how to say “natural spring” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/מעיין-#.m4a” /]מַעְיָין, עַיִן
מעיין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/מעיין-#.m4a” /] – a common name mainly for girls but also for boys – means natural spring.
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/מעיין-#.m4a” /]חם היום – כולנו הולכים למעיין!
It’s hot today – we’re all going to the spring!
The word עין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/מעיין-#.m4a” /] also means natural spring, and this is the preferred term in Biblical Hebrew. In Modern Hebrew, עין tends to appear only as part of the name of a particular spring, such as עין עקב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/מעיין-#.m4a” /] – Ein Akev (the Spring of Akev). In such names עַיִן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/מעיין-#.m4a” /] becomes עֵין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/מעיין-#.m4a” /] – literally, spring of.
Why do Modern Hebrew speakers prefer מעיין over עין? Probably because עין also means eye.