature. It is during the medieval period that there was the largest dispersion of the Jewish people, and the variety of texts reflects the extent of the dispersion. Among the first texts analyzed were Spanish poetry and Rabbinic literature from 1050 to 1550.
Ancient Literature
The Historical Dictionary Project has processed all available Hebrew compositions from the Bible to the end of the Geonic period (1050 CE), using the best manuscript witnesses from library holdings worldwide (for the ancient period, the original manuscripts are rarely extant). With the notable exception of the Judean Desert Scrolls, most ancient texts have reached us in late copies. In the process of being copied again and again – in some cases hundreds of times – they accumulated many mistakes, especially when copyists corrected the text without fully understanding the language of the original. Intending to fix or improve the text, the copyists instead corrupted it. The Historical Dictionary Project seeks the best transmission of each composition, acting on expert advice. Still, the most faithful witnesses to ancient Hebrew come from archeological finds that preserve the original text, unmediated by copyists: tombstones, synagogue dedications, coins, and seal impressions. The HDP has analyzed and incorporated such texts as well.
Medieval Literature
The first decades of the Historical Dictionary Project were devoted primarily to collection and analysis of ancient and Haskala literature, leaving a seven-century gap, from 1050 to 1750 CE. Because of the wide geographical distribution of Jewish cultural centers during this period, and the scope and variety of its most significant literature, only a portion of the extant medieval compositions will be analyzed for the database.
Prose
In 2009 the HDP undertook the compilation of the sourcebook for selected 11th- to 16th-century rabbinical works, the most widespread genre of the age in Hebrew writing, whose influence on future generations was decisive. The chosen sources encompass halakhic, exegetical, and homiletical works from different traditions and periods. Additional literary genres will be analyzed in the future, first and foremost scientific tracts and Hebrew translations of classical works.
Poetry
The poetry of the Spanish Jews, both religious and secular, was preserved by the Spanish exiles. Viewed by many in the Jewish and non-Jewish world alike as the acme of Hebrew poetry, it influenced other centers of poetry – Yemen, Italy, and even Ashkenaz. The poetry of the early Spanish poets (such as Dunash ibn Labrat, Menahem ben Saruq, and their disciples) has already been entered into the database. At present, the works of the “Golden Age” in Spain (11th–12th centuries), including works by the three outstanding poets of the day – Samuel HaNagid, Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Judah HaLevi – are being processed.
Modern Literature
In 1969 the HDP began compiling Modern Hebrew works spanning the period from the Haskala in Germany (mid-18th century) to the 1930s. In 2009 the scope was extended to include Hebrew literature composed in Italy and Amsterdam from 1500 onward.
Modern Hebrew writing constitutes an important building block in the formation of today’s spoken Hebrew. Composed in a modern European cultural, material, and intellectual setting, the Hebrew writing of this period reflects a conscious adaptation to the ambient culture and therefore abounds with new genres of Hebrew composition, including belles-lettres, autobiography, journalism; the period also supplies a wealth of scientific literature. In all these genres we find new words, phrases, and meanings that remain in use to this day. The processes sparked by the printing revolution – processes that continued with the creation of Mendele Mokher Sforim’s style and culminated in the renewal of Hebrew speech – refreshed and secularized the language, laying the foundations for the Hebrew of our day.
The HDP will include the entire oeuvre of three of the modern period’s most eminent writers – Mendele Mokher Sforim, H̱ayyim Naẖman Bialik, and Shmuel Yosef Agnon – as well as selected works of other writers, including Aẖad Ha'Am, Yosef H̱ayyim Brenner, Y. D. Berkowitz, Uri Nisan Gnessin, H̱ayyim Hazaz, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Avraham Mapu, Moses Mendelssohn, Perets Smolenskin, and Rabbi Moses H̱ayyim Luzzatto.
The HDP enters works of Modern Hebrew literature into the database according to their first printed edition. So far, over 600 texts of varying length – containing some 10 million words produced by about 100 writers – have been processed, and concordance entries have been prepared for about one-third of these compositions.
Archive of the Hebrew Language
From the beginning, the Historical Dictionary Project intended not only to produce a dictionary, but also to create an archive of the Hebrew language. In 2010, the Hebrew texts from the post-Biblical Period down through the 11th century were fully integrated into the computerized database. In this archive there are not only individual words, but also complete texts that have been painstakingly copied according to the best manuscripts available. This archive is available online.
In addition to the ability to perform grammatical analyses and concordance searches, the archives also contain unique texts, such as the poetry from the 11th century. The archive is an indispensable tool used by researchers of Hebrew literature and language.