Hebrew Words

The Hebrew word for match is גַּפְרוּר. It was coined in 1898 by S. J. Abramowitch, a writer better known by his pen name Mendele Mocher Sforim. The word is based on the biblical word for sulphur גָּפְרִית, following the example of German's Schwefelholz "sulfur wood."pic.twitter.com/Q9SCyESH7u

In Hebrew the color gray is called אָפֹר (ɑˈfoʁ). The word was coined in by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Pines in in Jerusalem in 1885, when editing a short introduction to anatomy penned by Dr. Benjamin Szereszewski. 1/2pic.twitter.com/UjdyrcQe6H

The Hebrew word for "mother" is אִמָּא (ˈi.mɑ). This is actually the Aramaic word for "mother" rather than the Biblical Hebrew word which was אֵם (ʔeːm). Happy #MothersDaypic.twitter.com/qyTHNw7DJT

The meaning "on my own" (or "by myself") is now completely idiomatic, but originally in Rabbinic Hebrew the phrase had a slightly different meaning - "in the flesh" or literally "in the bone." 3/3pic.twitter.com/F6nuPaKQKJ

The word was coined alongside the word for "independent" עַצְמָאִי ɑt͡s.mɑˈi in 1920 by the first native speaker of Modern Hebrew Itamar Ben-Yehuda, then a 38-year-old chief editor of a newspaper. He coined these based on בְּעַצְמִי http://xn--b-g1a.xn--atb-ntb.atbɛ.atbɛ.at  ͡sˈmi "on my own." 2/3pic.twitter.com/5YMj5nxupo

Israel's national holiday starts tonight and is called יוֹם הָעַצְמָאוּת jom ɑ.ɑt͡s.mɑˈut, literally "day of the independence." The word for independence עַצְמָאוּת ɑt͡s.mɑˈut is ultimately derived from the Hebrew word for "bone" עֶצֶם ˈɛ.t͡sɛm. 1/3pic.twitter.com/hpbAgEYleV

incorporate the word in his 1903 dictionary as the Hebrew word for medlar, since Hebrew already had a word for jujube שֵיְזָף. Not that this mattered too much since meldars didn't grow in Palestine anyway. But because the German word for loquat is Japanische Mispel, that is >pic.twitter.com/b8UDiNeWhA

University of Leipzig on the Aramaic names of plants. Löw considered all plants mentioned in the Talmud and among them the shesek which he decided based on philological grounds was most likely a jujube or possibly a medlar. Based on his research, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda decided to >pic.twitter.com/RmhZlfV4Ue

in Europe in the first few hundred years of the second millenium, commentators on the Talmud speculated that it's an almond or a peach. The matter was a moot point anyway, and no-one seemed to be bothered by it until in the 1880s, Immanuel Löw was doing his doctorate in the >pic.twitter.com/JhQqU90Qmn

out small gifts to attract customers but "the rabbis" rejected his opinion. The anonymous editor of the Talmud explains their decision saying: "I give out nuts, you give out shesek," implying that it all evens out in the end anyway. But what is a shesek? Well, no-one knows but >pic.twitter.com/HUGQkpnoTl

It's loquat season in Israel. This tasty Japanese fruit has an ancient and beautiful name in Hebrew: שֶׁסֶק. The word is as obscure as any in ancient Judaic texts in but one Talmudic disputation. We are told that the late-2nd century Rabbi Judah forbad storekeepers from giving >pic.twitter.com/T7UZw06VaH

Remez also coined the Hebrew word for excavator מַחְפֵּר, though this word is less common. The word is also derived from the same verb for dig חפר.pic.twitter.com/uhHx5fK19S

The Hebrew word for bulldozer is דַּחְפּוֹר. It was coined in the 1930s by David Remez, then the head of the labor union HaHistadrut and later Israel's first minister of transportation. The word is a portmanteau of two Hebrew verbs דחף ("push") and חפר ("dig").pic.twitter.com/onriVwmNr2

Also pronounced ˈdu.ɑχ, the Hebrew word for report is דוּחַ. The word was originally an acronym of דין וחשבון, roughly "justification and reckoning," which first appeared in the famous Mishnaic adage: "Know... before whom you will give justification and reckoning" (Avot 3:1).pic.twitter.com/IYffOAqtXD

The Hebrew word for elections is בְּחִירוֹת, the plural form of בְּחִירָה "coice, selection." It has been used in this sense since the 19th century. #IsraelElections2019pic.twitter.com/sZoadiXRQj

The Hebrew word for butterfly is פַּרְפָּר. It was coined in 1892 by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. He used the name of a river near Damascus mentioned in 2 Kings 5:12, because the verb פרפר means "to flutter" and possibly because it is similar to the Italian word for butterfly farfalla.pic.twitter.com/ToXjjd4YJD

The Hebrew word for submarine appeared in May 1915. It is an abbreviation of the older phrase (appeared in 1899) אוניה צוללת, meaning "diving ship."pic.twitter.com/51XoVaR7JV