The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew

The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (published 1993-2016) comprises nine volumes including an English–Hebrew Index and Word Frequency Table.

Unlike previous dictionaries, which have been dictionaries of biblical Hebrew, it is the first dictionary of the classical Hebrew language to cover not only the biblical texts but also Ben Sira, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew inscriptions.

This Dictionary covers the period from the earliest times to 200 CE. It lists and analyses every occurrence of each Hebrew word that occurs in texts of that period, with an English translation of every Hebrew word and phrase cited.

Among its special features are: a list of the non-biblical texts cited (especially the Dead Sea Scrolls), a word frequency index for each letter of the alphabet, a substantial bibliography (from Volume 2 onward) and an English–Hebrew index in each volume.

You can purchase the nine volume Dictionary of Classical Hebrew in hardback or the first eight volumes in paperback.

A newer Revised Dictionary is currently being developed (2018–2027) that offers a complete revision, with over 100,000 improvements. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 are already published and Volume 4 of the revised dictionary will be released in 2024.

See also The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, a one-volume version of The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew and The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, Revised.

How Is the Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH) different from all other Hebrew dictionaries?

1. Scope
              It includes not only Biblical Hebrew but also all Classical Hebrew (pre-200 ce), i.e. Ben Sira, Dead Sea Scrolls, Inscriptions

• Exhaustiveness
             All occurrences cited (except for some common particles like w“ and and B] in)

• Syntagmatic analysis
             Shows all subjects and objects of verbs, all verbs of which a noun is subject or object, etc.

• Occurrence statistics
             For each word in the four corpora of Classical Hebrew: Hebrew Bible, Ben Sira, Dead Sea Scrolls, Inscriptions; and for each voice (binyan) of a verb)

• New words
             Contains 3,572 words not in BDB (the standard 1906 English lexicon of Hebrew)

• Synonyms and antonyms
             Shows all words used in parallel or opposition in texts

• Extensive bibliographies

                             An unrivalled collection of references to specialist studies of individual words

• 4 million words, equivalent to 40 standard-size books

                             The most thorough Hebrew dictionary ever produced