The ancient Hebrew language is not static. During the last 25 years, over 10,000 words have been added to the Hebrew language. This was required to meet the exigencies of modern life in conversational usage. William Chomsky's "Hebrew: The Eternal Language" is full of examples.
Some words are borrowed from Indo-European (Latin) languages. A perfect example is the everyday word"TILPHEN" which is the verb "telephone". Even during Mishnaic Hebrew, words were often borrowed from other languages such as Greek. An example is "HIT'AKHSEN" (received hospitality) from the Greek word "XENIA" meaning hospitality.
The Old New Land (or Altneuland in the original German) is a utopian novel published by Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, in 1902. What city could be named after this model? If you know that "TEL" means mound or ruin (thus symbolizing old) and Aviv is the month of Spring, representing "new", then you can see the name of the city "TEL AVIV".
Just as English often uses prefix and suffixes to modify words, Hebrew often does the same. For example, you can often add the suffix "-ut" to a word. For example, SHELEMUT means "perfection" from the root verb SHALEM (meaning "perfect"). SIFRUT means "literature" from the noun SEFER meaning book.
Sometimes a word for an occupation is built by using changing the both vowels to the "AH" sound. Here are two examples: PASAL means "sculptor" from the word "PESEL" which means "idol". The word "violinist" is KANNAR, which is taken from the noun "KINOR" meaning "violin".
Some nouns can be performed by adding the letter "MEM" as a prefix. We see with with Biblical words such as MIKDASH (temple) from KADASH (to sanctify/make holy) and MISHKAN (tabernacle) from SHAKAN (dwell). In Modern Hebrew, we can see such words as MABREG (screwdriver) from BARAG (screw) or MATZLEMAH (camera), from TZELEM ("image" or "shadow").
Sometimes, two words are combined to form a new word. We do this all the time in English, such as "goodbye" ("God be with you"). MADHOM means thermometer, which comes from MADAD (measured) and HOM (heat).
Hebrew has also absorbed word from English, Yiddish, Russian and other languages. SHWITZ means sweat in Yiddish, which inspired the Hebrew word MASHWITZ - an overbearing person. From English, Hebrew has borrowed words such as jeep, garage, and sweater. From Russian, the suffix "Nik" is occassionaly used, such as KIBBUTZNIK (a man belonging to a Kibutz).
Some words are borrowed from Indo-European (Latin) languages. A perfect example is the everyday word"TILPHEN" which is the verb "telephone". Even during Mishnaic Hebrew, words were often borrowed from other languages such as Greek. An example is "HIT'AKHSEN" (received hospitality) from the Greek word "XENIA" meaning hospitality.
The Old New Land (or Altneuland in the original German) is a utopian novel published by Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, in 1902. What city could be named after this model? If you know that "TEL" means mound or ruin (thus symbolizing old) and Aviv is the month of Spring, representing "new", then you can see the name of the city "TEL AVIV".
Just as English often uses prefix and suffixes to modify words, Hebrew often does the same. For example, you can often add the suffix "-ut" to a word. For example, SHELEMUT means "perfection" from the root verb SHALEM (meaning "perfect"). SIFRUT means "literature" from the noun SEFER meaning book.
Sometimes a word for an occupation is built by using changing the both vowels to the "AH" sound. Here are two examples: PASAL means "sculptor" from the word "PESEL" which means "idol". The word "violinist" is KANNAR, which is taken from the noun "KINOR" meaning "violin".
Some nouns can be performed by adding the letter "MEM" as a prefix. We see with with Biblical words such as MIKDASH (temple) from KADASH (to sanctify/make holy) and MISHKAN (tabernacle) from SHAKAN (dwell). In Modern Hebrew, we can see such words as MABREG (screwdriver) from BARAG (screw) or MATZLEMAH (camera), from TZELEM ("image" or "shadow").
Sometimes, two words are combined to form a new word. We do this all the time in English, such as "goodbye" ("God be with you"). MADHOM means thermometer, which comes from MADAD (measured) and HOM (heat).
Hebrew has also absorbed word from English, Yiddish, Russian and other languages. SHWITZ means sweat in Yiddish, which inspired the Hebrew word MASHWITZ - an overbearing person. From English, Hebrew has borrowed words such as jeep, garage, and sweater. From Russian, the suffix "Nik" is occassionaly used, such as KIBBUTZNIK (a man belonging to a Kibutz).
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