how to say “competition” in Hebrew
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תַּחֲרוּת
The Modern-Hebrew word for competition and competitiveness is תַּחֲרוּת, whose (reflexive-intensive הִתְפַּעֵל) verb form – to compete – is לְהִתְחָרוֹת .
An example:
אוֹבָּמָה וְרוֹמְנִי הִתְחָרוּ בְּתַחֲרוּת צְמוּדָה.
Obama and Romney competed in a tight competition.
In Modern Hebrew, the words sound benign. But their usage in the first Jewish texts in which they appear is far from peaceful:
אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָה, בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה הָיוּ מִשְׁפָּחוֹת עוֹמְדוֹת וְהָאֳבֵילִין עוֹבְרִין. מִשֶּׁרַבַּת תַּחֲרוּת בְּצִיפָּרִין, הִתְקִין רַבִּי יוֹסֵי שֶׁיֶּהוּ מִשְׁפָּחוֹת עוֹבְרוֹת וְהָאֳבֵילִים עוֹמְדִין.
Rabbi Hanina said: Originally, families (attending a funeral) would stand and the mourners would pass by (them). When rivalry (תחרות) became widespread in Zipporin (Zippori), Rabbi Yose regulated that families would pass by (the mourners), and the mourners would stand.
Jerusalem Talmud – Sanhedrin 11a (in a Hebrew dialect of that period and the Galilean region)
The early sources reflect the original meaning of the word תחרות, whose root is ח.ר.ה (kh.r.h) meaning anger or wrath.
Consider the move throughout Hebrew’s history from תחרות being something quite literally fierce to being something friends might engage in, as similar to the move throughout history of sports once being events in which people fought to the death, to modern-day basketball.
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