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Things you wanted to know about Hebrew but were afraid to ask

Q Why is Hebrew called Ivrit?

A Ivrit is from Ivri, one of the (rarer) Biblical names for Israelite. This word was
translated into Latin as 'Hebraicus'.
Ivrit came to be a common name for the Hebrew language in the Middle Ages -- we
don't know why -- but actually, most Jews in Eastern Europe 100 years ago would have
called Hebrew not Ivrit but Loshn Koydesh ('the holy tongue'). The use of the name Ivrit
for Modern Hebrew was in fact a loud political statement, to the effect that Hebrew was
no longer going to be a holy language of the synagogue and Cheder, but a secular
modern language.

Q When did ancient Hebrew 'die out'?

A If by 'die out' you mean 'cease to be a native spoken language', this appears to have
happened some time in the second century CE -- but, as with most 'language death',
this was probably a gradual process. It wasn't that all Hebrew speakers were wiped out,
although no doubt the main center of spoken Hebrew, Judea, was decimated by the
Romans. Rather, the surviving speakers chose to adopt other languages as their main
tongue.

Q Is the Sephardi pronunciation more correct than the Ashkenazi pronunciation?

A No.
And let's get a few facts straight:

1. The dominant Israeli or American Hebrew pronunciation, which is often called

'Sephardi', is just a DERIVATIVE of traditional Sephardi pronunciation, but without their
characteristic guttural 'ayin' and 'chet'.
2. Traditional Sephardi pronunciations (there were a variety) do preserve some
ancient distinctions that Ashkenazim have lost, notably this guttural 'ayin' and 'chet'.
3. However, most Sephardim had a much narrower range of vowel sounds than
Ashkenazim; the Ashkenazi set of vowels is much closer to the standard nikkud (vowel
pointing) which goes back to 8th-9th century Israel and is probably closer to the vowel
sounds actually used in Biblical times. (We can't be sure.)
4. Of all the pronunciations that have survived, by far the closest to ancient Hebrew is
the Yemenite. They have preserved a distinct sound for every single consonant, except
'sin'!

Q How did Ben-Yehuda revive Modern Hebrew?

A Arriving in Israel as a fiery young Zionist in 1881, he started a movement to speak

Hebrew in daily life. He was really a figure-head -- and a romantic one: Stories about his
pact with his wife to raise their children only speaking Hebrew rapidly inspired young
Zionists in places like Rehovot and Rosh Pina to follow suit.
In fact, Jews had often spoken a little Hebrew among themselves, in trade or even
for mystical reasons; and many Hebrew journalists and authors had been busy
'modernizing' the language in Europe. But Ben Yehuda made it a central part of the
Zionist revolution -- and the massive Hebrew dictionary he created became a symbol of
what Hebrew could achieve.

Q Are all Modern Hebrew words taken from the Bible?

A No, but lots of them are. In fact, a word count would show that the majority of words
in an Israeli conversation are Biblical. Many others are based on ancient words, such as
'machshev' = computer, from the ancient verb 'chishev' = to calculate. Others are just
plain international: 'provokatsya', 'demokrati', 'internet'...