eu·re·ka (yŏŏ-rē’kə)

Part of learning Hebrew is dealing with the ulpan system (אולפן). Ulpan literally means “studio” and is used both for tv studios as well as for the places where Hebrew is taught to new immigrants (as well as those who come to learn Hebrew). My naivety about the ulpan system was staggering; I had these innocent doe-eyed ideals about how after I left the ulpan I would be speaking Hebrew like a native and intergrated Israeli.

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In Hebrew the word מין (min) signifies a number of different things; essentially it means “type” or “point of origin”. It’s also used as the preposition מ (mi) which means “from”; as in where are you from - מאיפה אתה? - and a number of other expressions indicating “from”.

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Continuing the theme of yesterday’s post about Hebrew orthograpghy, today I’d like to discuss the horrible state of affairs of Hebrew-to-English translation and transliteration. Granted, as a new immigrant, I should be striving towards mastery of Hebrew but that’s not something that come quickly if ever.

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Spelling isn’t quite as important as it used to be. When I was a kid, spelling - orthography for the monocle-wearing crowd - was essential since most of writing and correspondence was done by hand. In class, everything was done by hand and my sinister nature (left-handed-ness) caused my teachers great consternation. Being understood correctly without the ubiquity of spell checkers necessitated command of English spelling; otherwise, you’re stuck with the dictionary and look like a moron if you misspell “mispell”.

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The verb, to return (לחזור), was something of a mystery to me because its root is the same as “pig” and “alien” - ח ז ר (as was discussed in Pigs in Space).  The whole notion of strange and foreign is anathema to returning. Not unsurprising, the key to this etymological query has its origin in religion.

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Do you  wait in line or on line?  The answer depends on your origins and locale; people in the middle of the country will say “in line” and people from New Jersey and New York tend to say “on line”. The use of different prepositions to describe one’s relation to, in this instance, the line reveals some meta-linguistic information about the regional dialect.

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Nearly everyone knows that the pig is not Kosher and most Jews, even the secular ones, won’t eat pork. This is because swine is considered the most unkosher of all non-kosher foods. Since pigs have cloven feet, they appear to be kosher. But, because they do not “chew the cud” as cows and other kosher animals do, the pig is actually not kosher - and this is the kicker - despite an appearance that suggests otherwise.

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One aspect of learning a language that is tremendously difficult is the nuance between words that are casually translated the same way. For instance, the words המון (hamon) and הרבה (’arbay) are both translated as a lot or many or a plurality; they signify quite a hefty amount and one carries the connotation of a greater amount than the other.
Depending on the Israeli that is asked, the reason you would use one instead of the other can be any number of reasons. הרבה is a smaller quantity than המון and הרבה is quantifiable - it can be counted - whereas המון is a massive amount that isn’t countable.  Ask another Israeli and the explanation for the usage and meaning of the words can be quite different.

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The one Hebrew word that everyone knows is shalom (שָׁלוֹם).  It’s nearly always translated as peace or as a colloquial greeting between Jews.

The English word peace has its origin in the Latin pax - peace - coming from the genitive singular “paces”.  The term “Pax Romana” denotes a period of calm and relative prosperity just as the “Pax Americana” came to mean so many centuries later.  And so we associate peace with tranquility and an absence of war.

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A word that is beloved and ubiquitous in Israel is Balagan (בָּלָגָן); it colloquially means “mess” or “disaster”. It’s easy to see why it is so frequently used in a country where disaster is prophesied weakly (weekly, too) and everything seems on the verge of chaos.

It’s origin is somewhat shrouded in mystery as are most slang words. Referring to the root doesn’t really help; according to Amos Oz’s father in A Tale of Love and Darkness, it is derived from the Persian word for balcony ()  - in Persian (or Farsi if you prefer) balakana - because balconies in those days were where laundry and cleaning supplies were kept.

As one might imagine, the balcony was disorganized, filthy and generally a mess.  Since the Jews were exiled in Persia centuries ago and continue to live in present-day Iran, it makes perfect sense that a foreign word would be adopted into Hebrew and used in this way.

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