how to say “to mention” in Hebrew
In yesterday’s posting, I neglected to mention one more member of the Yelloz family in mourning, Tirtza (Tabitha). מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם תְּנֻחָמו – may you be comforted from above (meen hah-shah-MAH-yeem teh-noo-KHAH-moo).
There are a few ways of saying to mention in Hebrew – I’ll discuss two of them.
1 – ז.כ.ר
One way comes from the root ז.כ.ר (z.k.r), memory – so that to mention something or someone is to cause others to remember, or to cause others to think of something or someone. That’s לְהַזְכִּיר (leh-hahz-KEER), which also means to remind.
For example, הִזְכַּרְתִּי אֶת שְׁמוֹ בַּנְּאוּם – I mentioned his name in the speech (heez-KAHR-tee et shmoh beh-neh-OOM).
A mention or a reference, using this root, is an אִזְכּוּר (eez-KOOR).
להזכיר is an active-causative הפעיל (heef-EEL) verb.
2 – צ.י.נ
Another way of saying to mention comes from the root צ.י.נ (ts.y.n). The concept here is to draw attention to something (usually not someone). For example, חָשׁוּב לִי לְצַיֵּן אֶת הָעֻבְדָּה… – It’s important for me to mention the fact… (khah-SHOOV lee leh-tsah-YEN et hah-oov-DAH…).
This is an active-intensive פיעל (pee-EL) verb.
Thus the word מְצֻיַּן (meh-tsoo-YAHN) means, literally, well pointed out – in other words, outstanding. Normally we translate it as excellent.
