having trouble seeing the print? בִּלְעָדִי Oftentimes the developers of Modern Hebrew are faced with the challenge of creating a new word for a concept that didn’t quite exist in Biblical and Mishnaic times. One such concept is exclusivity. As presented in yesterday’s entry, one of the Hebrew words meaning without is בִּלְעָדַי (beel-ah-DAH-ee), used…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/שיעור-#.m4a” /]שִׁעוּר The Hebrew word for lesson is שיעור[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/שיעור-#.m4a” /]. It comes from the root ש.ע.ר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/שיעור-#.m4a” /] meaning measure: a lesson is a measured portion of a greater course. For example: יש אצלנו 20 שיעורים ברמה.[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/שיעור-#.m4a” /] We have at our (school) 20 lessons in a level. You might think that…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/התנדבות-1.m4a” /]הִתְנַדְּבוּת The concept of volunteering goes all the way to Biblical times, where the root נ.ד.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/התנדבות-2.m4a” /] of that meaning first appears. To volunteer is להתנדב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/התנדבות-3.m4a” /], a reflexive-intensive התפעל verb. Likewise, volunteering is התנדבות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/התנדבות-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/התנדבות-4.m4a” /]יש מקום התנדבות מעניין בשכונת בקעה בירושלים. There’s an interesting volunteering place in…
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פליטת-פה-1.m4a” /] פְּלִיטַת פֶּה The simple verb לפלוט[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פליטת-פה-2.m4a” /] means to emit or to divulge. Its noun version is פליטה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פליטת-פה-3.m4a” /] – an emission. So an emission of the mouth – an involuntary one, to be sure – is a פליטת פה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פליטת-פה-1.m4a” /]. For example: [audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פליטת-פה-4.m4a” /]אחרי פליטת הפה של סבא, כולנו התחבאנו מתחת לשולחן….
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/השפה-הארמית-#.m4a” /]הַשָּׂפָה הָאֲרָמִית Languages borrow from each other, especially ones like Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic, which are (or were, anyway) spoken in neighboring lands. So it should come as no surprise that a bit of Aramaic appears in the Torah, where Jacob (grandson of Abraham the Hebrew) calls the pile of stones meant to…