לטייל – Israel’s national pastime
לטייל
If you’ve spent leisurely time in Israel, you’ve certainly become acquainted with the word טִיּוּל (tee-YOOL) – a leisurely trip. You likely associate it with hiking… which is what Israelis often do in their time off (hence the title of this blog entry), and since טיול doesn’t have the most accurate translation into English.
The word טיול itself is a verbal noun, coming from the verb לְטַיֵּל (le-tah-YEL) – to travel in a leisurely fashion.
The origin of the word is not Biblical Hebrew – it’s probably Mishnaic, but I’m not sure (If someone reading this blog knows the first appearance of this word, I’d be happy to know! Hit the “comments” link.)
Usages include לטייל בָּעוֹלָם (le-tah-YEL bah-oh-LAHM) – to travel (in) the world and לטייל בְּאֵזוֹר בֵּית שְׁאָן (le-tah-YEL be-eh-ZOHR bet sheh-AHN) – to travel in the Beit She’an area – which is what I’ve been doing the last few days. And a טַיֶּלֶת (tah-YEH-let) is a boardwalk.
Here’s Ehud Banai’s song that comes to my mind, that has one of these words in it. Listen… and repeat! Lyrics here.