how to say “volcano” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הר-געש-1.m4a” /]הַר גַּעַשׁ
The History Channel once aired a documentary claiming a scientific explanation for the Ten Plagues wrought on the Egyptians in Biblical times. In this show, Exodus Decoded, the presenter suggests that a volcanic eruption in southern Europe set forth a chain of events that poisoned and colored the Nile, killing off all river life except for those animals that could leap ashore (frogs); that these frogs could not reenter the Nile, so they died on the land, becoming breeding grounds for vermin, etc.
The Hebrew term for volcano is הר געש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הר-געש-1.m4a” /] – literally, a raging mountain.
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הר-געש-2.m4a” /]גם בישראל יש הרי געש.
In Israel too there are volcanos.
The word גועש[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הר-געש-3.m4a” /] – raging, stormy – appears only in literary contexts and is not used in day-to-day speech.
Volcanoes appearing in literary contexts may appear with richer description, as in the Biblical:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/הר-געש-4.m4a” /]הַמַּבִּיט לָאָרֶץ, וַתִּרְעָד; יִגַּע בֶּהָרִים וְיֶעֱשָׁנוּ. (תהילים ק”ד)
The One who glances at the earth and it shakes; who touches the mountains and they let out smoke. (Psalms 104)