how to say “the wild west” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-1.m4a” /]הַמַּעֲרָב הַפָּרוּעַ
When the moving pictures of John Wayne arrived on the Israeli silver screen, people called the setting of his heroics by its Hebrew name – המערב הפרוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-1.m4a” /] – the Wild West.
The term in context:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-2.m4a” /]שם נרדף למערב הישן בארצות הברית הינו “המערב הפרוע”.
A synonym for the Old West in the United States is the Wild West.
The word מערב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-3.m4a” /] means west. Note that its root is ערב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-4.m4a” /] – evening, when the sun sets in the west.
And פרוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-5.m4a” /] means wild, as well as free and loose. It can refer to loose hair – שיער פרוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-6.m4a” /]. The root פ.ר.ע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-7.m4a” /] also appears in לפרוע חוב[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-8.m4a” /] – to pay a debt (perhaps letting it loose from the yoke of obligation). Though it appears identical to the root of the Hebrew word for Pharaoh – פרעה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-9.m4a” /] – the roots are not the same: in פרעה, the ע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-10.m4a” /] represents a different sound lost in Modern-Hebrew pronunciation.
You may be familiar with the German children’s story Der Struwwelpeter (Shockhead Peter in English). In Hebrew, Peter becomes יהושע הפרוע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/המערב-הפרוע-11.m4a” /] – Wild Joshua.