How many words does Hebrew contain?

 

ה

ד

ג

ב

א

The number of Hebrew words

in modern Hebrew

Hebrew is one of the oldest written languages, which makes it particularly interesting. It is believed to have its roots in ancient Egypt. The work of some scholars has established interesting links between hieroglyphs and Hebrew letters. However, this theory does not have consensus because it is a controversial subject. The exact origin of Hebrew is still debated by scholars.

Thus, we would have gone from hieroglyphics to Protosinaitic writing. Then to the Phoenician script cconsidered the mother of the Paleo-Hebrew, Samaritan, Aramaic et Greek scripts.

The Old Testament contains over 8,000 wordsdistinct, although the precise figure varies from school to school. That's very few words for a language, suggesting that Biblical Hebrew was primarily a liturgical language, reserved for worship and religious study. It probably coexisted with a vernacular suitable for everyday life.

Many words were added over time, notably with the use of Mishnaic Hebrew, also called Rabbinic Hebrew or the language of the sages, between the 1st and 5th centuries of our era, a period which more or less corresponds to the writing of the Talmud. Medieval Hebrew is said to have added over 6,000 words, and Modern Hebrew has 17,000.

It is difficult to accurately assess the number of Hebrew words due to the diverse origin of the words, both ancient and modern.

According to Hebrew-academy.org, the number of primary values recorded in Hebrew dictionaries,including loanwords in all layers of the language, is approximately: :

45 000

In addition to this, there are other words, such as those used in schools, which are also commonly listed in dictionaries as subentries, for a total of approximately :

30 000 à 35 000

The number of word entries in the Hebrew language dictionary is estimated to be around

75 000 to 80 000

Note :It's important to note that estimates of the number of Hebrew words vary significantly depending on the source, and there is no definitive or universally accepted number.