Torah and Jewish Idea > Torah and Jewish Idea
Secrets of the Hebrew Language [Lashon HaKodesh]
muman613:
I was just thinking about these Hebrew words and their potential connections in the Holy tongue [Lashon HaKodesh]
Teva Nature
Tievah Ark
Tiva Desire
Gaavah Arrogance
These words seem very similar to me and often when I hear them I sometimes have to think about the word in context in order to understand what is being said.
galileerat:
Rav Glazerson, Isaac Mozeson and others have shown how all languages ultimately derive from the First Language, Hebrew.
Including English e.g.
hollow/challal, kid/gdi, money/ moneh, refuse/refesh, over/over, superior/shapir, sycamore/shikma, acaccia/ketziya, deteriorate/hitdarderut, cuts/kitzutz, luna/levanah, regular/rageel, shriek/shrikah, source/shoresh, tactic/dakdek, yell/yelal, abbot/avot, agony/yagon, albino/halbonah, amity/amit, ashame/asham, aura/or, berry/pri, call/kol, corn/goren, couple/koffel, dagger/dakar, elite/elit, evil/eveel, gall/ga'al, jackal/shachal, kill/kilkel, ghost/gossess, love/lev, cable/kevel, chaste/chassid, direct/derech, finicity/fanak, idea/de'ah, mystery/mestar, python/peten, rush/ra'ash, reek/rey'ach, psoriasis/tzora'as, riches/rechoosh, scale/shkal, secure/sagoor, cosmos/gashmius, sorrow/tzoroh, elect/likut, ravenous/ra'av,sparrow/tzipporah, suffice/sufik, therapy/terufah, wine/yayin etc.etc
Kahane-Was-Right BT:
--- Quote from: gailileerat on July 11, 2009, 09:13:37 PM ---Rav Glazerson, Isaac Mozeson and others have shown how all languages ultimately derive from the First Language, Hebrew.
Including English e.g.
--- End quote ---
Link?
muman613:
--- Quote from: Kahane-Was-Right BT on July 11, 2009, 09:29:44 PM ---
--- Quote from: gailileerat on July 11, 2009, 09:13:37 PM ---Rav Glazerson, Isaac Mozeson and others have shown how all languages ultimately derive from the First Language, Hebrew.
Including English e.g.
--- End quote ---
Link?
--- End quote ---
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/5/The Mother of Languages - Influence of Hebrew on O
--- Quote ---"Generation after generation of Englishmen heard the Bible read in church and studied it at home. In many cases, it was the only book; in all, the principal book. At last its cadences, its music, its phraseology, sank into his mind and became part of his being... Hence by slow degrees his daily speech was not merely enriched, but to some extent moulded by its influence."
Without a knowledge of Hebrew and its majestic cadence and imagery, we are apt to assume that certain modes of expression simply derived from old Anglo-Saxon speech, but the translation of the Bible into English directly from Hebrew exercised a major influence over the English language. When we use expressions such as a "heavy heart" or idioms like "the skin of his teeth," "a drop in the bucket," or employ certain superlatives; "Holy of Holies" (Kodesh hakedushim), King of Kings (Meleh hamelahim), Song of Songs (Shir hashirim), we are simply repeating a word-for-word translation of the Hebrew Bible.
Hebrew words from the Bible could not always be translated but were simply "adopted" with only a minor alteration in pronunciation - alphabet, sabbath, amen, abbot, messiah, hallelujah, hosanna, manna, cherubim, seraphim, satan, shibboleth, leviathan, mammon, horn, camel, jubilee (from the 50th year Yovel celebration when all slaves were to be set free), scallions (after Ashkelon), gauze (after Gaza), and sodomy (after Sdom), Armageddon (from Megiddo), behemoth (the term for wild animals which was probably the source of the name Bahama islands) and most surprising of all - probably Europe itself - after the Hebrew erev - setting sun, or evening. Europe was the land of the setting sun for the ancient Hebrews and Phoenicians.
Many Hebrew words were later absorbed by Yiddish and became part of the linguistic baggage of Jewish immigrants that became widely known by gentile neighbours and eventually adopted into English and other languages, such as maven (expert), ganef (thief), hutzpah (cheek), mishpocha (family), kosher and many others.
Many of the most common personal (Christian) names used throughout the world are directly derived from Hebrew, such as Jonathan (Yonatan), Joseph (Yosef), David, Isaac (Yitzhak), Jacob or Jack (Yaakov), Sarah, Esther, Eve, Rachel, Deborah, Rebecca (Rivka) and Leah. The last reigning Emperor of Ethiopia inherited the title of "Lion of Judah" (claiming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba) and chose the name Haile Selassi (Hayl hashlosha - in Hebrew, "The Power of the Trinity"). The Puritans held the Hebrew language in such high regard that their military banners were inscribed with the emblem of the Lion of Judah and their battle hymns were taken directly from the Psalms.
Some Hebrew words of biblical origin were so distinctive that no attempt was made to find equivalents for them in English or in the other languages which likewise adopted them. One of them, shibboleth, described a biblical story which had very modern applications, directly repeating the biblical event.
Shibboleth (the Hebrew word for an "ear of corn") was pronounced with the "sh" sound by the Gideonites, whereas the hostile tribe of Ephraimites could not say the "sh" and pronounced it sibboleth. The self-same strategy of detection was used in a peasants revolt in Flanders in the town of Brugge (Bruges) in the 13th century. The Flemish-speaking peasants distinguished their comrades from French-speaking nobility who were clad in peasant garb by asking them to repeat the Flemish slogan "Friend and Shield." The French speakers could not pronounce the "sch" in the Flemish word for shield. A similar shibboleth technique was used in World War II by the Dutch resistance and British intelligence to uncover German SS officers pretending to be Dutch civilians, who were unable to pronounce the name of the town of Scheveningen.
The influence of the Hebrew language, however, extends far beyond the field of linguistics and religion. Its contribution is much more profound than the borrowing of individual words and concepts. Hebrew mental patterns have been so long encased in English words and phrases that we scarcely give a thought to their origins. Classics of English literature - both prose and poetry, political oratory, the popular stage, song and screen, and inscriptions on historical monuments, are strewn with titles lifted directly from the pages of The Tanach where they appeared for the first time in Hebrew. Their ability to serve as allegories, proverbs and parables for modern situations and events that recall the Bible has been a hallmark of great literature, debate and oratory. Just a few examples will suffice: the writing on the wall (Daniel, 5:25), the mark of Cain (Genesis, 4:15), scapegoat (Leviticus, 16:26), the meek shall inherit the earth (Psalms 37:11), the grapes of wrath (Deuteronomy, 32:32), out of the mouths of babes and sucklings (Psalms 8:3), the good earth (Deuteronomy, 6:18), the way of all flesh (Genesis, 6:12), dust to dust (Genesis, 3:19), feet of clay (Daniel, 2:34), East of Eden (Genesis, 4:16), how are the mighty fallen (2 Samuel 1:19), man shall not live by bread alone (Deuteronomy, 8:3). These expressions and hundreds more have become so ingrained in the English language and so frequently used that we scarcely give a thought to their Hebrew origin. To imagine the English language without them is as unthinkable as to imagine English without the influence of Shakespeare.
--- End quote ---
galileerat:
Genius linguist Isaac Mozeson's site
http://edenics.homestead.com/
--- Quote from: Kahane-Was-Right BT on July 11, 2009, 09:29:44 PM ---
Link?
--- End quote ---
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