Hebrew-language

Hebrew
עברית‎, Ivrit
Portion of the Temple Scroll, one of the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran
Pronunciation	[(ʔ)ivˈʁit] – [(ʔ)ivˈɾit]
Native to	Israel
Region	Land of Israel
Ethnicity	Israelites; Jews and Samaritans
Extinct	Ancient Hebrew extinct by 586 CE, surviving as a liturgical language for Judaism
Revival	9.0 million speakers of Modern Hebrew of which 5 million are native speakers in Israel. (2016)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Canaanite Hebrew
Early forms	Biblical Hebrew Mishnaic Hebrew Medieval Hebrew
Standard forms	Modern Hebrew
Writing system	Hebrew alphabet Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (Archaic Biblical Hebrew) Imperial Aramaic script (Late Biblical Hebrew)
Signed forms	Signed Hebrew (oral Hebrew accompanied by sign)
Official status
Official language in	Israel (as Modern Hebrew)
Regulated by	Academy of the Hebrew Language האקדמיה ללשון העברית (HaAkademia LaLashon HaʿIvrit)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	he
ISO 639-2	heb
ISO 639-3	Variously:  – Modern Hebrew  – Classical Hebrew (liturgical)  – Samaritan Hebrew (liturgical)  – Moabite (extinct)  – Edomite (extinct)
Glottolog	hebr1246
Linguasphere	12-AAB-a
The Hebrew-speaking world:   regions where Hebrew is the language of the majority   regions where Hebrew is the language of a significant minority
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Hebrew (/ˈhiːbruː/; עִבְרִית‎, Ivrit [ʔivˈʁit] ( listen) or [ʕivˈɾit] ( listen)) is a Northwest Semitic language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, although the language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Tanakh. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language.