how to say “undercover Jews dressed as Arabs” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/מסתערבים-#.m4a” /]מִסְתַּעַרְבִים

The series Fauda has placed מסתערבים[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/מסתערבים-#.m4a” /] in the minds and hearts of enthusiasts around the world – Jews, Muslims and everyone else:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/מסתערבים-#.m4a” /]פאודה היא סדרה ישראלית על יחידת מסתערבים.

Fauda is an Israeli series about a unit of mistaarvim.

The word מסתערבים (in the masculine-singular, מסתערב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/מסתערבים-#.m4a” /]) refers today to Jews impersonating Arabs for operational purposes. If you look closely at the word, you’ll see the root ע.ר.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/מסתערבים-#.m4a” /] – Arab (ע.ר.ב meaning evening is a different root, unrelated to this one).

But if you know something about Hebrew grammar, you might notice that מסתערב is not a typical התפעל verb. In fact, the root of מסתערב appears to be ס.ע.ר.ב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/מסתערבים-#.m4a” /], a four-letter root suggesting that something foreign is at play. What’s the story?

Turns out that the מסתערב originates in Arabic itself – مستعرب (mistaareb) refers not only to an undercover Israeli, but also to an Arabist or a non-Arab scholar of Arabic language and culture.