The Hebrew phrase for "birthday" is יום הולדת yom huledet. While it's certainly a familiar phrase, it's actually kind of a...

 Is there any difference between the two Hebrew words for "here" - po  פה and kan כאן? They originate in different strata of Hebre...

I've discussed a few   times in the past that the root חרט means "to engrave", as in the word charita חריטה - "engraving...

I recently wrote an essay for the journal Tradition entitled " Words of Ailing, Words of Healing " where I discussed the origins o...

One of the most popular words in Israel slang is stam סתם. It means "just kidding." How did it come to mean that? In Biblical He...

In modern Hebrew, tzedek  צדק and tzedakah צדקה have very different meanings. Tzedek  is "justice, which is obligatory and compels all....

The Haggadah opens up with a song , to help the participants remember, via rhyme, the various actions they need to perform throughout the s...

The Hebrew word karov קרוב means "near." All the verbs that derive from the root of that word - קרב - mean "to come near, app...

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...