The Gezer Calendar Inscription (10th c. BCE)
BiblicalHebrew.com, 2022
The Gezer Calendar, which dates to the tenth century BCE, is one of the oldest Hebrew inscriptions from ancient Israel. It was originally found in the material dumped from the Israelite layer of the Gezer site. It was probably written at some point between the time that Solomon rebuilt Gezer and its destruction by Pharaoh Shishak in around 925 BCE (Aḥituv 2008, 252). The content of the inscription details various times of the agricultural year by months. The inscription reads as follows:
Original Text
𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤀𐤎𐤐 𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤆
𐤓𐤏 𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤋𐤒𐤔
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤏𐤑𐤃 𐤐𐤔𐤕
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤒𐤑𐤓 𐤔𐤏𐤓𐤌
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤒𐤑𐤓 𐤅𐤊𐤋
𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤆𐤌𐤓
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤒𐤑
𐤀𐤁𐤉[
Transcription with Audio (Ancient Script)
| Ancient Script | Historical Pronunciation | Translation |
𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤀𐤎𐤐 | jarˈχeːw ʔaˈsiːp | ‘His two months, i.e. ingathering’ |
𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤆𐤓𐤏 | jarˈχeːw ˈzarʕ | ‘his two months, i.e. sowing’ |
𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤋𐤒𐤔 | jarˈχeːw laˈqiːʃ | ‘his two months, i.e. late sowing’ |
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤏𐤑𐤃 𐤐𐤔𐤕 | jarˈχoː ʕˈṣud piʃˈtaː | ‘his month, i.e. cutting of flax’ |
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤒𐤑𐤓 𐤔𐤏𐤓𐤌 | jarˈχoː qaˈṣiːr ɬiʕoːˈriːm | ‘his month, i.e. harvest of barley’ |
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤒𐤑𐤓 𐤅𐤊𐤋 | jarˈχoː qaˈṣiːr wa-ˈkeːl | ‘his month, i.e. harvest and measuring’ |
𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅 𐤆𐤌𐤓 | jarˈχeːw zaˈmiːr | ‘his two months, i.e. vine harvest’ |
𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤒𐤑 | jarˈχoː ˈqeːṣ | ‘his month, i.e. summer harvest’ |
𐤀𐤁𐤉[𐤅 | ʔabiːˈjaw | ‘ʔabīyā[w](?)’ |
Transcription with Audio (Modern Script)
| Modern Script | Modern Pointed | Translation |
ירחו אסף | יַרְחָו אָסִף | ‘His two months, i.e. ingathering’ |
ירחו זרע | יַרְחָו זֶרַע | ‘his two months, i.e. sowing’ |
ירחו לקש | יַרְחָו לָקִשׁ | ‘his two months, i.e. late sowing’ |
ירח עצד פשת | יַרְחֹ עֲצֹד פִּשְׁתָּ | ‘his month, i.e. cutting of flax’ |
ירח קצר שערם | יַרְחֹ קְצִר שְׂעֹרִם | ‘his month, i.e. harvest of barley’ |
ירח קצר וכל | יַרְחֹ קָצִר וָכֵל | ‘his month, i.e. harvest and measuring’ |
ירחו זמר | יַרְחָו זָמִר | ‘his two months, i.e. vine harvest’ |
ירח קץ | יַרְחֹ קֵץ | ‘his month, i.e. summer harvest’ |
אבי[ו | אֲבִיָ[ו | ‘ʔabīyā[w](?)’ |
Commentary
יר״ח
Note that at this early stage of the language, two consonants were represented by the Hebrew letter 𐤇 ḥet, namely the voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ and the voiceless uvular fricative /χ/. Based on cognates elsewhere in Semitic, such as Akkadian /warχum/ ‘month; new moon’, we may reasonably conclude that at this early stage of Hebrew the noun ירח ‘month; new moon’ was pronounced as something like /jarχ/.
ירחו
At this early period, we should also generally assume that a vav, yod, or heh is not a mater lectionis. As such, the final vav would have to represent a consonantal [w]. For a complete calendar of 12 months, the 4 instances of ירחו should each refer to ‘his/its two months’ and the 4 cases of ירח (see below) should each refer to ‘his/its month’ to add up to a total of 12 months. Therefore, the orthography ירחו should reflect the 3MS possessive suffix on a dual noun: i.e., *jarχayhu(ː) → *jarχeːhu(ː) → *jarχeː(h)u → *jarχeːw.
ירח
The forms without any ending may be read according to the context with a 3MS suffix on the singular noun: i.e., /jarχu(h)/ or /jarχo(ː)(h)/. Although a final consonantal heh is common in such contexts in ancient epigraphy, it is possible that in this dialect the 3MS possessive suffix had lost the final /h/ so that it was pronounced simply as a long [oː] vowel.
אסף
Note that the form אָסִף or אָסִיף for ‘ingathering’ occurs in the Bible: וְחַ֤ג הָֽאָסִף֙ ‘and the feast of ingathering’ (Exod. 23.16); וְחַג֙ הָֽאָסִ֔יף ‘and the feast of ingathering’ (Exod. 34.22).
לקש
A segholate noun for this root does appear in one verse in the Bible: בִּתְחִלַּ֖ת עֲל֣וֹת הַלָּ֑קֶשׁ וְהִ֨נֵּה־לֶ֔קֶשׁ אַחַ֖ר גִּזֵּ֥י הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ ‘at the beginning of when the latter growth came up, and look, latter growth after the king’s mowings’ (Amos 7.1). However, it may be preferable to posit a vocalization like לָקִשׁ, as Aḥituv does, since the term here is probably referring to the period of ‘late sowing’ (related to מַלְקוֹשׁ ‘latter rain’) rather than the ‘late growth’ itself (2008, 254–255).
עצד
The root עצ״ד is not attested as a verb in the Bible, but the term מַעֲצָד ‘axe; adze’ is attested on two occasions: חָרַ֤שׁ בַּרְזֶל֙ מַֽעֲצָ֔ד ‘the ironsmith (takes) a cutting tool’ (Isa. 44.12); כִּֽי־עֵץ֙ מִיַּ֣עַר כְּרָת֔וֹ מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה יְדֵ֥י־חָרָ֖שׁ בַּֽמַּעֲצָֽד׃ ‘for he cuts down a tree from a forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool’ (Jer. 10.3). In the context, then, the sequence עצד פשת should refer to the cutting of the flax (Aḥituv 2008, 255). The precise vocalization of עצד, however, is not clear. It could be the equivalent of עֲצִד, following Aḥituv’s tendencies to pronounce most of these terms in the *qaṭiːl pattern. Alternatively, it could be an infinitive construct like */ʕṣud/, */ʕuṣud/, or something similar.
פשת
Note the lack of a final heh mater in the word פשתה /piʃtaː/ ‘flax’, which is written with a final heh in the Hebrew Bible: e.g., וְהַפִּשְׁתָּ֖ה ‘and the flax’ (Exod. 9.31).
וכל
The pronunciation of the form כל is uncertain. Presumably, it is a noun from the root כו״ל or כי״ל, which can be used for ‘measuring’ or ‘enclosing’. As such, a vocalisation like /ki(ː)l/, /ka(ː)l/, /ko(ː)l/, or /ku(ː)l/ might be possible. We might opt for an ע״ו or ע״י infinitive construct of /kiːl/ or /kuːl/. Aḥituv suggests that it is a segholate noun from the root כי״ל with contraction of the diphthong (see below on קץ): i.e., */kajl/ → */keːl/ (Aḥituv 2008, 256).
קץ
The lack of a yod consonant in the orthography suggests the following development: */qajṣ/ ‘summer harvest’ → */qeːṣ/. The contraction of diphthongs is a common feature of vernacular forms of Semitic languages. It has been argued that this is a particular feature of northern (or Israelite) Hebrew—rather than Judean—but it is significant that it is attested here on the edge of the Shephelah as well, already at an early period. The author, however, may have been Israelite (Aḥituv 2008, 256–257).
אבי[ו
This is probably the name of either the owner or author of the tablet. If the name was pronounced as something like /ʔabiːjaw/, it might mean ‘YHWH is (a) father’.
Bibliography:
Aḥituv, Shmuel. 2008. Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the Biblical Period. Jerusalem: Carta. Pages 252–257.
Albright, W. F. 1943. “The Gezer Calendar.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 92: 16–26.
Demsky, Aaron. 2002. “Hebrew Names in the Dual Form and the Toponym Yerushalayim.” In These are the Names — Studies in Jewish Onomastics 3, edited by Aaron Demsky, 11–20. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press.
Huehnergard, John. 2015. “Biblical Hebrew Nominal Patterns.” In Epigraphy, Philology, and the Hebrew Bible: Methodological Perspectives on Philological and Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Jo Ann Hackett, edited by Jeremy M. Hutton, and Aaron D. Rubin, 25–64. Atlanta: SBL Press.
Lambdin, Thomas O., and John Huehnergard. 2000. The Historical Grammar of Classical Hebrew. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University.
Suchard, Benjamin D. 2020. The Development of the Biblical Hebrew vowels: Including a Concise Historical Morphology. Leiden: Brill.
I must also thank Jo Ann Hackett, who trained me in Northwest Semitic Epigraphy. Of course, any errors in the above are my own.
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