The History of Hebrew

We know that Hebrew was spoken and used in ancient times, but we don't quite know its origins or exactly when and how it went mainstream. It remained in daily use down through the ages up until the Roman era around the beginning of the common era. But as the centuries wore on, it ceased to be the daily spoken tongue of the Jews. So when Jews in the 17 and 1800s started looking at ways to revive Jewish culture through a secular movement, many of them had the idea of bringing Hebrew back.