ABSTRACT
This chapter is dedicated to my esteemed teacher, Professor Henry M. Hoenigswald. (For the system of transliteration employed in this chapter see note p. 172) Ancient Hebrew was the language of the Israelite tribes who, at the beginning of the first millennium BCE, established a united kingdom in the land formerly known as Canaan. After the reigns of David and his son, Solomon, the united kingdom split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, the latter remaining loyal to the Davidic dynasty in Jerusalem, the former being ruled by a series of dynasties until its destruction by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.
