B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

What is the difference between classical hebrew and biblical hebrew, or is it the same thing?

Mishnaic would be post biblical, Is Mishnaic Hebrew Post Classical? or Pre Classical?

Are the latest apocryphal hebrew bible books, like 1XXBCE (Maccabees), what period Hebrew is that called? Is that still biblical?

Also, was there a beginner section of the forum for biblical hebrew that has been removed?! why?

Ralph, I can answer your last question. The beginners' forum still exists. You'll see it listed if you go to the main "Board Index".

ralph wrote:What is the difference between classical hebrew and biblical hebrew, or is it the same thing?

I have absolutely no expertise on this terminological question but over the last few years have come across a number of articles, etc., by Jan Joosten. Have you seen this one: https://www.academia.edu/2513631/_The_D ... in_Syntax_ ?

ralph wrote:What is the difference between classical hebrew and biblical hebrew, or is it the same thing?

Mishnaic would be post biblical, Is Mishnaic Hebrew Post Classical? or Pre Classical?

Are the latest apocryphal hebrew bible books, like 1XXBCE (Maccabees), what period Hebrew is that called? Is that still biblical?

Also, was there a beginner section of the forum for biblical hebrew that has been removed?! why?

The beginner's forum can be found here, and it is linked from the forum's main page.

Weingreen uses the word "classical" instead of "biblical" Hebrew. They are interchangeable. Classical Hebrew is what is found in the text of the Bible, in contrast to other periods of the language. Some would also mark the last period of biblical Hebrew as non-classical.

Mishnaic Hebrew is not from the classical period. I know that the Maccabees was preserved in Greek. As far as I know, Hebrew versions of the text are translations.

People don't use the form Classical Hebrew in the manner of the research
But only when it comes to Biblical Hebrew

the Biblical text is parted to four "layers"
1. Classic Biblical Hebrew (Genesis-Isa.)
2. The Late Biblical Hebrew (the second temple era's books)
3. The Hebrew of between these eras (Jer & Ezekiel).
4. (Early) Poetry Hebrew

The Mishnaic Hebrew is another dialect that is seen in the post-Biblical era, but it is also early and grew up as a parallel dialect next the Biblical Hebrew.
The Biblical Hebrew is actually a literary style, and the Mishnaic is more natural (with more natural analogies between the form), but it also has forms that are more archaic than the biblical ones.

Just a comment on the usage of "Classical Hebrew" for the scope of our discussions on our forum:

The term "classical" is primarily temporal in connotation, rather than indicating a stage of the Hebrew language grammar, dialect and vocabulary. When we were reorganizing the forum, I wanted to attract more people, and limiting our discussions to strictly the Hebrew Bible has been -- in my experience as moderator -- too narrow. So how to expand the scope?

I looked to one authority, Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. Here is their definition:

By that we mean all kinds of Hebrew from the period prior to about 200 CE, that is, earlier than the Hebrew of the Mishnah...For this purpose, we have divided all the texts into four corpora: (1) The Hebrew Bible (excluding the Aramaic portions); (2) Ben Sira; (3) the Qumran manuscripts (Dead Sea Scrolls) and related texts; (4) inscriptions and other occasional texts.

I did not have nor have now any intention to dictate "correct" phases of the Hebrew language and literature, but to simply and more or less arbitrarily define the boundaries of our discussions. When relevant, discussion of the LXX or even Mishnah, Targums, etc., are allowed when used to support/supplement discussion of the primary texts. I'll even include discussion of biblical Aramaic, since it is intimately involved with later Hebrew Bible grammar and texts.

I hope that clarifies one aspect of this topic.