how to say “shade” and “shadow” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-1.m4a” /]צֵל
Though physically speaking they are more or less the same, shade and shadow can mean very different things in English: shade is cool and pleasant, while shadow can be frightening, a place where monsters lurk.
Hebrew has one word for both: צל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-1.m4a” /], which in Biblical has either a neutral or positive connotation, as it usually does in Modern Hebrew as well.
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-2.m4a” /]היום שלושים וחמש מעלות בצל.
Today it’s thirty five degrees (Celsius) in the shade.
and
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-3.m4a” /]יש לי צל ארוך לקראת הערב.
I have a long shadow toward the evening.
The more negative connotation of צל arrived as Hebrew was influenced by foreign cultures. Thus we have in Ivri Lider’s song:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-4.m4a” /]בוא נעמוד באור ולא בצל.
Let’s stand in the light and not in the shadow.
Shadows are צללים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/צל-5.m4a” /].