Customer Reviews

How the Hebrew Language Grew

5 star:		(9)
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2 star:		(1)
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``How the Hebrew Language Grew'' is absolutely fascinating. It will teach you a lot about Hebrew--but also about how linguists think, especially semitic linguists. Horowitz explains the major ways that new words are invented, with lots of examples from Hebrew down through the ages.

Yet Horowitz is never dull or scholarly. He never gets bogged down in details, and explains everything in clear, simple language. Linguistics can be a dull subject, but Horowitz makes it come alive.

Maybe that's because linguistics isn't really what Horowitz cares about. He is really a Hebrew teacher, and he wants you to actually learn some Hebrew as you go along. By telling you how different words were invented, he helps you remember them. Even better, he helps you figure out new words that came about in the same way. If you're interested in learning Hebrew, then ``How the Hebrew Language Grew'' will be a real vocabulary builder!

I do have two warnings for you, although I loved the book. First, Horowitz assumes that you understand some very basic Hebrew. I didn't, when I read it, and still thoroughly enjoyed it. But you will get more out of the book if you at least know the alphabet, and can read it phonetically. If you can understand simple sentences, that's even better.

Second, if you are trying to learn Hebrew then this book will make you work a little. You CAN just read it through--it is fascinating--but to make it stick, you'll need to chew on it pretty carefully. Each chapter does have some questions at the end to help you study. I ignored them the first time through, many years ago, but now I'm using it almost like a textbook.

You'll definitely keep coming back! This is NOT a ``read once, throw away'' kind of book!

After living in Israel for going on 3 years, taking 5 months of intensive Ulpan and several part-time follow-up Hebrew Ulpanim, I am now speaking Hebrew fairly decently.

However, it wasn't until I just read this book that it all started to make sense, everything has now fallen into place.

The most important thing that I learned was the secret behind those "irregular" verbs that always give so much trouble when learning a new language.

The author also shows the evolution of various words and how and why the spellings and pronounciations of many Hebrew words have changed over time.

In almost all cases, the author gives clear examples that show how the same concepts run parallel in English and other languages.

He sheds light on many different aspects of language and communication, all in an entertaining and easy to read manner.

One of the best books I have ever read on the Hebrew language. This book is a great tool for understanding the mechanics of the language as well as its history. Each chapter is a new insight into words and roots in a way that is easily read and understood. Highly recommended.

This quickly rose to the top of my collection of Hebrew books. It's accessible to anyone who has a solid first-year course in the language, but the more you know the more you can get out of it. That means it's the kind of book you will come back to several times. It's not just a history of the language, in fact, history is not its primary focus. It's a vocabulary book, and a superb one.

It groups words by their structural or pattern similarities and shows how various roots acuire shades of meaning as projected through each pattern. It has large lists of structurally related words, and many roots are repeatedly represented, horizontally if you like, across multiple patterns. It prompted me to make a spreadsheet, in fact, laying out this rich vocabulary in the implied two dimensions. It presents plenty of etymological relationships, also, implying a third dimension.

It has lots of exercises and puzzles to engage you and test your absorption of the material.

I don't know of a better presentation of vocabulary, built-up from and built-in to the grammatical framework. Along with R. Matityahu Clark's Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, it's almost as though one can "calculate" vocabulary words.

Horowitz take us to a trip into the language land.
With anacdotes, and funny stories we meet the hebrew - and languages - origins.

excellent book!

This is indeed an informative, well presented book written in a pleasant style. The author refers to his seventh and eighth grade students, and buyers should be aware that the reading level of the book is appropriate for a rather bright child.

I've just finished reading this book. As written in previous reviews, this is not a book just to read, it's a book to be studied as a textbook. And I am ready to begin to study it, specially doing the exercises in the end of each chapter.

This book has a huge number of examples of how words changed over the years, roots and how to find out the meaning based on these roots, how to create new words based on verbal patterns, etc., etc.

It's a must have! If you study Hebrew and want to read a consistent book to understand the "irregularities" of verbs, buy this book and you will soon realize how important this book is.

The only "problem" I saw with this book is that in order to read it you must have a previous, although basic, knowledge of Hebrew: you must be familiar with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet and also with the vowel system (nekudot). But this is not a big deal, really!

I'd definitively recommend to anyone studying Hebrew: beginners, intermediate and advanced students.

no other book unlocks the mystery, beauty, logic and wisdom of the hebrew language like this one.

This book is very helpful in learning just how Hebrew works.

It makes vocabulary building much easier by teaching root words and showing how those root words develope/become other related words.

Writen over 30 years ago Horowitz's book is still a minor classic.
Surely there is no better introduction to the long history of the holy tounge for the English speaker with a good working knowlege of Hebrew.
Althogh writen for schoools the book is suitable for those who long left Hebrew school or "Heder"
We are introduced to some basic principles of the semitic languages then countless examples are given from both modern and biblical Hebrew.
Horowitz's book is not a leaned scientific study... but its an informative read for anyone who loves the Hebrew language whether he uses it at study , prayer as as his everyday language.