how to say “a wild person”, “a rascal” in Hebrew

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פרא-אדם-1.m4a” /]פֶּרֶא אָדָם

Earlier this week we saw that the Hebrew word פרוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פרא-אדם-2.m4a” /] means wild or loose. Though the letters א[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פרא-אדם-3.m4a” /] and ע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פרא-אדם-4.m4a” /] had two (well, actually three) distinct sounds in Biblical Hebrew, these were close enough that sometimes an א might replace an ע.

This seems to be the case with the word פרא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פרא-אדם-5.m4a” /], most notably found in the expression פרא אדם[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פרא-אדם-1.m4a” /] – a wild man, a savage.

Today, this term is used with a grain of salt:

[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/פרא-אדם-6.m4a” /]הילד הזה הוא פשוט פרא אדם.

This boy is simply a savage.