Hebrew Bible

==Language and pronunciation==
The original [[writing system]] of the Hebrew text was an [[abjad]]: [[consonant]]s written with some applied vowel letters (''"[[Mater lectionis|matres lectionis]]"''). During the early [[Middle Ages]], scholars known as the [[Masoretes]] created a single formalized system of [[niqqud|vocalization]]. This was chiefly done by [[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher]], in the [[Tiberias]] school, based on the oral tradition for reading the Tanakh, hence the name [[Tiberian vocalization]]. It also included some innovations of [[Ben Naftali]] and the [[Babylonian captivity#Exilic literature and post-exilic revisions of the Torah/Pentateuch|Babylonian exiles]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh6OHYcIZgkC&pg=PA20 |page=20 |title=The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Introduction and Annotated Glossary |isbn=978-0802843630 |last1=Kelley |first1=Page H. |last2=Mynatt |first2=Daniel S. |last3=Crawford |first3=Timothy G. |date=1998 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans }}</ref> Despite the comparatively late process of codification, some traditional sources and some Orthodox Jews hold the pronunciation and [[Hebrew cantillation|cantillation]] to derive from [[Biblical Mount Sinai|the revelation at Sinai]], since it is impossible to read the original text without pronunciations and cantillation pauses.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dissertationconc00gill |title=A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language: Letters, Vowel-points, and Accents |author=John Gill |author-link=John Gill (theologian) |publisher=G. Keith |date=1767 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dissertationconc00gill/page/136 136]–137}} also [https://archive.org/details/dissertationconc00gill/page/250 pp. 250–255]</ref> The combination of a text ({{lang|he|מקרא|rtl=yes}} ''mikra''), pronunciation ({{lang|he|ניקוד|rtl=yes}} ''niqqud'') and cantillation ({{lang|he|טעמים|rtl=yes}} ''te`amim'') enable the reader to understand both the simple meaning and the nuances in sentence flow of the text.

===Number of different words used===
The number of distinct words in the Hebrew Bible is 8,679, of which 1,480 are [[Hapax legomenon|hapax legomena]],<ref name=Revivalistics>{{cite book|author=Zuckermann, Ghil'ad|author-link=Ghil'ad Zuckermann|title=Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|year=2020|isbn=978-0199812790|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790?lang=en&cc=us|access-date=2020-04-30|archive-date=2020-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505121004/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790?lang=en&cc=us|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|112}} words or expressions that occur only once. The number of distinct [[Semitic root]]s, on which many of these biblical words are based, is roughly 2000.<ref name=Revivalistics />{{rp|112}}