malawah

I had malawah (malawach, melawah) מלוח (also מלוואח) for lunch today. It's a Yemenite dish, a kind of flat, fried bread. Here's a recipe in English and here's one in Hebrew. According to Stahl, the name derives from the flat shape - lauh is "tablet, board" in Arabic, and is cognate to the Hebrew word לוח luach, with the same meaning.

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monsoon

Let's look at the news outside of the Middle East. Did you know it is monsoon season in India? Now of course there is a Semitic etymological connection. What is it?

The American Heritage Dictionary gives the following etymology:

Obsolete Dutch monssoen, from Portuguese monção, from Arabic mawsim, season, from wasama, to mark

That seems like a reasonable etymology. But from there, it links to the Semitic root "wsm" and writes:

To be(come) fitting, suitable. 1a. mazuma, from Medieval Hebrew mezumman, fixed currency, from Mishnaic Hebrew mezumman, fixed, passive participle of zimmen, to arrange, arrange a meal, invite, denominative from Hebrew zeman, appointed time, season, from Aramaic zeman, time; b. Sivan, from Hebrew sîwan, a month name. Both a and b from Akkadian simanu, season, time, name of a month corresponding to parts of May and June, from (w)asamu, to be(come), fitting, suitable. 2. monsoon, from Arabic mawsim, season, from wasama, to mark, wasuma, to be(come)beautiful

This is a bit of a balagan, to say the least! While mezuman and Sivan are connected to the Hebrew root זמן, what does wasamu have to do with it? Unless I can find a better explanation, I'll assume that the editors of the dictionary made a mistake.

Does wasama have a Hebrew cognate? It seems to be connected to the word for "name", שם shem. As Robert R. Ratcliffe writes here:

The CA verb yasimu/wasama "mark, distinguish" was possibly derived at an earlier period from a noun meaning "name" (CA /ism/) which can be reconstructed as a two-consonant stem for both Proto-Semitic and Proto-Afroasiatic.

After listing cognates for shem in other Semitic languages, Klein writes the following:

Some scholars connect the above names with Arab. wasama (= he branded cattle,
stamped, marked, branded), wasm (= branding cattle, stamp, mark, brand).

We see a sign of this root in the Aramaic and Hebrew word for "wart, mole, mark" = shuma שומא/ שומה (see Niddah 46a, Ketubot 75a). Jastrow also connects this meaning of shuma to the sense of שום, meaning "to value, estimate" and the source of the word shamai שמאי - assessor. Klein, however, says that sense of שום comes from a different Semitic root, meaning "to buy".

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afarsek

The word for peach in Hebrew is afarsek אפרסק. Klein's etymology:

A loan word from Greek Persikon ( = peach), short for Persikon melon (= lit.: 'Persian apple'). The א in אפרסק is prosthetic.

Indeed, the form פרסק (or פרסיק) appears numerous times in Talmudic literature (e.g. Bava Metzia 116b).

The English word "peach" derives from the same source:

from O.Fr. pesche (O.N.Fr. peske, Fr. pêche), from M.L. pesca, from L.L. pessica, variant of persica "peach, peach tree," from L. malum Persicum "Persian apple," from Gk. Persikon malon, from Persis "Persia."

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keshet

Yesterday we discussed chetz חץ - arrow, so today we'll discuss keshet קשת - bow. The word also can mean arch and arc, and a kashat קשת is a bowman or archer. Steinberg, as we've seen in the past, claims that קשת comes from an earlier two-letter root קש, which means "strong and taut", and appears in other words like kashe קשה - hard, and kashuach קשוח - "rigid, cruel".

However, Kutscher takes a slightly different approach. Similar to his explanation of the word delet, he writes that keshet actually has only two letters in its root - only the letters קש are radical. He claims that in Hebrew the tav serves to make the word feminine, but in Arabic a vowel was added to give the root three letters - קוס kaus. We find this root in the names of stars composing the constellation Sagittarius - the Archer: Kaus Media, Kaus Borealis, Kaus Australis.

Aramaic followed a path similar to Hebrew. We find that קשת means "to shoot an arrow" - e.g. the Targum to Yechezkel 21:26. But we also find a slightly different form: קשט, with a tet instead of a tav. An example can be found in Yerushalmi Taanit 69b, and perhaps in Tehillim 60:6.

But we are also familiar with the root קשט having another meaning: truth. We find this meaning in Hebrew once in the Bible, in Mishlei 22:21. But it is very common in Aramaic. Is there any connection between the two meanings?

Jastrow provides one possible explanation. He writes that the original meaning of קשט was "to be straight, strong", and it developed to "to go in a straight line, to shoot forth". He also gives "straightness" as a synonym for "truth".

Steinberg has a somewhat different approach. He writes that the basic meaning of קשט is "to be prepared". An arrow is made ready, drawn in a bow. In Hebrew we find the word nachon נכון - meaning "prepared" and also "correct", and from here "truth". He gives the example from Shabbat 153a - where the guests for a meal prepared themselves: שקישטו את עצמן לסעודה.

It would seem that from this sense of "to prepare", "to arrange (according to Klein)", we get the more modern sense of לקשט meaning "to decorate" and kishut קישוט meaning decoration.

Klein writes that the word for jewelry - תכשיט tachshit - is "a doublet of תקשיט" and also originally meant "decoration".

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chet

The letter chet (also spelled het/ heth/ khet /kheth /cheth) is the eight letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are two theories as to the etymology of the letter. One (as mentioned here and here) claims it is related to the Hebrew word chut חוט - meaning thread. The second theory (mentioned in the above sources, as well as cited by Sacks and Steinberg) is that the name of the letter derives from the word chayitz חיץ, meaning "fence, partition", and Steinberg writes that in Arabic and Syrian heth is the cognate of chayitz. This explanation seems to make more sense to me, particulary based on the shape of the letter, and can still be seen in the current Hebrew ח and the English letter H, which developed from chet.

The word chayitz derives from chutz חוץ - outside (also "except"), which also gives us the word chitzon חיצון - external.

We also find a root חצה - meaning "to divide". While I can't find a source that discusses it explicitly, I feel that חוץ and חצה are likely closely related - a fence (chayitz) divides (chotze) and leaves something outside (chutz). From the root חצה, we get such words as chetzi חצי - half and chatzot חצות - midnight. From the related root חצץ - also "to divide, to make a partition" comes the word mechitza מחיצה - partition.

As far as the etymology of חצה, Klein writes:

Phoen. and Moabite חצי (= half), Arab. hazwah (=fortune), OSArab חטי (= favor). These words show that base חצה is connected with {chetz} חץ ( = arrow). Accordingly, the original meaning of חצה probably was 'to divide by casting arrows or lots'.

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massage

Why a post about "massage" right after Tisha B'av? Read on and see.

There are two opinions as to the etymology of massage. One opinion (quoted by Klein as well as others) is that it comes to English from French, via the Arabic massa, meaning "he felt, touched". This Arabic word is related to the Hebrew משש, also meaning "to touch". Some derivatives of this root are mishosha משושה - antenna (of an insect) and the verb למשמש - also meaning "to touch or feel".

However, another opinion claims that the Arabic root is masaha - "to stroke, anoint, rub". This root is cognate to the Hebrew משח, the root of the Hebrew word mashiach משיח - and the English Messiah (and the connection to Tisha B'av as well, for legend says that the Mashiach (Moshiach) will be born on Tisha B'Av). There is a similar sense development in Indo-European languages as well, for the words "cream" and "christ" are also connected (see here, about the middle of the page).

Steinberg connects both משח and משש to a group of words starting with the two letters מש, all of which meaning "to pass a hand over, or move with a hand". In addition to the ones already mentions, he adds:

• משה - to pull, to draw (from water, hence the name Moshe), according to some opinions the word for silk meshi משי - also comes from this root, for the worms pull the threads through their bodies.
• משך - to pull, also meshech משך - duration
• משק - to direct, to lead (originally "to pull"), from here the word meshek משק - economy. Steinberg claims that the original name of Damasek דמשק (Damascus) was Darmesek (as appears in Divrei HaYamim). He gives the etymology of Darmesek as דר-משק "dar meshek" - a place of commerce.
• מוש - to remove, to pass. Steinberg derives the word for "last night, the night that passed" אמש - emesh, from this root as well.

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kina

On Tisha B'Av we will be reading kinot קינות (plural of kina קינה, although we also find the plural kinim קינים used) - lamentations, dirges. What is the origin of the word?

Klein states that the root of kina is קין (Radak claims it derives from קון), and writes as follows:

to fit together, fabricate [Whence Arab. qana ( = he fabricated, forged), qayn (= craftsman, worker in steel or another metal smith), Aramaic קינאה, Syr. קיניא, Akkadian qinay ( = metal worker), Hebrew קין {kayin} (= spear), קינה (= elegy, dirge), Syr. קינתא (of same meaning), קינה (slave girl who is a singer), Ethiopian qene (= song), Syr. קנקן ( = he sang), JAram קנקניתא (=musical instrument).

For sense development cp. Greek poietes (=poet; lit. 'a maker') from poiein ( = to make, produce).]

Cassuto explains that the name Kayin (Bereshit 4:1) also derives from the sense of קין as "to make, to form, to give shape," and so his name meant "creation".

Kaddari points out that while in Hebrew kina has a sense of mourning, in most Semitic languages it refers to singing in general.

What kind of singing is found in a kina? The last mishna in Moed Katan (3:9) defines a kina as:

When one leads and all respond after her. As it is said: And teach your daughters wailing and one another [each] lamentation (Jeremiah 9:19).

However, the mishna continues:

But as the future [days] to come, [the prophet] says: "He will destroy death for ever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. (Isaiah 25:8)"

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average

In the book of Eicha we find the following description of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem:

נָעוּ עִוְרִים בַּחוּצוֹת, נְגֹאֲלוּ בַּדָּם

"They wandered blindly through the streets, defiled with blood" (4:14)

What is the origin of the word iver עיוור - "blind"? The BDB connects iver with or עור - skin, "whence blindness as cataract", or as here "through the idea of a film over the eyes".

Klein does not provide an etymology per se, but provides the cognates in other Semitic languages:

Aram. עויר, Syr. עויר (=blind), עור (= he blinded), Arab. 'awira (=was one-eyed), Ethiop. 'ora (= was blind), 'ewur (= blind), Akka. turtu (=blindness).

From the Arabic 'awira (or awar) we get a very common English word. Mike Gerver writes (and see also here):

Hebrew עור, “blind,” is from the same Semitic root as Arabic awar, “one-eyed,” hence “damaged.” The Arabic word is the source, via French, of the English word average, which originally referred to the tariff that had to be paid on imported goods, taking into the account the average fraction of goods that would be expected to be damaged.

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hafuga

The Book of Eicha contains two related words, which are unique in the Tanach:

צָעַק לִבָּם, אֶל-אֲדֹנָי; חוֹמַת בַּת-צִיּוֹן הוֹרִידִי כַנַּחַל דִּמְעָה, יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה--אַל-תִּתְּנִי פוּגַת לָךְ, אַל-תִּדֹּם בַּת-עֵינֵךְ.

"Their heart cried out to the Lord. O wall of Fair Zion, shed tears like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no respite, your eyes no rest" (2:18)

עֵינִי נִגְּרָה וְלֹא תִדְמֶה, מֵאֵין הֲפֻגוֹת

"My eyes shall flow without cease; without respite" (3:49)

Both words derive from the root פוג, and there is much discussion as to the meaning of the word. Much of the debate surrounds the description of Yaakov's reaction to being told that Yosef was still alive -vayafog libo וַיָּפָג לִבּוֹ (Bereshit 45:26). What exactly happened to Yaakov's heart?

Rashi writes (as translated here):

Vayafog libo - his heart was changed so that he could not believe. That is to say that his heart could not take notice of the things (that Yosef's brothers had spoken). The usage is similar to that which is stated in the Talmud Tractate Beitza 14a (concerning the permissibility of grinding spices on Yom Tov in the usual fashion) that spices lose their flavor ("mefigin ta'aman") if ground ahead of time. It is also similar to the verse in Eikha 3:49 that "my eye(s) shall flow (tears) and not cease, without respite ("hafugot"). Also, note the Aramaic translation of the verse in Yirmiyahu 48:11: "Moav is complacent from its youth and settled upon its lees; it has not been poured from one vessel to another nor gone into exile. Therefore, its fine flavor abides and its bouquet has not dissipated." Concerning this undissipated bouquet, the Aramaic translation renders "lo fug" .

However, the Ramban disagrees (same source):

…Rashi's derivation is incorrect, for the matter of "fuga" is cessation and cancellation…Here too, the expression means that his heart stopped beating and his breathing ceased. The action of his heart stopped and it was as if he was dead. This phenomenon is well documented in situations where sudden and unexpected joy occurs. The medical literature relates that the old and the weak cannot bear unexpected joyous news, for many of them faint away under such circumstances. Their hearts are suddenly expanded and opened and the body's natural heat is transferred to the extremities, leaving the heart with insufficient warmth. The old man (Ya'akov) fell down as if dead.

Although the Ramban does not mention it directly, his mention that the heart is left without sufficient warmth, connects with the Arabic meaning of the root, as quoted by Klein:

Aram. פוג (=to cease, be helpless), Syr. פג (= was cold), Arab. faja (= grew cool.)

Shadal (quoted here) rejects the definition of "cold" (he brings it in the name of Rosenmuller and Gesenius) - would Yaakov remain "cold" to the news about Yosef? But he claims it means "to become weak". He connects the root פוג to the root פוק - also meaning "weak" as in Yirmiyahu 10:4, Yishayahu 28:7. Shadal derives the words safek ספק - doubt, and pikpuk פיקפוק - doubting from the same root.

Kaddari writes that פוג means "to become numb, without feeling". This connects well with the meaning of "become cold" (Ramban), as well as "become weak" (Shadal, Radak), or "to cease" (Rashi, Ibn Ezra). In fact, all three explanations are brought by Amos Chacham in the Daat Mikra to Tehillim 38:9.

The sense of weak, ceased is likely the origin of the word pag פג, meaning "unripe fig". Klein claims that the Latin words for fig - ficus, fica (and from them the English word "fig") - derive from pag. Today the word pag refers to a premature infant.

Steinberg mentions that a number of words beginning with the two letters פג may be related, and I'm inclined to believe him. Many of them seem mean weak:

• פגם - to render defective (verb), flaw (noun)
• פגר - to be backward, to lag behind
• פגע - to harm, to insult
• פגל - to spoil, to foul

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chaval

In Gittin 57b, we read the moving story of the mother of seven sons, each of whom is willing to sacrifice his life instead of worshipping idols. When the last son came before the Emperor, the emperor offered him a chance to save himself: "I will throw my signet ring in front of you so that you can bend down to pick it up. Then people, thinking you bowed to me, will say that you have accepted my authority." The boy responded: "Woe (chaval) to you, Caesar, woe (chaval) to you, Caesar! If your own honor is so important to you, how much more so the honor due the Holy One, Blessed is He!"

The word chaval (or haval / khaval) חבל is familiar to anyone speaking Hebrew in Israel today. Jack Moline in Growing Up Jewish wrote:

CHAVAL (kha-VAL)
An expression which, depending on how it is used, can mean "I'm so sorry" or "Tough cookies." For example, say to an Israeli, "I had a relative who died in a terrorist attack," and he will say, "Chaval." Or, say to the clerk at the Jerusalem Plaza, "Leona Helmsley would never issue such thin towels," and he will say, "Chaval."

In addition, Hebrew slang has the expression "chaval al hazman" חבל על הזמן - meaning "a waste of time" (sometimes abbreviated as חבל"ז chavlaz). It can refer to something that's so bad it's a waste of time "חבל על הזמן לנסות לדבר איתו" - "it's a waste of time trying to talk to him". But just as often it has a positive connotation; it's a waste of time trying to tell you how good it is. "How was that movie?" "Chaval al hazman!"

What is the origin of the word? The sense of "waste" comes from the verb root חבל, meaning loss damage or ruin. A terrorist is a מחבל mechabel, and a police sapper (who destroys the bombs) is a chablan חבלן.

Another meaning of חבל is "to pledge". According to Klein, some scholars connect this meaning with the earlier meaning "to destroy", while others see it as a separate root, connected to yet another meaning - חבל can also mean "to bind". From here we get chevel - "rope", and later "measured portion, region", chavila חבילה - package, and chovel חובל - sailor (lit. one who binds). Kutscher writes that there are those that claim that the English word "cable" derives from the word chevel, but points out that there are those who disagree.

Yet another meaning of חבל is "to writhe, travail", which, according to Klein, derives from the Aramaic חבל "to conceive, bear", and is related to the Arabic habilat ("was or became pregnant") . From here we get the term chevlei leida חבלי לידה - labour pains, and חבלו של משיח - the sufferings which precede the coming of the Mashiach.

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teiku

Many Israeli pundits have said recently that the conflict between Israel and the Hizballah cannot end in a teiku - למדינת ישראל אסור להפסיק בתיקו (this version by Uzi Dayan.) In modern Hebrew a teiku תיקו refers to a tie in a sporting match, but many of us are familiar with it as the term describing an unresolved dispute in the Talmud (more about that here).

A very popular etymology for the term claims that the word is an acronym for "תשבי יתרץ קושיות ובעיות" - "Tishbi (i.e., Eliyahu HaNavi) will answer challenges and problems". (This creates an interesting mental image for some new immigrants here who see Eliyahu determining the winner of all the soccer matches ending 1:1.) However, this is a relatively late midrashic etymology.

The word actually comes from the Aramaic teikum תקום (or תיקום) - meaning "it (the question) will stand (and not be resolved)". What happened to the final letter mem? It is fairly common for words in Aramaic to lose the last letter. Almagor-Ramon gives the example of תו לא (no more) originally being תוב לא (in Hebrew שוב לא). In this online article, Kutscher gives more examples, and explains that this phenomenon is due to the influence of Akkadian (the language spoken in Babylonia/Iraq before Aramaic took over).

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bint

Due to fierce battles taking place there, the news has been filled with reports from the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil (alternatively spelled Bint Jbail / Bint Jubayl / Bint Jubail). We have seen the etymology of the Arabic jabal, meaning mountain (and how it is connected with Hebrew gvul גבול). But what does bint mean?

Bint in Arabic means "daughter" (and woman in British slang). As we've seen earlier this week, Hebrew words have a tendency to drop the letter nun. The word for son in Hebrew is ben בן. So the word in Hebrew for daughter should have been bint בנת as well, but the nun dropped out, and we were left with bat בת. We still see traces of the "original" form in the plural - banot בנות. We see a similar phenomenon in Aramaic, where bar בר means son (as in "bar mitzvah") and ברת berat means daughter.

What about the expression b'vat achat בבת אחת - "simultaneously, all at once"? Klein explains that it derives from a different meaning of bat. A bat (often rendered "bath") also was a liquid measure equal to one ephah איפה. Therefore, the expression originally meant "with one measure".

(There is a silly joke told of someone who wants to electrocute his enemy. He goes to an electrician for help, who asks kama vat כמה וואט? (How many watts?). The guy replies b'vat achat בבת אחת...)

Lets pray for a speedy and full recovery for those soldiers injured in the fighting in Bint Jbeil, and condolences to those families who lost loved ones...

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anak

In this week's parasha (Devarim), Moshe quotes the spies as saying (1:28), "We saw the Bnei Anakim" - וְגַם-בְּנֵי עֲנָקִים, רָאִינוּ שָׁם

Who or what are the Anakim mentioned here? Is it simply "giants" as the term means in Modern Hebrew?

Tigay, in the JPS Deuteronomy, writes:

The exact meaning of "Anakites" is uncertain. Some take it as an epithet meaning "long-necked ones," based on Hebrew 'anak, "necklace," and its Arabic cognate meaning "neck". Others relate it to names of people or places in Canaan or across the Mediterranean containing the element 'anak or to Greek anax, "nobleman".

Lets look at each of these two theories. Klein says that anak ענק originally meant either a necklace for women, or a necklace for camels (Steinberg connects ענק with חנק - "to strangle, choke"). From this word we get the verb להעניק, which first meant "put something on one's neck" and later became "he loaded with gifts, presented." This verb only appears in Devarim 15:14, and indeed, Rashi and Ibn Ezra connect it there with the meaning of necklace. In modern Hebrew, a ma'anak מענק is a grant.

As far as the Greek anax (or wanax), we find that Homer frequently used the term in the Iliad, for example in the name Astyanax - meaning "prince of the city".

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zayin

The seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet is zayin. The original shape is variously described as a sword, a weapon, an axe or here as a hoe.

The sense of "derives" from the Aramaic meaning of zayin זין as "arms". Klein says that meaning is probably borrowed from the Avestic zaena.

According to Klein the root זון - to feed - is not related. He claims it derives from the Akkadian zananu - "to feed". This is the root of the words mazon מזון - food and tezuna תזונה - nutrition. Steinberg, however, points out that there are many examples in Semitic languages where the same root refers to both war and food: זן, לחם, טרף , צידה (we've discussed the lechem connection here.) If we say that the letter zayin was originally a hoe, then we can see how a tool like that could be used (or reformed to use) as a tool of war.

There are a few other apparently unrelated words with the same root:

The root זין also can mean "to adorn, ornament". Klein writes that it is borrowed from the Arabic zana, zayyana, meaning "he adorned, decorated". The root זנה - "to be a harlot" is also not connected (more on that root here).

Zan זן meaning "sort, kind" is, according to Klein, borrowed from the Old Persian zana. There is debate about the word miznon (or maznon) מזנון - meaning cupboard, or cafeteria. Klein writes:

Most scholars - on the basis of Rav Hai Gaon's derivation - connect it with זן (= kind). Others suggest to see in it a loan word from Gk. mazonoios ( = a wooden trencher for serving barley). Greek mazonomos is compounded of maza (= barley meal) and nomos, from the stem nemaen (= to deal out, attribute).

The letter zayin alternates with tzade and samech: עלז/עלץ/עלס and with dalet and tet: זבח/דבח/טבח.

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af

In this weeks parasha (Devarim) we find that Moshe claims that God was angry at him:

גַּם-בִּי הִתְאַנַּף

What is the meaning of the root אנף? Here is another example of a "dropped nun" (more here, here and here). We are more familiar with the dropped form - af אף, meaning "nose" and "anger", I suppose due to heavy breathing during anger. (By the way, it is important to distinguish between אף - "nose" and עף - "fly". For years I thought that kadur-af -- volleyball -- was spelled כדור-אף, and couldn't understand why Israelis played it with their nose.)

Arabic has anf for nose, and in Aramaic, anaf אנף also means "face". Kutscher writes that in Lashon Chazal there are very few examples of af meaning "nose", and instead chotem חוטם was more popular. His explanation for the switch is a phenomenon where one word in Biblical Hebrew has two meanings (here both anger and nose), in Lashon Chazal, one of the meanings sticks (in this case "anger") and the other is replaced. (Another example of this is עץ and אילן - but I'll save that for a later post).

A derivative of אנף meaning "anger" is the bird anafa אנפה - "heron", which according to Klein originally meant "the quarrelsome bird".

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seren

In this week's Shabbat B'Shabbato Eliyahu Netanel discusses the origin of the word סרן seren (army captain in Modern Hebrew). He mentions that it appears 22 times in the Tanach - once as an axle (Malachim I 7:30), and the remaining times as Philistine princes. He quotes the Ben Yehuda dictionary as saying that there are those who say the origin is in the Greek Turannos, and that the Targum translates the term as טוּרְנֵי פלשתאֵי.

He goes on to quote Kutscher's chapter on the word, where he claims that it derives from the Greek tyrannos - meaning "lord, master", and gives us the English word tyrant. Kutscher points out that there seems to be much evidence that the Philistines were connected to the Greeks. However, in his book (not quoted by Netanel) Kutscher writes that the word tyrannos is not likely of Greek origin, but borrowed by the Greeks (and the Philistines) from one of the languages spoken in Asia Minor.

Of course there are other opinions. Klein says that seren is "perhaps a dialectal of שר (prince in Hebrew)". Steinberg says that the meaning "axle" is related, for the princes are the axles upon which the kingdom revolves. And Yehuda Kil, in the Daat Mikra commentary to Shmuel I 5:8, says that perhaps seren is related to the Hittite SER, meaning "superior".

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machsan

A number of puns and plays on words are being passed around dealing with the current situation. One is a poster that says:

לא לעולם חסן

This is a play on words on Mishlei 27:24, which translates as "riches (khosen) are not forever" but the poster reads "Hassan (Nasrallah) is not forever".

Another slogan says: חסן לא חסין - "Hassan is not immune, protected".

Is there any connection between the various meanings of this root?

I would like to preface my answer by saying that there is a wide range of opinions and theories in regards to this root. I will try to present many of them, but I can't guarantee one unified theory.

In Biblical Hebrew, the root חסן appears in words with two basic meanings: a) something stored or protected, and therefore also riches, treasure and b) strong, strength.

In Aramaic, starting with the book of Daniel, and continuing to Talmudic Hebrew, we find a number of additional meanings. It can mean to take possession of, to inherit (or to bequeath), and that is the translation used often by Onkelos to translate the Hebrew נחלה nachala - inheritance. It can also mean "to strengthen one's self, to control one's emotions" and appears in the Targum for התאפק.

Steinberg connects all these meanings under a general sense of "to close, to stop, to hold tightly". From here he derives the meanings of "strong and strength", and "inheritance" has the sense of "closing in his possesion". And the meaning of storage - something closed away from others.

Klein, however, says that the meanings "to be strong" and "to store" have different etymologies. The first has cognates in Aramaic and Arabic, where as the second - "to store" - is connected to the Akkadian hasanu (= to comprehend, shelter) and is probably connected to אסן (stored, piled up).

Our Hebrew word machsan מחסן - storeroom - actually comes to us via Arabic, although of course derives from the same earlier root we've been discussing so far. The same Arabic word gave us the English word magazine:

"place where goods are stored, esp. military ammunition," from M.Fr. magasin "warehouse, depot, store," from It. magazzino, from Arabic makhazin, pl. of makhzan "storehouse," from khazana "to store up."

(This site also describes the etymology of "magazine", and connects the meanings of storage and strength.) According to Kutscher, the Hebrew word machsan not only derives from the Arabic, but actually was "inspired" by the European languages using the word "magazine".

Kutscher also provides an interesting cognate. We are all familiar with the word chazan חזן - meaning a cantor, a leader of prayer. However, the original meaning was an officer, a superintendent. Kutscher finds a number of examples in the Talmud where a chazan meant a guard - for example Bava Metzia 93b, where it mentions חזני מתא, which Rashi explains as "guards of the city". This would seem to be similar to the Arabic machzan. However, there is an opinion (Barth, Geiger) that machzan is actually of Persian origin, and Kutscher writes that if this is true, then the connection between chazan and machzan is just a coincidence. He continues by saying that the origin of chazan may be from חזה - he saw, making a chazan an overseer. But there are theories that contradict this as well. In the end, he writes that we simply don't know if there is a connection between חזן and חסן - and provides a Rashi (Makkot 22b), where Rashi admits he also doesn't know the origin: ולא שמעתי שום משמעות "I have not heard any explanation (for the word חזן)."

Returning to machsan, Stahl quotes the French linguist Guillaume (not sure who exactly) as saying that the root חסן meaning "store" is related to the ערי מסכנות - cities of storehouses - mentioned in Shmot 1:11, with some switching of letters.

What of the name Hasan (Hassan)? This is a very common Arabic name, and we also find the similar names Hosni and Hussein. All of these derive from the Arabic hasuna - "was beautiful" and husn - "beauty". I don't know if this Arabic root is related to any of the previously mentioned meanings of חסן.

There is one theory that the origin of the English word "assassin" comes from the name Hassan - the leader of a Muslim sect known as al-Hassan ibn-al-Sabbah. Another theory is that it derives from the word "hashish" - read more about that here and here.

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kruz

A recent headline read:

ישראל פיזרה כרוזים בביירות - "Israel dropped flyers (kruzim) over Beirut".

What is the origin of this word? There are a number of related words. Kruzim כרוזים are proclamations, announcements. Karozot כרוזות are those that make the announcements - heralds, criers. And the verb is להכריז - to announce, proclaim. An example of a sentence with all three words:

הכרוזות הכריזו כרוזים

The etymology of the root is in dispute. It first appears in the Aramaic section of the book of Daniel (3:4, 5:29).

Klein writes that it is "probably borrowed from Old Persian krausa (= caller)."

Kil and HaCohen in their introduction to the Daat Mikra Daniel write that in addition to those who feel it derives from Persian, Kutscher believes it is an Aramaic root. But the most popular approach (including the Daat Mikra commentary, and Steinberg) seems to be that the word derives from Greek.

We indeed find a very similar set of words in Greek. A herald, a proclaimer was known as a keryx (karyx), and his message was the kerygma (kerugma). The verb "to proclaim" was keryssein. The herald's staff was called karykeion, and Latin converted the Greek into the word for the winged staff with two snakes: caduceus.

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katyusha

Today's word isn't Hebrew, but is heard over and over again in the media. The infamous Katyusha rocket that is terrorizing the lives of the residents of the north of Israel, has its origins in Russia during World War II. From Wikipedia:

The 132mm BM-13, 82mm BM-8, and 300mm BM-31 Katyusha (Russian "Катюша") multiple rocket launchers were built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II (BM stands for for Boyevaya Mashina, 'combat vehicle'). These launchers acquired this name, unofficial but immediately recognized in the Red Army, from the title of a popular Russian wartime song, "Katyusha". The song is about a girl longing for her beloved who is away from her while serving in the military. Katyusha is a tender Russian diminutive of a female name: Ekaterina
(Katherine)→Katya→Katyusha.

From Katherine we got another name of a destructive force: Katrina - the deadly hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005.

Going back further, we see that the name Katherine has Greek origins:

From the Greek name Αικατερινη (Aikaterine). The etymology is debated: it could derive from the earlier Greek name ‘Εκατερινη (Hekaterine), which came from ‘εκατερος (Hekateros) "each of the two"; it could derive from the name of the
goddess HECATE; it could be related to Greek αικια (aikia) "torture"; or it could be from a Coptic name meaning "my consecration of your name". The Romans associated it with Greek καθαρος (katharos) "pure" and changed their spelling from Katerina to Katharina to reflect this.

And to give this some Hebrew connection, we see that in the Septuagint the word ekateros appears often as a translation for שניהם - "both" as in Bereshit 40:5. There are even those (if I understand correctly) who translate ekateros as "one and another", which connects it to the Sanskrit eka meaning one, and the Hebrew אחד echad.

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vav

Good old vav. Vav ו is the 6th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It derives from the Hebrew word vav וו, meaning hook or peg. The letter looks like the word (the letter in ancient script - and ancient hooks - looked more like a letter Y, or as Rashbam on Shmot 26:32 says, "a fork"), the word is made up of only that letter, and it's practically the only Biblical Hebrew word that begins with that letter. What a great package. Does everything have to be complicated?

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