how to say “phenomenon” in Hebrew
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In yesterday’s posting, we encountered a Hebrew word that adds a ת (t) sound at the beginning of a common, general root – in our case, ד.ר.כ (d.r.k), meaning way – to create a more specific word, in our case, תִּדְרוּך (teed-ROOKH), or briefing.
This phenomenon – of creating derivative words by adding a ת to the beginning of their roots – dates back to the Bible itself, with words like תְּרוּמָה (teh-roo-MAH) – donation or that which is raised up and תְּנוּפָה (teh-noo-FAH) – momentum or that which is made to move.
The English word phenomenon translates into another derivative ת word: תּוֹפָעָה (toh-fah-AH). You may recognize the root, י.פ.ע (y.p.a), in the related word, הוֹפָעָה (hoh-fah-AH) – a show or an appearance. Thus a phenomenon is something that appears uniquely. Likewise, תופעה also means manifestation.
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| a cool phenomenon |
In English, we usually don’t use the word phenomenon to describe everyday things. In Hebrew, however, we do. For example, the Palestinian Authority’s chairman is quoted as having said – הַמְּחָאָה בִּישְׂרָאֵל – תּוֹפָעָה טוֹבָה מְאוֹד – “the protest in Israel – a very good thing (literally, phenomenon) – (hah-meh-khah-AH bees-rah-EL – toh-fah-AH toh-VAH meh-OHD).
Whether Abu Mazen is speaking with ulterior motives, I’ll leave to the critics to hash out. My point is that he (or the one who translated his statement from Arabic) uses the phrase תופעה טובה מאוד the same way we’d express in English, a very good thing.
Consequently, you’ll hear Israeli academics (and others) overusing the word phenomenon like crazy when they’re speaking in English.
I’ve seen his amazing art at Hechal Shlomo and even acquired a piece myself.
