A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English

ERNEST KLEIN

A COMPREHENSIVE ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE FOR READERS OF ENGLISH FOREWORD BY

HAIM RABIN THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

C A R TA JERUSALEM THE UNIVERSITY OF H A IFA

ERNEST KLEIN

A COMPREHENSIVE ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE FOR READERS OF ENGLISH FOREWORD BY

HAIM RABIN THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

C A R TA JERUSALEM THE UNIVERSITY OF H A IFA

Copyright © 1987 by The Beatrice & Arthur Minden Foundation & The University of Haifa All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. CARTA The Israel Map and Publishing Company Ltd. Jerusalem — Tel Aviv 4/6 Yad Harutzim St. P.O.B. 2500 Jerusalem, Israel 91024. Editor: Baruch Sarel

Produced by Carta, Jerusalem Printed in Israel printing number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ISBN 965-220-093-X This book is sold on condition that it is not sold outside Israel.

To the Beloved Memory of Arthur Minden By his wife Beatrice

VII

PREFACE

I first met Rabbi Dr. Klein in 1974 through Beatrice Minden, wife of the late Arthur Minden. Mrs. Minden, wishing to continue her husband’s legacy, decided to sponsor the publication of Dr. Klein’s manuscript of the Hebrew Etymological Dictionary. She arranged for acquisition of the manuscript and its transfer to the University of Haifa for editing and finally publication. It was thanks to the warm and generous support and sponsorship of Arthur Minden that Dr. Klein was able to devote the last ten years of his life to this monumental work. Arthur Minden also ensured the publication of Dr. Klein’s earlier book, entitled A Comprehensive E tym ological Dictionary o f the English Language. We are grateful to Beatrice Minden for her perseverance and support of the publication of this work. Morris A. Gross, Q.C., Donald Carr, Q.C., and Harvey A. Shapiro have all generously given their time and skills in solving the complicated legal aspects of the project. Most generous and gracious assistance was given by Reverend James A. Lord o f Hamilton, Ontario, a dear friend to Dr. Klein. Professor Aharon Dolgopolsky of the University of Haifa, and then Mr. Dov Benhorin, each undertook the difficult task of editing Dr. Klein’s manuscript. Eventually it was Mr. Baruch Sarel, prominent editor and translator who most ably adapted the handwritten manuscript, edited it and prepared it for press. Mr. Sarel also added over 2500 entries, mainly newly coined words and some older words which had not appeared in the original manuscript. Mr. Ariel Vardi, one of Israel’s foremost typographers, designed the book and aided us in solving the many computer related problems inherent in any work combining different languages, particularly in this case where English and Hebrew read in opposite directions. We are especially grateful to Professor Haim Rabin of the Hebrew University and the Hebrew Language Academy. This eminent philologist gave unstintingly of his time and knowledge and provided the foreword for the book as well. There are others not mentioned by name to whom we are indebted for their valuable help in all phases of the production of this important reference work. To all, we express our deep appreciation.

Moshe Kones Jerusalem, January 1987

IX

Even before a word is on my tongue, Lo, O Lord thou knowest it altogether PSALMS 139:4

INTRODUCTION

Ernest David Klein (1899-1983) the son o f a rabbi, was bom at Szatmar (Satu Mare) in Transylvania, which is now in a corner of Romania between Hungary and the Soviet Ukraine. The town changed hands several times during Klein’s lifetime: from his birth until he was nineteen it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where many languages were spoken, often several in one locality. Living in such a multilingual atmosphere may well have stirred his interest in languages and in their interrelationships. His formal education increased his knowledge o f languages: for his Jewish education he needed to read Hebrew and Aramaic, and in school, apart from German, he studied Latin and Greek — both indispensable to an etymologist, and which he put to good use when later, in Toronto, he composed his etymological dictionary o f medical terms (unpublished). In 1920, Klein passed the examination required for becoming a rabbi, and five years later obtained his doctorate in Semitic and Romance languages at the University o f Vienna. With the languages he picked up in his later migrations, he is said to have had a working knowledge o f forty languages altogether. From 1931 to 44 he was rabbi at Nove Zamky, then a Hungarian-speaking town in the Slovak eastern part o f what is now Czechoslovakia. He survived the death camps o f Auschwitz and Dachau, and, after the war, officiated briefly as rabbi in his home town in Romania, and in Paris. From 1951 he lived in Toronto, where he was the spiritual head o f a community o f Hungarian-speaking immigrants, and lived in the same building as his synagogue. In the large single-roomed attic he kept his books and compiled his three etymological dictionaries. Since early times, humanity has tried to find out why things are called by the words that denote them; the Hebrew Bible offers quite a few instances, e.g. Genesis 2:23. The Greeks called this: finding the true meaning o f the word, “true” being etym os, literally “that which is”, and “etym ology” meant originally “using words in their true sense”. This “truth” was found by deriving existing words from other words, in the same or in another language. The first known systematic attempt to use such connections not for speculation as to the true nature o f things, but in order to discover the meanings o f words, was made by Jewish scholars in North Africa, Spain, and later in Southern France, between 900 and 1350 C.E. They deduced the meanings of difficult Biblical words from corresponding words in Arabic and Aramaic, applying rules for which consonants in one language corresponded to a given consonant in another. In the 18th century the same methods were employed by Dutch and German Christian scholars in Biblical research. The first full dictionary to the Bible on etymological principles was

X

that of Wilhelm Gesenius in 1810-12. By then an important process in linguistic science had begun: the discovery of exact “laws” which connected sounds in languages belonging to the same “family”, thus providing a safe scientific basis for etymological dictionaries (as opposed to bilingual dictionaries occasionally employing etymology). Etymological dictionaries were published for many of the languages of Europe, which resulted in increasing attention being paid not only to the sound-laws, but also to the establishment of rules as to which differences in meaning were admissible in comparing words. By the end of the 19th century a discipline of historical semantics had been established, which classified known changes of meaning. A great deal of research had also been done in that period on the processes of borrowing words and imitating the meaning or formation of words from other languages. Etymological dictionaries mostly list both “cognate” words of common origin and borrowed words. The listing of etymologies and their use for establishing meanings was taken over by the first major dictionary o f Hebrew throughout all periods, Thesaurus Totius H ebraitatis (Millon ha-lashon ha-ivrit) by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, which began to appear in 1908, as well as by the later major dictionaries, particularly that by Even-Shoshan. Klein's is the first etymological dictionary in the proper sense of Hebrew as a totality, comprising both the vocabulary current in present-day Hebrew — which includes a large percentage of Biblical, Mishnaic and Rabbinic, as well as medieval words used in earlier periods but not current in today’s usage. It applies the sound-laws with greater strictness and discusses cases where there are doubts or where more than one etymology has been suggested. Before embarking upon the present Hebrew dictionary, Rabbi Klein completed and published in 1966 his Comprehensive Etym ological Dictionary o f the English Language (Elsevier Publishing Co., Amsterdam, London, New York). His main innovation, in comparison with other English etymological dictionaries, was that with regard to borrowed words, he not only indicated from which words in which language they were borrowed, but also provided, as far as possible, the etymology of that word within its own background. For this reason the Comprehensive Dictionary includes a fair number of etymologies of Hebrew words. The same principle is followed in his Hebrew etymology dictionary, where the “native” etymologies of English and other words borrowed by Hebrew are given. The English Etym ological Dictionary was well received by the public, and there followed at least one further printing. In Canada Klein was rewarded for his success with the prestigious “Order of Canada” and two honorary doctorates from Canadian universities.

H. Rabin

XI

NOTES ON USAGE Basic form Each entry is presented in its basic form: noun — given in singular form (plural forms are added only when they are irregular); adjective — given in masculine singular (except in cases where a different form is used for feminine, plural or feminine plural; particles — given without affixes; verb — the root is given first, followed by all existing variations (each conjugation is represented in the third person singular, past tense).

Spelling Entries appear in traditional, accepted spelling. In some cases the author has given a reasoned opinion which contradicts the accepted form. In words accented on the penultimate syllable, the stress mark is given below the accented letter. Homonyms are given as separate entries, distinguished by consecutive Roman numerals.

Structure Each entry begins with the Hebrew word under discussion. It is followed by the part-ofspeech or the linguistic stratum from which it stems. (See below.) The various meanings o f the word are numbered consecutively. The etymological information is given in square brackets, followed by the derivatives, the majority of which appear as separate entries in the dictionary. Linguistic strata are indicated as follows: Biblical — no indication; Post Biblical Hebrew — PBH; Medieval Hebrew — MH; New Hebrew — NH; Foreign Word — FW. Regular brackets have three uses, apparent from their context: explanation, field, discipline or status, and translation (always with an equal sign =). ♦

*

*

The author has made great efforts to present each term with a concise clear and specific translation. In transposing from language to language, particularly from Hebrew to English which are so different from one another, it is not always possible to find a suitable parallel. Where the author insisted on a more exact meaning, he translated literally even if the resulting form is unfamiliar in that particular context. Such words, however, are easily understood.

XII

TRANSLITERATION RULES TRANSLITERATION OF SEMITIC WORDS The transliteration rules of Semitic words in this dictionary follow that of Hebrew and Arabic given below. The accent in Semitic words (with the exception of the languages, for which the laws of accentuation are not known), is indicated by the usual accent mark placed over the vowel of the accented syllable. TRANSLITERATION OF HEBREW Form o f the Letter

Its Name

Its Transliteration

Its Sounds

K

aleph

Not rendered at the beginning or the end of a word; otherwise marked by

Orig. the glottal stop. Now silent in the middle of words if it has no vowel; otherwise it is pronounced according to the accompanying vowel sign.

3

bêth

b

b

2

bhêth

bh

bh, v

a

giméi

8

Pronounced like g in get.

a

ghimél

gh

Orig. pronounced—with a slight aspiration of the sound—like gh; now pronounced like g in get.

dàlet h

d

d

T

dhâleth

dh

Orig. pronounced like th in this; now pronounced d

n

hê

h

h

l

wâw

w

w

T

zàyin

n

chéth

h

Pronounced like ch in Scot. loch

ü

tèth

t

An emphatic t

yôdh

y

y

3; "=) at the end of a word

kaph

k

k

D; 1 at the end of a word

khaph

kh

kh

b

làmadh

I

I

O; □ at the end of a word

mêm

m

m

3;] at the end of a word

nun

n

n

D

sàmekh

s

s

y

'âyin

•

A strong guttural sound; now usually treated in the pronuncia­ tion like an aleph

z

XIII

Form o f the Letter

Its Name

Its Transliteration

Its Sounds

B

pe

P

P

phê

ph

f

X; y at the end of a word

tzâdhè or sâdhê

tz

tz ; occasionally pronounced like an emphatic s ( - s )

P

köph

q

an emphatic k

1

rèsh

r

r

V

shin

sh, s

sh

W

sin

s

s

n

tâw or tàv

t

t

n

thâw or thàv

th

Orig. pronounced like th in thing: now pronounced like t.

D;

at the end of a word

VOWEL SIGNS USED WITH HEBREW CHARACTERS

Vowel Form

Sign Name

Trans­ literation

Sound

A) Long Vowels qàmâtz gàdhôl

à

like a in fa r

tzêré

ê

like ai in rain

hiriq gàdhôl

i

like / in machine

hôlâm

ô

like o in fo rk

shûrùq

ü

like u in true

pal là h

a

like a infa r

seghôl

e

like e in them

hirïq qâtàn

i

like i in pin

T

qàmâtz qâfân

0

like o in gone

\

qubbûtz

u

like u in put

.

schwà(nâ')

ê

like e in agent

hatàph pattàh

a

like a very short pattah

hàtâph seghôl

e

like a very short seghol

hàtàph qàmâtz

o

like a very short qamatz qatan

T

n i

B) Short Vowels _

C) Half Vowels

‫־‬:

▼Î

A point in the middle of a consonant, called daghish hazaq (daghesh Jorte, ‘strong daghesh’), strengthens (i.e. doubles) the consonant. It is m arked by the doubling o f the respective consonant. The sign daghish qal (daghesh lene = Might daghesh'). which is formally identical with the sign of the daghesh hazaq, is used with the letters n, D, 3, ~t, a, 3. to indicate their original hard pronunciation. In this Dictionary F), D, 3 , I . a, 3 , are transliterated b, g, d, k, p, t, whereas n, D, 3, X 3. are rendered by bh, gh, dh, kh, p/i, th.

XIV

TRAN SLITERA TION O F ARABIC

Form o f the Letter

Its Name

Its Transliteration

Its Sound

1

àlif

Marked by ’ at the beginning of a word or when it is pro­ vided with hamza; otherwise rendered by a macron.

The glottal stop

v->

ba

b

b

O

tà'

t

t

thà’

th

(like th in English thing)

E

jim

j

j

C

ha

h

(a sharp guttural aspirate; pronounce! a strong h with friction sound)

C

khâ'

h, kh

(like ch in Scot. loch)

ù

dàl

d

d

à

dhàl

dh

(like th in English this)

J

râ’

r

r

j

zàv

z

r

u—‫״‬ A»

sin

S

S

shîtt

sh

sh

(_r°

sâd

s

an emphatic s; pronounced like 55 in English hiss

O-ô

dâd

d

palatal d

L

tà'

t

an emphatic t

zâ ’

z

an emphatic z

£

‘ayn

4

d

ghayn

gh

a guttural, gargling sound

«-#

fa

f

/

»3

qàf