Hebrew: A Revived Language and Its Linguistic Journey

Remarkably, Hebrew is the only successfully revived dead language. Once reserved for religious texts, it was revitalized by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in the 19th century, becoming the spoken language in Israel.

Hebrew is built on roots, typically of three consonants. These roots are the foundation for semantically related words. Changing vowels and adding prefixes or suffixes form different meanings and word classes.

Ancient Hebrew was originally written in Paleo-Hebrew script. Post-exilic Jews adopted the Aramaic script, which evolved into the Hebrew square script used in modern Hebrew today.

Hebrew is written right-to-left, using an abjad writing system. It includes 22 consonants but traditionally omits most vowels, which can be optionally denoted by diacritic marks called 'nikkud'.

Hebrew has influenced English with words like 'hallelujah', 'Sabbath', and 'amen'. These terms were integrated into English through translations of Judeo-Christian religious texts.

Modern Hebrew has different dialects, influenced by the diverse backgrounds of Jews who returned to Israel. It also has a rich slang, often borrowing from Arabic, English, and Yiddish.

Hebrew letters have numerical values, a concept known as Gematria. This has been used for mystical purposes in Kabbalah, where numerical value of words is considered to hold profound significance.

Astronauts celebrated the first Shabbat in space with specially designed kosher meals and Hebrew prayers.