A few of the things that I like very much are studying Biblical Hebrew (which I think is much livelier and yet straightforward than our latter-day English, in which half of the phrases uttered are abstract platitudes), the original Biblical text (in Hebrew), and the body of Proto-Consonantal Hebrew (PCH) inscriptions (written in the forerunner to today's alphabet!) from 1842 BCE to about 1400 BCE (after which point it stopped being "proto-consonantal script"). However, owing to the dearth of translatable writings in that script and tongue (Pre-Biblical to early Biblical Hebrew) found and yet the love I have for them and the meaning behind, I was driven to inscribe a few of such PCH-style inscriptions myself, as 1) I like applying the knowledge I have learnt, and using for myself that script about which I have read extensively is a good way to do so; 2) the meaning of Hebrew words and idioms I find to be much deeper and more meaningful than those of the [bastard] English; 3) the PCH script is much more artistic and variable than our simplified alphabet, and, having no spaces between words, letters written twice in a row, or vowels, each inscription is an artwork that needs labor and deep analysis to understand and interpret; and 4) (though I have other reasons too that are hard for me to explain) I like feeling a kind of connection to both 1] my Hebrew forebears on my father's side (who is Jewish, though not my mother, so I myself am not) for kinship's sake, and 2] God's chosen folk of Yisra'el as a whole, who originally wrote in this script, and whose greatest prophet Moshe surely wrote the Torah (teaching) of YHWH in this very script!
Since my skill in inscribing the PCH letter-shapes and writing on stone more broadly improved with each inscription, each of them looks (at least to me) like they were written by a different person's hand. Since the JPEG images for each inscription are so large, a link will be given to each to see the image in another tab, lest they not fit this webpage.
Lastly, these were all inscribed on red stone tile fragments, with a flat-head screwdriver, and they will be discussed in the order of their writing.
Inscription #1
Description: The four letters on this one-word inscription, which begin one third of the way down on the stone, are read from right to left and follow a roughly diagonal path downward to the bottom corner of the stone.
Transcription: שִמְעֹנ
Modern Hebrew Spelling: שמעון
Translation: Shim'on [= He-who-hears]
Parsing: The one word on the inscription [letters 1-4] is the proper name Shim'on.
Interpretation: I wrote this to serve as a kind of plaque with my name on it, which is Simon [= Hebrew Shim'on = He-who-hears], to identify myself, somewhat like the writer of the PCH Lakhish Milk Bowl Ostracon identified himself by title and initial ("Servant in charge of honey. N.").
Inscription #2
Description: This stone surface is a little darker than the other two, and so the letters are much fainter. This 24-letter inscription of eight words, also unlike the other two, fills nearly all of the space. It is written in six horizontal rows reading right to left, of which the bottom two are much shorter than the rest as the stone narrows out toward the bottom. Two sets of tally marks (which, of course, almost certainly were not used in this form at the time the PCH script was written) are used, since writing the full words for the numbers (five and seven) would have taken up too much room.
Transcription: שָנָ חָדָשָ 5 אֶלֶפ 7 מֵאֹת וּשְמֹנִמ וְחָמֵש הְיִ טֹבָ
Modern Hebrew Spelling: שנה חדשה 5 אלף 7 מאות ושמונים וחמש. היי טובה
Translation: [The] new year five thousand seven hundred and eighty-five. May it be good!
Parsing: The first word on the inscription [letters 1-2] is the fs noun shana, meaning year. The second word [3-5] is the fs adjective hhadasha, meaning new. Together this forms the noun phrase "new year." The next "word" is the tally marks making the numeral 5. The third true word [6-8] is the ms noun 'elep, meaning thousand. The next "word" is the tally marks forming the numeral 7. The fourth word [9-11] is the fp noun me'ot, meaning hundreds. The fifth word [12-16] is the conjunctive prefix u-, meaning in this context "and," followed by the number shmonim, meaning eighty. The sixth word [17-20] is the same conjunctive prefix (this time w'-), meaning "and," and the number hhamesh, meaning five. Together the phrase reads "five thousand seven hundred and eighty-five." The seventh word [21-22] is the fs imperative form of the qal verb haya (which means "to be, to exist"), here meaning "may [it] be." And the eighth and last word [23-24] is the fs adjective Toba, meaning "good" or "functional." Thus this phrase reads "May [it] be good."
Interpretation: I wrote this inscription on the first day of this current Hebrew calendar year ("rosh hashanah," or "head of the year"), and expressed this wish (to God), "May it be good!" Looking back, I believe that it has been good indeed so far. The inscription was written to commemorate the new year.
Inscription #3
Description: This also 24-letter inscription of eight words was written in four horizontal rows reading from right to left, which are all of about even length, though the bottom row does somewhat curve downward to the left to fit the last two letters.
Transcription: לָעָשֹת אָשֶר יְהָלֻּכָ לוֹ יֹאמְרֻ אָתָ עָז מְאֹד
Modern Hebrew Spelling: לעשות אשר יהללוך לו יאמרו אתה עז מאוד
Translation: For doing that for which they praise you, they say you are very strong.
Parsing: The first word on the inscription [letters 1-4] is the prefix la-, meaning "to" or "for," followed by the qal infinitive of the verb `asa, meaning to do. But the Hebrew infinitive can also be translated as the gerund in English (for example, "do-ing"), so this phrase can either read "to do" or "for doing" (which is usually unlikely, but is a better translation in context). The second word [5-7] is the relative particle and pronoun 'asher, meaning which, who, that, or the like. Based on the context, "[that] which" is the better translation. The third word [8-11] is the 3mp pi`el imperfect form of the verb halal (which means literally to shine, but in the pi`el stem means "to praise") y'halluka, followed by the 2ms pronominal object suffix ka-, which together mean "they will praise/are praising you." The fourth word [12-13] is the prefix l'- (meaning "to" or "for") followed by the 3ms pronominal suffix -o, together meaning, literally, "for him" or "to him." But since this is in reference to the earlier "[that] which," it is best translated as "for which." The fifth word [14-17] is the 3mp qal imperfect form of the verb 'amar (which means "to say") yo'mru, which means "they will say" or "they say/are saying." The sixth word [18-19] is the 2ms pronoun 'atah, meaning "you (masculine singular)." The seventh word [20-21] is the ms adjective `az, meaning strong. And the eighth and last word [22-24] is the adverb me'od, meaning very.
Interpretation: I was inspired to write this inscription after having a short discussion about the nature of the activists of the phenomenon in our culture called transgender, and how when someone "comes out" in their words, he is praised and told that he is brave and strong for doing so, even though the only voice heard in our culture in response to the such a "coming out" is praise. This inscription highlights the contradiction that I noticed: it cannot be so brave and strong if he is also encouraged and lauded for doing that very thing by everyone around him. I thought it was fitting to bring some sense to the nonsense by writing it in the holy [= Hebrew qadosh = "special"] and down-to-Earth (those two things do not contradict each other) Hebrew tongue.
