A reader asked about the origin of the Hebrew word for diagonal - אלכסון alakhson. It first appears in Rabbinic Hebrew (also as lokhsan  לוכ...

I was recently asked if there was any connection between the root of the Hebrew word for engagement (i.e. betrothal) - ארוסין erusin (the ro...

Today I was thinking about the word teiva  תבה. In the entire Bible, it only appears twice: as the word for Noah's ark and for the baby ...

Chafifa חפיפה can mean both "shampooing" and "overlapping" (often used when two people are overlapping at a job, and one...

I've discussed previously how I like to listen to language podcasts, particularly those with a focus on etymology. One that I somehow f...

Let's take a look at root that has some unexpected derivatives (at least I didn't expect them). This interesting root is זכה and t...

Let's take a look at two Hebrew words: gizbar גזבר and geniza גניזה. They're actually related, and have a similar story. Geniza  i...

As you might imagine, I have quite a few books about Hebrew. Dozens of dictionaries, books that discuss the history of Hebrew, books abo...

Let's take a look at gir גיר - the Hebrew word for "chalk." While today that is the primary meaning, it had other meanings i...

A reader asked if there was any connection between the Yiddish word nebech , meaning "an unfortunate person" (also used as an inte...

A reader asked about two words: nagar נגר and rahit רהיט. He points out an interesting similarity between the two. Both appear to derive fro...

In a recent post , I discussed Semitic connections to places in Spain. Let's take a look now at another European country - Britain. Fi...

I'd like to discuss the etymology of Tziyon ציון (Zion in English). But before I get to that, I have to answer a more basic question. W...

I've discussed a number of times that I listen to a bunch of podcasts that deal with language, linguistics and etymology. But I don...

Is there any connection between the Hebrew words  egel עגל - "calf (a young cow or other large mammal)" and igul עיגול - "cir...

What's the connection between the Hebrew word geshem - גשם - "rain" and gashmi גשמי - "physical"? From my initial...

What is the origin of the Hebrew word nusach נוסח? Before we delve into the etymology, let's discuss the meaning. Morfix offers ...

Let's take a look at the word shalal שָׁלָל. It means "spoils, booty, plunder" and according to Klein , derives from the root...

The Hebrew verb ichpat איכפת is strange. (It is sometimes pronounced in Modern Hebrew as echpat, perhaps because it is more commonly writte...

I found a couple of interesting etymologies related to words that we've discussed before, so I thought I'd share them with you now....