Among the words which have been handed down to us by the correspondents of the Pharaoh are maqani “cattle,” anay “a ship,” susi “a horse,” of which the Hebrew equivalents, according to the Masoretic punctuation, are miqneh, oni, and sus.  The king of Jerusalem says anuki, “I,” the Hebrew anochi, while badiu, the Hebrew b’yado, and akharunu, the Hebrew akharono, are stated to signify “in his hand,” and “after him.”  “Dust” is ghaparu, where the guttural gh represents the Canaanitish ayyin (’); “stomach” is batnu, the Hebrew beten; while kilubi, “a cage,” corresponds with the Hebrew chelub, which is used in the same sense by the prophet Jeremiah.  Elsewhere we find risu, the Hebrew rosh, “a head,” har “a mountain,” samama “heaven,” and mima “water,” in Hebrew shamayim and mayim, which we gather from the cuneiform spelling have been wrongly punctuated by the Masoretes, as well as khaya “living,” the Hebrew khai, and makhsu, “they have smitten him,” the Hebrew makhatsu.

It was the use of the definite article ha(n) which mainly distinguished Hebrew and Phoenician or Canaanite one from the other.  And we have a curious indication in the Tel el-Amarna tablets, that the same distinction prevailed between the language of the Canaanites and that of the Edomites, who, as we learn from the Old Testament, were so closely related to the Israelites.  In the letter to the Pharaoh, in which mention is made of the hostilities carried on by Edom against the Egyptian territory, one of the Edomite towns referred to is called Khinianabi.  Transcribed into Hebrew characters this would be ’En-han-nabi, “the Spring of the Prophet.”  Here, therefore, the Hebrew article makes its appearance, and that too in the very form which it has in the language of Israel.  The fact is an interesting commentary on the brotherhood of Jacob and Esau.

If the language of Canaan was influenced by that of Egypt, still more was it influenced by that of Babylonia.  Long before Palestine became an Egyptian province it had been a province of Babylonia.  And even when it was not actually subject to Babylonian government it was under the dominion of Babylonian culture.  War and trade alike forced the Chaldaean civilization upon “the land of the Amorites,” and the Canaanites were not slow to take advantage of it.  The cuneiform writing of Babylonia was adopted, and therewith the language of Babylonia was taught and learned in the schools and libraries which were established in imitation of those of the Babylonians.  Babylonian literature was introduced into the West, and the Canaanite youth became acquainted with the history and legends, the theology and mythology of the dwellers on the Euphrates and Tigris.