Pseudo-Hebrew
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Pseudo-Hebrew is the artistic use of symbols meant to appear like Hebrew script but that are not in fact Hebrew letters.[1] The related phenomenon of the use of actual Hebrew letters in ways that do not represent actual language may be called "nonsense Hebrew".[2] Gary Schwartz, an art historian, notes that the use of pseudo-Hebrew in 15th-century art is not distinctive, as other works of the time also contain pseudo-Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.[3]
History
In medieval European artworks, faux-Hebrew was used in paintings to identify and portray Jewish people or as a reference to Jewish people, often in a negative light. Following the Renaissance, the frequency of faux-Hebrew increased in artworks and was often used to signify its status as a holy language for Christians.[4]
See also
- Pseudo-Kufic
- Pseudo-runes
References
- Back to citation Resnick 2023, pp. 81–82; Schwartz 2010; Menczel n.d.
- Back to citation Resnick 2023, pp. 81–82.
- Back to citation "309 Pseudo-Semitism – Gary Schwartz Art Historian". 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
- Back to citation Benner, Gabriela (2019-07-01). "El Faux-Hebreo: un alfabeto con errores". CEM - Cultura, Espaço & Memória. 2018 (9): 357–367.
Bibliography
- Benner, Gabriela (2019). "El Faux-Hebreo: un alfabeto con errores". Cultura, Espaço & Memória (9): 357–365.
- Leiman, Rivka Elitzur; Leibner, Uzi (2016). "An Amulet from Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam". Israel Exploration Journal. 66 (2): 220–231. ISSN 0021-2059. JSTOR 44474007.
- Menczel, Linda-Saskia (n.d.). "Hebrew Inscriptions in European Art of the 15th–18th Centuries — A Sign of Erudition". Academia.edu. Originally published in Romanian in Caiete de Arte și Design 8 (2020): 58–63. CEEOL 924543
- Resnick, Irven M. (2023). "'Lingua sacra et diabolica': A Survey of Medieval Christian Views of the Hebrew". In Daniel Stein Kokin (ed.). Hebrew Between Jews and Christians. De Gruyter. pp. 67–93. doi:10.1515/9783110339826-004.
- Rodov, Ilia (2013-08-01). "Script in Christian Art". In Khan, Geoffrey (ed.). Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Vol. 3. Leiden: Brill. p. 462. ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3. Archived from the original on 2023-04-12.
- Schwartz, Gary (22 November 2010). "Pseudo-Semitism". Art History from Holland.
- Vera, Vicente Jara; Ávila, Carmen Sánchez (February 2017). "Four Versions of the Christus by the Massys: Deciphering the Meaning of the Letters". Religions. 8 (2): 19. doi:10.3390/rel8020019. ISSN 2077-1444.