Hebraist

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A person who studies or is expert in the Hebrew language, biblical texts, and Jewish culture and history
2. A scholar specializing in Hebrew linguistics, ancient Jewish texts, and the cultural and religious traditions of Hebrew-speaking peoples
3. An academic devoted to the study of Hebrew language, Jewish scripture, and the historical and literary traditions of Hebrew civilization

Etymology: "Hebraist" is a plain formation: the adjective "Hebra-", from "Hebrew," plus the suffix "-ist," meaning a person who knows, studies or practises something. A Hebraist is therefore someone devoted to the Hebrew language, its literature and its scholarship, and the word has been used in that sense in English as a noun for such a scholar. The suffix carries a longer journey than the word itself. "-ist" descends from the Greek "-istēs," an agent suffix that turned verbs and nouns into names for practitioners, as in "kitharistēs," a lyre-player. Greek passed it to Latin as "-ista," which Old French later reshaped as "-iste," and Middle English borrowed it in that form. Hebraist was thus assembled in English from an ancient Greek building block that arrived by way of Latin and French. The adjective sense, "of or relating to Hebrew language or scholarship," follows naturally from the noun, so the word works in both roles without any shift in meaning between them.

Synonyms: Hebraist, Hebrew scholar