how to say “the United States” in Hebrew
אַרְצוֹת הַבְּרִית
Earlier this week we saw the Hebrew versions of a couple of “united” political bodies:
הָאוּמוֹת הַמְּאֻחָדוֹת (הָאוּ”ם)
the United Nations (the UN)
and
הַמַּמְלָכָה הַמְּאֻחֶדֶת
the United Kingdom
Both of these use the word מְאֻחָד – unified.
– unified.One might think that the Hebrew version of the United States would follow suit, but it doesn’t. Rather, the USA is, in Hebrew:
אַרְצוֹת הַבְּרִית
literally, the Lands of the Covenant
It’s commonly abbreviated to אַרְהַ”ב .
.For example:
יֵשׁ הַרְבֶּה מָה לִרְאוֹת בְּאַרְצוֹת הַבְּרִית.
There’s lots to see in the United States.
Why not use the same term as the others? In order to stress the covenant that the colonial lands drew together upon the declaration of independence in 1776 (based on this response, which I received from the Academy of the Hebrew Language).