The Hebrew word for "law, statute" חֹק chok , derives from the root חקק. That root can mean "to decree, legislate", but ...

I was recently asked about the etymology of the word סְנִיף snif   - meaning "branch," as in the branch of a bank or the local bra...

In the Tanakh, there are two words for razor for shaving. The more common one, תַּעַר ta'ar , is found in five verses : Bamidbar 6:5, 8:...

'When discussing hiflig , I mentioned that while one definition is "exaggerate", that's not a use common in Hebrew today. ...

A few months ago, we discussed the root peleg  פלג. I noted the following: The cognate פלג provides even more words. As with פלח, the root ...

A reader asked about the etymology of  אוֹלָר olar  - "pen knife" - since Klein reports that the word is "of unknown origin....

This is a short one, but I thought it was interesting. The Hebrew word for helmet, kasda   קַסְדָּה (or in the Mishna , קַסְדָּא) comes from...

One of the fun things when doing etymological research is discovering two related words, that you previously had no idea were connected, but...

One of the foods most identified with Israel is falafel . While the food is ancient, the name is more recent - and derives from the Arabic f...

There is no question that the name of the star  Betelgeuse (the inspiration for the 1988 movie  Beetlejuice ) derives from Arabic. However,...

The word שמיר shamir  has two meanings in the Tanach. In the book of Yeshayahu (5:6, 7:23-25, 9:17, 10:17, 27:4, 32:13) it refers to a kind ...

A reader asked about the word shidah  שִׁדָּה, translated by Morfix as "dresser, chest of drawers." That seemed like an easy task ...

 A reader asked me to write about the Hebrew words kadosh קדוש and kodesh  קודש - generally translated as "holy" and "holines...

After writing about words deriving from the root פלג , a reader asked if there was a connection to the word pilegesh פילגש - "concubine...

I recently finished reading John McWhorter's book  Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English . Throughout the book, ...

The English word "ghoul" derives from Arabic. Here's the Online Etymology Dictionary entry for ghoul : 1786, goul , in the Eng...

Last week on Purim we read the book of Esther, and next week we start the month of April. It turns out that Esther and April have more in co...