TETH
TETH.
—
The
ninth
letter
of
the
Heb.
alphabet,
and
as
such
employed
in
the
119th
Psalm
to
designate
the
9th
part,
each
verse
of
which
begins
with
this
letter.
TETRABCH.
—
The
transliteration
of
a
Gr.
word
(.tetrarches)
whose
literal
meaning
is
'the
ruler
of
a
fourth
part.'
As
a
title
it
lost
its
strict
etymological
force,
and
was
used
of
'a
petty
prince,'
or
'the
ruler
of
a
district.'
In
the
NT
'Herod
the
tetrarch'
is
Herod
Antipas,
son
of
Herod
the
Great;
he
ruled
over
Galilee
and
Persea
(Mt
14",
Lk
3'-
"
9',
Ac
13'),
and
is
popularly
styled
'king'
(Mk
6i«-,
Mt
14»).
Two
other
tetrarchs
are
mentioned
in
Lk
3';
viz.,
Herod
Philip,
the
brother
of
Antipas,
who
ruled
over
the
Ituraean
and
Trachonitic
territory;
and
Lysanias,
who
was
Tetrarch
of
Abilene
'in
the
fifteenth
year
of
Tiberius'
(see
SchOrer,
HJP
i.
ii.,
App.
1).
J.
G.
Tasker.
TETTER.
—
See
Medicine,
p.
600".
TEXT,
VERSIONS,
AND
LANGUAGES
OF
OT.—
1.
Languages
of
the
OT.
—
The
OT,
except
certain
small
sections,
was
written
in
Hebrew,
and
it
has
been
preserved
in
its
original
language.
But
Jer
10",
Dn
2<-72»,
Ezr
48-6"
T'^-m
are
in
Aramaic,
though
it
is
disputed
in
the
case
of
Dn
2'-T'
whether
this
was
the
original
language,
or
that
of
an
Aramaic
version
which
has
replaced
a
Hebrew
original.
Hebrew
and
Aramaic
alike
belong
to
the
group
of
languages
known
as
Semitic,
of
which
Assyrian
(or
the
language
of
the
ancient
Assyrians
and
Babylonians)
and
Arabic
are
also
important
members.
2.
The
Hebrew
language:
Character
and
History.
—
Hebrew
is
closely
allied
to
Phoenician,
to
the
language
of
the
Moabites
represented
by
Mesha's
inscription
(c.
B.C.
800),
and
to
the
language
spoken
in
Canaan
before
(as
well
as
after)
the
Hebrew
invasion,
known
in
part
from
the
Canaanite
glosses
in
the
Tell
el-Amarna
tablets
(c.
B.C.
1400),
in
part
from
Canaanitish
names
contained
in
ancient
monuments,
as,
for
example,
the
list
of
places
in
Canaan
recorded
as
among
his
conquests
by
Thothmes
in.
(c.
e.g.
1600).
It
is
held
by
some
scholars
that
the
conquering
Israelites
adopted
the
language
of
Canaan,
having
previously
spoken
a
language
more
nearly
akin
to
Arabic
(so,
e.g.,
Hommel,
AHT
120,
218).
From
the
time
at
least
when
they
were
once
well
settled
in
the
country,
Hebrew
was
alike
the
collo-quial
and
the
literary
language
of
the
Israelites.
Some
difference,
such
as
is
usual,
no
doubt
always
existed
between
the
colloquial
and
the
literary
language,though
our
knowledge
of
the
colloquial
is
only
such
as
we
can
draw
by
inference
from
the
literature.
But
there
came
a
time
when
Hebrew
ceased
to
be
the
colloquial
language,
being
replaced
by
Aramaic,
and
survived
only
as
a
literary
language.
The
disuse
of
Hebrew
in
favour
of
Aramaic
cannot
be
precisely
dated,
and
was
probably
enough
gradual;
according
to
2
K
18^',
in
the
time
of
Isaiah
(8th
cent.
B.C.),
Aramaic
was
unintelligible
to
the
Jewish
populace,
but
as
a
language
of
diplomacy
was
spoken
by
Assyrian
and
Jewish
officials
alike.
Apparently
as
late
as
Nehemiah
(5th
cent.
B.C.)
the
colloquial
language
of
the
Jews
in
Palestine
was
still
Hebrew,
called
'Jewish'
(Neh
132<
as
in
2
K
182«).
In
the
first
century
a.d.,
as
the
few
sayings
of
the
popular
language
preserved
in
the
NT
(such
as
Talitha
cumi)
prove,
it
was
Aramaic.
Between
these
two
dates,
and,
as
we
may
infer
from
the
increasing
influence
of
Aramaic
on
the
later
books
of
the
OT,
considerably
nearer
the
earlier
than
the
later
date,
the
change
was
made.
Long
before
Aramaic
replaced
Hebrew
as
the
spoken
language,
it
exercised
an
influence
through
the
spoken
on
the
written
language
such
as
is
commonly
exercised
by
the
language
of
one
neighbouring
people
on
another,
—
that
is
to
say,
Hebrew
borrowed
words
from
Aramaic,
as
English
borrows
words
from
French
and
French
from
English.
The
Northern
Kingdom
was
first
brought
into
closer
proximity
with
Aramaic-speaking
peoples,
and
later
the
Southern
Kingdom;
and
Aramaisms
have
consequently
TEXT,
VERSIONS,
LANGUAGES
OF
OT
been
regarded
as
pointing
to
a
northern,
or
to
a
relatively
late,
origin
of
the
writings
in
which
they
occur.
Certainly
any
large
presence
of
Aramaisms,
and
in
particular
any
conspicuous
Aramaizing
of
the
syntax,
due
to
the
influence
on
their
writings
of
the
language
which
the
later
writers
commonly
spoke,
such
as
we
find,
for
example,
in
Daniel
and
Ecclesiastes,
points
to
a
late
date.
Other
languages
besides
Aramaic
contributed
to
the
vocabulary
of
Hebrew:
Assyrian,
indirectly
through
the
Canaanites
from
the
earliest
times
to
an
extent
not
easily
to
be
defined,
and
later
directly;
Persian,
after
the
Persian
conquest
of
Babylon
in
538;
Greek,
after
the
time
of
Alexander
(332
B.C.);
and
Latin,
after
the
establishment
of
Roman
suzerainty
over
Judsea
in
the
first
century
B.C.
Latin
words
are
found
in
the
Hebrew
of
the
Mishna,
but
not
in
the
OT;
a
few
Greek
words
in
the
latest
writings
of
the
OT
(particularly
Daniel,
about
B.C.
167)
and
very
many
in
the
Mishna;
Persian
words
in
some
of
the
post-exilic
literature
(Esther,
Canticles,
Tobit).
3.
The
Hebrew
alphabet
vowelless.
—
The
Hebrew
alphabet
used
by
the
OT
writers
consisted
of
twenty-
two
consonants:
it
contained
no
vowels,
in
this
resembling
Phoenician,
Moabitic,
and
the
ancient
Arabic
and
Syriac
alphabets.
Our
knowledge
of
the
pronunciation
of
Hebrew
words,
as
far
as
the
vowels
are
concerned,
depends
on
three
main
sources:
(1)
Jewish
tradition,
which
is
embodied
in
vowel
signs
invented
between
the
4th
and
9th
centuries
a.d.,
and
written
under,
over,
or
in
the
consonants
of
the
ancient
text;
(2)
the
Greek
versions,
which
transliterate
a
large
number
of
Hebrew
words,
especially,
but
by
no
means
only,
the
proper
names;
(3)
the
Assyrian
texts:
these,
being
written
in
a
language
which
expressed
in
writing
vowel
sounds
as
well
as
consonantal,
give
us
the
vowels
of
such
Hebrew
names
as
they
cite.
Though
in
the
oldest
Hebrew
MSS
of
the
Bible
the
consonants
of
the
original
text
are
accompanied
by
the
vowels
which
express
at
once
the
traditional
pronuncia-tion
and
the
traditional
interpretation
of
the
text,
it
Is
now
as
generally
accepted
that
the
vowels
formed
no
part
of
the
original
text
as
that
the
earth
revolves
round
the
sun.
Down
to
the
17th
century
it
was
otherwise;
and
that
century
was
marked
by
a
final
and
keen
dis-cussion
of
this
point.
4.
Transliteration
of
Hebrew
adopted
in
this
article.—
Since
considerable
importance
attaches
to
this
Jewish
tradition
as
to
the
pronunciation,
it
will
be
necessary
to
represent
the
vowels
in
our
discussion
of
the
text,
but
it
is
important
also
to
indicate
their
secondary
origin
and
subordinate
position.
Throughout
this
article,
then,
the
Hebrew
consonants
will
be
represented
by
equivalent
or
approximately
equivalent
English
capitals,
except
the
1st
and
16th
letters
of
the
Hebrew
alphabet,
which,
being
gutturals
with
no
approximate
equivalent
in
English,
will
be
retained
in
their
Hebrew
form
(N,
y),
and
may
be
passed
over
unpronounced
by
the
English
reader.
The
vowels
will
be
represented
by
English
small
letters
printed
under
the
consonant
after
which
they
are
to
be
pronounced;
thus
DBR,
&
a
pronounced
dabar.
The
Jewish
scholars
distinguished
by
different
signs
between
long
and
short
vowels;
no
attempt
will
be
made
here
to
mark
these
distinctions,
and
the
peculiar
half-vowels,
the
shiva's,
as
they
are
termed,
will
be
left
unrepresented.
Letters
doubled
in
pronunciation,
but
without
a
vowel
between
them,
were
represented
by
the
letter
written
once,
not
twice.
The
Hebrew
vocalists
distinguished
these
doubled
letters
by
inserting
a
dot
in
the
middle
of
them.
This
dot
or
daghesh
will
be
represented
here
by
the
sign
|
above
the
letter:
thus
DIJR,
pronounced
dibber.
i
e
5.
Date
of
the
addition
of
vowels
to
the
OT
text.
—
The
date
at
which
the
vowels
were
attached
to
the
consonants
