having trouble seeing the print? סִרְטוֹן Perhaps you know the Modern Hebrew word for movie or film – סֶרֶט (SEH-ret). The word made its first appearances in the Hebrew language a few thousand years ago, in the bodies of Jewish literature known as the Mishnah (מִשְׁנָה – meesh-NAH) and the Midrash (מִדְרָש – meed-RAHSH). In those…
having trouble seeing the print? לְצַיֵּן A couple of months ago I did an entry on to mention – לְצַיֵּן (leh-tsah-YEN). Today I’m introducing another meaning. You may know the Hebrew word for excellent – מְצֻיָּן (meh-tsoo-YAHN). That word is the passive version of an active-intensive פיעל (pee-EL) verb, to point out or to commemorate – לציין. Thus a more accurate translation…
having trouble seeing the print? דְּרִישַׁת שָׁלוֹם Suppose you’d like to send regards to a guy named Michael. In Hebrew, you’d say, תִּמְסוֹר דְּרִישַׁת שָׁלוֹם לְמִיכָאֵל (teem-SOHR deh-ree-SHAHT shah-LOHM leh-mee-khah-EL) – literally, send/pass a demand of peace to Michael (assuming the one being spoken to is a male). Sounds a bit demanding… until we realize…
having trouble seeing the print? תּוֹפָעָה In yesterday’s posting, we encountered a Hebrew word that adds a ת (t) sound at the beginning of a common, general root – in our case, ד.ר.כ (d.r.k), meaning way – to create a more specific word, in our case, תִּדְרוּך (teed-ROOKH), or briefing. This phenomenon – of creating…
having trouble seeing the print? תִּדְרוּךְ Today I visited one of our Jerusalem client programs on their first day of class. I got into a conversation with some of these post-high-school students from English-speaking countries about how they spent this past summer. Their group level corresponds to Ulpan La-Inyan’s Level 2 course. One of the girls…
having trouble seeing the print? עֲבַרְיָן This one’s for Lauren, Ulpan La-Inyan‘s administrative assistant and a collaborator in a new translation of the auspicious Yom Kippur prayer, כָּל נִדְרֵי (kohl need-REH-ee). The Hebrew word עֲבַרְיָנִים (ah-vahr-yah-NEEM) appears in the introductory line to that famous prayer. It is usually translated as criminals, though that translation lacks…
having trouble seeing the print? חוּט תַּיִל This one’s for Lisa, who stumped me last night when we she asked what that – – was called in Hebrew. So I looked it up. חוּט תַּיִל (khoot TAH-yeel) is barbed wire, where חוט means wire. גֶּדֶר תַּיִל (GHEH-dehr TAH-yeel) is barbed wire fence, where גדר…
having trouble seeing the print? בְּקִרְבַת מָקוֹם To say in Hebrew that something is close, you’d use a form of the word קָרוֹב (kah-ROHV). Likewise, you could talk about the nearby town – הָעֲיָרָה הַקְּרוֹבָה (hah-ah-yah-RAH hah-keh-roh-VAH). In that case, קרובה (a form of קרוב) is describing the town – the word is an adjective….
having trouble seeing the print? מַנְהִיג, מַנְהִיגָה I’m reading The Prime Minsters by Yehuda Avner, currently at the part about the winter of 1947 in Jerusalem. I’m getting inspired and delighted by the daring and, sometimes, the faith, Jewish people displayed in those days… especially by one of the key leaders in the liberation…
having trouble seeing the print? יְדִידוּתִי, חֶבְרוּתִי First, an addendum on yesterday’s entry: לְהַרְעִים (leh-hahr-EEM) is indeed a more Biblical and less Modern way of saying to thunder. However, I forgot to mention the more commonly-used word today for to thunder: לִרְעוֹם (leer-OHM), an active-simple פעל (pah-AHL) verb. Now for today’s dose. A while back…
having trouble seeing the print? רַעַם, לְהַרְעִים Yesterday we discussed lightning and related words. That’s the visual element in thunderstorm. Today we’ll discuss the sound element – thunder. The word for thunder itself is רַעַם (RAH-ahm). It appears in the Bible, notably in Psalm 104 (verse 7): מִן גַּעֲרָתְךָ יְנוּסוּן, מִן קוֹל רַעַמְךָ יֵחָפֵזוּן – from Your reprimand do they flee,…