Samaritan Hebrew

Not to be confused with Samaritan Aramaic language.
Samaritan Hebrew
ࠏࠁࠓࠉࠕ‎ Îbrit
Pronunciation[iːbrit]
RegionIsrael and Palestine, predominantly in Nablus and Holon
Extinctc. 2nd century[1]
survives in liturgical use
Samaritan script
Language codes
ISO 639-3smp
Glottologsama1313
Linguasphere12-AAB
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Samaritan Hebrew (ࠏࠨࠁࠬࠓࠪࠉࠕ‎ ʿÎbrit) is a reading tradition used liturgically by the Samaritans for reading the Ancient Hebrew language of the Samaritan Pentateuch, in contrast to Tiberian Hebrew among the Jewish people.

For the Samaritans, Ancient Hebrew ceased to be a spoken everyday language and was succeeded by Samaritan Aramaic, which itself ceased to be a spoken language some time between the 10th and 12th centuries and was succeeded by Arabic (or more specifically Samaritan Palestinian Arabic).

The phonology of Samaritan Hebrew is very similar to that of Samaritan Arabic, and is used by the Samaritans in prayer.[2] Today, the spoken vernacular among Samaritans is evenly split between Modern Israeli Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic, depending on whether they reside in Holon (Israel) or in Shechem (i.e. Nablus, in Palestine).

  1. ^ Samaritan Hebrew at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Ben-Ḥayyim 2000, p. 29.