Course Descriptions

HCL 655 Northwest Semitic Dialects - Credit Hours: 3

Semester normally offered: Alternate Fall Semesters

Readings in Ammonite, Hebrew, Moabite and Phoenician inscriptions, with comparative observations on linguistic data. Prerequisite: HCL 6/411.

This course fills equivalencies in the following areas:

By the end of the course, the student should be able to:

read Iron Age inscriptions in Hebrew, Old Aramaic (including Deir Alla’), Phoenician, Punic, Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite;
know the basics of the science of epigraphy;
have a basic understanding of Levantine dialect geography;
know how these languages fit into the larger framework of Comparative Semitics;
relate information gained to better understand the ancient Near East in general and the world of the Bible in particular; and
do further research in Northwest Semitic linguistics.

A one-day interactive field study at a site where students can encounter biblical Hebrew texts, such as the Israel Museum or a synagogue.