Response ·
The Mind and Man Behind Philologos
By Hillel Halkin, Jonathan Silver, Andrew KossA conversation about Jews and language.
Hebrew
Latest Mosaic Content for Hebrew
Observation ·
Do Kippot and Keffiyehs Share an Etymology?
By PhilologosOnly one was a mark of prestige for ancient rabbis.
Observation ·
A Year On, Israelis Still Haven’t Found a Name for the Current War
By PhilologosEven as it becomes clear who will emerge victorious.
Observation ·
Why Can’t the Jews Teach Their Children How to Speak Hebrew?
By Cole S. AronsonAmerican Jewry has spent over $100 million in Hebrew education. The results are far from impressive.
Observation ·
The Hebrew Language’s Wildly Unpredictable Gender System
By PhilologosAll nouns and adjectives in Hebrew are gendered. Why do those genders keep switching?
Observation ·
Why Goats Show Up in So Many Idioms
By PhilologosHebrew is full of goats these days, and English and French aren't too far behind. Where'd they all come from?
Observation ·
The Hebrew Language’s Expression of the Year
By PhilologosRarely heard in the speech of most Israelis in the past, b’sorot tovot, an ironic “good news,” has suddenly become a common way of saying goodbye.
Observation ·
Can the Hebrew Word for Catastrophic Blunder Be Translated?
By PhilologosA meḥdal occurred in 1973. It has now, in an eerily similar way, occurred again. What exactly does it mean in English?
Observation ·
“This Is the Yom Kippur of”
By PhilologosIn the wake of the Yom Kippur War, the words yom kippur shel, “the Yom Kippur of,” have referred in Israeli speech to any debacle that might have been prevented by better judgment.
Observation ·
How Hebrew Came to Be Written From Right to Left
By PhilologosHebrew was once written in both directions. How did it fix its direction, and what does that show about the history of writing in general?
Observation ·
The Proof of the Exodus Hidden in the Ancient Word Sha’atnez
By PhilologosThe word, like a small number of other Egyptian loanwords in the Bible, testifies to a period in which the early Israelite nation, or a part of it, was in intimate contact with Egyptian life.
Observation ·
Can Anyone Translate the Name of a New Israeli Political Party?
By PhilologosThe Blue-and-White party has transformed into . . . well, it's unclear, at least in English.
Observation ·
Why Do Hebrew Speakers Pronounce the Same Word Multiple Ways?
By PhilologosThe deultimization of the Hebrew language proceeds apace.
Observation ·
How Well Does My Computer Translate Hebrew?
By PhilologosIn the end, one doesn’t know what to be struck by more: the fact that a computer can translate Hebrew at all, or the fact that when it does, it does so atrociously.
Observation ·
Is a Jewish Language Really Still Spoken by Non-Jews in Bavaria?
By PhilologosOnly in Schopfloch, as far as I know, have a large number of originally Jewish words survived in the speech of the local populace to this day.
Observation ·
The Connection Between a Just-Discovered Ancient Hebrew Inscription and Modern Yiddish
By Philologos"An earthquake in biblical scholarship” is how the discovery has been described. That's true, as are the connections it reveals between ancient languages and modern ones.
Observation ·
More on the Differences Between “Jew,” “Hebrew,” and “Israeli”
By PhilologosAnd why each has been preferred in different times and places.
Observation ·
What’s the Reason for Hebrew’s Mixed-Up Genders?
By PhilologosQuite a few masculine and feminine Hebrew words, when pluralized, take the form of the opposite gender. Why?
Observation ·
Israel’s Changing Relationship with Those Who Leave It
By PhilologosAs tracked through the waxing and waning value of the Hebrew words for "departees" and "descenders."
Observation ·
Why Don’t Israelis Like the Word “Aliyah” as Much as They Used to?
By PhilologosIn anti- and post-Zionist circles, the verb of choice for immigrating to Israel has been replaced by something less romantic.
Observation ·
How Good Is Gal Gadot’s Hebrew School?
By PhilologosThe Israeli actress recently released “Gal Gadot Teaches You Hebrew Slang,” a short video from Vanity Fair. She turns out not to be such a good teacher, but it doesn't matter much.
Observation ·
Israelis Love to Call Each Other Cossacks Who’ve Been Robbed
By PhilologosA versatile fellow, this Cossack, identified simultaneously with Israel’s prime minister and his bitterest opponents! Who is he and who robbed him?
Observation ·
Why Do Israelis Have So Many Words for “Wear,” and Which One Applies to Wearing One’s Coronavirus Face Mask?
By PhilologosIn English, one “wears” just about everything, from clothes to hats to perfume. In Hebrew, there's a different verb for each of these items and more.
Observation ·
Are Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew the Same Language, or Two Different Ones?
By PhilologosWhat separates language from language, and language from dialect.
Observation ·
Kafka Knew Much More Hebrew than Previously Realized
By PhilologosA letter from recently opened archives of the great writer makes clear how seriously he took the language, and by extension a possible move to Palestine.
Observation ·
When Nonsense Syllables Make Perfect Sense
By PhilologosTake, for instance, the word tararam, meaning—what else?—“fuss" or "hullabaloo."
Observation ·
The (Shockingly Low) Literacy Rate of Jews in Eastern Europe
By PhilologosThere were many more illiterate Jews in the Tsarist empire than we tend to think there were.
Observation ·
Last Month Philologos Asked for Language Help, and Got It
By PhilologosA Mosaic reader was able to solve the mystery of the Yiddish expression tapn a vant, “to grope a wall.”
Observation ·
They Call It “Fake News” in Other Countries, Too
By PhilologosFrom Hebrew to Spanish to German to Italian and onward, the term is now as international as Coca-Cola.
Observation ·
Did This Odd Hebrew Expression Come from an Afro-American Folktale?
By PhilologosThe many hypothesized sources for the saying, “To have butter on one's head.”
