How German built the Hebrew language

[scandal 951]

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1150425.html

Last update - 08:14 17/02/2010

How German built the Hebrew language

When an Israeli gets out of bed on a dark morning, she will flick on a light Schalter (switch in English) and wash down a Biss (bite) of toast with a Schluck (sip) of coffee - all Hebrew words that stem from the German language.

After breakfast, an Israeli driving to work must occasionally using the car's Winker (from German word Blinker, or indicator) or the Wischer (windscreen wiper) if it rains.

Many words in Hebrew entered the language through German immigrants who arrived in Israel in the last century.

Israeli linguist and journalist Ruvik Rosenthal distinguishes between words that originated directly from German and those that found their way into Hebrew from Yiddish, a German dialect once spoken in Jewish ghettos across Central and Eastern Europe.

"It's mainly in the worlds of construction, engineering science and architecture that almost all (Hebrew) words have their origins in German," says 64-year-old Rosenthal, whose own parents came from Germany.

The vocabulary arrived in Israel particularly during the Fifth Aliyah, or wave of immigrants, in the 1930s when German Jews fled persecution under the Nazis.

Yiddish developed as a fusion of medieval German dialects with Hebrew, Slavic and other languages, a reflection of the migrating Jewish diaspora. The German words that have filled gaps in Hebrew are a result of the migration of Jews from Europe into what became modern Israel.

An Israeli who works on a building site may use a Spachtel (German for trowel) or will cover an exterior with Spritz (plaster, literal meaning spray). An Israeli construction worker will use German words such as Isolierband (duct tape), Beton (concrete), Gummi (rubber), Dibel (from the German word Duebel for dowel), Leiste (ledge) and Schieber (slide).

Many technical terms in Hebrew such as Schnurgerist and Stichmass, however, are not familiar to the majority of native German speakers.

An Israeli electrician will talk about Erdung and Kurzschluss (grounding and short circuit) but with a strong Hebrew accent. A German would not need a dictionary if visiting a mechanic in Israel as almost every term would be familiar. Even Arab-Israeli mechanics use German words such as Kupplung, Kugellager and Drucklager to refer to car parts.

German Jews played a major role in the organization of Israel's educational system, which accounts for the many German words found in Israel's schools and universities. Small children go to Gan Jeladim (derived from Kindergarten), and students are taught the Spagat (the split) in gymnastics.

In summer, a child will offer a friend a Leck (lick) of her ice cream, and if she gets her clothes dirty, the girl may hear a Fuyah (derived from Pfui, the German expression for yuck) from her mother.

Elderly Israelis need an afternoon snooze called a Schlafstunde (sleep hour) to get back in the swing of things (in Schwung) and keep them gesunt (healthy). They may develop a condition that has a German name such as Hexenschuss (a slipped disk) or Plattfuss (flat feet). A doctor will write out a Rezept (prescription) for a minor ailment.

"Most Israelis are not aware that many Hebrew words are German in origin," explains Rosenthal. Even the at sign (@) used in email addresses has a German name in Hebrew: Strudel. An Israeli engineer gave the symbol this name in the 1960s because it reminded him of the traditional Viennese Strudel desert.

Rosenthal, who has drafted several dictionaries that document the German component in modern Hebrew, says that as many as 300 German words are used in everyday speech in Hebrew, aside from the several hundred words that have their origin in Yiddish.

A century ago, German was so dominant as an international language of science that it almost set off a "war of languages" among Jews living in the former Palestine.

The German Jewish aid agency Deutscher Juden decided in 1913 to use German as the official language in the first technical high school for Jewish immigrants in Palestine. This sparked a wave of anger among Zionists who considered Hebrew to be the language of the Jewish people in their home country. Pressure from the school's donors lead to the decision to teach through Hebrew even though the biblical language had a very limited range of technical terms in its vocabulary.

Even today, visitors to Israel will be hard pressed to avoid the German language's influence on the country's streets

[mawilson 2,133]

Interesting.

[dakay ♥ 10]

it is an example of symbiosis between languages

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Those mishugina goyim!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I guess Israel doesn't have a resistance to new words that other countries have (I can think of Iceland and France right now).

How hard is the Hebrew written language to learn?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I guess Israel doesn't have a resistance to new words that other countries have (I can think of Iceland and France right now).

How hard is the Hebrew written language to learn?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Non-romanized lettering systems don't scare me. I was wondering if it was hard to learn?

[mawilson 2,133]

Non-romanized lettering systems don't scare me. I was wondering if it was hard to learn?

It's not hard at all - the only problem is the lack of vowels.

Well, sort of - some letters can be both vowels and consonants.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

It's not hard at all - the only problem is the lack of vowels.

Well, sort of - some letters can be both vowels and consonants.

I see it's not tonal either. That really screws me up with Thai.

[scandal 951]

I have no idea where you got that from, Steve. Here's the translation:

Don't explain it to me

If I haven't asked about it;

Don't call me in the middle of a game

Especially if I have just begun;

Things that I don't like --

Don't force me to eat;

And when I want to help

Don't say "This you cannot do!"

Don't yell at me

In front of everyone;

And don't take me to people

Where I have nothing to do at their place.

There are vowels in Hebrew - the text above has vowels. All those little dots and lines you see below (and occasionally above) the letters are vowels.

Typically kids learn to read with the dots (nikud) in First/Second grade. By that point the dots are dropped off and you are expected to read without them.

Most printed Hebrew (books, newspapers, etc.) for adult audiences have no nikud. Nikud is generally found only in literature for young children, in texts for new students of Hebrew, and in religious texts (sidur, chumash, machzor, etc.). Torah scrolls have no nikud, neither do masechtot of the Talmud.

To get an idea of what reading without nikud is like, here's this very English sentence without it's "nikud":

T gt an ida f wht rding wtht nkd is lk, hre's ths vry Nglsh sntnc wthot t's "nkd".

I.e, there are certain "placeholder vowels" that do appear (typically vav and aleph and ayin) to help give some context in distinguishing words. But for the most part you need to fill in the correct vowels in the appropriate places.

It's not all that hard, I've been doing it since I was a kid. And as many on VJ will gladly tell you I'm not the sharpest of the bunch

I see it's not tonal either. That really screws me up with Thai.

My Thai is pathetic.

I can count to ten, and say sawasdee khrap, khop khun khrap. That's about it.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have no idea where you got that from, Steve. Here's the translation:

Don't explain it to me

If I haven't asked about it;

Don't call me in the middle of a game

Especially if I have just begun;

Things that I don't like --

Don't force me to eat;

And when I want to help

Don't say "This you cannot do!"

Don't yell at me

In front of everyone;

And don't take me to people

Where I have nothing to do at their place.

Wow. That's pretty good. It's a child's poem.

http://daysofawe.net/zeh_ani_al_tasbiru.htm

[Otto 83]

Germanic language influences can be found throughout the world (English for example) - I fail to see the significance of exclusively pointing out its influence in Hebrew (besides the obvious Germans/Jew connection people seem to always find irresistible to snicker at).

[mawilson 2,133]

To get an idea of what reading without nikud is like, here's this very English sentence without it's "nikud":

T gt an ida f wht rding wtht nkd is lk, hre's ths vry Nglsh sntnc wthot t's "nkd".

...which is impossible to read unless you're already fluent in English.

How would you pronounce "sntnc"? Suntenac? Snatnooce? Santonce?

Impossible - unless you already know the word "sentence" and how to spell it.

[scandal 951]

Germanic language influences can be found throughout the world (English for example) - I fail to see the significance of exclusively pointing out its influence in Hebrew (besides the obvious Germans/Jew connection people seem to always find irresistible to snicker at).

This article was taken from the English edition of an Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. It's target audience are Israelis, or at least people interested in reading an Israeli newspaper. It was a relatively light "feature" article looking at this one particular aspect of the evolution of modern Hebrew. Think of it as being comparable to the NY Times, say, having a feature article about the influence of African American idioms on mainstream American English. It's not an encyclopedic bit of knowledge by any means, but more of a curiosity. I posted it in that vein. It appealed to me.

Oh, and there's no implied German/Jew "snicker" connection there. I really don't believe that there is. There are many Israelis of German descent (my grandfather was born in Stuttgart and migrated to Israel in 1933 right after Hitler came to power). Historically, these "Yeckes" have always had the stereotype of being superior and "better" than their (poorer) eastern European cousins from Poland, Russia, etc. The Yeckes were schooled in "gymnasiums", were professionals, and brought with them "high culture". All in Deutsche, of course. They were quite proud of their ability to speak High German, not Yiddish. By the way, did you know that Tel Aviv is considered by many the "Bauhaus capital of the world"? There was a strong German architectural influence in the young city during the intra-war period of the 20s and 30s.

[scandal 951]

...which is impossible to read unless you're already fluent in English.

How would you pronounce "sntnc"? Suntenac? Snatnooce? Santonce?

Impossible - unless you already know the word "sentence" and how to spell it.

Precisely! Which is why you should learn to speak Hebrew before attempting to read it.

For native born Israeli children, this is obvious. They learn to speak years before learning to read, as do most children.

For adult learners of the language, it can be challenging. I suppose most of them learn with the nikud and only take off the training wheels once their spoken vocabulary becomes reasonably fluent.