how to say “propaganda” in Hebrew
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According the Online Etymological Dictionary, the English word propaganda is related to propagation – basically, getting the word out there. Indeed, propaganda is intellectual material meant for mass public consumption, including ideas about whom to vote for.
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| Hebrew newspaper in Czarist Russia: הַמֵּלִיץ HaMelitz |
But propaganda is also about agitating or getting people riled up around a particular goal, and here Hebrew takes a different spin on the word from English. The Hebrew word for propaganda is תַּעֲמוּלָה
, of the root ע.מ.ל (a.m.l) meaning labor and effort.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language cites an early usage of the term. A Zionist newspaper editor in Czarist Russia wrote:
“Agitation (propaganda) is an indication of which effort (עמל) is necessary; thus it shall be called today, ‘תעמולה‘.”
There is propaganda that is permitted by law, and there is propaganda that is forbidden.
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