how to say “lenses” and “lentils” in Hebrew
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עֲדָשׁוֹת, עֲדָשִׁים
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The Hebrew words for lens and lentil are the same – עֲדָשָׁה listen and repeat. That’s because when the makers of Modern Hebrew were thinking about what to call that small part of the eye that enables us to focus on the objects we perceive, the linguists realized that a lens is about the shape and size of a lentil.Now, עדשה is a feminine noun. But the plural form of עדשה when referring to lentils is עֲדָשִׁים listen and repeat (with the masculine-plural ending), as appears in the Torah portion to be read this week by Jews around the world. What’s more, the plural form of עדשה when referring to lenses is עדשות listen and repeat, with a feminine-plural ending.
listen and repeat (with the masculine-plural ending), as appears in the Torah portion to be read this week by Jews around the world. What’s more, the plural form of עדשה when referring to lenses is עדשות listen and repeat, with a feminine-plural ending. Either way, an adjective describing either עדשים or עדשות is always feminine, since the singular form – עדשה – is feminine, and the adjective’s gender always follows the singular form of the noun.
For example:
אֲנִי אֶקְנֶה עֲדָשִׁים חֻמּוֹת בַּשּׁוּק.
I’ll buy brown lentils at the market.
and
הִיא מַרְכִּיבָה עֲדָשׁוֹת מַגָּע כְּחֻלּוֹת.
She wears blue contact lenses.
| עֲדָשַׁת מַצְלֵמָה a camera lens listen |
Why עדשים for lentils and עדשות for lenses? After all, they’re essentially the same word!
This article explains that while the makers of Modern Hebrew had to stay faithful to the Biblical plural form of עדשים, they took the liberty to make the word referring to the modern term, lenses, match its singular feminine form.
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