Heating Up – in Hebrew

In the video I present the two Hebrew words for heat wave – חַמְסִין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-1.mp3″ /] and שָׁרָב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-2.mp3″ /] .

A cognate of the Hebrew חֲמִשִּׁים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-3.mp3″ /] , the word חמסין means fifty in Arabic spoken dialect, خمسين in Arabic characters. In the Egyptian dialect, it also refers to the devastating heat wave that often hits North Africa during the fifty-day period between the Coptic festivals of Easter and Pentecost. Traveling north to Israel are not only the winds but the word חמסין itself, where Israelis use it to refer to a heat wave. שרב is the authentic Hebrew word, appearing in the biblical Book of Isaiah.

Heating Up

In the video I mention that there was an עֲלִיָּה פִּתְאוֹמִית בַּטֶּמְפֶּרָטוּרוֹת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-4.mp3″ /] – a sudden rise in temperatures. I refer to the sharp change that occurred this past week in Israel. I don’t mean to imply that a חמסין or שרב necessarily happens that way. It can also come with עלייה הַדְרָגָתִית בטמפרטורות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-5.mp3″ /] – a gradual rise in temperatures.

Another way of referring to עלייה בטמפרטורות[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-6.mp3″ /] is הִתְחַמְּמוּת[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-7.mp3″ /] – literally, heating up. התחממות plugs the root ח.ו.מ into a variation of הִתְפַּעֵל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-8.mp3″ /] , the verb form that best expresses a process. Thus התחממות is the process of getting hot.

“It’s so bloody hot!”

The native Hebrew (and Arabic) speakers in the video make their own interjections for how hot it was the other day in Israel. They use common expressions like חָם בַּטֵּרוּף[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-9.mp3″ /] – (it’s) hot like crazy, רוֹתֵחַ[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-10.mp3″ /] – it’s boiling or it’s sizzling, and חָם לָאַלְלָה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-11.mp3″ /] – it’s hot to G-d. חֹם אֵימִים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-12.mp3″ /] – heat of horror, is a common expression as well. חום גֵּיהִנֹּם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-13.mp3″ /] translates the English “hot as hell” (literally, heat of hell). And then there’s the young woman calling the weather סָבִיר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-14.mp3″ /] – reasonable. She must have spent the day indoors.

Other phrases expressing heat not featured in the video include חם מִדַּי[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-15.mp3″ /] – too hot, חם רֶצַח[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-16.mp3″ /] – hot as murder (literally, heat of murder), and !אֵיזֶה חוֹם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-17.mp3″ /] – what heat! You’re likely to hear women saying emphatically אֲנִי חַיֶּבֶת מַזְגָן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-18.mp3″ /] – I must have air conditioning. Men would say אני חַיָּב מזגן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-19.mp3″ /] .

Staying cool

As for the English expression “stay cool,” Hebrew doesn’t have an equivalent. Rather, you’re likely to hear Israelis giving each other pieces of advice such as שְׁתֵה הַרְבֶּה מַיִם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-20.mp3″ /] – drink lots of water (when speaking to a male) and תִּשָּׁאֲרִי בַּמַּזְגָן[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-21.mp3″ /] – stay in the air conditioning (when speaking to a female).

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/heating-up-22.mp3″ /] קַיִץ נָעִים!

Have a great (pleasant) summer!