Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew

i
Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli

Hebrew
Palgrave Studies in Language History and Language Change
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Language Contact and
Lexical Enrichment in
Israeli Hebrew
Ghil'ad Zuckermann
*
© Ghil'ad Zuckermann 2003
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Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Abbreviations vii
Introduction 1
1 New Perspectives on Lexical Enrichment 6
2 The Case of Israeli: Multisourced Neologization (MSN) as an Ideal
Technique for Lexical Enrichment 63
3 Addition of Sememe versus Introduction of Lexeme 87
4 MSN in Various Terminological Areas 123
5 Sociolinguistic Analysis: Attitudes Towards MSN in 'Reinvented Languages' 148
6 The Source Languages 187
7 Statistical Analysis 221
8 Conclusions and Theoretical Implications 246
Appendix: Transcription, Transliteration and Translation 260
References 266
Index 287
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dov-Ber Kerler for his time and support. I have
profited from comments by Jill Lake, James Matisoff, Geoffrey Lewis,
Raphael Loewe, Suzanne Romaine, Geert Jan van Gelder, Paul Wexler,
Silvia Iacuzzi, Katherine MacDonald and Grace Brockington. I am very
grateful to Churchill College, Cambridge, where I have been Gulbenkian
Research Fellow, for providing me with a conducive and enjoyable
research environment. I owe a debt of gratitude to the Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center (Austin, Texas), the National University of
Singapore, the British Academy, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish
Culture, the University of Oxford, St Hugh's College, Oxford, and the
Rockefeller Foundation's Research and Conference Center in Bellagio. It
goes without saying that I assume foil responsibility for everything
contained in this book, which is dedicated with love to Efraim (my father,
born Scipione), Eti (my mother), Har'el (my brother) and his family, and
Moran (my sister), as well as to the memory of my late grandfather
Yehuda Leopold (Leo) Rosenzweig (1912-91).
GhiPad Zuckermann, 2003

Churchill College, Cambridge
VI
Abbreviations
Language Names and Terms
adj. adjective
adv. adverb
AHL The Academy of the Hebrew Language, mayn iwV? rrmpKH haakademya
lalashon haivrit
Akka. Akkadian
Am American (-)
AT. Arabic
Aram. Aramaic (I do not distinguish between the various dialects, the forms here most
often being Babylonian Talmudic)
AshH Ashkenazic Hebrew (unless otherwise stated, the form cited is given according
to the Northeastern [Lithuanian] Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation)
b. born (in)
BH Biblical Hebrew (c. tenth to second centuries BC): The Hebrew of the Old
Testament: The Law, the Prophets and the Writings.
Brit British (-): BritE 'British English' and Britlt. 'British Italian*.
c. circa
Ch. Classical Chinese (as opposed to MSC)
Colloq Colloquial (-) (on the distinction between colloquial and slang, see §1.2.2.5)
Con Contemporary (-)
Cz. Czech
d. died (in)
Dan. Danish
Dial Dialectal (-)
DOPE derivational-only popular etymology, passive popular etymology,
rationalization ex postfacto (as opposed to GPE) [introduced by Zuckermann,
see §1.2.2]
Du. Dutch
E English
Est. Estonian
f feminine
F French
FEN folk-etymological nativization [coined by Zuckermann, see Introduction]
Fin. Finnish
fh footnote
G German
Gk Ancient Greek (Modem Greek forms are under ModGk)
GPE generative popular etymology, active, creational popular etymology, resulting
in a new sememe/lexeme/tradition (as opposed to DOPE) [introduced by
Zuckermann, see §1.2.2]
H Hebrew
HLC The Hebrew Language Council, (mayn) ywhl\ IV) vdad halashon (haivrit)
Hun. Hungarian
Vll
viii Abbreviations
I Israeli Hebrew = * Israeli' = *Ivrit* = the twentieth-century 'Revived Hebrew'

[please note that Israeli Hebrew, called in this book Israeli, is the default, i.e.
when a word written with Hebrew characters is not preceded by a language
abbreviation (such as H, Y or Aram.) - it is Israeli]
IDF Israel Defence Forces, V'nx tsdhal
Intl International [followed - arbitrarily - by the English form in italics; when the
internationalism is a Europeanism and does not exist in English, the meaning in
English follows Intl, and sometimes the prevalent European form is also given]
(see discussion in §6.1)
IPA International Phonetic Alphabet
It. Italian
J Japanese (J refers to kun-yomi, the semantic reading, as opposed to on-yomi,
the phonetic reading, which is indicated in this book as SJ, see 11:6)
JudSp. Judaeo-Spanish - this name is used by most researchers, for example
Schwarzwald (e.g. 1985, 1989), although Bunis (e.g. 1981, 1993) uses
Judezmo, lit. 'Judaism, Jewish', while some native speakers refer to it as Jidio,
lit. 'Jewish' (cf. Yiddish, lit. 'Jewish'). However, it is popularly known as
Ladino; to be distinguished from Ladino, the language of translation of the
Bible, understandable only with the original Hebrew biblical text since it is in
fact Hebrew lexified with Spanish words, written in roman or Hebrew letters.
L Latin
LC lexical conflation (cf. § 1.4)
lit. literally
Lith. Lithuanian
LithY Lithuanian Yiddish, i.e. Northeastern Yiddish, Yiddish spoken in Lithuania and
Belorussia (also known as litvishyidish), cf. PY, UkrY.
m masculine
MasH Maskilic Hebrew: The Hebrew of the Haskalah, the Enlightenment movement
(1770s-1880s), a subset of 'Modem Hebrew' and from a lexical point of view,
a subset of 'Revived Hebrew' (see discussion in Zuckermann 2000: 53-5)
Med Medieval (-)
MedH Varieties of Hebrew in the Middle Ages (c. sixth through eighteenth centuries),
including piyyutim ('The Liturgical Poems'), research literature and
interpretation {parshanut)
MHG Middle High German
Mod Modern (-)
ms manuscript
MSC Modern Standard Chinese
MSN multisourced neologization. If not modified, in this book 'MSN' means either
folk-etymological nativization (FEN) or lexical conflation (LC) (cf. § 1.4.1). On
a semantic-non-semantic continuum, MSN can be either a PSM or an SPM or
aPM(cf. §1.2).
n noun
neut. neutral
Nor. Norwegian
O Old (-)
OHG Old High German
OttTu. Ottoman Turkish
P Polish
pc personal communication
PE popular etymology (cf. GPE versus DOPE) (cf. § 1.2.2)
Per. Persian
PIE Proto-Indo-European
Abbreviations ix
pi plural
PM phonetic matching (= non-semantic FEN) [introduced by Zuckermann, see
§1.2.3]
Por. Portuguese
PSM phono-semantic matching (= semantic FEN/LC) [introduced by Zuckermann,
see §1.2.4]
PY Polish Yiddish, i.e. Mideastern Yiddish (also referred to as Central Yiddish),
Yiddish spoken in Poland (also known as poylish yidish, cf. the non-neutral
galitsydneryidish), cf. LithY, UkrY.
R Russian
RabH Rabbinic Hebrew, leshon khakhamim (c. second century BC - sixth century AD)
(including Mishnaic Hebrew and Talmudic Hebrew):
• The Mishnah: c.first-thirdcenturies AD, signed and codified by Rabbi Judah HaNasi,
leader of the Sanhedrin, c. AD 200; written by the Tannaim such as Hillel, Shammai,
Rabbi Akiba (ben Joseph, AD 50-135) and Simeon Bar Yohai (mid-second century)
• The Gemara: third-sixth centuries AD, written mostly in Aramaic by the Amoraim in
Babylon and Palestine - cf. Talmud Batli (Babylonian Talmud), finally redacted in
the sixth century AD; and Talmud Yerushalmi (Palestinian Talmud), completed in AD
400; these include the same Mishnah but different Gemara and auxiliary materials
• The Ancient Midrashim, Wisdom of Ben-Sira (Ecclesiasticus, completed c.170 BC,
written by Simeon ben Yeshua ben Elazar ben Sira, also known in English as Sirach)
• The texts discovered in the Judaean wilderness, the Dead Sea Scrolls
sg singular
SingE Singlish, Singaporean English
SJ Sino-Japanese (referring to on-yomi, the phonetic reading, as opposed to kun-
yomU the semantic reading, which is indicated as J, see 11:6) (note that SJ is
often used by Western scholars to refer more generally to kango, Japanese
words of Chinese origin)
Skt Sanskrit
SL source language (donor language, stock language)
Slang slang (-) (on the distinction between slang and colloquial, see § 1.2.2.5)
Sp. Spanish
SPM semanticized phonetic matching (= semanticized FEN/LC) [introduced by
Zuckermann, see §1.2.5]
Stan Standard - when used modifying Arabic, it refers to ^>«*«H % j ^ [?aftara'bijja
al'fu?ha], sometimes called Literary or Classical Arabic, in diglossia with
Vernacular Arabic (cf. VAr.)
Swa. Swahili
Swe. Swedish
TL target language (host language, recipient language, matrix language)
TP Tok Pisin (the principal English-based Creole of Papua New Guinea, other
terms being Neo-Melanesian, Melanesian Pidgin and New Guinea Pidgin)
Tu. Turkish
Ukr. Ukrainian
UkrY Ukrainian Yiddish, i.e. Southeastern Yiddish, Yiddish spoken in the Ukraine,
Romania, Bessarabia (recently also known as ukrdynish yidish or ukrainish
yidish), cf. PY, LithY.
VAr. Vernacular Arabic = **»t*l' %ij*l\ [?al?ara'bijja al9a:'mijja], sometimes called
Colloquial or Spoken Arabic, in diglossia with Standard Arabic, the latter
being ^^->&\ fcjjjj [?aftara'bijja al'fusha], a.k.a. Literary Arabic (cf. StanAr.)
Y Yiddish
x Abbreviations
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Other Sources
If an item is written in a language other than English, a translation is provided and the
language is indicated in square brackets.
BDB Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs (eds) 1955. A Hebrew and
English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (1st Edition: 1907)
(Based on the lexicon of William Gesenius, as translated by Edward Robinson)
CED Wii, G. H. (ed.) 1993. Chinese-English Dictionary. Shanghai: Shanghai
Communication University Press.
CDJ Kosaka, Jun'ichi (ed.) 1994. Chugokugo Dai Jiten (Chinese Big Dictionary).
Tokyo: Kadokawa. [J]
KJ The Holy Bible - Old and New Testaments in the King James Version 1987.
Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
KMV Kol Makom veAtdr (Israel - Sites and Places) 1985. Ministry of Defence - Carta.
(1st Edition: 1953) [I]
LL Lamed Leshonkhd (Teach Your Language) 1951-90 (Leaflets 1-180). Aharon Dotan
(ed.: Leaflets 1-8), Shoshanna Bahat (ed.: Leaflets 9-180). Jerusalem: The
Academy of the Hebrew Language, (cf. Lamed Leshonkhd 1993-2000) [I]
LLN Lamed Leshonkhd (Teach Your Language): New Series. 1993-2000 (Leaflets 1-34).
Shoshanna Bahat (ed.: Leaflets 1-2), Ronit Gadish (ed.: Leaflets 3-10), Rachel
Selig (ed.: Leaflets 11-34). Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language, (cf.
Lamed Leshonkhd 1951-90) [I]
MAM Ben-Amotz, Dan and Netiva Ben-Yehuda 1982. milon akhul manyuki leivrit
meduberet (The World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang - Part Two). Tel Aviv: Zmora,
Bitan. (For Part One, see MOLM). [I]
MBY Ben-Yehuda, Eliezer (born Eliezer Yitzhak Perelman) 1909-59. milon halashon
haivrit hayeshand vehakhadashd (A Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern
Hebrew). Jerusalem - Tel Aviv - Berlin - New York - London. (16 vols plus an
introductory volume) [I, H]
MES Even-Shoshan, Avraham 1997. hamilon hekhaddsh - hamahadurd hameshulevet
(The New Dictionary - The Combined Version). Jerusalem: Kiryat-Sefer. [I]
MMM Milon leMunekhey haMitbdkh (Dictionary of Kitchen Terms) 1938. Jerusalem:
Va'ad HaLashon Haivrit (Hebrew Language Council) - Bialik Institute. [I, E, G]
MOLM Ben-Amotz, Dan and Netiva Ben-Yehuda 1972. milon olami leivrit meduberet
(The World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang). Jerusalem: Lewin-Epstein. (For Part
Two, see MAM) [I]
NRSV The Holy Bible - Containing the Old and New Testaments - New Revised Standard
Version-Anglicized Edition 1995. OUP.
OED Simpson, John A. and Edmund Simon Christopher Weiner (eds) 1989. The
Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (2nd Edition)
OEHD Doniach, Nakdimon Sabbethay and Ahuvia Kahane (eds) 1998. The Oxford
English-Hebrew Dictionary. OUP.
OTED Hony, H. C , Fahir Iz and A. D. Alderson (eds) 1992. The Oxford Turkish-English
Dictionary. OUP.
RTED The New Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionary 1968. Istanbul: Redhouse Press.
ZA Zikhronot Ha-Aqademya LaLashon Ha-Ivrit (Proceedings of the Academy of the
Hebrew Language) 1954-93. Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language. [I]
ZV Zikhronot Va 'ad HaLashon (Proceedings of the Hebrew Language Council) 1912-
28. Jerusalem - Tel Aviv. (6 vols - at irregular intervals: 1912,1913, 1913, 1914,
1921,1928) [I]
Introduction
On 27 April 1890 the Hebrew newspaper HaZefira, published in Warsaw,

carried an article entitled "OS? nDttf Tmrh D^D1?TO!tsdad lefanim leharkhiv
sfat ever 'One step forwards - to expand the Language of Eber
(Hebrew)'. The author, Chaim Leib Hazan, from Hrodna, wrote:
,(Brille, okulary, OHKH) m«T ytrn lya1? uvy *?y D^J n^x rroiDTn *?D nx
.Dâ naio ova nnx n1?^ p rw aw *o ,IB

The glass tool, which we put over our eyes in order to see well (OHKH, okulary,
Brille)? which has been given many different names: mna "to Mi makhaze ['tool of
vision'], m*O ^D Mi reut, W ^D Mi roi ['seeing tool'], DTy YD 6«rey eywo/m
['houses of eyes'], I propose to call tfDpwo mishkafaim. No one will deny that a
one-word name is better than a multiple-word name.2 (p. 4)
Hazan goes on to explain that he chose the (Biblical) Hebrew root

Ajqp (the root of D'DpWB mishkafaim) 'because of its similarity to the
Greek word aKcmSoo skoped ('I look at'), which appears in the names for
all glass lenses in the languages of Europe: telescope, microscope,
kaleidoscope and the like'. 3 Note also Y f71pK9W shpakuln 'spectacles'
(cf. LithY f?ipK90 spakiilp, cf. StanY f?n:i brilp 'glasses'). BH DpW Afqp
originally meant 'bend, arch, lean towards' and later 'look out (from the
door/window), look through' (e.g. in Proverbs 7:6). 4
1
R OHKH ochkiy P okulary [oku'lan] 'glasses'.
2
While compounds were favoured by the Haskalah writers, the Hebrew 'revivalists' - for
ideological reasons - often attempted to replace them.
3
Italics are mine. Hazan translates oKontai skopio as 'I will look at'. Before, somewhat
reluctantly, revealing the Greek co-etymon, Hazan says: *?v ma - npw unwn vnra ynD •]«
.nwrn D^B •omrQ rom Vy D^TCOO pi "un*1 rr?Kn D^npin •o ,nnn pipn 'But why have
I chosen the root Dpw V/^p? - Let us not be too pedantic because a preoccupation with
such minutiae will only obstruct our path to new words.'
4
Gk aKOTC&o skoped is traceable to PIE *skep- 'look', a metathetical form of PIE *spek-.
Jastrow (1903: 1625a) suggests that the ultimate etymon of BH *>pw Afqp 'bend, arch, lean
towards' is Dp Îqp (hence a possible relation to BH nop *iqph, nop ^qph, KDp ylqpPznd ^p
"iqpj 'arch, bend') fitted into the shaOOeD verb-pattern. However, this verb-pattern is
usually causative, cf. H *m Îjfp 'wash, rinse, make wet', from DD V/?p 'wet', as well as H
D^w 4flk 'cast off, throw down, cause to go', from D1? V/Jfc 'go'. Note that although most
roots in Hebrew seem to be tri-radical, many of them were originally bi-radical, cf. the
relation between m Îgzz 'shear', ow Îgzm 'prune' and "IT* Îgzr 'cut', as well as between
n» ylprz 'divide a city', DID V/>r/ 'give change' and SHD Vprf'pay a debt*.
Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew
At this stage, there are two possible etymological analyses:

INDUCTION (NO BORROWING): The etymon y of a^DpWB mishkafdim
I
'glasses, spectacles, specs' is (B)H DpW Îfqp fitted into the Hebrew
noun-pattern mi Odd O in its dual form- with the dual suffix CT- -dim,
cf. (RabH>)I an90B mispardim 'scissors', (BH>)I trcttDtt mikhnasdim
'trousers'. The [f] in [mijlca'faim] is an allophone - owing to
spirantization - of the plosive radical /p/ (D). The coinage was
influenced by the Ancient Greek skopeo. Following this line of
thought, TPZpvm mishkafdim is an induced creation or, more precisely,
an induced discovery if one takes into account the fact that the
neologizer knows in advance the approximate result of the
neologization, i.e. a lexical item that sounds similar to the parallel
expression in the SL. In fact, Hazan admits that he selected the
existing root Dpw Afqp which suited the sound of Gk aiccmSG) skopeo.
Other possibilities might have been D^na *mabatdim, from oaa
mabdt 'look (n)'; Dûy *iguldim, from ^"tty igul 'circle' (cf.
SlangI trfrWS igulddim 'glasses'); nnftn Hhaloniot, from ]V?n
khalon 'window'; DWD1DT zkhukhitdim, from iraST zkhukhit 'glass'
(DWDlDT zkhukhitdim was actually used in Jerusalem prior to D^pWB
mishkafdim); D'WDWD *pishpashdim9 from WDWD pishpdsh 'wicket';
and nrry eyjiiTfr, from py tiiii 'eye' (cf. rrry eynit 'eye-piece, ocular'
inAffiS:1318b).
2 . MULTISOURCED NEOLOGIZATION (CAMOUFLAGED BORROWING): T h e
etymon of D^DpWB mishkafdim is simultaneously Gk GKOTC^CO skopeo
and (B)H 2pw Afqp fitted into the miOOdO noun-pattern in its dual
form. Figuratively speaking, one might say that the mother of the
word is Hebrew since the word was born within the Hebrew language,
from Hebrew elements; however, the father is a foreigner - in this
case Ancient Greek.
Many linguists and most purists would suggest that Analysis 1 is the
correct one, basing their judgement on conservative tenets such as (i) The
etymology of a lexical item is determined by morphology (and D'DpttfB
mishkafdim is, in fact, morphologically Hebrew), and (ii) A lexical item
necessarily has only one etymon (this is parallel to the belief that a
language can have only one source, cf. the Stammbaum model). However,
such conservative, structural views, just like the traditional classifications
of sources of lexical enrichment (cf. §1.1), fail to take into account the
effects of language contact (and in particular the extensive contact
between languages in our era of escalating globalization). I would
Introduction 3
advocate a broader-based, motivational approach, one that considers the

lexeme or sememe's covert cultural and social aspects to be as important
as its morphology. Analysis 2 would consequently be the correct one, its
striking result being that D^DpWB mishkafaim can be considered a surface-
cognate of E spectacles, spy, spectrum, specific, spice, species, specious,
special and expect - all of which go back to PIE *spek- 'look'; as well as
of E telescope, scope and sceptic - which can be traced back to PIE
*skep- 'look', a metathetical form of PIE *spek~.
Indeed, the logic of Hazan's choice has been completely forgotten,
since his use of the Hebrew morphemes serves as an effective camouflage
for the Greek co-etymon of this common word in Israeli. Furthermore, in
1896 Eliezer Ben-Yehuda invented a new word which is a secondary
derivative from D^pWB mishkafaim: nDpWB mishkefet 'telescope' (see
HaZevi, 1896, 22 Kislev h.t.r.n.z., as well as Pines 1897: xiv), and this
eventually gained currency with the meaning 'field-glasses, binoculars'.5
I D^Dpwn mishkafaim is but one example of what is, in fact, a pervasive
form of lexical borrowing, evident in Israeli, as well as in other languages
such as Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Yiddish, Hebrew and Arabic. In
accordance with Analysis 2 above, I call this phenomenon multisourced
neologization (MSN). I define multisourced neologism (also MSN) as a
neologism that preserves both the meaning and the approximate sound of
the parallel expression in SLj, using pre-existent TL/SL2 lexemes or roots.
Figure 1 illustrates this process in general:
I SL! x 'a' •>->->-> TL(+MSN) y' 'a" f f f f TL/SL2 y 'b' [
y is phonetically similar to x
a and b are identical or similar (PSM) / related (SPM) / unrelated (PM)
y1 is based on y
a1 is based on a and is normally identical to a
Figure I
Throughout this book, neologization and neologism are used in their

broader meaning: neologism is either an entirely new lexeme or a pre-
existent word whose meaning has been altered, resulting in a new
sememe. Figure 2 summarizes the process with regard to
mishkafaim 'glasses':
5
In MBY (vii:3418b) nopwa mishkefet is defined as 'telescope' but said to be used also as
'lorgnette' ('spyglass').
Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew
Ancient Greek (Biblical) Hebrew

Israeli
CTKOTI&D skopia
'I look at'
cf Yiddish r>V«9V
shpakuli) mishkafdim
'spectacles'
(Lithuanian Yiddish 'look out/through'
'glasses, spectacles'
V?ipg90 spakult))
Figure 2
Although this source of lexical enrichment is widespread, it has not been

systematically studied by linguists but rather dismissed with an
honourable mention. In his Patterns and Trends of Linguistic Innovations
in Modern Hebrew, Sivan hardly mentions this phenomenon: there is only
one reference of just three lines (1963: 37-8). It is mentioned briefly by
Heyd (1954: 90), who refers to caiques phonetiques, by Hagdge (1986:
257), who calls it emprunt-calembour, and by Toury (1990), who refers to
phonetic transposition. Chaim Rabin offered the term biixn tats lit! (see
Kutscher 1965: 37, with no reference),6 fitted into the same noun-pattern
of (RabH»)I targum 'translation' but deriving from (BH»)I y?x tslil
'sound'. In the case of Chinese, especially Modern Standard Chinese
(MSC), Lu6 (1950) mentions i=tMM yinjianyl, lit. 'sound+concurrent
with+meaning', while LI (1990) describes ^ # ^ ^ # yinyijianyiyl
'phonetic translation along with semantic translation'. Whilst Hansell
discusses semanticized transcription (1989a) and semanticized loans
(ms), Y&o (1992) refers to (Taiwan Mandarin) i l ^ W i i yinzhdngyduyi,
lit. 'sound+middle+have+meaning', i.e. 'transcription in which the
meaning lies within the sound'.
In what follows, I shall present a full analysis of MSN, addressing it
as a linguistic phenomenon and, more broadly, in its political, social and
cultural dimensions. While I discuss spontaneous MSN, I focus on
deliberate MSN concocted by purists. For the sake of clarity, I divide this
book into several chapters and sub-sections: Chapter 1 reviews the
deficiencies of the traditional classifications of borrowing with regard to
MSN and demonstrates the prevalence of MSN in many of the world's
languages. Chapter 2 explains why Israeli is prone to MSN and why in
situ purists employ MSN as an ideal means of filling native lexical voids.
Chapter 3 is dedicated to what I call 'lexicopoietic' classification of MSN.
6
Basing the term on "?V?xn tatslul, Rosen (1994: 86) uses *?V?xn khatslul, an acronym for '"ipn
u*r*rt khikuy tslilim 'sound imitation' in order to refer to morphemic adaptation.
Introduction 5
Chapter 4 examines whether there are particular terminological areas in

which MSN in Israeli is more likely to occur. Chapter 5 provides a
sociolinguistic analysis and explores the attitudes towards MSN of both
neologizers and native speakers. Chapter 6 analyses the source languages
contributing to Israeli MSN, emphasizing the role of internationalisms.
Chapter 7 gives essential statistics of Israeli MSNs, classifying them
according to source language, general currency, semantic and
lexicopoietic categories and terminological area. Chapter 8 presents
conclusions, suggests some related avenues for further research, and
discusses the important theoretical implications of this book for the study
of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics and lexicology.
1
New Perspectives on Lexical Enrichment
1.1 Deficiencies of the traditional classifications of borrowing
I use 'borrowing' in its wider sense - in contrast to 'loanword' (§1.2.1).1

Haugen (1950) presented a complex typology of lexical borrowing (cf.
Appel and Muysken 1987: 164) and imposed order on earlier contusing
terminology. However, his treatment has two main shortcomings with
regard to PSM: omission and inappropriate categorization.
First, omission: although PSM is a common source of lexical
enrichment derived from language contact,2 it is hardly mentioned by
Haugen (1950). He briefly discusses 'semantic loan' (1950: 214), which
is related to only one specific category of PSM, namely 'PSM by
semantic shifting' (see §3.1.2), thus excluding, for example, D^pWB
mishkafdim 'glasses', which is a 'creational PSM'. Moreover, he seems to
have had in mind only one of many cases belonging to this category,
namely that in which the semantically shifted TL lexical item is a
(surface) cognate of the SL word. Consider the following:
• (Am)Por. humoroso 'capricious' changed its referent to 'humorous' due to the English
surface-cognate humorous (Haugen 1950: 214), cf. Por. humoristico 'humorous'.
• F realiser 'actualize, make real' is increasingly used to mean 'realize, conceive,
apprehend' - induced by E realize (Deroy 1956: 59), which derives from It. realizzare
or from the original F realiser.
• F toster 'grill, roast' took on in 1750 the additional sense 'drink in honour of (a person
or thing)' - influenced by E toast (Deroy 1956: 62), which goes back to OF toster
(twelfth century; OED). Only in the nineteenth century did toster 'drink in honour o f
begin to be spelled toaster.
1
By 'traditional classifications of borrowing' I am referring to the previous research on
borrowing, for example Betz (1945,1949), Haugen (1950,1956), Deroy (1956), Gusmani
(1973) and Heath (1994), as well as Haugen (1953), Weinreich (1963,1st Edition: 1953),
Carstensen (1968), Haugen (1973), Clyne (1967), Hock (1986, especially §14, pp. 380-
425) and Myers-Scotton (1988). The term 'borrowing' in linguistics actually means
'copying'. One might regard it as 'borrowing which eventually becomes a gift' or
'stealing'. However, I prefer 'copying' since the linguistically 'borrowed' item also
remains in the source language(s).
2
As opposed to internal sources of lexical enrichment - such as mtra-lingual blending (e.g.
I TiDm dakhpor 'bulldozer' < Dm îdhp 'push' + isn Îhpr 'dig') - which are outside the
scope of Haugen's research (cf. §2.1.2.2).
New Perspectives on Lexical Enrichment 1
Even the term 'semantic loan', as Haugen himself admits, is flawed, since
according to his use of 'semantic9, all the other loans are also semantic
(i.e. the TL lexical item preserves the meaning of the SL lexical item), the
only difference being that in the case of the so-called 'semantic loan', the
only detectable evidence of borrowing is its new meaning.
A second and much more serious problem is inappropriate
categorization: PSM does not fall within Haugen's main types of
borrowing - substitution and importation - given that PSM is a special
case of simultaneous substitution and importation.
The seriousness of the first shortcoming is addressed by §1.4, which
demonstrates the prevalence of MSN in many languages other than
Israeli, e.g. Jamaican Creole, Tok Pisin, Mandarin and Cantonese.3 That
said, owing to constraints of space, as well as to the desire to be
comprehensive (at least in one language), this book focuses on Israeli.
It would be possible to redress the second shortcoming simply by
adding a category which is simultaneous substitution-importation.
However, a clearer understanding of borrowing is also obtained by a more
general shift of perspective. To this end, I begin by suggesting two new,
overlapping swft-classifications of borrowings, MSN falling under both:
(i) types of borrowing which preserve (at different levels) the sound of the
SL lexical item and (ii) types of camouflaged borrowing.
1.2 Borrowings preserving the sound of the SL lexical item
Generally, the process of borrowing can be analysed into three stages:

1. Input analysis: examination of the constituents of the SL word, for
instance, sense, referent, sound and etymology.
2. Identification of TL parallels to those constituents.
3. Output production: creation of a neologism, usually (but not always)
taking into account the TL morphophonemic characteristics.
The types of borrowing discussed in this section are those in which the
TL lexical item produced resembles the sound of the SL input. The
resemblance may not be perfect but is certainly not accidental. In other
words, the 'invariant element under transformation' is not only the
meaning but also the sound. The following is my hierarchical
classification of these borrowings:
3
On Turkish MSN - see §5.2, and on Japanese MSN - see §1.3.5 and §4.7.
8 Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew
A. Using the SL lexical item as the basic material for the neologization
(in decreasing order of phonetic resemblance to the SL lexical item):4
1. Guestword (Gastwort, unassimilated borrowing)5
2. Foreignism (Fremdwort, e.g. phonetic adaptation)
3. Loanword (Lehnwort, totally assimilated borrowing, e.g.
morphemic adaptation)
B. Using pre-existent TL roots/lexemes as the basic material for the
neologization (in varying degrees of phonetic resemblance to the SL
lexical item):
1. phonetic matching (PM) - where the TL material is originally
similar to the SL lexical item phonetically but not semantically
2. semanticized phonetic matching (SPM) - where the TL material is
originally similar to the SL lexical item phonetically, as well as
semantically albeit in a loose way
3. phono-semantic matching (PSM) - where the TL material is
originally similar to the SL lexical item both phonetically and
semantically
Note that B b B 2 and B3 constitute three distinct semantic classes of MSN,
i.e. classes of MSN determined by the degree of affinity between the
meaning of the TL/SL2 material and the SLi matched item. If there is no
affinity, it is PM (§1.2.3); if there is, it is PSM (§1.2.4); and if the affinity
is weak, it is SPM (§1.2.5; very importantly, SPM should be distinguished
from mere DOPE). In contrast to the semantic classification, it is possible
to introduce a *lexicopoietic classification' of MSN, cf. Gk 7co(T|eat<;
'making, creation' (see §3, as well as §1.3). Lexicopoietic classes indicate
the lexical type of the neologism (which is the result of MSN), e.g.
sememe, word, compound, phrase. All the lexicopoietic classes apply to
each of the three semantic classes as well.
It is important to observe that most of the examples in this section are
natural, ad hoc borrowings, introduced by laymen. They are only
technically similar to the puristic, systematic borrowings at the heart of
this book. The reason for using mostly lay borrowings here is
methodological: the main goal of this chapter is to put order into the
'lexicological ocean', which is full of confusing terms, and to set up a
4
1 find Crystal's distinction between loan word, loan blend and loan shift less clear than the
terminology here (see 1997: 227, where he also mentions loan translation).
3
Malkiel (1968: 3) and Nir (1993: 193) mention only the dichotomy between Lehnwort and
Fremdwort but I believe that Gastwort {guestword) adds an important category.
technical terminological system, which will often include new

categorizations. Generally, lay FENs (including many in English) are
more readily grasped. Once the technical terms have been agreed upon,
the historical, sociolinguistic and statistical analyses throughout this book
will become more accessible.
Since this section deals with phonetic preservation, it is appropriate to
mention here that one might regard FEN as a violation of the 'sound laws'
identified at the end of the nineteenth century by the Neogrammarians.
This group of scholars in and around Leipzig defined sound change as a
purely phonetic process. As Bloomfield (1933: 364) puts it, sound change
'is neither favored nor impeded by the semantic character of the forms
which happen to contain the phoneme'.6 PM, SPM and PSM, on the other
hand, are phonetically neither regular nor independent of the SL specific
word; they constitute a deviation from the traditional 'phonological
change' (cf. King 1969 and McMahon 1994) since they include a
'sporadic sound change' (cf. Men&idez-Pidal 1904 and Malkiel 1968:
38), unpredictable by means of phonology but predictable by examining
the pre-existent TL lexical inventory. That said, it is interesting to
consider how far phonetically a PSM can be from the SL lexical item, or,
in other words, what the phonetic constraints of PSM are.7 For example,
in Chinese, tones do not seem to play a role in the matching; in Israeli,
consonants seem to be more important than vowels. Since in the case of
MSN, lexicality is added to phonology, such a system of 'sound laws'
would be far more complicated than the conventional ones.
1.2.1 Guestword-Foreignism-Loanword
A guestword is an unassimilated lexical item, that has kept its

pronunciation, orthography, grammar, and meaning, and is not used
widely. For example, the homological E Gastwort itself, pronounced with
[v], written with a capital letter, pluralized as Gastworter - following the
German. Such words are usually limited to specialists' jargon and are
italicized and glossed. One might refer to them as ad hoc borrowings.
Aforeignism, on the other hand, is a lexical item which has moved a
stage further. It has been adapted into the native system, with a stable
spelling and pronunciation (native or exotic), and often with secondary
6
For further discussion, see Saussure (1916: 19, 259, cf. 1959: 5, 184 and 1983: 5, 183);
Robins (1969:183-92), Malkiel (1993: 21) and Bynon (1977:23-31).
7
Such research might use Optimality Theory (cf. Prince and Smolensky 1993) as a model.
derivatives. Such assimilated borrowings are usually conceived of as

foreign but sometimes their etymon is forgotten. Unlike loanwords (e.g.
morphemic adaptations), the change here is a result of native speakers'
phonetic (either acoustic or articulatory) restrictions, with the SL still
dominant.8 Examples include G Restaurant [Resto'Ra:], which preserves
the sound of F restaurant, E kindergarten retaining the German t, as
opposed to E *kindergarden (or the caique E *children-garden), E
Realpolitik and realpolitiker (cf. G Realpolitik). Some languages refrain
from pure borrowing and adapt the SL lexical item according to its
(preserved) orthography, for example in Italian puzzle is pronounced
['puttsle]. Many examples of foreignisms which are phonetic adaptations
are mentioned by Weinreich (1963, especially pp. 46-54).
Naturally, however, it is seldom possible to separate the stages of
assimilation neatly. In E bureau de change [,bju3reu da 'J^], from F
bureau de change, bureau is phonetically adapted but change is not. R
gldsnost, as well as Sputnik, entered English virtually overnight, with
secondary derivatives like pre-glasnost. Mexican Sp. taco was originally
used only along the US-Mexican border, gradually entered general usage
in American English, before ultimately becoming an international
Americanism- cf. the global fast foodfranchiseTaco Bell.
In the case of Israeli, while Israeli trades such as locksmithery and
construction share many phonetic adaptations of German words
introduced by the German-born pioneers, Israeli car mechanics were
greatly influenced by English transportation terms, since during the
British Mandate (1917-48) their customers were often British soldiers.
Owing to the interactive nature of the work, the contact between Jewish
car mechanics and British officials was greater than any possible contact
between Jewish locksmiths or construction workers and the British.
Consider the following Israeli examples:
• E puncture > 1"l'JUfl pdncher, pi: o n t o pdncherim. This word is criticized by Bahat, a
purist, who urges the native speaker to use ip2 neker instead (1987: 530) - cf.
Torczyner's HTjtt nekird, nTjtt nekivd and even 7\vpi nekidd 'id.1 (1938: 29). I " t o
pdncher has undergone semantic change and, in addition to retaining the original literal
meaning, can now refer metaphorically to any kind of 'hindrance' or 'mishap'.
8
A relevant (albeit somewhat dated) term is Hobson-Jobson. A Hobson-Jobsonism is a
phrase used for the process of adapting an SL lexical item to the sound-system of the TL
(i.e. applying the Law of Hobson-Jobson, cf. OED). Note, however, that the Anglo-Indian
expression Hobson-Jobson itself is a phonetic matching (PM) as it can be traced back to
AT. U H * W <>* k Da: 'hasan, ja: hu'sajn] 'O Hasan, O Husain!' (cf. Yule and Bumell 1886,
cf. 1903: 419a-20b), the repeated cries of Shiite Muslims as they beat their breasts in the
Mubarram procession - in memory of Muhammad's grandsons Hasan and Husain.
• E power take-off 'axle for the transmission of mechanical power from an engine,
especially that of a tractor, to another piece of equipment' > IVD11D portiko. The
emergence of ip'tniD portiko might have been induced by the pre-existent E/It. portico
'a structure consisting of a roof supported by columns at regular intervals, typically
attached as a porch to a building'. If this is the case, then Ip"»i3"ns portiko is a special case
of phonetic matching (§1.2.3) rather than phonetic adaptation.
• E back axle > loppl bekakas (pi: D'Opptt bekakasim) and consequently the
lexicopoietically enantiosemic (cf. 'auto-opposite', §2.3) Tnj? oppa bekakas kidmi, lit.
'front back axle', i.e. 'front axle'.
• E handbrakes > I op-QOK dmbreks (pi: D*»Dpi30S dmbreksim) - see discussion in §6.4.
• E sealed-beam (headlamp) (cf. AmE sealed-beam headlight) 'protected light' (thus, car
lights are sealed-beam) > I O'aV'O silvim (sometimes also silbim or silibim)y recalibrated
by some Israeli car mechanics as 3^0 silv (also silb or silib) + D"1- -im (the plural suffix);
hence silv 'headlamp'.
The last three examples demonstrate 'naturalization by morphological

reanalysis', a common phenomenon in Israeli. Like DôppD bekakasim
'back axles' and D'0p"O&N dmbreksim 'handbrakes', I D'ODBnw shrimpsim
means 'shrimp' and derives from E shrimps, the non-standard form of
shrimp, a collective singular such as deer, fish and sheep. The
phenomenon is universal - cf. AmNor. karsar 'cars', wherein -ar is the
plural suffix (see Lehiste 1988: 15; contrast with Deroy 1956: 278
AmNor. karser 'cars'), the plural of AmNor. kars 'car', from E cars. (cf.
Nor. bil 'car'). As with 12^0 silv 'headlamp', Swa. digadi 'mudguard'
derives from Swa. madigadi 'mud-guards', from E mud-guards. Swa.
vitabu 'books' derives from Swa. kitabu 'book' (from Ar. <^& [ki'ta:b(u)]
'book'), using the coincidence by which kitabu fits into the system of
Swahili nominal classes, where plural vi- corresponds to singular Id- (cf.
Deroy 1956: 261, Hagege 1986: 257). BritE keep left was adapted into
Swahili as kiplefti meaning 'roundabout' (thus resulting in a pseudo-
Anglicism - see §8.3) with die plural viplefti 'roundabouts'.9
Sometimes the form chosen in Israeli phonetic adapatations is the
Arabic one. For example, Intl soap - cf. Ar. oyS** [§a:'bu:n], F savon, It.
sapone, Sp. jabon, L sapo (whose accusative form, on which the
European forms are based, is saponem), G Seife - was used by Ben-
Yehuda as I ino sabon 'soap' - cf. Avinery (1935: 39). Note that while
Arabic changed [p] to [b] due to its own phonetic inventory, in Israeli the
neologism could well have been 11D0 *sapon - cf. Torczyner (1938: 28-
9). 10 An earlier adaptation of L sapo existed in Hebrew: RabH ]19S
[§a'pOn] 'soap, detergent', now forgotten. Jastrow (1903: 1295b) suggests
9
Many other examples of such naturalizations are discussed by Whitley (1967), Zuckermann
(2000, esp. 328-33) and McMahon (1994: 207).
10
Klein (1987:433a) and MES (:1209c) ignore the Arabic influence.
that the spelling (with ¥ rather than 0) might have been induced by RabH
Dis ^$wp 'come to the surface, float'; note, however, the similar use of [§]
rather than [s] in Ar. oj^- 3 [§a:'bu:n].
A phonetic adaptation, classified here as 'foreignism', can
coincidentally have the appearance of a morphemic adaptation, classified
here as 'loanword' (see below). Consider I nux egzoz, a naturalization of
E exhaust (= AmE tailpipe). This lexical item overrode the puristic
proposaltf?DBmaflet,fromtf?DVp// 'discharge, emit', thus translating E
exhaust 'draw off/out'. I TlttK egzoz seems to be fitted into the eDDoO
noun-pattern, like *?DWN eshbol 'cob (of corn), spadix (botanical)', ^DWN
eshkol 'cluster, bunch' and anna etrog 'citron, etrog'. Furthermore, the
pseudo-reduplication in nua egzoz might remind one of the name of the
Israeli city 7HWN I ashdod H [?aJ'dOd], which might facilitate perception
of TittN egzoz as Hebrew. In fact, nnN egzoz is regarded by many native
speakers whom I have studied to be a pure Hebrew word. They do not
link it to E exhaust even if they are familiar with the English term, and
pronounce the plural form egzozim rather than egzozim. The latter form,
which retains the stress on the same syllable as the singular form, would
be expected if nnx egzoz were understood as alien. Compare ]* gan
'garden', pi: ganim, and ]X gen 'gene', pi: genim, thus constituting a
minimal pair. Whilst the former can be traced back to Biblical Hebrew,
the latter is an internationalism. u The coincidental morphological
appropriateness of T1UN egzoz leads on to the next category of borrowing.
A loanword is a lexical item that has become indistinguishable from
the rest of the lexis and is open to normal native rules of word formation
and use. Under loanword, one should place morphemic adaptation. If an
Italian had visited Israel in the 1940s and stayed amongst Jewish
immigrants from Italy, s/he might have heard the sentence Fallo regare
un momento! 'Let him regare a moment!' and wondered what regare -
which looks like a pure Italian verb - stood for. Its etymon is I yr\ rega
'moment', and thus the periphrastic sentence means 'Let him wait a
moment!' (cf. It. Fallo aspettare un momento!). This is a morphemic
11
Note, however, that in Israeli there are also native words which preserve their stress when
declined, for instance the plural form of *?o sal 'a goal scored in basketball, basket* is oô
salim. This might be explained, however, by differentiation from Dô salim 'baskets,
vessels' (from *?0 sal 'basket, vessel'). The same explanation can be applied to p pan
'aspect, form', whose plural D"»JD is often pronounced pdnim - in contrast to D^D panim
'face'; as well as to pins tskhok 'laugh', whose plural crpinx has two phonetic and
semantic realizations: tskhokim 'funny bits, stories' or tskhokim 'laughs'. An important
discussion of penultimate stress in Israeli appears in §5.4.3; see also §6.2.2 and
Zuckermann (2001a).
adaptation: the SL (Israeli) lexical item has been adapted to fit the TL
(Italian) morphological structure. Compare this with numerous words in
American Italian mentioned by Livingston (1918: 210, 225): giobba 'job',
bosso 'boss', grosseria and grussaria 'grocery', beccia 'bitch', bloffo
'bluff, grollo 'growler', grognollo 'green-horn', and checche 'cakes' (the
pre-existent It. checca '"queen", homosexual' - cf. Tuscan It. sora checca
'vulva' - does not seem to play a role here, otherwise it would have been
a PM - see §1.2.3).12 An example in the opposite direction (It>I) is ltttlttD
metuntdn 'stupid', from It. tonto 'daft, fool', although it could also be
analysed as LC (see §1.4) of I Dt)Blt)D metumtdm and It. tonto. When my
sister came back from a trip to India, she mentioned rapidim (D"»TD""i), the
plural form (which looks Hebrew morphologically) of her morphemic
adaptation of E rapid (as in water rapids). Thus, in the case of morphemic
adaptation - as opposed to phonetic adaptation - the change in the SL
word is apparent, the TL being dominant.
Morphemic adaptation is not only idiolectal but also commonly used
by language planners. In LLN2 (November 1993), AHL introduced HTT1?
lezird iasing', a morphemic adaptation of E lasing (<laser9 §1.4.3.2.1)
and which could appear to consist of IT1? Alzr fitted into the DDiDd noun-
pattern as in HT2P yetsird 'work of art, (act of) creation'. Similarly, on 11
November 1996, AHL suggested nw^p klishd 'cliche' for Intl cliche (see
Akadem 11, May 1997). Inw^p klishd appears to consist of «frp îqlf
fitted into the OOiOd noun-pattern. However, most native Israeli-speakers
do not know klishd and use instead the foreignism nwVp klishe, as well as
the Aramaic-looking morphemic adaptation HK^^p klishad.
Morphemic adaptation was widespread in many of Pines's Israeli
proposals in sifer hakoakh (The Book of Power) (1897: XVI-XVII), e.g.
mru natrit 'Natrium9 (cf. natrdn in §3.2.2), iroVnt alumit 'Aluminium',
jnrto silitsit 'Silicium9, n*?mp kovelet 'Kobalt9, 7\pM tsinkd 'Zink9, WVT\
rubidit 'Rubidium', JVBinnOK estrontit 'Strontium', impix tsirkonit
'Zirkonium9, prfta melavden 'Molybdan9, m o n rutanit 'Ruthenium9,
pladit 'Palladium9, JVBip kadmit 'Cadmium9, JV73N indit 'Indium9,
tilur, rpmx erbit 'Erbium9, rpmttK iterbit 'Ytterbium9, nnnx aridit
'Iridium9 and JV80X osmit 'Osmium9. However, hardly any of these
proposals caught on.
12
Further examples can be found in Menarini (1947:145-208).
1.2.2 Derivational-only popular etymology (DOPE) versus generative

popular etymology (GPE)
Popular etymology (henceforth, PE) is also known as the somewhat

charged folk-etymology yn as well as synchronic etymology and what I call
para-etymology - cf. It. paretimologia (Pisani 1967). However, despite its
having so many names, linguists, as Coates (1987) asserts, have not paid
enough attention to it. Definitions of PE vary. Some emphasize the
subconscious (erroneous, nincompoopish) nature of the derivation (see
Bolinger 1975: 406-7, Crystal 1993, cf. Hansell ms). Others focus on the
reshaping of the word/phrase (see Trask 1993: 105). The phenomenon
usually involves the fallacy that phonetic similarity means genetic
relationship, I would like to contribute to our understanding of PE by
providing a clear-cut distinction between merely passive derivational-
only popular etymology (henceforth, DOPE; i.e. cases of mistaken
derivation, where there is rationalization ex postfacto) and active,
creational generative popular etymology (henceforth, GPE; i.e. cases of
lay FEN, which is a type of MSN). The distinction between DOPE and
GPE is crucial, although often DOPE is the first stage of GPE. After
discussion of these main forms of PE, I shall briefly explain how lay GPE
is different from puristic GPE, the main focus of this book.
1.2.2.1 DOPE and the 'Apollonian tendency'
DOPE consists of etymological reanalysis of a pre-existent lexical item,

which is usually foreign. It does not involve the introduction of a new
sememe or lexeme. An Arabic-speaker explaining Intl influenza as Ar.
s ji*Jl ciil [?anf ol'Tanza], lit. 'the nose of the goat' (which is very wet as
though it has a cold), does not actually say ['?anf al'Yanza] instead of
influenza. Thus, there is neither coinage nor phonetic change.
Figuratively speaking, the DOPE producer is applying his/her
'Apollonian tendency' (cf. la tendenza apollinea in Pisani 1967: 160).14
Generally, the 'Apollonian tendency' is the wish to describe and create
order, especially with unfamiliar information or new experience. An
updated, albeit frivolous, example of this general tendency is the story of
13
Folk-etymology is a caique of G Volksetymologie, introduced by Ernst Forstemann in 1852
- cf. Buyssens (1965) and Malkiel (1993:19).
14
cf. Apollinisch 'Apollonian' versus Dionysisch 'Dionysian' in Nietzsche's works. Apollo,
the sun-god of the Greeks and Romans, is symbolic of reason, whilst Dionysus, the Greek
god of wine and fertility of nature, is associated with wild religious rites.
the South Dakotan who went to Athens and was happily surprised to find
out that the Greeks are NASA fans: wherever he went, he saw the name
Apollo.15 As this anecdote shows, the 'Apollonian tendency' would also
seem to include a significant dimension of ethnocentricity. Specifically in
linguistics, the 'Apollonian tendency' is manifested in justifications for
the use of a word and in the craving for meaningfulness. Consider the
perception of naive young Israeli readers of the name 010 Tiopn doktor
sus (cf. E Dr Seuss ['dokt9(r) su:s]), the pseudonym of Theodore Seuss
Geisel, American author and illustrator of children's books (1904-91).
Many Israelis are certain that he is 'Dr Horse' since (BH»)1010 sus
means 'horse'. I have heard a DOPE that this arises from the prevalence
of animals in Dr Seuss's stories. This 'misunderstanding' might
correspond to Haugen's general claim with regard to borrowing, that
'every speaker attempts to reproduce previously learned linguistic
patterns in an effort to cope with new linguistic situations' (1950: 212).
By the same token, there are Arabic-speakers who argue (albeit
mostly in jest) that Shakespeare was in fact an Arab called VAr. J#J &&
|je:x zu'be:r] 'Sheikh Zuber' (StanAr. Qajx zu'bajr]), Zuber being a
common Arabic name. Such a claim - in its serious form - is associated
with Professor §afa' Khulu§I of the University of Baghdad (cf. Haywood
1971: 214), as well as with the Lybian leader Mu'ammar Qaddafi. Some
have suggested that (E) barbecue derives from F barbe a queue, lit.
'beard to tail' (OED), whilst in fact it is traceable to Sp. barbacoa
'barbecue' (cf. ConSp. barbecue), from Haitian barbacoa 'a framework
of sticks set upon posts' (cf. babracot of the Indians of Guyana). The
linguistically unsophisticated native speaker often believes that the
phonetic similarity between the suggested folk-etymon and the actual
lexical item cannot be accidental, but rather that they are cognates or
surface-cognates. However, it is well-established that if one takes two
languages which are neither genetically related nor have ever had any
linguistic contact, the chance that a given word in each of them - even
excluding onomatopoeic words - sounds similar and means the same is
greater than many laymen would accept. Consider, for example, Malay
mata (usually pronounced ['mate]) 'eye' versus ModGk pcdrt [Wti] 'eye'
(cf. Bloomfield 1933: 297, Hall 1966: 62fh); BH f a [Wlek] 'king' and
Akka. malku 'governor, minister' versus Aymara millhu 'chief of tribe';16
15
The same applies to the Indian scholar who went to Rome and was happily surprised to
find out that the Italians are fans of Sanskrit grammar: wherever he went, he saw PANINI.
16
Baruch Podolsky (pc).
J & I L nashi 'nothing' versus E nothing; 1 \%h hora 'here it is!' (cf.
'look!) versus Gk hordo 'I look/see'; J ZLh hora (word of rebuke) versus
Gk koldzo 'punish'; E mission versus RabH no'tWD [ma&'mi] 'mission';
and F comme I It. come versus (H>)11DD kemo/kmo 'like'.
I have used the word 'laymen', but even linguists and other men of
letters are not immune to the lure of phonetic similarity. For example, the
medieval polymath Maimonides thought that H cnttOX [?isto'nis] 'over-
sensitive, fussy' (cf. E asthenic, G asthenisch) derived from p s (Avinery
1946: 134), as opposed to Gk a-sthenis 'without strength, weak, feeble' -
cf. Gk sthenos 'strength, might'. Chaucer interpreted E dismal as being
MedF dis mal 'ten evils' (cf. ConF dix 'ten'), whereas dismal is in fact
traceable to L dies mali 'evil days' (cf. Mish 1991: 144-5). For many
philologists in the past, the etymon of E sincere (L sincerus) was L sine
cera 'without wax', metaphorically meaning 'pure, real, honest' (cf.
Bierce 1911, cf. 1996: 108), whereas the real, diachronic etymon is in fact
PIE *sml*seml*siml*som- 'the same, one, only one'. 1 7 (However, no
native English-speaker has ever pronounced the word as sine cera.) After
all, the views of today's laymen are often identical to those of past
philologists, and so the question remains as to whether the insights of
today's linguists will meet the same fate.
1.2.2.2 'Hierosolyma caput mundi' DOPE
Following the common belief that Hebrew was the Ursprache, there were
often attempts to provide 'Hebraizing' etymologies for European words.
Consider Oertel (1746, especially Sections xxxii-xxxiii, pp. 134-56), who
provides many Hungarian-Hebrew examples such as:
Synonyms
• Hun. alom ['alom] 'dream' versus (B)H DlVn [hS'lfon] 'dream' (p. 134)
• Hun. szikra [fsikra] 'spark* versus H jTT [zTq] 'spark', cf. (B)H 7\?v [zfqa] '»<*•'
Semantically related pairs
• OHun. alunni ['alunni] 'sleep' (not now used in Hungarian, cf. ConHun. aludni ['aludni]
'to sleep') versus (B)H yb [lun] 'stay overnight' (p. 134)
• Hun. homok ['homok] 'sand' versus (B)H nain [ho'ma] 'wall' (p. 140)
• Hun. ok [ok] 'cause, reason' (L ratio) versus (B)H j?n [hoq] 'law* (L statutum) (p. 144)
• Hun. reggel ['reggel] 'morning' versus (B)H *wn [Yegel] 'foot; holiday' (p. 145)
• Hun. tiz [tiz] '10' versus (B)H w n [§teJaT] '9' (p. 146)
Similarly, Zaj^czkowski (1953: 16-17) mentions several Polish-Hebrew

cases, e.g. (B)H TYT ['derek] 'way' versus P droga 'road, way', comparing
17
This is the origin of similar and simple - cf. Ayto (1990:478a).
the analyses of Herbinius (1675) and MuchlMski (1856). Yetles (1838:

106) makes the absurd claim that L morbus 'disease' derives from H JHD
W2 [ma'raY bTf] 'bad disease', which is, in fact, the singular form -
resulting from reanalysis - of (Aram>)MedH yvm pann [mar'TTn b^jin]
'troubles, plagues', the latter appearing in the lpTte Dip*1 prayer of Sabbath
(cf. MES: 1063c). Saddan responds to Yetles: 'The sage [Yetles] - mixed
things up [...he] saw the imitation as the original and the original as the
imitation' (1955: 10).
Rabbi Yitzhak Lewinson and his disciples believed in the following
processes (cf. Avinery 1946: 135):
G Liebe Move' '<' (B)H aV [lei?] 'heart'
G Zwiebel 'onion' '<' (B)H to [ba'sal] 'onion'
G Dekan 'dean' '<' (B)H pT [za'ken] (Aram, wpi) 'old'
G Orakel 'oracle' '<' H *?Dn 1W [?or hak'kol] 'the light of everything'
G Almosen 'alms' '<* H pro *?y [?al ma'zOn] 'on food'
G durch 'through' '<' (B)H J)l ['derek] 'through'
G kurz 'short' '<' (B)H "lip [qa'sar] 'short'
G ruhig 'quiet, calm' '<' (Med)H yjna [nir'ga?] 'calmed down' (cf. H snn
[ra'gGwa?] 'relaxed, calm')
More recently, Joseph Laniado (1997) has posited that Hebrew is the
origin of English, providing ridiculous derivations such as believe < D*?3
I balev 'in the heart', vocal < Vip D I bo kol There is voice in it' and
automatic < j?TOB miK loto maatik 'copying it' (cf. lotdmovil in
'automobile' in §5.1.4) and Buddha < TM1DI bo ded 'There is knowledge
in him'. Often Laniado provides detailed explanations - or rather
rationalizations - for his theories, for instance that E ashame 'derives'
from DWN I ashem BH [?&'Jem] 'guilty' because 'the one who is ashamed
feels guilty' (op. cit: 234) and that acetylchlorine 'stems' from (D^rf?)K
*7lp *7fltP I eflohim) shatdl kol 'G-d planted voice' since 'this chemical is
released at the ends of nerves or at the joints of muscle nerves in order to
transmit nerve pulses [...] Voice and language are [...] communication-
language pulses' (ibid.: 219). Consider also Joseph Yahuda's,
sophisticated folk-etymological book Hebrew is Greek (1982).
Other examples of 'Hebraizing DOPE' are:
• Intl radio '<' RabH K"»l"i [ridja] 'Rydia (the angel of rain)', argued in the section inyeney
lashon (Language Matters) of HaDoar, 30 November 1945 - cf. Avinery (1946: 138).
• E aberration '<' RabH may [faVra] 'sin, bad deed'. In reality, E aberration is
traceable to F aberration, from L aberratio, noun of action from aberrare 'go astray',
consisting of ab 'off and errare 'wander' - cf. E errant, error.
• G Heirat 'wedding' *<' RabH 'wign nwo JTO IT nyiroa ^ nunpo n« n n [ha're ?att
maqud'dejet IT batab'bafat z o ks'dat mo'Je W3ji$ra'?el] 'You are consecrated [betrothed]
to me according to the religion of Moses and Israel' (cf. Mishnah: Qiddushin 3:1b)
(mentioned by Avinery 1946:133, Klausner 1949: 56, Tur-Sinai 1950: 5; 1951: 3).
• Vulgar Lheresia 'heresy' '<' (Med)H rr Din ['heres jah] 'the destruction of God'.
• G Nachlass 'inheritance, estate, left property* *<' AshH nakhlas, from H -rfrm
[nah&'lat], the nomen rectum form of H rftm [naha'la1] 'property, inheritance, bequest'
(originally 'gift', cf. BDB:635b) - cf. H apywfau [naha"lat jaYS'qob] 'heritage of Jacob'
(Isaiah 58:14) (cf. Tur-Sinai 1950: 5).
• E boss •<• Y rran-'wa balobds 'proprietor, owner' < (Rab)H ira-to [ W a i 'bajit]
'landlord'. Note that rva-^ya can currently also refer to 'boss, man of means'.
Diachronically, E boss derives from Du. baas 'master'.
An example in the opposite direction, i.e. one of 'deHebraizing DOPE'

(much less common than 'Hebraizing DOPE') is (RabH»)I M get '(legal
document of) divorce', analysed (often jocularly) as deriving from E get
(off), get (a divorce). The diachronic ultimate etymon, however, is Akka.
gittu (cf. Sumerian 'long board, certificate, note' - see Rosen 1994: 78).
1.2.2.3 Intra-Iingual DOPE
DOPE can be applied within a single language, as in the case of RabH

TDWD [majum'mad] - Imeshumdd - 'apostate'. Imeshumdd is regarded
by most native Israeli-speakers I have studied as deriving from H mw
Afmd - cf. Glinert's claim (1992: 152), 'Meshumad is [...] related to the
word mashmid "destroyer"'. The truth is, in fact, slightly different:
Akka. emedu 'stand, lean against, load, impose taxes or fines' >
RabH l»x V / W 'estimate' (cf. BH nn Amdd 'measure') >
lax A?md 'estimate the depth' >
TON V/W 'dip, dive'( > RabH '•NTIBN [?4m5'daj] 'diver') >
lay VfW 'dip, dive' >
i&yw ylffmd 'immerse' in the shiO DeOverb-pattern >
laywa [mafuY'mad] 'immersed->baptized->apostate' >
RabH iwim [msfumWd] 'apostate'»
I inwn meshumdd 'apostate'.
Rabbi Hai Gaon (AD 939-1038) suggested that RabH TBtPB is a contracted
form of imvm (see Klein 1987: 664c). However, 7BWB might have come
directly from T&KWD, which reduces the deviation of the DOPE from the
diachronic real etymology - if one accepts the hypothesis that 1WD ^find
derives from imw Af?md, as suggested by MES (: 1847b).
1.2.2.4 The difficulty of distinguishing between MSN and DOPE
In some cases it is hard to determine whether a word is an MSN or just a

multi-etymological lexical item, that is, a word whose origin is unclear
but for which many etymologies have been suggested. A classical
example of a multi-etymological lexeme is the internationalism pidgin,
for which at least seven possible etyma have been offered, e.g. E
business (as corrupted by Chinese; OED), H 1VTD pidyon 'barter', and

Yago pidian 'people' (see Hall 1966: 7, MiihlhSusler 1986: 1, Aitchison
1981: 192, Todd 1974, Hancock 1979, Baker and MiihMusler 1990).
Another famous example is OK, allegedly deriving from ole korrek 'all
correct' or Old Kinderhook or Choctaw okeh, etc.18 See also macabre,
which has been traced inter alia to H '3DB [makkab'bT] 'Maccabee' (cf. F
la danse Macabre, L chorea Machabceorum and Du. Makkabeusdans
'dance of death', OED) and to Ar. j&* [ma'qa:bir] 'tombs, graveyards'.
One should be careful not to mistake a multi-etymological lexical
item for an MSN - although it can be hard to avoid. Consider RabH 1pD
paqar 'was heretic/irreligious/licentious, broke faith (m, sg)', which has
two possible sources:
1. An eponymous verbal morphemic adaptation of Epikouros (Epicurus),
the irreligious Athenian philosopher (c.300 BC).
2. A metathesis of RabH piD paraq, cf. RabH mm *?v piD [pi'raq ?ol
t5'ri] 'threw off the yoke of the Torah, became a heretic', fromBH piD
*?y [pS'raq ?ol] 'shed responsibility'.
There are five possible analyses:
i. The etymon is (1) with (2) being a rationalization expostfacto.
ii. The etymon is (2) with (1) being a rationalization expostfacto.
iii. The etymon is (1) induced by (2).
iv. The etymon is (2) induced by (1).
v. The origin is both (1) and (2), i.e. it is a PSM of Epikouros.
I hope that there are no lexical items defined in this book as MSNs which
are in fact multi-etymological lexical items. That said, one should
acknowledge that introducing a very large number of new etymologies
can never be a fail-safe enterprise.
The difficulty of distinguishing an MSN from DOPE is encountered
when it is possible to link a mere loanword/foreignism in Israeli to a
phonetically similar unrelated pre-existent native word. Consider I pDip
kupon 'coupon', an adaptation of E coupon, which is linked by some
native speakers to I HDip kupd 'cash-box' («RabH HDp < L cupa 'tub,
task, tun, vat'), as though it were HDip + the nominal suffix (H>)I ]1- -on.
These speakers usually pronounce the plural DîDip kuponim rather than
the foreign-sounding kuponim - cf. the discussion of I egzoz in §1.2.1.
18
1 have met Israeli-speakers who proposed that OK is an acronym for p max omndm ken,
lit. 'indeed yes', but they were aware of the specious nature of their etymology.
Such cases are very common in slang and in colloquial speech.

I believe that Colloql "lDVx chupdr 'bonus, prize, perk' goes back to Sp.
chupar 'to suck'. However, it is linked by some native speakers I have
interviewed to 11DW Afpr 'improve', cf. also (Aram.>H>)I XIDittn N191W
shufra deshufra 'best quality, first-class'. Even-Shoshan (see M£S:1517a)
claims that the etymon of Colloql chupdr 'bonus, prize, perk' is Ar. jW*-
[cfâb'barr] 'powerful, proud, giant', an epithet of 'God', thus appearing in
Arabic surnames (see NBA retired basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
i.e. Ar. j M ^ &j£ [ka'ri:m '?abd aliâb'bair]). Colloql n p r w shtinker
'denouncer', which can be traced back to Y "Wprotf shtinkor 'stinker', is
linked by some speakers to Colloql 7\TT\W shtina 'piss, urine', cf. \TW
sheten 'urine'. Colloql rmru gvdrdya refers to 'a group of people of a
common background who share an esprit de corps9 — consider *?W n^l^n
own TWW nDrf?B hagvdrdya shel milkhemet sheshet hayamim 'the
gvdrdya of the Six Days War'). Whilst it is associated by some speakers
with I "Da gever 'man', its real etymon is It. guardia 'guard, watch (n)'
and it was originally written as rrrvm (cf. Alcalay 1967: 82). The
orthographic change l (v) > 3 (b), common in many foreignisms and
loanwords in Israeli, has induced the link to "O* gever 'man'.
Rosten (1971: 363) visualizes a pnTOMW shmendrik (a kind of
shlemiel - cf. §4.4 - an awkward, unsuccessful person) as thin, small and
short. The word is used as the name of the fanatical, superstitious,
ignorant title-character of a musical comedy by Abraham Goldfaden. It
was probably influenced by Y f NnsnOTW shmendorhots 'awkward fellow'
(cf. P mqdry 'wise'). I imagine that if Rosten were a native Israeli-speaker
who did not speak Yiddish, he would have difficulty in perceiving
Colloql pnraw shmendrik as a thin person because of its phonetic
affinity with I pw shamen 'fat'.
I roan khamsin 'khamsin' (the oppressive hot wind from the south or
south-east, which fills the air with desert sand) derives from Ar. d****-
[Xam'si:n] 'khamsin', lit. 'fifty' (cf. also Ar. <JJ**± [xam'su:n] 'fifty').19
The reason is that this wind blows for approximately fifty days a year.
However, many Israelis conceive of it as related to the etymologically
distinct I Dn kham 'hot'. Consequently, one can hear the following
conversation on a very hot windless day:
- hnwo no on ,nn-N"Q boena, khampo mashu 'Listen, it is so hot here!'
I ,nn nr no ma ze kham, khamsin 'What do you mean hot, it is khamsinV
19
cf. the understanding of some Americans that It. venti means 'huge' - rather than
'twenty'. The reason is that Starbucks uses venti to refer to the largest size of coffee cup,
as opposed to grande (the medium size) and tall (the small size).
Thus, I khamsin 'khamsin' has acquired the additional sememe 'terrible

heat'. In other words, this apparent DOPE has facilitated a change in the
meaning of the lexical item, leading on to a discussion of GPE.
1.2.2.5 Generative popular etymology: punning coinages in Israeli slang
GPE is frequently observed in slang. First, let us define slang: slang refers
to informal (and often transient) lexical items used by a specific social
group, for instance teenagers, soldiers, prisoners and thieves. Slang is not
the same as colloquial (speech), which is informal, relaxed speech used
on occasion by any speaker; this might include contractions such as
you 're, as well as colloquialisms. A colloquialism is a lexical item used in
informal speech; whilst the broadest sense of the term 'colloquialism'
might include slangism, its narrow sense does not.20 Slangisms are often
used in colloquial speech but not all colloquialisms are slangisms. One
method of distinguishing between a slangism and a colloquialism is to ask
whether most native speakers know the word (and use it); if they do, it is
a colloquialism. However, the problem is that this is not a discrete,
quantized system but a continuum. Although the majority of slangisms
are ephemeral and often supplanted by new ones, some gain non-slang
colloquial status (e.g. E silly - cf. G selig 'blessed', MHG scelde 'bliss,
luck' and Zelda, a Jewish female first name) and even formal status (e.g.
E mob). Furthermore, the case of Israeli society is peculiar: most Israelis
serve in the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) not only between the ages of 18-
21 (women 18-20) but also (in the case of men) 2-5 weeks a year until
their 40s-50s. Consequently, military slangisms penetrate general
colloquial speech. It is therefore sometimes hard to discern between
military slangisms and general colloquialisms.
It is important to note that many slang MSNs - which are in fact GPEs
- are not a result of ignorance but rather a witty play on words. Thus, if
puristic FEN can be called FEN savant and lay FEN, FEN populaire,
some punning slang FENs could be regarded as FEN populaire savant.
The following are a few examples out of hundreds which I have found in
Israeli slang, mostly military:
a. Introducing a new sememe to a foreign name, thus usually being an

LC (cf. §1.4) as there is no 'TL nativizing material':
20
The term slangism - which matches colloquialism - is documented in 1853 (OED) and
has been used throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
• SlangI Bitten hilmut '(rookie) in a state of shock' <

1. (G>)ITO1?.!hilmut'Helmut' (the German first name)
2. ID1?,! helem 'shock'
3. E helmet (secondary influence)
• Colloql T'Bin khumeni 'Maladera Molesta, a kind of irritating leaf beetle* <
1. (Per>)I v a i n khumeni 'KhumeneV (the name of the 'Ayatollah', the Iranian
Shiite religious leader)
2. (BH»)I Din khum 'brown'
3. (BH»)I Din khom 'heat' (secondary influence)
• SlangI vpirs pinokyo 'spoiled, fussy, finicky' (cf. M4A/: 182a) <
1. I rpiro pinokyo 'Pinocchio', from Italian (perhaps via Intl)
2. I pTTD pinuk 'spoiling (as in spoiling one's children), indulging' - cf. I ""plTD
pinukU the name of a puppy, the protagonist of an Israeli children's book
(perhaps induced by the similar Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon strip), and cf.
I pawn mefundk 'spoiled'.
• SlangI train Mbit 'willy, dick' <

1. (E>)I tram Mbit 'Bobbin*, the name of the American whose wife cut off his
penis. This name has been subject to punning reanalyses such as Bob it! Note
that one of the many meanings of E bob is 'cut short (the hair of a woman)' -
cf. E bob (n) 'style of haircut which is even all round (a la Jeanne d'Arc)*.
2. (DialAr.>)ColloqI miT zub(b)i 'willy, dick' - cf. the synonymous Colloql ViaVa
bulbul and WDpipi.
b. Introducing a new sememe to an Israeli word:

• SlangI pra bizon 'new recruit, rookie' <
1. (Intl>)I lira bizon 'bison' (a slow animal) (cf. R 6H3OH bizon) - cf. I JITD tiron
'rookie'
2. SlangI "IJPT3 bizyonir 'responsible for failures' (<lTwa bizayon 'scandal,
disgrace, shame' < na V&wz or '•ra ->lbzj I nra Abzh 'contempt'; see Sappan
1971: 14a and Akhiasaf 1993:27a)
3. SlangI n m bizbaz 'rookie' (cf. Akhiasaf 1993: 28b), cf. ...na bzzz..., the sound
one produces when passing one's hand over a new recruit's very short hair as
an act of ridicule
• SlangI oiaîa bulbus 'a very fat person' (cf. MOLM:30b) <
1. SlangI 00*713 bulfas 'a very fat person' (cf. Sappan 1971:14a, M0LM.3H)
2. I OiaVta bulbus 'potato' (itself a PSM - see §3.1.4.1) - cf. E bulbous 'bulb-
shaped, swollen'
c. Introducing a new word:

• SlangI «r»» magnif 'cool' <
1. E magnificent
2. SlangI TUB magniv 'cool' (lit. 'causing one to be stolen', from :m Îgnb
'steal'), which might itself be a FEN of E magnificent
• SlangI nroip kusina 'babe, sexually attractive' <

1. (Intl>) SlangI nrnp> kuzina 'babe, beloved' (Y yrnp U d 'female cousin', cf.
Sappan 1971: 71a), perhaps because of the excuse formerly used by some
Israeli men seen with a woman other than their wife: "^w nrnpn nxr zot
hakuzina shell 'She is my cousin!'
2. Colloql JTO1D kusit 'babe* (<ColloqI OlD kus 'cunt', of Arabic descent)
• Colloql nnip Jfcrfefl 'madness' (cf. nmp «)W! Kin AM khatdfkriza or nmp osn Kin /m
fq/tts ^rfefl 'he got very angry, he went crazy (with anger)') <
1. G Krise 'crisis' - cf. Y crmp krizis, R KpH3HC krizis and E cnsts
2. E craze (cf. Sappan 1971:73b)
SlangR Kpe3a kreza (f) 'madness' and KpH3a krizd 'crazy' (both perhaps traceable
to E crazy) might have also been involved in the creation of Colloql nmp kriza -
cf. Colloql w m p krizyoner 'irascible person', as well as Colloql mp kHz 'crisis of
a drug addict in withdrawal' as in mp3 Kin hu bekriz 'he underwent a crisis' and as
in Colloql mp *\W\ Kin hu khatdfkriz 'id.', which is induced by Colloql *pn Kin
nmp hu khataf kriza 'he went crazy'.
d. Introducing a new word (intra-Israeli):

• SlangI *pK efef 'spaced out, space cadet, "out to lunch", "a few sandwiches short of
a picnic", "away with the fairies'" <
1. Colloql DDK e"fes 'zero, someone who is worth nothing, cipher'
2. SlangI H1SK qfuf'a. (tired) person who does not know what is going on around
him; spaced out, space cadet' (<H ÎDK 'encircled, surrounded' < H DDK V/jbp)
On (re)abbreviating reanalysis, see Zuckermann (2000: 317-21).
1.2.2.6 Lay GPE versus puristic GPE
The puristic, systematic FENs (FEN savant), which are - along with
puristic LCs (cf. §1.4) - at the core of this book, are technically similar to
the popular, ad hoc FENs (FEN populaire) and therefore the adjective
'folk-etymologicaV is appropriate to describe them. However, puristic
MSN carried out by prescriptive linguists has different purposes from
MSN performed by laymen. Unlike lay MSN, puristic MSN is a shrewd
strategy employed to enrich the lexis of a language without appearing to
need foreignisms or loanwords. It is a widespread source of lexical

enrichment, in opposition to other types of borrowings and in
contradistinction to internal sources of lexical enrichment. Lay MSN, on
the other hand, is an often naive, ad hoc process of synchronic etymology
by which a speaker analyses a specific expression (usually one sounding
foreign), reductively reanalysing it as though it consisted of more familiar
components (usually of the speaker's native language) - cf. the
'Apollonian tendency'. In the case of puristic MSN, on the other hand, the
prescriber knows the SL material very well, sometimes much better than
the very TL material that s/he uses. After all, the Hebrew 'revivalists'
knew the European lexical items which they attempted to Hebraize much
better than their suggested morphologically Hebrew MSNs. The
introduction of puristic MSNs is a part of an ideologically based
programme of language engineering.
Despite the technical and structural - rather than motivational -
similarity between (ignorant) lay FEN, punning FEN and puristic FEN,
by and large only lay FENs are treated with contempt by many speakers.
These same speakers are unaware that many prescriptive neologisms, for
instance those from the assembly line of the Hebrew Language Council
(henceforth, HLC) and AHL, which some regard as canon law, are
technically identical to lay FENs.
1.2.3 Phonetic matching (PM)
Unlike morphemic adaptation, which only uses TL grammatical

morphemes such as noun-patterns, phonetic matching is a neologization
which makes use of pre-existent full TL/SL2 lexical items to replace the
SLi word. I define phorietic matching (PM) as MSN in which the TL/SL2
material is originally related to the SLi lexical item phonetically, not
semantically. In other words, PM is the matching of an SL! lexical item
with a phonetically similar pre-existent autochthonous (or SL2)
lexeme/root which is semantically unrelated to the SLt lexical item. In the
process of neologization, the TL/SL2 material adopts the meaning of the
SLi word; Figure 3 illustrates this process.
SL, x 'a' - » - > • > - > TL(-HPM) y1 V <r <r <r <- TL/SL2 y 'b'
a and b are unrelated
y1 is based on y
Figure 3
A simple example of PM is E mayday, which nativizes F m 'aider '(to)

help me!' (according to the Radio Telegraph Convention in 1927; OED)
or DialF/ColloqF m 'aidez 'help me!' (in contrast to StanF aidez moi) or F
venez m'aider 'come to help me!' (cf. OED). The meaning of the pre-
existent English lexical items May and day have nothing to do with
'help'. Note that the currently common calls for help in French are au
secours 'help!, assist!' and aidez moi 'help me!'
The first Spanish sailors who encountered Nahuatl (Aztec) ahuakatl
'Persea gratissima, avocado' (lit. 'testicle'), adapted it phonetically as
aguacate (this is the current Spanish word for 'avocado' and may have
been influenced by Sp. agua 'water'). However, in some places this
adaptation was matched phonetically with OSp. avocado, lit. 'advocate'
(cf. ConSp. abogado 'advocate', cf. Sp. evocado 'recalled, evoked,
invoked'), although of course, 'advocate' has nothing to do with the large
testicle-shaped fruit. Note that Sp. avocado entered English in the late
seventeenth century as alligator (pear), again a PM.
Similarly, E cockroach *Blatta\ especially 'Blatta orientalis\ was the
PM of Sp. cucaracha (or OSp. cacarucha) via Captain John Smith's
cacarootch (1624, cf. OED and Mencken 1936: 112). Note that both cock
'Gallus domesticus, the male of the common domestic fowl, rooster'
(documented 897; OED) and roach 'Leuciscus rutilus, a small freshwater
fish' (documented 1314, OED; the meaning 'a kind of a beetle' developed
from cockroach) referred to animals. However, I tend to believe that this
fact played a very limited role here, unlike the case of E crayfish (AmE
crawfish), which I consider to be a (partial) FEN of OF crevisse [kRe'vis]
(cf. ConF ecrevisse), a cognate of E crab.21 In the latter example,
semantics does seem to play a limited role - although currently most
English-speakers do not regard crayfish as a type of fish, note the
existence of shellfish. An example with French as the TL is F beaupre
'bowsprit, large boom (attached to the prow of a boat) to which part of the
mast is fastened', lit. 'beautiful meadow', a PM of E bowsprit (cf.
Mencken 1936: 105).
PM is widespread in immigrant societies, consider Amlt. bimbo
21
E crayfish is mentioned by Mencken (1936:105), McMahon (1994: 184) and Trask (1996:
35-6). I have met Turkish-speakers who relate Sp. cucaracha to (Con)Tu. kokarca 'skunk,
polecat' (cf. ConTu. kokmak 'to smell (intransitive), to have a smell', cf. koklamak to
smell (transitive)'), and thus produce a DOPE. However, the Turkish word referring to
cockroach is, in fact, hamambdcegU lit. 'hammam (bath) bug'. Consider other parallels of
Sp. cucaracha which might also have included FEN: Low G kakerlack (sixteenth century),
High G kakerlak, Du. kakkerlak (seventeenth century) (contrast Du. kak 'shit' with Du.
koek [ku:k] 'cake'), F cackerlac (beginning of the eighteenth century) and F cancrelat.
('child') 'beam', giuro ('I swear') 'Jew' and grasso ('fat, greasy') 'gas'
(Livingston 1918: 225). In Texas I have heard Austin Waco (the names of
two Texan cities) for Hasta luego 'see you; bye' (lit. 'until later').
Why is it that an educated Hungarian might become worried after
receiving an envelope with a coffee bean inside? The answer has to do
with PM since Hun. have ['kave] 'coffee' is very similar phonetically to L
cave (which could be pronounced in Hungarian as f'kavs]) 'beware!',
'take care! (in a threatening sense)'.22 Of course, the Latin pronunciation
intended is ['kave] (or ['kave]) rather than ['kawe], which is more faithful
to the original (cf. Allen 1978: 40-2).23
1.2.3.1 PM in secret argots
PMs based on Hebrew lexical items were frequently used in the

nineteenth century by Russian thieves in their unique argot. The criminals
had to turn to Hebrew since Russian policemen learnt Yiddish in order to
outsmart them. Although these Hebrew words often existed in Yiddish
and the thieves usually imitated their Ashkenazic or Yiddish
pronunciation, some of them were rare and of a high-register, hence I do
not regard them merely as Yiddish words. The following are examples:
• R Mamma malina 'hiding place' imitates (B)H rnfro [malG'na] 'lodge, hut' (cf.
I 'kennel), which would yield in Polish Yiddish melino (cf. AshH meluno). The
nativizing material is R Manmia malina 'raspberry', cf. Lith. me'lynas 'blue 1 and melyna
'stain', Gk melas 'black' (Vasmer 1955: ii:91) and Y y j t y p malino 'raspberry'. R
MajiHHa malina 'hiding place' is currently understood by Russians, and the word was
widely used in the film Mecro BcrpenH H3MeHirn> Hejn>3n mesto vstrechi izmenit'
nel'zyd 'The place o f meeting cannot be changed' (We can't change the meeting place).
Note also the Russian phrase ne zhizn', a malina, lit. 'It's not just living, but [it's]
raspberry', meaning 'What a great life!' Y malino was used in Ghetto Vilna with the
meaning 'hiding place'- see Sutzkever (1946:14). Compare this with Rotwelsch Molun
'inn, hostel' (cf. W o l f 1956: 221b, Item 3667), also o f Hebrew pedigree, cf. (B)H lV?a
[ma'lOn] 'lodging-place, inn'.
• R napauia pardsha 'rumour, investigation' preserves the sound o f (B>Rab>Med)H
nwio [para'Ja] 'chapter, section o f the Torah, portion' 24 (cf. Y rwn9 yVJ 8 a ndyoparsho
'news, a n e w piece of news'). The basis for the nativization is R napauia Pardsha, a
diminutive for the female name FlpacKOBbJi Praskav'ya. The meaning 'rumour,
22
The same could be applied to a Yiddish-speaker, cf. Y vmp kave 'coffee*.
23
cf. the case of L vivo voce: a Briton pronouncing we were walking would sound closer to
the (more) original Latin ['wiwa 'woke] than the utterer o f the standard English
pronunciation [Vaiva Vdusi:].
24
Note that E portion 'the section of the Pentateuch/Prophets appointed to be read on a
particular Sabbath or Festival* (cf. Torah-portion, portion of the Law) is a PSM of (Med)H
nuns [para'Ja] 'section of the Torah' (<RabH 'chapter, section' < BH 'content'), probably
via Y TW^pdrshQ, which goes back to MedH [para'Ja].
investigation* is not currently used in Russian. Note that R pardsha can also mean
'chamber-pot, toilet (derogatory)', cf. Rpardshnik 'toilet cleaner', which is mentioned
by Dal* (1882, cf. 1955: iii:18a). There are two possible etymological analyses: (i) R
pardsha 'toilet' was a semantic derivative of R pardsha 'rumour' and therefore can be
traced back to Hebrew; (ii) R pardsha 'toilet' had existed before pardsha 'rumour' and
in fact served as the nativizing material (rather than the name Pardsha). The fact that
Vasmer (1955: ii:315) only mentions Pardsha as a name might strengthen Analysis (i).
• R Mycop musor 'informer, delator' nativizes (Rab)H "iioa [ma'sSr] 'informer, delator'
(cf. (Rab)H 1010 [mO'ser] 'informer, delator'), TI0& being adapted as AshH mdsoyr and
as PY mus9r 'informer*. The nativizing material for the PM is the (semantically
suggestive) pre-existent R Mycop musor 'rubbish, garbage', which can be traced back to
Gk musos 'uncleanness, defilement' (cf. Vasmer 1955: ii:179). The meaning 'informer'
is not currently used.
For further discussion, see Trakhtenberg (1908).
Hebrew words were also very common in the argot spoken by
Hungarian thieves. In a dictionary published in 1911 by the Budapest
Police, approximately 30 per cent of the 3000 entries were ultimately of
Hebrew extraction (cf. Kennedy 1991: 186). The dictionary, as well as
lists published in 1917 and 1924, included many PMs of Hebrew words
(ibid.: 187), often via Yiddish or via Rotwelsch.25 For example:
• Hun. leves 'money' < Hun. leves ['levej] 'soup' + H mV? 'borrower', cf. Y loyvp
'debtor' (cf. LithY leyvo).
• Hun. siker 'drunkard' < Hun. siker ['Jiker] 'success* + H now 'drunkard', cf. Y
shikor.
• Hun. Mem 'crowd, gathering' < Hun. Mem ['illem] 'politeness' + H tf?iy 'world',
cf. Y oytem (cf. LithY iylom, eyhm).
• Hun. kajakos 'strong' (recognizable by some native-speakers whom I have studied)
< Hun. kajakos ['kajakoj] 'kayak-rower, kayakist' + H ro 'force, power', cf. Y
koyakh, kdyokh.
• Hun. kifli 'two' < Hun. kifli ['kifli] '(bread) roll' + H to 'double', cf. Y Uyfl.
• Hun. marci 'bread' < Hun. marci ['martsi] (a nickname for Marion) + H WXIB, lit.
'taking out', originally referring to the Jewish grace said before eating bread, and
then to any actual slice of bread, cf. Y moytsi, mdytso 'slice (of bread)'.
1.2.3.2 Anthroponymic PM
A Jew escaping from Eastern Europe on a fake passport arrived on Ellis

Island in order to immigrate into the United States. When asked about his
name, he said to himself (in Yiddish) pyriKD yw shoyn fargesv, his false
identity escaping his memory. Of course he meant 'already forgotten' but
25
Rotwelsch is the argot spoken by vagrants and criminals in Germany and Austria, which
used Western Yiddish as a stock language, the latter being characterized by a large
number of Hebraisms, see Katz (1993b: 32) and Noble (1961-2: 18). Noble (1964: 401)
suggests that the number of Hebraisms in Western Yiddish in the seventeenth century was
close to 50 per cent. For bibliography on Rotwelsch and Yiddish, see Katz (1993b).
the clerk, who knew neither Yiddish nor German (cf. G schon vergessen),
heard him and wrote down Sean Ferguson. This story, albeit anecdotal,
well illustrates how the (lay version of the) widespread phenomenon of
PM occurs.26 PM is, in fact, common in the case of anthroponyms and
toponyms, often due to the speaker's perception that the sound is intrinsic
to the name. Such concoctions are discussed in §4.6, §4.7, and in the case
of Chinese - in Zuckermann (2000: 260-2, 271-2). Whilst §4.7 is
dedicated to Israeli surnames, the following are PMs of first names.
The now rare Hebrew translation by Itzhak Zelkinson (1878) of
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1595) was entitled *7SH 0") ram veyael
'Ram and Yael', Ram and Yael being Hebrew biblical names (see Ruth
4:19 and Deuteronomy 4:17 respectively) which resemble the sound of
Shakespeare's chosen names (cf. the normal Israeli phonetic adaptation
romeo veyulyd). Zelkinson's 1874 Hebrew translation of Shakespeare's
Othello (The Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice) (1604) was named
nran ^KWN itiel hakushi, lit. 'Ithiel The Negro', Ithiel being a biblical
name (see Nehemiah 11:7). Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland has been translated into Israeli (see, for example, Ofek 1989)
as nwhm p*a no*?V alisa beerets hapladt, no^J? being an Israeli female
name based on RabH no^y [?Sffsa] 'happiness, gaiety' - cf. the female
name (H>)I nv^V aliza. Note that under normal circumstances (i.e. had it
not been a PM), Alice should have yielded O^N dlis (note the N as opposed
to V). Similarly, Swe. Pippi L&ngstrump (cf. E Pippi Longstocking, the
surname being a caique of the Swedish), the name of the protagonist of
Astrid Lingren's children's stories, was phonetically matched in Israeli as
Dto-K1? <alm bilbi 16 khlum, lit. 'Bilby Nothing'.
Consider assimilated foreign first names, for instance I 7P91X tsofia
(rarely tsofid), lit. 'looking out, observing (f, sg)\ a PM of Sophia, and
I DÔpB maksim, lit. 'enchanting', a phonetically perfect PM of R MaKCHM
Maksim. In these two PMs an attempt is made to preserve the sound of the
whole SL lexical item. However, there are also cases of partial PM, for
example the Anglicized forms of Yiddish first names: Morris or Morton
for nwa mdysho or *7UKB mot\, Herbert or Harry for WWT\ hersh (cf. ungn
harsh) or D"n khdym, Robert for pun ruv# and Solomon for HJtfw
zdlmon.27 Similarly, there are many Hebraized personal names, for
example *7X}' igal (or more puristically yig'dl) for R Hropt Igor\ inn
26
cf. (children's) jocular recalibrations of Israeli surnames, e.g. likhtenshteyn > lekh tashtin
('Go, piss!'), otmazgin > oto im mazgdn ('a car with air-conditioning') and dokhovna >
dkhofna ('Please, push!', i.e. Tlease put it in!').
27
Some o f these are mentioned by Mencken (1936: 506) and Weinreich (1963: 53).
bdrukh (or again more puristically barukh) for R BopHC Boris (The choice
of Boris among Russian Jews was often influenced in the first place by
the very same name 1113), ]T\1 natan (also natan) for R AHaTOJiHtt Anatolii
(cf. AHaTOJiuft IIJapaHCKHft Anatolii ShchardnskiX, former 'Prisoner of
Zion' in Russia, and subsequently Israeli politician), pm ndkhman (rarely
nakhmdn) for E Norman, DV13 ndant for E Norman, and onrD pinkhds/
plnkhas for Peter. Consider also It. Renzo, a partial PM of E Terrence.2*
1.2.3.3 Partial PM: euphemisms and Cockney Rhyming Slang
Many partial PMs are performed within the same language. Consider the
following intra-English euphemisms:
gosh! (documented 1757, OED) for God! (documented 1340, OED).
shoot! (documented 1934, OED) or sugar! for shit! (documented 1920, OED).
darn! (documented 1840, OED) for damn! (documented 1760, OED).
frig (cf. frig you! 1936, OED) forfuck; frigging hell! forfuckin' hell!
(What the) dickens! (documented 1598, OED) for devil!
heck (documented 1865, OED) for hell.
blooming (cf. 'Oh, you blooming idiot!' 1882, OED) for bloody.
blinking (documented 1914, OED, cf, bleeding, bally and ruddy) for bloody.
Intra-Italian euphemisms are cavolo! (lit. 'cabbage') for cazzo! (lit. 'dick'
but used in the same way as E shit!), incavolarsi ('get shirty, get angry'
but less vulgar that the following) for incazzarsi ('get angry'), mercoledi!
(lit. 'Wednesday') for merda! ('shit'), and the rare porca mattina (lit. 'pig
morning') for the highly rude porca Madonna ("'piggy" Madonna').
Consider also I rmo DID kos soda, lit. 'a glass of soda-water', for the
Arabic-originating curse Colloql3nrm DID kus okhtak, lit. 'your sister's
cunt' or Colloql 3m DID kus emak, lit. 'your mother's cunt'.
The same technique characterizes Cockney Rhyming Slang, in which
a lexical item is replaced by words (usually a conjunction of two words)
which preserve the sound of the last syllable of the original lexical item,
hence the modifier 'rhyming'. Consider the following:
Adam & Eve for believe
Jelly Bone for telephone
Sharp & Blunt for cunt (Vagina*)
Donald Duck for fuck; luck
Tea Leaf for thief
Buckle My Shoe for Jew
28
On the other hand, see Israeli names whose bearers might encounter some embarrassment
abroad, e.g. • a Gad, lit. 'luck*, versus AmE God; • i n Dor, lit. 'generation*, versus E
door; • rru Noia, lit. 'beauty* (cf. IT0 noy 'id.*), versus It. noia 'boredom*; • w Danny
versus J dani [da'ni] 'tick, mite*; and • WR hay versus J itai 'hurt*.
The coiner or the utterer often sees a link (sometimes jocular) between the
Cockney expression and its referent. Therefore, it might be considered
phono-semantic matching (§1.2.4) or at least semanticized phonetic
matching (§ 1.2.5), rather than a PM tout court. For instance:
• Trouble & Strife or the alliterative Struggle & Strife - wife
• Sorry & Sad-bad
• Sorrowful Tale - jail
• Edward Heath - teeth (the former British Prime Minister's teeth were subject to
caricature; cf. the consequent ellipsis Edwards 'teeth')
• Ten to Two or Four by Two - Jew (the latter 'once said unkindly to be the average
size of a Jewish nose, in inches presumably', cf. Puxley 1992: 66 29 )
Sometimes only the first part of the conjunction eventually remains in use
and so the rhyme is lost. Consider me Germans are cold meaning 'my
hands are cold', German being the first part of the couplet German bands,
which matches hands. Sometimes the couplet is completely forgotten, for
instance the widespread E berk 'fool' which derives from Berkeley Hunt
or Berkshire Hunt for cunt (as in you silly cunt). For further linguistic
discussion of Cockney Rhyming Slang, see Anttila and Embleton (1995).
1.2.3.4 Multilingual folk and literary PM compositions
The desire to achieve lingual unity appears also in PMs embodied in

bilingual homophonous creations, for example in the 'transitional period'
from the Hebrew of the Middle Ages to Israeli, e.g. in early Modern
Hebrew literature in Italy, and in Hasidism, which emerged in the extreme
south-east of Poland in the second half of the eighteenth century.30
Consider the following sentence in a macaronic Yiddish folk-song:31
IJTPO
29
Four by Two (noun) has been army parlance for the regulation piece of cloth, measuring
4"x2", used for internal cleaning of the barrel of a rifle (Raphael Loewe pc).
30
Note that 'homophonous' should not be confused with 'macaronic'. Macaronic derives
from ModL macaronicus, from It. macaronico, a jocular formation from It. macaroni.
Originally, the word was used to designate a burlesque verse that mixes vernacular words
with Latin (in Latin context and form), and it was most probably invented b y Teofilo
Folengo ('Merlinus Cocaius'), who published a 'macaronic poem* (Liber Macaronices) in
1517. In the second edition, published in 1521, Folengo explains that the 'macaronic art' is
so called owing to macaroni, which is quoddam pulmentum farina, caseo, botiro
compaginatum, grossum, rude, et rusticanum (OED) 'a certain food composed of dough,
cheese and butter, thick, coarse and rustic* (cf. the modern gnocchi). The modern broad
meaning of macaronic is any form of verse in which two or more languages are mingled
together, that is, bilingual/multilingual creations.
31
It was published in 1918 by M. Kipnis, appears in Mlotek and Mlotek (1988: 167-9) and is
mentioned by Wexler (1991:41).
In Ukrainian katarina moloditsa poydi syuda means 'Katarina, young

maiden, come here!'32 However, on being redivided, it can also have a
meaning in Hebrew pronounced Ashkenazically:
[JTHB] rms ns
(Ash)H kat rino mole ditso poyde \poidiso] shaday consists of H ro
'(Hasidic) sect'; nn 'song, joy'; *ft» 'full (m, sg)'; 7\vi 'joy, glee'; rrra
'redeem(s)' [mD 'you redeemed']; and 'TO 'God'. It might be misleading
to translate it as a foil sentence, 'A (Hasidic) sect-of-song, foil of joy,
Lord redeems [you have redeemed, Lord]', for two reasons. First, there is
a morphological reason: mole 'foil' is masculine whereas both kat 'sect'
and rino 'song, joy' are feminine. Second, there is a historical reason: in
the Hasidic tradition Hebrew texts were translated verbatim, word for
word, and this seems to be what the writer(s) did with this song.
Such popular bilingual homophonous creations have existed
throughout Europe. Consider the following two sentences: (i)Ivitelli dei
romani sono belli. In Latin this could mean 'March, Vitellius, to the war
sounds of the Roman Gods!' In Italian, on the other hand, the same
sentence means 'The calves of the Romans are beautiful'; (ii) L Mala
declina de bello sirie means 'Avoid the evils from the beautiful Siris', i.e.
'be in that place (in the Siris, the name of two rivers, one in Ethiopia (the
Nile) and one in Italy) and you'd be able to avoid evils'. Slovenian Mala
deklina debelo serje means 'A little girl shits fat shit.'
Efraim Luzzatto (1729-92) wrote the following Italo-Hebraic poem on
an anonymous tombstone (see Luzzatto 1942:48, first published 1768):33
Italian Hebrew
Ah! l'uom ha"15m

misero 6 rum HT ••a mT ZE r5'?e
Se notte, e di, ,HK T\WJ Jo'nOt ?5 l dl,
pene, e lai, pa'ne ?e'laj;
crime! !naw ?6ITIE!
suol cibar. JrfOlJibta.
Chi nasce muor; ;i w nap qi'ni Jo'mOr;
animati, ;TI» MN ?a"ni mat'ti;
Avoi giammai W '"ON ?ab5j!jaWj
awenga mal ,*?oy TIN '?awen Ta'mal,
ah! che passo! .IOD ^ ,nn hah,kT'passa.
32
ConUkr. KaxepHHa, MOJIOAHUJI, [npH] fium CIO^H katerfna molodytsya [pry] y(d)d$syudf.
33
cf. also Ev (1995: 51).
Similarly, Yehuda Arye of Modena wrote the following Italo-Hebraic

elegy upon the death of his Rabbi Moshe Basula Malerocca in 1583:34
Italian: Chi nasce muor: Oime, che pass' acerbo!

Colto vien Thuom, cosi ordin' il Cielo,
Mose mod, Mose gia car de verbo.
Santo sia ogn' huom, con puro zelo.
Ch' alia meta, gia mai senza riserbo
Arriv' huom, ma vedran in cangiar pelo
Se fin habbiam, ch' al Cielo vero ameno
Va rhuomo va, se viva assai se meno
Hebrew: ia ISW / 09 '3 I na *IK / "ITO nrp qfn£ jVmOr / ?oj me / kT pas / ?5'§er b6
V?x *?x / vi -nx / ••OID aVry / arc to kol |6b / ttl'lum ko'sl / ?5r dTn / ?el §il'15
13 /1211 ip-> nwa / ma rwa mo1 Je m6'rT / mo1 Je ja'qdr / da'fcar / b6
V? nr Kin / IIDD or / iw / rrunn nto $am tujij'ja / ?5n /j6m kip'pOr / hu ze 16
13 am I n s yu / I W aoâ / nto ka'la / me'tafc jam'aw / Jen sVn / 25'Jer b5
1? K9T / ,13 r« / sn ma / DIN 3nm jaha"rib ?0m / W w e t ra? / ?en ka / jar'pe 15
law / ")3iy ^s / *?p D^3 / na^DO sapl'na / bo'jam qal / §el Yo'feer / ja'menO
iaat^ / Dttn / '3» I1?1 / Di^n ha'lOm / je'lek 'Jeî / wo1Jam / Sa'manu.
All the above creations were produced in the two relevant languages
simultaneously. However, PM is often apparent in translation, when a
pre-existent SL piece/word is matched phonetically with TL items. In
Transparent Things, Nabokov (1973: 48) presents a transposition of R ^
jno6jno ttfaya lyublyu tebyd 'I love you' into E yellow blue tibia:35
Julia shook hands with him and begged him to pray for her when she would be
saying to that very passionate, very prominent poet je t 'aime in Russian which
sounded English (gargling with the phrase) **yellow blue tibia."
Compare this to Burgess's khorosho (R xoponio 'all right!, well, nicely,

good', 'it is good...') (1962, cf. 1994: 1; italics mine):
They had no licence for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding
some of the new veshches which they used to put into the old moloko, so you could
peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches which
would give you a nice quiet horrorshow fifteen minutes admiring Bog And All His
Holy Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your mozg.
34
Vocalization is mine; notes on translation can be found in Bernstein (1932: 51-2). For a
recent Italo-Hebraic Bilingual Homophonous Poem, see Zuckermann (2000b: 7; 2003b;
www.zuckermann.org/lpoem.html), and for a Franco-Hebraic epitaph by D. Manor, see Ev
(1995: 51). A relevant discussion can be found in Pagis (1986, especially pp. 162-83).
35
1 have also heard of the SPM yellow blue to be. A far-fetched semanticization might be E
blue movie and its Chinese parallel MSC Jtfe%f£ hudng se dianylng, lit. 'yellow movie*
('yellow colour electric shadow'), both of which refer to a pornographic film.
In 1958-69, Celia Thaew and Louis Zukofsky translated into English

some love poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus (84-54 BC). The translated
poems follow the sound, rhythm and syntax of Catullus' Latin - see
Zukofsky (1997: 241-319), as well as Zukofsky and Zukofsky (1969).
The same phenomenon, mutatis mutandis, appears in several Israeli
songs, for instance, the sound of the words chosen by Yoram Teharlev to
translate the Russian song U nas pod kuibyshevom (lyrics: V. Alferov,
music: G. Ponomarenko) resembles that of the Russian lyrics. Juxtapose
I TVrr* rmw no rrn rrnw na ma shehayd hayd ma sheyiyiyiyi 'Whatever
happened happened, whatever will be will be' (the refrain) with R U nas
pod kuibyshevom polyd shiroHe. U nas pod kuibyshevom khlebd vysoHe.
'At home, in Kubyshev Region, the fields are broad. At home, in
Kubyshev Region, the wheat is high.' The song is sung in Israeli by the
Giv'atron. A similar case is the Greek song Ti Thelis Yero 'What do you
want, old man?' (lyrics: A. Kounadis, music: Y. Kalamariotis), which was
translated by Ali Mohar as Nl^WDW shekshenavo and sung by Arik
Einstein. It is not a coincidence that several Israeli words in the
translation resemble the original Greek words phonetically. For example:
1. Ni:u«DW shekshenavo 'that when we will come' - ModGk ae (evo tcdapto [se 'kseno
'ko(smo)] 'in a strange/foreign world' (the dialectal pronunciation of the singer makes
this sentence sound to the Israeli's ear Lfekjeno'ko(zmo)])
2. OT yanis '(it) will put to flight, will rout' - ColloqModGk fmeAaXtjg [bela'lis] 'someone
in trouble'
3. CJDD makhnis 'bringing in (sg)'- ModGk KovpeXtjg [kure'lis] 'ragged'
4. rrroon hamsild 'the path/track/railway' (the usual form is hamesild) - ColloqModGk xa
y/rtd [ta psi'la] '(the) change (coins)'
5. n^Dnn hatfild 'the prayer' - ModGk jfcy/Ad [xami'la] 'in a low place'
6. ^ rfro gild li '(it) revealed to me'- ModGk pdupi frafi] 'shelf
7. ^ rnwn nuno mekhakd tshuvd li 'an answer is waiting for me' - ModGk to pdcpi [ta
'rafi] (note the colloquial pronunciation [ta] rather than [to]) 'the shelf
The desire to retain the sound of the original in the TL is related to

iconicity (see §1.4.3.3). On PSM in literary translation and on literary
creations under constraint, see Zuckermann (2000: 307-10, 324-8).
1.2.3.5 Concluding remarks
PM is apparent not only in criminal argot, lay creations or

reinterpretations, but also in recherche literary creations. Furthermore, as
previously pointed out, PM is often employed by purist prescriptive
language planners. For example, when HaReuveni was trying to coin an
Israeli term for a boraginaceous plant called in Latin Arnebia, he
phonetically matched it with rrnriN arnavit (cf. Auerbach and Ezrahi
1928: 166; 1930: 6b, Item 99; Tsimkhey trets Yisrael 1946: 11). I arnavit
is a new word based on RabH rtilK 'hare, Lepus, rabbit', from the
morphologically feminine BH ranN (see Leviticus 11:6 and
Deuteronomy 14:7) meaning 'hare' (in general, and not just 'female hare'
as I ranN arnevet does).
1.2.4 Phono-semantic matching (PSM)
PSM is an MSN in which the TL/SL2 morphological material is similar to

the SLi lexical item both phonetically and semantically. This phenomenon
will be discussed and analysed in later chapters. Figure 4 provides an
illustration of it:
1 SLt x 'a' -> -> •» •» TL(+psM)y' V <r <r <r <r TL/SL2 y 'b' [
a and b are identical/similar
y' is based on y
Figure 4
The following are some lay PSMs, resulting from GPE (cf. §1.2.2):
• DialBasque zainhoria 'carrot' (cf. Trask 1996: 36) (as opposed to the commonly used
StanBasque (Batua) azenario - cf. Azkue 1905: i:l 15b, and as distinct from the French-
influenced DialBasque karrota, e.g. in Xiberoan-Souletine; cf. DialBasque azanarioa) <
1. Sp. zanahoria 'carrot' (cf. Por. cenoura [se'nora]) < azanoria < safanoria
{Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana 1930: LXX:957b) < North
African Ar. *&>«] [?isfar'nijja] (non-existent in Galilee Arabic, for example)
(mentioned by Dozy 1927: i:22b; cf. Dozy and Engelmann 1869: 224).36
2. Basque zain 'root' ('rootlet, small root', cf. Aulestia 1989: 531a; also 'vein, artery,
tendon, nerve', cf. Azkue 1906: ii:402a) + hori 'yellow' + a (article).
• DialE sparrow grass37'Asparagus officinalis*, a vegetable (which is *a kind of grass')
can be traced back to asparagus, from L sparagus. According to OED, in 1600 the
influence of herbalists and horticultural writers made asparagus familiar. The aphetic
form 'sparagus displaced the pre-existent E sperage, but was itself 'corrupted' by GPE
before 1650 to sparagrass and sparrow-grass. The latter term remained the common
name for Botanists' asparagus during the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth
century asparagus returned to common use, leaving sparrow-grass to the illiterate,
although the ellipsis grass still occurred in cookery books.
36
cf. Ar. C ^ M [?isfa:'na:x] or &*4 [?isfa:'nax] 'spinach' (cf. Wehr 1 9 9 4 : 2 0 b ) (cf. Ar. £
[sa'ba:nix] 'spinach'), which has been suggested to be the ultimate origin o f Intl spinach
(cf. Sp. espinaca), but note also L Hispanicum olus and F herbe d'Espaigne\ for
discussion, see OED and Corominas (1954: iv:822-3).
37
Mentioned inter alios by Anttila ( 1 9 8 9 : 9 2 ) .
• E woodchuck 'Marmota monax, ground hog', which first appeared in English in 1674
(OED), is a lay PSM of the Algonquian (Ojibwa) Indian name [ottjek] (cf. Cree
otchock, Mencken 1936: 105) - by association with wood (cf. Hock 1986: 203 and
Anttilal989:92).
• G Hdngematte 'hammock' (cf. Scholze-Stubenrecht and Sykes 1997: 362a; rare) <
1. F hamac 'hammock'.
2. G Hitnge- 'hanging, wall-' + Matte 'mat'.38
• G Felleisen 'knapsack' (cf. ibid.: 278a; currently obsolete) <
1. F valise 'suitcase' (as opposed to F sac 'bag').
2. G Fell 'fur' + Eisen 'iron'.39
• The successful Hun. elem ['elsm] 'element' (also 'battery, component') (cf. Orszagh
1982-5: 417b and Magay and Orszagh 1990: 205) derives from (i)Intl element, and
(ii) Hun. ele 'before' (Orszagh 1982-5:412b), 'stand in front of somebody' (Magay and
Orszagh 1990: 203) or the related Hun. eld 'what is in front/ahead' (Orszagh 1982-5:
460a, cf. Hagege 1986: 257), which is related to eleje 'fore-part,front-part,beginning'
(Orszagh 1982-5:415a) + the suffix -w.
The following are partial PSMs:

• Est. riistvara 'hardware', lit. 'tool property/fortune', as well as Est. tarkvara 'software',
lit. 'clever property, wise fortune' (cf. vara 'property, fortune') < E hardware and
software respectively. The word pair was coined c.1977 by Ustus Agur, a computing
specialist with a profound interest in linguistics, and one o f the pioneers in the
computational field in Estonia. 40
• E penthouse < Anglo-Norman *pentis (Ayto 1990: 389a) < OF apentis (cf. ConF
appendice) < L appendicium 'additional attached part' (> E appendix, sixteenth
century) (cf. McMahon 1994:184).
• German It. gentilmano 'gentleman', lit. 'gentle hand', a nativization of E gentleman, cf.
Stanlt. gentiluomo 'gentleman'.
• F dormeuse (the feminine form of F dormeur 'sleeper') was adapted in the fifteenth
century as E dormouse (pi: dormice).41 Compare this with the mtra-English adaptation
of OE titmase as E titmouse, its plural form being titmice*1 The mase of OE titmase had
nothing to do with mouse, and in fact the referent of E titmouse is not a rodent but a
bird. However, it is possible that the quick movements and small size o f this bird
induced the matching.
38
Mentioned by Baldinger (1973:247).
39
cf.Saddan(1955:40).
40
Raimo Raag (pc).
41
Note that there are no attestations for F dormeuse before the seventeenth century, although
according to OED, dormouse was introduced in English not later than 1575. The English
plural form dormouses is also evidenced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; cf.
sixteenth-century Du. slaep-ratte (cf. ConDu. slaap 'sleep', rat 'rat'), slaep-muys (cf.
ConDu. slaap 'sleep', muis 'mouse'). The current French word for 'dormouse' is F loir.
42
This example is mentioned in McMahon (1994:184).
1.2.5 The continuum between PMandPSM; semanticizedphonetic

matching (SPM); referent-SPM versus sense-SPM
PM and PSM are the main types of FEN. As mentioned above, the
difference is that in PM the TL material used in the neologization was
originally not semantically related to the SL lexical item, whereas in PSM
it was. Let us compare two lay creations which did not enter the spoken
language (both mentioned by Anttila 1989: 92-3): (i)E three beans
meaning 'very well', a FEN of F tres bien 'very well', was introduced by
American soldiers (I do not think that the positive connotation of beans as
in the expression He is full of beans 'He has lots of energy' played a role
here); (ii) E yellow wine was introduced by British tourists in Finland as a
FEN of Fin. jaloviina, referring to a (blended) Finnish brandy whose
colour is not yellow but rather brown, similar to the colour of cognac. Fin.
jaloviina literally means 'noble liquor', fromjalo 'noble' + viina 'liquor'
(cf. viini 'wine'), and is nowadays not as popular as it used to be after the
Second World War. While yellow wine could be referred to as a PSM,
three beans is a PM tout court.
However, the difference between PM and PSM does not form a
discrete system but rather a continuum. In other words, many PSMs could
well be regarded as semanticized PMs (henceforth SPMs), that is PMs
rationalized semantically only after the neologizer had chosen the TL
nativizing material that is phonetically similar to the SL lexical item. The
semanticization might be weak, but it is crucially important to distinguish
SPM from mere DOPE: while the semanticization in SPM occurs before
the neologism is released by the coiner, the rationalization in DOPE
occurs with hindsight (since the neologizer did not think of it).
Consider the Israeli MSN 73"W nidned 'bothered, pestered, chivvied
(m, sg)', which is a nativization of PY ISPTO nidyon 'bore, bother, nag' (cf.
§6.2.3). The TL material used in the nativization is RabH 1212 Andnd
'move'. When considering what the original sememe 'move' might have
to do with 'bother', one rationalization might be that when a person
constantly moves the body of another person (for instance, by shaking),
the person moved might be irritated, so bothering may be regarded as a
mental form of 'moving someone'. If one accepts that this explanation
existed in the neologizer's mind, then nidned 'bothered' can be
understood as a PSM. However, if one regards such an explanation
(including other possible semanticizations) as not more than a DOPE, 1212
nidned is a PM tout court, A total sceptic might even deny that this is a
PM, arguing that "HlJ nidned 'bothered' is a simple morphemic adaptation
(of PY nidyon) or a mere verbalization (of Y p^TO nudnik 'bore, pest' or
its descendant I p^Tfl nudnik 'id.'), which happens to be homonymic with

the independent and irrelevant RabH 7373 'indnd 'move'. I myself think
that the mere verbalization claim is groundless since if what happened
was an independent verbalization of nudnik, the expected form would
have been I *nidnek, not nidned. If the process were a mere morphemic
adaptation of PY nidyon, I nidned would have been theoretically
possible. But then again, the reduplication of two foreign 'radicals' (n.d.)
in morphemic adaptation is not a common form of borrowing. Moreover,
since 7373 nidned 'moved (m, sg)' was widespread when 7373 nidned
'bothered (m, sg)' entered the language, it is difficult to believe that the
former would have been overlooked.
To employ Frege's terms (1892), in most PSMs the nativization
material is semantically related to the referent (cf. Bedeutung) rather than
to the sense (Sinn) of the SL lexical item. Consider It. scarafaggio
[skara'fadcfô], lit. 'cockroach' and metaphorically 'dirty' (cf. the non-
related E scruffy),43 which was the phonetically similar translation of
Scarface (the title of a 1983 American film) by Italian Television's
Canale 5 (1995). One might hold that this is a PM, not a PSM. However,
since the meaning 'dirty' can be applied to the Scarface character,
I believe that semantics - via the referent (not via the sense) - played a
greater role here than in the PM Mayday.
Furthermore, I differentiate between the two main types of SPM:
referent-SPM and sense-SPM. Whilst in referent-SPM - which is more
widespread - the semanticization links the referent of the TL (or the co-
SL) lexical item to the SL word, in sense-SPM an attempt is made (by the
purist) to prove that the original TL (or co-SL) lexical item had a sense
related to the SL word. Whilst 7373 nidned is an example of a referent-
SPM, I rfri khavila 'villa' (§2.3) and Ivvm tsaatsua 'toy' (§6.2.1) are
examples of a sense-SPM. On SPM in general, see also toponymic MSNs
(§4.6) and MSNs in Chinese and Japanese (cf. §1.4.3).
1.3 Camouflaged borrowings: calquing versus 'phonetic calquing9
By 'camouflaged borrowing' I mean covert, invisible borrowing, which is

different from the case of classical guestwords, foreignisms and
loanwords, and in which the SL lexical item is replaced by semantically,
phonetically or phono-semantically related TL morphemes or lexemes.
43
cf. It. baco, lit. 'worm', which has been used (especially at the end of 1999) to refer to the
millennium bug, cf. il baco del millennio 'the millennium bug*. This is a PSM of E bug.
Compare this term with Gusmani's prestiti camuffati (1973: 83-94, cf.
prestiti apparenti\ a term employed by Orioles (1994) in his analysis of
Sovietisms in Italian, in which he also uses the term prestito mimetizzato.
The narrow meaning of 'camouflaged borrowing* contains intentionality,
often referring to a shrewd technique employed by purists, for example by
AHL. Most of the neologisms discussed in this book have been
introduced puristically and consciously by language planners. However,
others were created by common speakers. In order to include the latter
kind of neologisms, the term 'camouflaged borrowing' has to be used in a
broad sense, i.e. disguised/concealed borrowing.
Most importantly, camouflaged borrowings are MSNs and should not
be confused with loanwords whose etymon has been forgotten over time,
e.g. (Hebrew>)Israeli words whose Greek origin typically goes unnoticed,
such as (RabH»)I Oizn nimus 'politeness, manners' (cf. Gk v6|io<; nomos
'usage, custom, law') (cf. its secondary derivative 10B3D menumds
'polite'), (RabH»)lDM nands 'dwarf, midget' (cf. Gk vavoq ndnos
'dwarf), (MedH»)111BTD pizmon 'chanson, popular song, refrain' (cf.
MedH 'liturgical hymn') (from Aram. N&TD,fromGk y&kiiapsdlma 'tune
played on a stringed instrument, the sound of the harp, psalm'),
(RabH»)I rwrc nimd 'tone', cf. nWK JiOT nimd ishit 'personal touch' (cf.
RabH 'thread, (a) hair, filament, string') (cf. Gk vfllLia nema 'thread, yarn,
that which is spun') and (RabH»)I liuo signon 'style' (cf. Gk atyvov
signon 'statue', cf. L signum 'mark, token, sign, indication, standard,
image, figure'); many other examples are mentioned, inter alios, by
Aharoni (1935: 158-9) and Torczyner (1938, especially pp. 17-18).
The failure to recognize the foreignness of such words often occurs
because they are Wanderlehnworter, as opposed to Sachlehnworter, to
apply broadly Janicke's categorization of Russianisms in Romance
languages (1968), Wanderlehnworter are borrowings which wandered
across Europe. Being transferred between languages, they lost their
phonetic, grammatical and semantic foreignness, and were no longer
commonly regarded as lexical items denoting exotic things. Consider F
zibeline, It. zibellino and Sp. cebellina, all meaning 'sable' and deriving
from R co6ojib sobol\ F zibeline is considered by only a few native
speakers to be a 'Russian animal'. For most speakers, this word has lost
its direct link to Russia. Sachlehnworter, on the other hand, still have a
direct link to the foreign, exotic Russian world and refer to items which
are clearly regarded as outside the host culture. Consider F boyard, It.
boiar(d)o and Sp. boyardo (cf. E boyar(d)\ referring to 'a member of a
Russian aristocratic order (below 'ruling prince')', which is alien to the
history of those specific languages and derives from R SoapHH boydrin.
I identify two main categories of camouflaged borrowing, both of

which can be subdivided into four different lexicopoietic types (sememe-
word-ômpound-phrase):
Calquing (Lehntibersetzung):
1. calquing that introduces a new sememe ('Semantic Loan')
2. calquing that introduces a new word
3. calquing that introduces a new compound
4. calquing that introduces a new phrase
'Phonetic calquing' ( = M S N , i.e. P S M / S P M / P M ) :

1. phonetic calquing that introduces a new sememe ('MSN by Semantic Shifting*)
2. phonetic calquing that introduces a new word ('Creational MSN')
3. phonetic calquing that introduces a new compound ('Compound MSN')
4. phonetic calquing that introduces a new phrase ('Phrase MSN')
One might suggest that the term 'camouflaged borrowing' should also
include morphemic adaptation. In fact, some morphemic adaptations
conceal their alien etymon very successfully. Consider Irfrn bazelet
'basalt', the domestication of Intl basalt, cf. L basaltes, I bazelet 'basalt'
is considered by almost all native speakers to be of Hebrew pedigree, as
though it consisted of *7n Abzl fitted into the DaOeDet noun-pattern as in
the case of TWO shamenet (§4.4) 'cream' and ntf?p kaletet 'cassette'
(§3.2.1).44 However, the main morpheme in such neologisms (in this case,
the 'root' ^n ^bzl) is still foreign. This foreignness can be spotted by
skimming through a simple dictionary and finding out that, although
almost all Israeli dictionaries list roots as separate entries, the morpheme
{Vte/} does not exist independently as a separate entry.
The picture can become more complicated when a morphemic
adaptation undergoes secondary derivation, for instance verbalization (on
morphemic adaptations which are already verbs, see §2.1.3), the result
being that the 'imported root' (the root resulting from a reanalysis of the
loanword, i.e. it did not exist in the TL prior to the morphemic adaptation)
14
1 rbvs bazelet 'basalt' overrode the foreignismtf?T2bazalt 'basalt' (A4ES:148a), as well as
IWW2 bashanit (ibid.: 148,206), from BH )W2 [ba'Jan], a region rich in basalt located east
of Jordan (cf. Deuteronomy 42:14). Slouschz (1930:115) claims that the ultimate origin of
the European lexical items meaning 'basalt' (i.e. Intl basalt) is Semitic. Following him,
Klein (1987: 68b) says that L basaltes is a corruption of L basanites, cf. Gk Paoavltii?
X(8o<; basanites lithos 'the stone of Basan (BH ltta)' - cf. Gk p&cavo; bdsanos 'touchstone
(on which pure gold leaves a yellow streak)' (Liddell and Scott 1996: 309a). If this is true,
then n*?n bazelet 'basalt' and H irara bashanit are surface-cognates.
becomes an independent TL root which is indeed listed in a current

dictionary. This process occurred in the case of I JltznriB mivreshet 'brush
(n)\ a morphemic adaptation of Y w i * p barsht, cf. G Btirste, E brush
and F brosse\ cf. §8.4. The root urn jbrf, which derives from nunan
mivreshet, is currently fitted into several verb-patterns, most commonly
hiOOiO, cf. wnnn hivrish 'brushed (up) (m, sg)\ Consequently, one can
find HTO Vftr/in the dictionary. Furthermore, turning the etymological
truth upside down, some native Israeli-speakers I have studied found it
hard to believe that JWOB mivreshet 'brush (n)' is a borrowing, claiming
that it derived from W"On hivrish 'brushed (up) (m, sg)\ Indeed, there is
even a DOPE that n«na» mivreshet 'brush (n)' can be traced back to
(BH»)IU?na brosh 'cypress, Cupressus' because a brush resembles
cypress leaves. Thus, secondary derivatives might make it impossible to
spot a morphemic adaptation by consulting a simple dictionary (and
finding that the root of the lexical item at stake does not exist
independently). The solution, then, is to check a dictionary from the
period of the neologization. Whilst Una V&r/will not appear in such a
dictionary, the roots (or lexical items) in (quintessential) camouflaged
borrowing, namely calquing and PSM/SPM/PM, will.
Israeli abounds with caiques of Yiddish and English expressions,
especially caiques introducing a new phrase (see §1.3.4) and caiques
introducing a new sememe (i.e. semantic loans - see §1.3.1).
1.3.1 Caique introducing a new sememe (semantic loan)
I use the term semantic loan in the same way as Haugen (1950), for
whom semantic loan is different from caique introducing a new word/
compound/phrase, which is sometimes referred to by the generalized term
loan-translation or caique.45 The reason is that loan-translation always
involves the creation of a totally new lexical item or phrase (see §1.3.2-
1.3.4), whereas semantic loan involves only the adoption of a new
meaning for a pre-existent lexical item. Nir (1993: 22) follows the
dichotomy between 'semantic loan' and 'loan-translation', but replaces
the term semantic loan with loan shift. Thus, Nir interprets the term loan
shift differently from Haugen (1950: 215). Haugen's loan shift refers to
45
My proposed detailed lexicopoietic classification of calquing makes the restriction of the
term caique only to caiques introducing a new word/compound/phrase problematic since
the different between caique introducing a new sememe and caique introducing a new
word is not larger than the difference between caique introducing a new word and caique
introducing a new compound.
any 'morphemic substitution without importation' (op. cit.) and thus

includes both loan-translation and semantic loan. The table below
illustrates the process of semantic loan:
Table I
SL lexical item TL lexical item
Stage I signified 1 + signified 2 signified 1
Stage II signified 1 + signified 2 signified 1 + signified 2
Figure 5 (where C-S stands for 'caique introducing a new sememe')

clarifies the process further:
1 SLx'a,b' -»-»->-» TL ( +c. S )y'a,b' <r *-<r <r TLy'a' |
Figure 5
An example of semantic loan is E Lord, meaning 'God'. It covertly

translates L Dominus 'master of a house, lord, Lord' (see the Vulgata,
passim), a semantic loan of Gk tcbpioq kurios 'lord, master, Lord', which
is itself a semantic loan of BH 'JIN [?8do'n&j] 'lord, Lord'.46 Similarly, si
magna licet componere parvis, MasH "DDy 'rat' (cf. BH mas [Tak'bar])
acquired the meaning 'muscle' because of L musculus 'muscle',
diminutive of mus 'rat'. I Toy akhbdr 'mouse', on the other hand,
acquired the meaning 'computer mouse' owing to E mouse. 13O1D kokhdv
'star', R 3Be3fla zvezdd 'id.', P gwiazda 'id.' and Fin. tfthti 'id.' acquired
the sememe '(pop/film)-star' owing to E star. I "inK atdr 'site' and It. sito
'id.' acquired the sememe 'website' owing to E site. It. salvare 'save' (as
in Jesus saves, not as in Jesus saves, Moses invests) acquired the sememe
'save (a file/document)' owing to E save (mentioned by Orioles 1994:
671). MSCftKbing, lit. 'ice', currently also refers to the drug Ice.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, anti-Semitism in Eastern
Europe prompted many (Yiddish-speaking) Jews to emigrate to the
United States of America. Between 1877 and 1917 approximately
2,500,000 Jews arrived in America, joining a small Jewish population,
which in 1870 had been only 250,000 strong (cf. Steinmatz 1986: 16).
Yiddish soon became subject to intimate borrowing, a form of borrowing
46
Gk Ktipiog kurios also translates the ineffable Tetragrammaton BH mrr originally [jahwe],
s
traditionally
ay vocalized [[jaho'wa]
j ] ((adopting
p g the vocalization of a7K [TSdo'naj]
[ j ] *Lord')) or
[ j h ' i ] (adopting
[jeho'wi] ( d i h vocalization
the lii off tfrftx
ft 'God').
Gd h BH m:r 'Jehovah* is
Note that
usually read by Jews as [?&do'naj].
which occurs in the case of bilingual speakers (in this case Yiddish-
English) living among monolinguals (English-speakers). As Bloomfield
(1933: 461) states, it 'occurs when two languages are spoken in what is
topographically and politically a single community'. Intimate borrowing
is distinguished from the more common cultural borrowing, which results
from casual contact through reading, travel and trade (cf. ibid, and
Steinmatz 1986: 1). The lexical interference between English and Yiddish
has been both widespread and reciprocal.47 One form of concealed
borrowing from American to Yiddish is calquing which introduces a new
sememe. Thus, Y î? loyfy 'run' gained in American Yiddish the
sememe 'be a candidate', modelled on E run (for), and Y 1"} geyn 'go
(on foot)' extended its meaning to refer to 'travel', following E go.
Many semantic loans in Israeli stemmed from Yiddish (as well as
Russian and Polish), mostly during the first half of the twentieth century.
Consider I JIB met 'dying, dead', which refers to 'dying to, craving for' as
in I lniK WXh JIB 'JK ani met lifgosh otd 'I am dying to meet him',
calquing Y mxow shtarb 'dying + dying to' (cf. lttPS m g w yx ikh shtarb
pishq 'I am dying to piss'), as well as R yMHpaio umirdyu 'id.' (cf. R
YMHpaio, xony ero BHfleTb umirayu, khochu ego videt' 'lam dying to
meet him'). I "WQ boer 'burning' refers also to 'urgent' influenced by Y
035713 OJJ es brent, p'TOJyna brenondik 'burning + urgent' (cf. Y X PN OS?
l'ay "lypnayasna s'iz a brenondikor inyon 'It's an urgent matter') and R
ropHT gorit 'id.' (cf. R He ropirr ne gorit 'It's not urgent', lit. 'It's not
burning, It doesn't burn'). The use of I "DD kvar stems from Y pw shoyn,
cf. I "OD TIT zuz kvar and Y yvi? ™a gey shoyn, both meaning literally 'go
already' and in practice 'Get a move on!', cf. 'Shake a leg!'
I pD7 dafak 'knocked, beat (m, sg)' currently also refers to 'fucked,
screwed, shagged', calquing R TpaxaTb trdkhat' 'knock violently + fuck'
and P stukac 'clatter, knock + fUck' (the latter also means 'swot, swat',
and currently in Polish slang 'kill', cf. stuknqc 'kill'). Later on, I p97
dafak ('fucked') might have come to be more widely used because of its
phonetic similarity to E/wcfc.48
As observable above - and in accordance with the important
47
Some forms of this borrowing are described by Mencken (1936 originally 1919; 1945;
1948; 1977), Weinreich (1963), Feinsilver (1970), Rosten (1971) and Samuel (1971).
48
This phonetically-motivated increase in use occurred also with ( R a b H » ) I QIDO skhum
'total*. Saddan ( 1 9 5 5 : 4 0 ) suggests that skhum overrode ( R a b H » ) I "]0 sakh 'total' because
of L summa or G Summe 'sum* - cf. R cyMMa summa 'sum total*. The exclusively Israeli
sememe of skhum, 'arithmetical sum*, may have been induced by E sum. For many other
examples o f use-intensification due to phonetic similarity, see Zuckermann (2000, esp.
313-17).
Congruence Principle (§1.4.1.3) - the influence of Yiddish was often

accompanied by that of Russian and Polish. As demonstrated by
Zuckermann (1999a), lexical items borrowed (and in this case
specifically, calqued) from Yiddish were often the ones which existed
simultaneously in Russian and Polish, cf. Even-Zohar (1982: 12-13). That
said, combined influence did not always occur. For example, the
following caiques were definitely influenced more by Yiddish than by
Russian or Polish: IWN1 3*O keev rosh, usually accented keev rosh,
'headache' refers also to 'imposition, undesired task, bother', calquing Y
pWtt 9Kp kop veytik - compare this with R rojiOBHaa 6ojib golovndya
bol\ lit. 'head (adj.) pain'. I *ynttf saruf 'burnt (from fire)' refers also to
'devout, fanatic', for example I THttf p^mD^ likudnik saruf 'a great
supporter of the Likud party', the reason being Y mmy\X*)farbrent 'burnt
+ devout', cf. Y p^TO1^ "iranrmS K a farbrentor likudnik 'id.' -
compare this with R ruiaMeHHbift KOMMyHHCT pldmennyt kommunlst
'flaming (devout) communist', P zapalony 'lit + devout/zealous', and R
ropHHHfi gorydchii 'hot + devout' (cf. R yropejiwfi ugorelyt 'hot + mad').
1.3.2 Caique introducing a new word
Of the four lexicopoietic types of calquing, this is the least frequent. A

quintessential example of such a neologism is rttDN ofiid 'fashion', coined
in 1904 by Hemda Ben-Yehuda (1873-1951), the second wife of the
'father of Israeli', Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. I TttDN ofiid was modelled upon
Intl moda 'fashion' - cf. I miD moda, Y Vim modo, R MOfla moda, G
Mode and P moda.49 More specifically, it was an etymological calquing
coinage based on (H>)I ]DN ofen 'mode' imitating the etymon of Intl moda
'fashion', cf. L modus 'mode', as well as the [a] at its end. Compare this
with the SPM I n r o midd 'fashion' (§5.3.3). Figure 6 illustrates this
process (C-W stands for 'caique introducing a new word'):
1 SL x 'a' - > - > - > - > TL(+C-w) {y}+{z} 'a' <-<r <r *- TL {y} 'b' |
y is a lexical morpheme (root)

b is related to a
z is a grammatical morpheme (e.g. noun-pattern)
{y}+{z} is one word
Figure 6
49
Mentioned in MBY(i:353a), and Saddan (1955: 36-7).
Sometimes calquing links two SL homonyms even when they are

etymologically unrelated. Consider Y itfrx glaykh 'similar to, like',
which acquired in American Yiddish the form p?*tt glaykh# 'to like'
owing to the homonymity between E like (adj.) 'having the same
characteristics as, similar to' and the etymologically distinct E like (verb)
'be fond of, derive pleasure from'.50 On I ]TO agurdn 'crane (for
lifting)', another caique introducing a new lexeme, see §3.1.5.
1.3.3 Caique introducing a new compound
In this book, 'compound' refers to compound-word, 'a lexical complex

which is semantically simplex' (cf. Cruse 1986: 37), a combination of
words which is conceived of en bloc, a (usually nominal) bound
collocation (cf. Nir 1993: 95-105), cf. 'polysynthesis'. Note that
compounds are included in my use of the term 'lexical item' - cf. §3.2.4.
Compound caiques are very common in German, cf. G Fernsehen
'television', lit. 'far vision', imitating the etymology of Intl television, G
Sauerstoff 'oxygen', lit. 'acid substance', trying to imitate F oxygene
(Lavoisier's original term, proposed in 1777, was principe oxygine,
'acidifying principle', cf. principe acidifiant, OED). A caique where
German is the SL is E superman, cf. G Obermensch. One might consider
these examples as words tout court rather than compounds. Indeed, many
of the compounds of yesterday are the simple words of today, and many
of the lexical items which we regard today as compounds will eventually
become simple words, so that the compounding will only be spotted by
etymologists. Consider the current tendency, especially in the United
States, to rid compounds of hyphens.51 This orthographic 'loss' might
seem minor at first but it could precipitate the total abolition of the
transparency of compounds. Furthermore, E power politics, which
currently looks like a compound, caiques G Machtpolitik, which
orthographically at least is not a compound. Similarly, I D'Yr ]l gan
yeladim 'kindergarten', lit. 'garden of children', is a compound calquing
50
E like (adj.) 'having the same characteristics as' derives from Early M o d E lich, lik, a
shortened form of OE gdlc, cf. OHG gilih, MHG gellch, ModG gleich. However, E like
(verb) *be fond o f derives from OE lician, cf. OHG lihhen, lichen, which goes back to
OTeutonic *ffluejan, *likojan, from *liko- 'body* (cf. OED).
51
The hyphen is sometimes omitted even in cases of ambiguity; for instance some spell the
chemical terms per-iodic (e.g. for H5IO6, an acid containing a larger proportion o f oxygen
than iodic acid) and un-ionized (not ionized) without the hyphen, which result in confusion
with periodic (<period) and unionized (<union) respectively. Compare this with resolve
versus re-solve, G ubersetzen 'translate* versus ubersetzen 'ferry over, cross (over)' etc.
G Kindergarten. Figure 7 illustrates calquing which results in a new

compound (C-C):
SLx+w'a+b' - > - > - > TL^c-qy+z'a+b* <r <r <- TLy'a',z'b'
Figure 7
Such compounding is very common in Chinese. MSC $i#jj regdu

'hotdog' etymologically caiques E hotdog (3ft re 'hot' + $) gdu 'dog').52
In this case, the calquer paid attention to the sense rather than the referent
- cf. the important distinction between sense-SPM and referent-SPM in
§1.2.5. Similarly, cocktail entered MSC as T&MM jiw&jiu, lit. 'chicken
tail alcohol'. 53 However, most Chinese caiques are not merely
etymological. MSC M$c Idnqiu 'basketball' consists of i l Ian 'basket'
and £|c qiu 'ball'. Interestingly, while tennis was nativized in MSC as pw|
$c wingqii, lit. 'net-ball', E netball could only enter MSC as H^SS^c
yingshildnqiti, lit. 'English-style basketball', constituting a secondary
derivative of the caique MSC WM Idnqiu 'basketball' - cf. (Singapore)
Mandarin ^ M $ c ndzttdnqiu 'netball', lit. 'ladies' basketball'.
1.3.4 Caique introducing a new phrase
There are dozens of Israeli expressions which translate a foreign phrase

item by item. Initially, the most common SL of Israeli was Yiddish.
Consider Colloql twin *?D *?y m r a meshugd al hoi harosh, lit. 'mad on
the whole head', which refers to a crazy person, 'soft in the head'. This is
a translation of the Yiddish idiom 9Kp png* l^W mw& moshugo dfy
gdntsi} kop 'id.', Y Jftiwa moshugo being traceable to (B)HXWWB
[mdjuglg&?] 'mad' (cf. Hosea 9:7). Colloql w i n *7D *?y nwn meshugd al
kol harosh is widely used, perhaps less than I WN""Q piD"? dqfiik barosh, lit.
'knocked in the head'. OEHD elegantly and amusingly mentions this
calquing in the beautiful and fairly faithful definition for he's as mad as a
hatter. Compare this with ColloqP chory na glowq, lit. 'sick on the head',
52
cf. chiens chauds, spotted in vendors' signs in Canada in 1964 (Raphael Loewe pc).
53
cf. the S P M m$&fa M S C m&tvnU lit. *horse+kick+you', referring to Intl martini - perhaps
due to the effects of consuming such a potent alcoholic beverage. Ramsey (1989: 60)
attributes this MSN to the prominent twentieth-century Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao
(Yuanren ZHAO). However, this SPM did not gain much currency and the native Chinese-
speakers whom I have interviewed use the plain phonetic adaptation MSC Q%RL mdtini
(cf. CA/:2031),lit. ôrse+pointout+Buddhistnun'.
meaning 'crazy' (not too insulting, cf. P upasc na gtowq, lit. 'to fall on the
head', meaning 'to be crazy'), cf. ColloqP chory, lit. 'sick', meaning
'mad'. Consider also ColloqR SojibHoft Ha rojiOBy boVnolna golovu, lit.
'sick on the head', meaning 'crazy'. Figure 8 illustrates calquing which
introduces a new phrase (C-P):
SLx+w...'c' - > - » - > TL(+C-p)y+z...'c' <r<r*- TLy'a',z'b'...

c is idiomatic and consists of a+b...
Figure 8
The above process is unique in that the SL expression (Y }Xm

9Kp moshiigo dfy gantsi} kop) contains one word (Y Viwn moshugo 'mad')
which can be traced to the TL (H 3ftlW& [maJug'gS?] 'mad'), the latter
being the same lexical item used in the Israeli caique W*nn *?D *?$ m a
meshugd al kol harosh. Similar cases are I mSJtt 'f? t!T yesh lekhd/lakh
taut, lit. 'You have a mistake', i.e. 'You are wrong', a caique of Y 8 DOKH
msttfl host a toos 'id.'; as well as I m»n m ttrt levalbel et hamoakh, lit.
'to mix up the brain', i.e. 'to bother, to annoy someone by talking',
traceable to Y m» o n ftn duty dom moyokh 'id.', cf. Colloql man m ]»ft
lezayen et hamoakh, lit. 'to fuck the brain', i.e. 'to say false/stupid things
that irritate the listener', from the vulgar ColloqR efiaTb MO3ra ebdt'
mozgi, lit. 'to flick the brain', i.e. 'to say false/stupid things that irritate
the listener', cf. nyapnTb MO3rvipudrit' mozgit lit. 'to powder the brain'.
While it seems that in these three cases the SL is definitely Yiddish
because Israeli uses the very same Hebrew lexical item used by Yiddish,
one of the generalizations which can be made from my lists (which
include dozens of examples of such idiomatic calquing) is that many
Yiddish expressions calqued were those which also existed in Russian
and Polish - see §1.3.1. This corresponds with the Congruence Principle.
Thus, I viwn na ma nishmd (often pronounced ma nishma). The literal
meaning of this phrase is 'What does one hear? / What is heard?',
although some native Israeli-speakers understand it as the homophonous
'What shall we hear?'. At any rate, the meaning of ma nishmd is 'How are
you?' or 'What is new?'. Y y\ Oiyn OKI! vos hert zikh (usually
pronounced vosertsokh\ lit. 'What does one hear?', played a role here.
Consider also R HTO CJIMUIHO chto slyshno and P Co stychac, both
meaning literally 'What [is] heard?', referring to 'How are you?' /
'What's up?'. Similarly, iTpn *?N 13"? daber el hakir, lit. 'talk to the
wall!', meaning 'talk to a brick wall, talk to yourself (i.e. 'get no
response'), is an imitation of Ytown15H IX i n red tsu dor vant 'id.', cf. R

roBopHTb co CTeHoft govorit' so stendf 'id.' and P mowid do Sciany 'id.'.
Currently, the most common SL for such Israeli calquing is American,
which even seems to have influenced Yiddish. Thus, Y pvi N pKB mdkhq
a leb%, lit. 'to make a life/living', might be a calquing (in this case
introducing a new phrase) of E make a living. On the other hand, I nifcw1?
D"n laasot khaim, lit. 'to make life', means 'to enjoy, to live it up'.
However, the centre of this book is not calquing, which has already been
largely analysed in the scholarly literature. Rather, it is MSN, which is
often a phonetically based form of camouflaged borrowing. I shall discuss
the lexicopoietic classification of MSN in §3.
1.3.5 Calquing versus rephonologization versus graphic borrowing
I nnn tdkhat 'below' currently refers to 'bottom, butt' (cf. E tush and
tochus), calquing Y nnn tokhos (cf. PY tukhos\ which can be traced back
to H nnn ['tahat] 'below' (and some claim also 'bottom'). The semantic
shift occurred in Yiddish, most probably induced by Western Yiddish
lexical items which had both meanings 'below' and 'bottom, butt', cf.
Eastern Y ltttix unty 'below; bottom, butt' (cf. Y pra hinty 'behind;
bottom, butt'), E bottom (documented 1794, OED\ E behind, G Hintern
'behind, backside; bottom, butt', R 3aa zad [zat] 'back; buttocks,
backside', and P tytek 'buttocks' (<P tyl 'back' + ek, a diminutive suffix,
thus meaning 'little back', cf. P piesek,psek 'little dog', from pies 'dog',
cf. Old Church Slavonic ptsb 'dog'). Therefore, the addition of the
sememe in Israeli should be regarded as a caique from Yiddish. Figure 9
illustrates this process:
Israeli nnn tdkhat

f'bum, buttocks* (also 'under')
Hebrew nnn ['taliat] fr Yiddish nnn PY tiikhos

'under' ('bottom') ^(LithY tdkhos) 'bottom, bum'
Figure 9
Note that Israelis are not aware that Yiddish played a role, the camouflage
thus being complete.
An alternative analysis of this process is to define it as

rephonologization. Thus, PY tukhos has been rephonologized in Israeli as
takhat\ as much as the Hebraism in Yiddish vn& m6yw} 'expert,
connoisseur' is rephonologized in Israeli as mevin, and so forth.
But there is an additional possible approach: graphic borrowing.
Israeli, which uses Hebrew orthography, might have graphically borrowed
nnn from Yiddish, the latter using the very same Hebrew letters. Although
this specific case involves a colloquialism, which weakens an
orthography-based approach, in other cases such an analysis could reflect
reality. This process closely resembles the mechanism by which Chinese
borrows a word from Japanese written in kanji (Chinese characters used
in Japanese). The Chinese word then usually ends up being perceived as a
coinage within Chinese, rather than as a loanword from Japanese. Gao
(1984: 862) has estimated that MSC lexicon includes 850 graphic loans
from Japanese, some of which are 'returned loans' (cf. Masini 1993: 147)
or bounced borrowings. An important discussion of graphic borrowing in
Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese can be found in Zuckermann (2000:
272-7). Let me give here only one illustration.
(E)Intl club was transformed into Japanese as kurabu9 written either in
katakana 9 7 ~? or in kanji {H^&R, the latter appearing in the signs for
golf clubs. J kurabu consists of SJ ku 'together', SJ ra(ku) 'enjoy' and SJ
bu 'unit, section', hence its meaning of 'a unit where people enjoy
together' (cf. Kindaichi et al. 1975: vi:631). J ft ^§|5 kurabu was
borrowed by Modern Chinese as {R % «[$ julebu (pronounced julebu)
(CED: 1410, Jin 1983: 65, Ramsey 1989: 60, KOsaka 1994: 1658), using
the same characters {ft MSC jii (i.e. ju) 'all, complete; altogether', tfk
MSC le 'happy, cheerful, enjoy, be amused' (note that this character used
in MSC is a simplified version of the original Chinese character and thus
differs from the Japanese kanji), and BP MSC bu 'unit, part, section'. This
apparently Chinese form leads the native Chinese-speaker to believe that
the word is Chinese through-and-through (see Figure 10).
J kurabu demonstrates two important points: (i) There was a Japanese
attempt to nativize Western concepts; (ii) The use of Chinese characters
in Japanese, Korean and Chinese, as well as in Vietnamese until 1975, has
facilitated mutual influence between these languages. Consider
Vietnamese ^^ khoa hgc 'science' (Dao and Han 1957: 460), lit.
'branches of learning', based on SJ ^^ kagaku 'science'. This inter-
borrowing is widespread in the case of scientific and technological terms,
many of which are caiques or new creations based on meaning, which
might contradict Purcell's belief (1936) that most of the Chinese
vocabulary for Western technology is phonetic.
Japanese Sino-Japanese (kanji)
kurabu ft ku 'together' +
'club* ^ ra(ku) 'happy'+
kurabu gfl bit 'unit, section'
'club', written in
katakand)
Chinese (c. 7th century AD)
ft 'all, complete' +
;& 'happy, enjoy' +
Sfl 'unit, section'
MSC
ftyft (pronounced as/ft) 'all,
complete' +
% te 'happy, glad, enjoy' +
Figure 10 M bit 'unit, part, section,
division'
While MSC jUldbu *club' is a graphic loan from Japanese, its

origin, J kurabu, is an MSN, which leads to the next section.
1.4 Lexical conflation (LC) versus folk-etymological nativization (FEN)
1.4.1 Congruence
1.4.1.1 LC and FEN - two types of MSN
It might at first sight appear that the title of this book could have been
'Camouflaged Borrowing'. Whilst most Israeli MSNs are camouflaged
borrowings in the traditional sense (i.e. there is only one SL, the
camouflage resulting from using pre-existent TL material), some can be
considered a 'double borrowing'. Consider IrnDlp karpadd 'toad'
(§3.1.1), a creational MSN based on both F crapaud [kRa'po] 'toad' and
Aram. '•KTDilp [qurpadaj], an unknown kind of animal. In my view, Aram.
îDiip was not a part of the Israeli lexis when niDlp karpadd was coined,
and native speakers could not be aware of it. In other words, Aram,
[qurpadaj] was a borrowed item too. Therefore, HTDip karpadd
cannot be regarded as MSN of the FEN type because the latter - like
calquing - ipso facto involves the use of familiar, known TL material.
Despite sharing the same orthography, Aramaic is not the TL (Israeli).
Aramaic
[qorpodaj]
an unknown kind of
animal
Figure 11
Whilst the PSM by semantic shifting 1mm dibuv 'dubbing' (see §6.4) is
an MSN of the FEN type (since it uses the known, pre-existent a m
'inducing (someone) to speak; speech'), karpadd 'toad' is an MSN of the
lexical conflation (henceforth, LC) type. LC is especially common in the
case of puristic creational MSN - definitely when the nativizing material
is Aramaic or Arabic, since they are not the TL and thus the [SL >
TL(+MSN) < TL] description (as in §1.2.3-§ 1.2.5) is inapplicable.
Furthermore, LC can also occur when the 'nativizing material' is Hebrew.
The reason is that Israeli purists often recycled obsolete lexical items
which were not part of the Israeli lexis at the time of the neologization -
cf. §2.3. Temporally, LC - as opposed to FEN - was common in the
formational years of Israeli, i.e. when it was being based on several
primary and secondary contributors, Hebrew being one of them - before it
was a spoken language acting as TL proper.
Thus, MSN should be divided into two main types: FEN and LC.
Both can be further analysed - from a semantic point of view - into PSM/
SPM/PM because matching can refer to both matching between SL and
TL material and matching between materials of two distinct SLs. The
following figures illustrate the difference between FEN and LC:
Folk-etymological nativization (FEN)
SL x 'a' ->->->-> TL(+FEN)y' 'a h <- <r <r <- TL y ' b ' ~ |
y' is based on y
a1 is based on a
Figure 12
Lexical conflation (LC)
1
i x 'a' -» -> -> -> TL^LO y 'a" f f f f SL2 y V
y1 is based on y (as well as on x)
a1 is based on a (as well as on b)
Figure 13
As we shall see throughout this book, both FEN and LC are widespread in
Israeli. However, it is often hard to distinguish between them, and, in fact
- since both belong anyway to the hitherto neglected phenomenon of
MSN - distinguishing between them is not a priority of this book.
However, my research has found out that - typologically - whereas the
quintessential FEN-producers are languages using phono-logographic
script (such as Mandarin and Cantonese), languages which are most prone
to LC are pidgins and Creoles (e.g. Tok Pisin and Jamaican Creole).
1.4.1.2 Synchronic intra-linguality of morphological hybrids and some MSNs
On the other hand, some MSNs discussed in this book can be considered
neither single borrowing nor double borrowing but rather intra-lingual
MSNs. I am referring to some cases of FENs in which the nativizing
material is familiar and known at the time of the neologization (hence my
use of FEN) and the lexical item matched is an internationalism or a
foreignism which has already become a part of the Israeli language. The
jocular rrn m Vr»K ilu ze haya, lit. 'if it was' (had it really been so),
referring to 'illusion' (see §3.2.4), is based on (Intl>)I rrnVN iluzya,
which is was integral part of the Israeli language at the time of the FEN.
Thus, it can be compared to intra-lingual MSNs such as I JiDJP yaefet 'jet-
lag' (§3.2.1), based on (BH>)I sw ^jip - a secondary root to both D>y
V#/7 'be tired' and DW V%? 'fly' - fitted into the DaOeOet noun-pattern
(cf. §3.2.1). In other words, ilu ze haya and some other FENs can be
considered internal sources of lexical enrichment.
Importantly, I believe that Intl mV7(i)- -(o)logya already was part of
Israeli when I rnf?lDin khupologya was coined, and thus it should not be
regarded as a cross-lingual neologism but rather as an intra-Israeli one.
More generally, despite what many linguists think, the so-called
'morphological hybrids' are actually not cross-lingual. The -nih in E
beatnik is not from Russian ~nik but rather from E sputnik, which in turn
is a loanword from Russian. As Weinreich (1963: 31) noted, E -ette has

been 'extracted' from pre-existent pairs such as cigar-cigarette. In other
words, affixes are not borrowable. The naturalization of sputnik (and the
consequent E -nik) might be compared to the naturalization of Ar. ±A&
[ki'ta.b] 'book' as Swa. kitabu (and consequently vitabu 'books' - cf.
§1.2.1). In both cases the loanword has become an integral part of the
lexis and of the so-called morphology.
An enthusiastic supporter of the view that affixes are unborrowable is
Singh (cf. 2001). Whilst Singh might agree that E -ette is not borrowed
from French, he would probably disagree with using the term extraction
(of -ette from cigarette). According to what I would define as his 'anti-
morphological' view, affixes are unborrowable because they do not, in
fact, exist outside mere 'Word Formation Strategies' (WFSs) - see Ford
and Singh (1991), as well as Ford, Singh and Martohardjono (1997). This
claim challenges Muysken (1992), who attempts to provide evidence in
support of the existence of what Vennemann (1974) calls 'Second
Lexicon', i.e. the 'wharehouse where (neo-)Paninians believe affixes are
stored' (cf. Singh 2001: 358). For Singh, affixes are meta-linguistic and
do not exist in language itself- neither in the so-called 'Second Lexicon'
nor in the 'First Lexicon'. For Neuvel and Singh (2001), morphology is
not about affixes but rather about differences that are systematically
exploited to enrich the lexical stock of a language.
Let me provide my own Singaporean example which might lionize
what Singh et al. are trying to prove. SingE chiminology (also
cheeminology54) means 'something intellectually bombastic, profound
and difficult to understand'.55 If we try to analyse chiminology in the
traditional way, it derives from Hokkien*Mchim 'deep' and the suffix -
inology. Obviously, traditionally speaking, this suffix exists neither in
English nor in Singlish. However, if one considers the pairs
crime<r+criminology and term<-*terminology9 one ends up with the
X+->Xinology pattern (this is my own simplified pattern - for a detailed
general pattern, see Singh 2001: 350). Note that Latin or Italian - which
could obviously explain -inology diachronically or etymologically - are
not languages commonly known to Singaporeans. Thus, the synchronic
54
Note that Singaporeans - like Israelis - do not distinguish between [i] and [i:], thus
apropos the existence of jokes based on beach-bitch, sheet-shit and so forth.
55
Consider SingE Ooi! Wat you say I dun understand lah, stop using chiminology can or
not! A further example: We all must now be very kiasu and start piahing for exams,
because got a lot of cheeminology we need to learn, so cannot depend on agaration. No
paktologyfor a while tahanable, lah. Just remember that must write more cheem angmor.
explanation, that the X++Xinology pattern gave rise to SingE chiminology,

is to be preferred. What remains to explain are the conditions for
'choosing' -inology as opposed to -ology, for example. One could argue
that the monosyllabism of chim, as well as the nasality of its last
consonant, induces such an analogical choice (but cf. gemology or
gemmology). In the case of chiminology, Singh's system is far more
elegant than the traditional morphological system.
All that said, the Israeli-speaker is aware of the certain foreignness of
(Intl>)I miÔ)- -(o)logya. Thus, from a Selbstgefiihl point of view - in
the estimation of the speakers themselves - this is a hybrid. Similarly, to
come back to MSN, although mV^K iluzya 'illusion' is an integral part of
Israeli, native Israeli-speakers are aware of its foreign origins. Thus, it
should be distinguished fromyaefet 'jet-lag' and so forth.
1.4.1.3 The Congruence Principle
THE CONGRUENCE PRINCIPLE
If a similar item exists in more than one contributor - whether primary

or secondary (including the TL) - it is more likely to persist in the TL.
Calquing has already provided demonstrations of this principle, which is

equally important in the case of internationalisms. The Congruence
Principle (cf. 'convergence' in Thomason and Kaufman 1988) is
applicable to grammar too (§1.4.2.2). However, since this book deals with
lexis, the 'similar items' it discusses are lexical items. More specifically,
this book focuses on phono-semantic similarity (although, this principle
also applies to semantic similarity alone). Thus, 'it is more likely to
persist in the TL' refers to two main processes: FEN and LC.
1.4.2 The quintessential LC-producers: pidgins and Creoles
Whinnom (1971: 106) suggests that the formation of a pidgin always

involves a target language and two or more substratum languages. This is
fertile ground for what Kihm (1989: 352) and MiihMusler (1985: 181)
call lexical conflation. The term 'conflation', referring to a 'meaning-in-
form relation', was used by Talmy (1972; 1985: 60). Miihlhausler also
mentions multiple origin of lexical material (1982: 101-7) and lexical
hybridization (1985: 181-7). Le Page (1974: 49) argues that 'coincidence
of form with some similarity of meaning between items from two codes
will mean that such items will have a high probability of survival in the
emergent pidgin code' whilst Bateson (1944: 138) provides the example
of TP liklik, from E little and Rabaul ikilik.56 Other possible terms for this
phenomenon include 'convergence' and '(etymological) blend'. However,
both terms also refer to many other linguistic phenomena, and are
therefore not particularly useful. Relevant discussions can be found in
Valkhoff (1966: 223-640) and Cassidy (1966).
Consider Jamaican Creole, one of the English Creoles in the Caribbean
Islands, which - like the Leeward Island Creole and Barbadian Creole - is
based on both English and west African languages.57 Le Page (1974: 49)
mentions the word dati 'dirty, mud' in 'some pidgin fore-runner of
Jamaican Creole' (sic). This is an LC of E dirty and Twi ddte 'soil, mud'
(the latter also being used in Jamaican Creole, cf. dutty, ddti, dorty 'earth,
excrement', cf. Cassidy and Le Page 1980: 166).
Jamaican Creole Twi

ddti
'dirty, mud' •soil, mud'
Figure 14
Discussing Lingua Franca (the communicative language formed of a
Romance lexis that arose in the Middle Ages between Romans and Arabs
and subsequently Turks), Schuchardt (1909: 446) suggests that many
terms give the impression that they were introduced due to a phonetic
similarity between Arabic lexical items and their (loosely) corresponding
Romance forms, e.g. [kajana] (cf. Ar. ^j* [xi'za:na] 'cupboard, closet'
versus (It.) cassa 'crate') and [mareja] (cf. Ar. *4j* [mi'raya] 'looking
glass, mirror' versus Southern F miralh, mirai, cf. F miroir 'mirror').
1.4.2.1 LCinTokPisin
Tok Pisin is an English-based Creole of Papua New Guinea, other terms

being Neo-Melanesian, Melanesian Pidgin and New Guinea Pidgin.
Traditional lexical classifications suggest that 79 per cent of Tok Pisin
lexis is of English descent, 11 per cent - Tolai, 6 per cent - other New
Guinea languages, 3 per cent - German and 1 per cent - Malay (Salisbury
1967: 46, cf. Laycock 1970: 5). However, as Mttlhausler (1985: 179;
56
cf. Polynesian sources such as Hawaiian li'ili'i 'small'; Rabaul is a Papuan language.
57
For discussion, see, for example, Taylor (1977) and Allsop (1996).
1982: 101) notes, some 25 per cent of the lexis of Tok Pisin in its
formative years consisted of shared lexical items. He later argues that up
to 50 per cent of the Tok Pisin lexis can be traced to more than one
language (1986: 2). Consider the following example:
• TP bel (and its variant bele) 'belly, stomach, seat of emotions' (Mtihlhausler 1982:
101-2; 1985: 180)<
1. Superstratum: E belly.
2. Substratum: Tolai bala 'stomach, seat of emotion'.
Mihalic (1971) and Steinbauer (1969) only mention the English origin of
TP bel However, the fact that other possible signifiers for 'stomach' were
left behind, i.e. tummy or tumtum, strengthens the explanation by MSN
(cf. Miihlhausler 1982: 118). In this case then, as in many others, LC
dictates which form will survive.
In the following examples Nevermann (1929: 253-4) also suggests a
uni-sourced etymology. However, unlike Mihalic and Steinbauer,
Nevermann regards the English superstratum (which is phonetically
similar to the substratum lexical item) as unrelated to the neologization.
• TP/?ns/'cat'<
1. Superstratum: E pussy.
2. Substratum: Samoan pusi 'cat'.
• TP marilmeri 'woman' <
1. Superstratum: E Mary or E married.
2. Substratum: Tolai mari 'to love' or mdri 'pretty, beautiful'.
Consider also:
• TP blut, buluty bulit 'sap, glue, blood' <
1. Superstratum: E blood, G Blut 'id.'.
2. Substratum: Tolai bulit 'sap of certain trees, glue, blood'.
3. Substrata: Mioko bulit 'sap', Molot bulit 'sap' (cf. MUhlhSusler 1982:103,106).
• TP liklik 'small' <
1. Superstratum: E little.
2. Substratum: (Papuan) Rabaul tidlik 'small' (Bateson 1944: 138, Miihlhausler
1985: 183).
3. Substratum: Polynesian, e.g. Hawaiian li'ili'i 'small'.
As Wood argued in 1972, 'the methods of classical etymology [...] are

not directly applicable to non-conventional languages such as Creoles' (cf.
Edwards 1974: 5, Miihlhausler 1985: 177; 1979).
1.4.2.2 Grammatical LC
A coincidental similarity between an item of the matrilect (the

superstratum) and an item of the substratum language(s) can also result in
the development of a conflated grammatical particle, or a multilevel
syncretism (cf. Edwards 1974: 5 and Miihlhausler 1985: 181):
• Haitian Creole te-, past tense <

1. Superstratum: F ete, cf. F etait 'was' (imperfect); F iti 'been* (past participle).
2. Substratum: Ydruba //-, perfective prefix (Hall 1966: 60).
• Haitian Creole (a)va-, future tense <
1. Superstratum: F va 'is going (to...)'.
2. Substratum: Ewe (a)va-t future prefix; cf. the Bantu root bia- 'come* (ibid.).
1.4.3 The quintessential FEN-producers: languages with phono-

logographic script
1.4.3.1 'Phono-logographic script'
The Chinese writing system, which was developed as a 'morphemic

script' (cf. Backhouse 1993: 47) more than 3000 years ago, is used by
Chinese (Hanzi), Japanese (Kanji) and Korean (Hanja). Whilst Chinese
uses this script exclusively, Japanese and Korean also have syllabaries.
Over time, there have been various theories analysing Chinese
orthography, which can be presented schematically as follows:
• pleremic (from Gk pleres 'full', 'full of meaning'): pictography
ideographic, logographic, morphemic. Of these, morphemic might be
a better definition than logographic because, while in a logographic
orthography each character (or logograph) represents a word as a
whole (a semantic unit), in the case of Chinese, a compound-word like
iT tfH MSC dengpao 'lightbulb' is written with two characters,
representing two morphemes: JT deng 'light' and Mpao 'bulb'.
• cenemic (from Gk kenos 'empty', i.e. 'empty of meaning'):
phonographic and even syllabic; see inter alios DeFrancis (1984:
11 Iff). In the case of loanwords, Chinese characters are often used in
a similar manner to a syllabary. Evidence that might support this
observation is that sometimes the same SL lexical item has several
distinct Chinese phonetic adaptations. Note also that native Chinese-
speakers use characters phonographically when they attempt to write
down a word whose exact characters they do not know.58
Traditionally, the most influential view has been the ideographic one (cf.
Suzuki 1975: 182). However, it seems that most linguists have by now
rejected it. A harsh criticism of 'the ideographic myth' can be found in
58
The terms pleremic and cenemic are referred to by French (1976: 118), Haas (1976) and
Coulmas (1989 passim, 1999: 71,408). They are based on Hjelmslev's 1938 plerematique
and cenematique (cf. Hjelmslev 1959: 152). For relevant discussions of Chinese
orthography, see also Haas (1983), Norman (1988) and Frellesvig (1996).
DeFrancis (1984: 133-48), Unger (1990, cf. 1987) and Frellesvig (1993).
One of the main criticisms against the ideographic view is that characters
of writing actually stand for linguistic units, not for ideas, and can
therefore be either phonographic or logographic.
I believe that the Chinese orthography should be regarded as
multivalent and often as phono-logographic. In other words, although it
might sound contradictory at first sight, it can serve as both cenemic and
pleremic simultaneously. This can be proved not only by the existence but
also by the extent of PSM/SPM in Chinese. Such FENs are modelled as
closely as possible upon the sound of the SL word but the choice of
characters (and therefore morphemes) used to render the sounds is
determined by semantic criteria. The phonetic fidelity may be somewhat
distorted in an attempt to use a character which is more appropriate
semantically. For example, MSC P ty\ shengna 'sonar' uses the
characters "P sheng 'sound' and %fa net 'receive, accept', f* sheng is a
phonetically imperfect rendering of the English initial syllable (although
peng, for instance, would have been much worse). Chinese has a large
number of homo/heterotonal homophonous morphemes, which would
have been much better phonetically (but not nearly as good semantically)
- consider SONG (cf. i£ sdng 'deliver, carry, give (as a present)', fe song
'pine; loose, slack', ^ sdng 'tower; alarm, attract' etc.), sou (cf. J§ sou
'search', H sdu 'old man', H! sou 'sour, spoiled' and many others) or
SHOU (cf. itfC shou 'receive, accept', 3£ shdu 'receive, accept', ^ shou
'hand', "i* shdu 'head', # shou 'beast', ^ shou 'thin' and so forth).
P sheng 'sound'
sonar
(sound navigation
and ranging)
na 'receive*
Figure 15
I have collected hundreds of PSMs/SPMs in MSC, Taiwan Mandarin,

Cantonese and Japanese, and have found that for various reasons, for
example purism, MSN has not been given enough attention by in situ
linguists, although it is mentioned by Tang (1989) and Y&o (1992) (as
well as by Gelb 1963 and Hansell 1989a, 1989b, ms). Owing to
limitations of space, I cannot discuss many examples but shall summarize
the relevant issues. For further details, see Zuckermann (2000).
1.4.3.2 The main terminological areas of FENs in MSC
At first sight, it might seem that one difference between Israeli and MSC
(and Japanese) is that whereas the first Israeli-speakers were not
monolingual, most Chinese- (and Japanese-) speakers are. A priori -
setting aside the phono-logographic script which is highly conducive to
PSM - this fact should lead one to assume that FEN would not be that
common in MSC. However, as mentioned above, my research uncovered
hundreds of Chinese FENs. It indicates - and this is supported by Hansell
(ms) - that in addition to general usage, FEN in MSC is widespread in
three main terminological categories: (i) (commercial) brand names (and
sometimes antonomasias), (ii) computer jargon and (iii) technological
terms. It is no coincidence that these are precisely those areas suffering
from native lexical lacunae, as well as being fields in which (educated)
Chinese-speakers have knowledge of foreign lexical items. Thus,
monolingualism is not, after all, a serious obstacle to FEN in MSC.
1.4.3.2.1 Technological terms
Similarly to the aforementioned sonar, (E)Intl radar was domesticated as

MSC ff & leidd (C£D:1540, Ramsey 1989: 60), lit. 'thunder+reach':
H /<# 'thunder'
radar
MSC ^, +
{radio detection
and ranging)
liidd ?i dd "reach,
attain, amount to'
'radar'
Figure 16
(E)Intl laser was nativized as ftlft leishe (CO/: 1846), 'radium+shoot':
laser
I i Ui 'radium'
{light amplification
by the stimulated
emission of
radiation) 3* she 'shoot/fire'
Figure 17
However, the common word for laser is Miitjiguang (CED: 1203), from
Wi ji 'arouse, stimulate, excite, intense, fierce, strong' and it gudng
'light, ray'. That said, a video CD house (computer night-club) can be
called lilhf ft leishe ting, lit. iaser hall'.
A PSM including a translated part, this time of E neon, is MSC

£T nlhdngdeng 'neon lamp/light/tube' (CED: 1833, Zh5u 1961: 274),
consisting of % ni '(female/secondary) rainbow' (referring to the female
rainbow according to Chinese folklore - see Ogawa et al. 1968: 1087), tt
hdng '(male) rainbow' (referring to the male rainbow according to
Chinese folklore - ibid.) and 'JT deng 'light, lamp, lantern'.
(E)Intl tractor was adopted as MSC %W3l tuoldji (C£D:2592, Zhou
1961: 274, Ramsey 1989: 60), making use of $s tuo 'haul, pull, drag,
draw', J& Id 'pull, drag, draw, tug' and #ly7 'machine, engine'. See also
MSC W£ tuoche 'trailer' (CED:259\) - from #£ tuo 'haul, drag' and $
che 'vehicle, machine' (<'wheeF).
1.4.3.2.2 Brand names
E(Intl) Viagra (the drug for treating impotence in men, manufactured by

Pfizer) was domesticated in 1998 in MSC as ^ ^ w&ge, lit. 'great+elder
brother', hinting at the erection of the Viagra user's penis ('brother').
Viagra, which was suggested by Interbrand Wood (the consultancy firm
hired by Pfizer), was itself an MSN, based on Skt 5^151: vyaghr&h (m)
'tiger' (cf. Mayrhofer 1976: iii:274) but enhanced by vigour (strength)
and Niagara (free/forceful flow). Note that <hl&3& MSC xiaodldi 'little
younger brother' can refer to the male organ, which might have facilitated
the sexual connotation of Ilf ge 'elder brother', although in the Far East
the distinction between a younger and an older brother is important.
Viagra
wii 'great,
cf. Sanskrit &tt%i
vy$ghrdti(m) 'tiger* glorious, big'
+
(The choice of the drug
name was enhanced by
gi '(elder) brother1
vigour and Niagara)
Figure 18
The Taiwanese have coined a PSM which, in semantic terms, is more
transparently relevant, as follows:
mm
Taiwan Mandarin
wBidrgUng
'Viagra*
Figure 19
(E)Intl Coca-Cola was recalibrated in MSC in the 1930s as njP &T^

tekdu tele (CEZ): 1460). W P tekdu consists of Rj U 'can, may, need, be
worth, able to' and P kdu 'mouth', and means 'tasty, palatable'. "T^
k&le consists of RT ki 'can, may' and /ft le 'happy, cheerful, enjoy, be
amused', and means 'enjoyable, happy'. MSC RTP oj^; tekdu tele was
coined by a Shanghai resident, who then won a naming contest sponsored
by the Coca-Cola company and received a $50 cash prize (Ramsey 1989:
60). Several years later, in imitation of this elegant 'coca-colonizational'
method, E Pepsi-Cola was reproduced in MSC as WV "T/ft b&ishi tele
(CED:1460, Ramsey 1989: 60), consisting of W<f b&ishi 'everything'
(lit. 'hundred things') and oTiJs; tele 'enjoyable'.
MSC (Mercedes) Benz was domesticated as MSC #itk benchi 'run
quickly+gallop' (cf. MSC # l t benteng 'Pentium' in §4.5). Ericsson was
nativized as MSC ULtLî ailixin, lit. 'love+establish+trust' (i.e. 'we [the
company] love to build trust').
1.4.3.2.3 General terms
(E)Intl mini (cf. E miniskirt) was domesticated as j $ ^ MSC mini (CED:

1754), combining jg£ mi 'fascinate, enchant' and # ni 'you'. Thus, j ^ ^
IS miniqun 'miniskirt' literally means 'attract-you skirt'.59 In the entry for
j^^N mini, Yii (1993: 496) calls this process # # yinyi, lit. *sound+
translation', i.e. 'translation according to sound'. However, this does not
necessarily mean FEN but rather phonetic adaptation. In other words, the
loanword ^ ^ K f f ^ i ^ bufrshiweike 'Bolshevik' can also be referred to as
a i=f i$ yinyi, hence the lack of terminological precision.
Intl vitamin was nativized as £ft/ft!l^ MSC weitaming (CED:2650b,
CDJ.3202, Zhou 1961: 274), lit. 'preserve+his+life'. A later version of
vitamin, which is much more common today, is *&&% weishengsit
(C£D:2650a, CDJ.3202), lit. 'preserve+life+element'.
E humour entered Chinese as $*lii£ MSC ydumd 'humorous, sense of
humour' (CED.3091, Ramsey 1989: 60), consisting of ^ you 'secluded,
deep and remote' and $£ mo 'silent, quiet'. Semantically, the choice of
characters might reflect that being shrewd and reserved is not
incompatible with a sense of humour; some Chinese think that a
humorous person should maintain a dignified silence while others laugh
at his/her jokes - cf. AmPor. humoroso (§1.1).
59
As though mini-skirt were borrowed into Israeli as T&ttnn"7levush mini, lit. 'sexual dress*.
Note that £ £ ^ MSC mini can mean 'mini-' in general, e.g. $§#*&$! MSC minidianshl
*mini-television\
F decadent was domesticated as M1)U$i MSC tuijiddang 'Bohemian +

plus + loose morals'. However, the currently common signifier for
'decadent' is 0 l f c MSC tuifei 'decandent, dejected', lit. 'Bohemian +
waste/useless', cf. its derivatives Mfliffl: MSC tuifeipai 'the decadent
school' and MfkUtft MSC tuifeipaide 'decadent'.
The MSC parallel of E shock (medical) is # > £ MSC xiuke (CED:
2871, Ramsey 1989: 60), 'inactive/cease/dormant + overcome/conquer/be
able to' - cf. I pint? shituk 'shock', sometimes used instead of I cfrn helem
'shock' in literary translation (on PSM in literary translation, see
Zuckermann 2000: 307-10).
(E)Intl seminar was domesticated as 2} BJ %fafoMSC ximingna&r
(CDJ3301, Ramsey 1989: 60) 'review+understand+accept+thus'. This
neologism, however, has not gained currency, perhaps because of its
sesquipedality. The actual MSC words used - in various nuances - are i#
f&jitingzud ('talk', e.g. in a weekly seminar), ^53$£ xuexibdn ('training
session') and Wi&W ttiolunke ('discussion class').
1.4.3.3 Chinese FEN versus Israeli FEN
The main difference between Israeli and Chinese is that in Israeli there is
the possibility of importing the Westernism as it stands, for example by
morpho-phonemic adaptation, whereas in Chinese this is impossible: one
can caique the Westernism or neologize, but - at least in writing - one
cannot import the sound without using indigenous characters which ipso
facto, at least in theory, are associated with pre-existent words. The use of
Chinese characters is a necessity (although in the future the Chinese
might well embed words written in roman alphabet in their script - as the
Japanese occasionally do). However, which characters one chooses to use
is an altogether different matter. This flexibility of character choice -
combined with the constraint of using indigenous characters - makes
Chinese an incredibly fertile ground for PSM.
Because the original International/American term is generally
familiar, translation or mere neologization are not options. Chinese
purists, then, cannot merely caique computer terms or introduce a
neologism (in the narrow sense). Therefore, they resort to camouflaging
the SL lexical item by ensuring its nativization through FEN. The other
options here would be to use a roman transcription in written language or
to mimic the American pronunciation (cf. code switching) in speech (thus
resulting in an utterance which is at best a guestword). Thus, FEN in
MSC seems to be a result of a selection of the 'lesser evil'.
In the case of brand names, there are other motivations involved: first,
the desire to attract customers with a catchy name; second, the wish to
exploit many speakers' belief that there is something intrinsic about the
sound of proper names. This is the same type of iconicity which might be
the reason for refraining from translating Hallelujah and Amen in so many
languages, as if the sounds of these religious notions have to do with their
referents themselves, and by losing the sound, one might lose the
meaning.60 The same motivation is exemplified by the long-standing pre-
MSC tradition of toponymic SPMs, for example H H MSC m&guo, lit.
'beautiful country', referring to America - cf. Cantonese meikok.6X One
should also expect Chinese FENs of Sanskrit religious words.
In many Chinese toponymic SPMs, the characters were chosen on the
basis of political expediency, mostly to be flattering to the country whose
name was being matched, i.e. they were politically correct. Contrast the
positive Hffl MSC m&iguo * America' with the pseudo-Aramaic witticism
ModH Kpn N8J/, I amd rekd, lit. 'empty nation', which was utilized in
some Hebrew texts to ridicule Intl America.62 This expression was
modelled after (Aram.>) RabH NPTD mv [?am'mi pozT'zi] 'hasty nation',
which appears in the Talmud: Kethuboth 112a, referring to the Israeli
nation. See also I ^p^ uv am reykanU lit. 'empty nation', a jocular
replacement for (Intl>)I npnax amerikdni 'American'.
However, there are also Chinese examples of rejective toponymic
PSMs, used to propagandize against hostile nations. For example, the
Turks were called in Classical Chinese !?$S£ (MSC tujue), consisting of
^ tu 'attack, invade' and Wjue 'stone-launcher'. Mongol was allied with
Classical Chinese Wi~£i (MSC menggu\ still used), consisting of H meng
'dark, abuse' and "S* gu 'old, locked, stubborn'.
60
Compare this to the cabbalistic power of letters, for example in the case of gematria, the
method of interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures by interchanging words whose letters have
the same numerical value when added. A simple example of gematric power might be the
Hebrew proverb no x r y» OJM [nik'nas 'jajin ja'§a s5d], lit. 'entered wine went out secret',
i.e. 'wine brings out the truth', in vino veritas. The gematric value of 1" 'wine* is 70 CÎO;
••=10; 1=50) and this is also the gematric value of no *secret* (0=60; 1=6; 1=4). Thus, this
sentence, according to many Jews at the time, had to be true.
61
13 guo is similar in sound to E -ca only coincidentally; it is a morpheme which appears in
many country names whose original name does not end with -ca. Note that the original
Chinese name for America was H^JM P ' A I B MSC m&Uijian h&zhdnggud, lit. 'America
united people country' (i.e. 'United States of America'). Note that today, new country
names in MSC are usually only phonetic matches, the characters chosen being without
semantic resonance.
62
cf. npn NB5? in the opening page of Gershon Rosenzweig's satirical Massekhet Amerika
(Tractate America) from the collection Talmud Yanka'i which was published in Vilna in
1894, cf. Ben-Yishai (1971: 127). For discussion, see Nissan (ms).
The Case of Israeli: Multisourced Neologization
(MSN) as an Ideal Technique for Lexical
Enrichment
2.1 Background
2.1.1 Socio-historical circumstances making Israeli liable to MSN
Hebrew, used by Jews since the thirteenth century BC, ceased to be

spoken during the second century AD. For more than 1700 years
thereafter, it served as a liturgical and literary language for Jews of the
Diaspora. Although it was occasionally also employed as a lingua franca,
it was not in use as a mother tongue. Israeli emerged in Eretz Yisrael
(Palestine) at the beginning of the twentieth century. Despite the variety
of scholarly opinion about the genetics of Israeli (cf. Zuckermann 2001a),
there should be a consensus on the following points: (i) Hebrew suffered
from a severe lexical paucity; (ii) Israeli has been strongly influenced by
various languages which belong to different language families due to the
cosmopolitan nature of Israeli society; (iii) Israeli has been supported
ideologically in order to strengthen the Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael
(cf. Tur-Sinai 1960: 9, Wexler 1990: 13). Thus, Israeli might be regarded
as a 'reinvented language9 in which purists had to work hard to coin new
words using native elements to replace those of alien pedigree. MSN is
the ideal means for such neologization for the following reasons:
1. For the native speaker of the future:
camouflaging foreign influence (using autochthonous constituents)
2. For the'revivalist':
recycling obsolete lexemes
3. For the contemporary learner/speaker (until the beginning of the
twentieth century, a non-native speaker):
facilitating initial learning (mnemonization)
Advantages (1) and (3) possess a unique interrelation in that while (1)
suggests that the matched SL lexeme is camouflaged, (3) implies that the
63
matched SL lexeme will participate in facilitating the successful entrance

of the MSN into the language. There are two interconnected possible
solutions to this apparent contradiction. First, complementary distribution:
these advantages were not consciously or actively used by the same
coiner(s) simultaneously. Second, wishful thinking: the coiner used both
advantages consciously or actively, bearing in mind that Advantage (3)
will serve only a contemporary learner of the Israeli language, still in the
process of formation, whereas Advantage (1) will serve only future native
speakers of Israeli. Following Samuel Johnson's 'Example is always
more efficacious than precept' (1759: §30, cf. Johnson 1828: 109), I shall
demonstrate in §2.2-§2.4 what I mean by these three advantages.
Furthermore, some Israeli MSNs involve playfulness. This can be
linked to the Jewish midrashic tradition of homiletic commentary on the
Hebrew scriptures, in which puns, or the use of serendipitous similarity
between distinct words, were employed in the service of interpretation. In
later generations too, wordplay has been a conspicuous feature of Jewish
oral argumentation - cf. VisfrD pilpul, which should be distinguished from
the universal * Apollonian tendency'.
But the reasons for the liability of Israeli to MSN are not only
historical and social. Israeli possesses specific morphological
characteristics which make it prone to PSM/SPM/PM. First, however,
special attention should now be given to two intra-Israeli methods (i.e.
techniques in which only Hebrew elements are used) which 'revivalists'
have employed in order to overcome the severe lexical paucity, and more
specifically the lack of root morphemes.
2.1.2 Internal sources of root enrichment
The main problem facing the creators of Israeli was that of Hebrew
lexical voids,1 which were not semantic voids but cases in which purists
tried to supplant unwelcome guestwords, foreignisms and loanwords, all
conceived of as 'mutuatio non grata9 (my term). The purists attempted to
use mainly internal sources of lexical enrichment but were faced with a
paucity of roots. The number of attested Biblical Hebrew words is 8198,
of which some 2000 are hapax legomena (the number of Biblical Hebrew
roots, on which many of these words are based, is 2099). The number of
attested Rabbinic Hebrew words is less than 20,000, of which (i) 7879 are
1
For discussion of this term, see Dagut (1976: 37-8 and 1978: 44-120); compare this term
with Rabin's 'blanks', 'blank spaces' (1958:127).
MSN as an Ideal Technique for Lexical Enrichment 65
Rabbinic par excellence, i.e. they did not appear in the Old Testament
(the number of new Rabbinic Hebrew roots is 805); (ii) around 6000 are a
subset of Biblical Hebrew; and (iii) several thousand are Aramaic words
which can have a Hebrew form. Medieval Hebrew added 6421 words to
(Modern) Hebrew. The approximate number of new lexical items in
Israeli is 17,000 (cf. 14,762 in Even-Shoshan 1970:vii: 3062, on which
I base most of the data shown here). With the inclusion of foreign and
technical terms I estimate that the total number of Israeli words, including
words of biblical, rabbinic and medieval descent, is more than 60,000.
Even-Shoshan (1970) lists 37,260 words. MES, the most comprehensive
dictionary of Israeli, lists slightly more. For a relevant discussion, see
Rabin (1981: 10)andSchwarzwald(1995).
The following are two examples of Gelehrtenbildungen2 applied by
'revivalists' in order to create new roots within Israeli (cf. 'The Principle
of Drawing from Within' in §2.3):
2.1.2.1 Creating secondary roots from nouns
Consider I DlpB mikum 'locating', from I BpB Amqm 'locate', which

derives from BH OipB [mi'qOm] 'place', whose root is Olp ^qwm 'stand':
Vi qwm 'stand' -> mqwm [ma'qom] 'place' ->

'locate' -> mqwm [mi'kum] 'locating'
Figure 20
A recent example introduced by AHL in Akadem 8 (March 1996, p. 1) is

Jima midrtig 'rating', from m o midrdg9 whose root is m Vrfrg 'grade'.
This process is morphologically similar to the production of frequentative
(iterative) verbs in Latin, for example:
• iactito 'to toss about* derives from iacto 'to boast of, keep bringing up, harass,
disturb, throw, cast, fling away', which in turn derives from iacio 'to throw, cast'
(whose past participle is iactus).
• scriptito 'to write often, compose' is based on scribo 'to write' (<*to draw lines,
engrave with a sharp-pointed instrument').
• dido 'to say often, repeat' is from dico 'to indicate, say, speak, tell'.
• clamito 'to cry loudly/often, shout violently' derives from clamo 'call, shout'.
Consider also RabH znn Atrm 'donate, contribute' (Mishnah: T'rumoth

1:2: 'separate priestly dues'), which derives from BH nann [teru'mS]
2
This term is used by Ben-Yehuda - cf. the misprinted Gelehrtenbilbungen in ZV 4 (1914:
10). Ben-Yehuda also uses F creations savantes (ibid.).
'contribution', whose root is an Îrwm 'raise'; cf. RabH snn V*rf 'sound
the trumpet, blow the horn', from BH nx?nn [taru'W] 'shout, cry, loud
sound, trumpet-call', in turnfromyn Îrwf?
Similar cases occur in Arabic, e.g. • Ar. j£j* ^mrkz, cf. [Wrkaza]
'centralized (m, sg)', from f'markaz] 'centre', from ['rakaza] 'plant into
the earth, stick up (a lance)' (< j£j Vrfe); • Ar. e*J Vifa/j/i, cf.
[taârdâha] 'oscillated (m, sg)', from [?ur'cl3u:ha] 'swing (n)', from
['racGjaha] 'weighed down, preponderated (m, sg)' (< c*o Vrc/jft); • Ar.
JJ*>* Îmhwr, cf. [ta'mahwara] 'centred, focused (m, sg)', from ['mihwar]
'axis', from ['ha:ra] 'turned (m, sg)' (< JJ* V#w); and • Ar. j ^ — V/w^^r,
cf. j * ^ [taWs/ara] 'mocked, made fun (m, sg)', from *ja>^ ['masxara]
'mockery', from j^» ['saxira] 'mocked (m, sg)' (< V
2.1.2.2 Blending two distinct roots
dakhpor 'bulldozer' hybridizes (RabH»)I Dm Adhp 'push' and

(BH»)I iDn Ahpr 'dig'. According to Sivan (1966: 186 = 1995: 12), this
word was coined by Remez. Similarly, I cntf?w shiltut 'zapping, surfing
the channels, flipping through the channels' derives from (i) (H>)I xhw
shaldt 'remote control', an ellipsis - like remote (but using the noun
instead) - of the (widely known) compound pirntf?Wshaldt rakhok (cf.
MES: 1837b) - cf. AHL's prn xfrw shaldt rdkhak (LLN 19, October-
November 1996); (ii) (H>)I mow shitut 'wandering, vagrancy'.4
I tntfw shiltut was introduced by AHL in LLN 19 (October-November
1996) - cf. Akadem 11 (May 1997). Synchronically, it might appear to
result from reduplication of the final consonant of shaldt 'remote control'.
Another example of blending which has also been explained as mere
reduplication is I i v ^ r u gakhlilit 'fire-fly, glow-fly, Lampyris\ This
coinage by Bialik blends (H>)Irfrm gakhelet 'burning coal' with
(HÎn^1? Idyla 'night'. Compare this with the unblended jpy»n
khakhlilit '(black) redstart, Phcenicurus' ( « B H y » n 'dull red, reddish').
Synchronically speaking though, most native Israeli-speakers feel that
gakhlilit includes a reduplication of the third radical of Vftt Vg/j/. This is
incidentally how Klein (1987: 97a) explains gakhlilit Since he is
attempting to provide etymology, his description might be misleading if
one agrees that Bialik had blending in mind.
3
See Tenenblat (1964: 231), who discusses the positive attitude of the Hebrew 'revivalist*
Moshe Sholboim (1828-1918) towards such internal sources of lexical enrichment.
4
It was used by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister (1996-9), cf. April 1998,
Israeli National Television - see §2.5.
There are two possible etymological analyses for I "1DDD kaspar 'bank
clerk, teller'. The first is that it consists of (H>)IiOD kesef 'money' and
the agentive suffix Intl/(H>)I > -dr. The second is that it is a quasi-
portmanteau word which blends HOD kesef 'money' and (H>)I "1D0 *ispr
'count'. IiDDD kaspar started as a brand name but soon entered the
common language. Even if the second analysis is the correct one, the final
syllable > -or apparently facilitated nativization since it was regarded as
the Hebrew suffix > ['-4r] (probably of Persian pedigree), which usually
refers to craftsmen and professionals, for instance as in Abramowitsch's
coinage 1010*100 smartutdr 'rag-dealer' (cf. Avinery 1964: 223b-4a).
This reanalysis of > -ar might have happened with H 10D& (BH
[tap's&r] (or ftip'sSr]) 'scribe, clerk' > MedH 'dignitary, angel' > I tafsdr
'fireman brigadier' (the name of a high officer rank of firemen, parallel to
the British Army brigadier): Some native speakers whom I have
interviewed conceive of "1ODD as ODD tofes 'form (formulary document
with blanks for the insertion of particulars)' + > -dr, hence 'scribe, clerk'.
However, its etymon is in fact Akka. (upsarru (cf. Klein 1987: 248b:
dupsharru), from Sumerian fabsar 'tablet writer' (ibid.: dub-sar), from
tup 'table, tablet' and sar 'write' (cf. Torczyner 1937: 108). Similarly,
(RabH»)11*7730 sandldr 'shoemaker, cobbler' is regarded as (RabH»)
1*7730 sandal 'sandal' with the Hebrew suffix > ['-ar]. However, its
etymon is L sandalarius (note the Latin suffix -arius).5 Such reanalysis
might also have been induced by widely used Israeli words whosefinal"I
(r) is not a suffix but rather a radical, for example "IDO sapdr 'hairdresser',
i n davdr 'postman', TX tsaydr 'painter' and TTi taydr 'tourist' (§2.3). A
parallel case can be found in the Yiddish productive pattern seen in
IJfroyo teshr 'carpenter', nyoow shustor 'shoemaker', lyVrago sdndhr
'shoemaker', •wVirw shindhr 'shingler', liftoorp kinstlor 'artist' etc.
2.1.3 Morphological characteristics predisposing Israeli to MSN:

Semitic apophony
In addition to its unique socio-historical circumstances, Israeli has

consonantal roots which can be fitted into dozens of possible noun/verb/
adjective patterns. These patterns are discontinuous, non-concatenative
5
Consider also RabH li?2 [bal'ddr] 'courier' (cf. Aram. niVa, L veredarius)\ RabH
[lab'lar] 'clerk, scribe, secretary' (<LUbrarius)\ RabH lib [lu'dar] 'gladiator' (<L ludius
•actor, gladiator'); and BH "arc [giz'bar] 'treasurer' (cf. Ezra 1:8) (<Per. ganzabara
'treasurer'). For discussion, see Nir (1993:75) and Kutscher (1965: 24).
morphemes, differing in their vowels. This apophonic system resembles

Indo-European Ablaut ('vowel gradation') as in E [sDng] sing-sang-song-
sung and G [sprDch] spricht-sprechen-sprach-gesprochen-Spruch - cf.
Umlaut ('regressive vowel assimilation') as in E [fDt] foot-feet and [mDn]
man-men. However, Ablaut in modern Indo-European languages is far
from having the same variability, regularity and productivity of Semitic
apophony in Israeli. This mechanism allows the PSM producer easily to
find a pattern with a vowel sequence similar to that of the matched SL(i)
lexical item. This advantage can also be seen in verbal morphemic
adaptations into Israeli. Compare the choice of a verb-pattern whose
vowels fit the sound of the SL word in the following examples:
A. Using the h iO(OO) DiO verb-pattern:

hishvits 'swanked, boasted, showed off (m, sg)\ preserving the cluster of its
origin Y p w shvits 'sweat'.
• f "iDtPH hishprits 'squirted (m, sg)\ retaining the cluster of its origin Y p"19W shprits
(cf. G Spritz, spritzen) 'splash, spout, squirt* (cf. Rubin 1945: 306).
• p^DH hiflik 'slapped (m, sg)', maintaining the cluster of its onomatopoeic origin Y
?*7$flik 'pull, pluck' or Y ^tflok 'pole, club', cf. I p^flik 'slap'.
• fpaon hisnif 'sniffed, inhaled (e.g. cocaine) (m, sg)', retaining the cluster of its
origin E sniff'(= snuff). Note the pre-existent noun I «y»30 snif 'branch'.
B. Using the OaOdO verb-pattern:

• snrf? lakhrop 'to sleep soundly, to sleep tight', preserving the cluster of its origin Y
lysNTD khrdpi} 'to snore', cf. Y 9NTD khrop 'snore (n)' (cf. Wexler 1990: 85).
C. Using the hitD(O)aD(OEJ)eO(O) verb-pattern:

• SlangI Tninnn hitrandevu '(tiwv) had a rendezvous', preserving the cluster of its
origin Intl rendezvous (cf. Sappan 1971: 77a).
D. Using the (O)a(a)(D)OeO(O) verb-pattern:

The quinqueradical Dials'? leflartet 'flirted (m, sg)' (cf. DD^D flirtet 'flirted (m,
sg)'), preserving the cluster of its origin M\ flirt - cf. I BTVD flirt.
]jnD"? lefargen 'not to begrudge', nativizing Y lOTH^S farginon 'not begrudge, not
envy, indulge' (see Weinreich 1977: 480a) (cf. its past participle form, Y lynngS
fargunon), from Ggdnnen 'not to begrudge' or G vergdnnen 'to grant*.
"Hap1? lekater 'to whine, complain', traceable to PY "lVtt$p kutor 'male cat, whiner,
complainer' (cf. LithY kotor), perhaps because cats whine when asking for food, or
when in heat and during copulation.
taJDH1? lehapnet (sometimes pronounced lehafnet) 'to hypnotize'.
ivM? legalven 'to galvanize' (LL 140,1983).
oua1? lemagnet 'to magnetize' (already existent in 1938, cf. Torczyner 1938: 25).
ivrwb letarped 'to torpedo (figurative), destroy, disable deliberately, sabotage'.
1030*? lesabsed 'to subsidize'.
^taj1? lenatrel 'to neutralize'.
yrao sinkhrun 'synchronization', introduced by AHL as sinkrun (LL 171,1989).
Colloql open'? ledaskes 'to discuss'.
See also I yxm shnorir 'obtained by begging, "schnorred" (m, sg)\

from Y11K3W shndrq 'obtain by begging, sponge off, "schnorr"' (cf. Y
isnipw shnoror 'beggar, layabout, scrounger5 and I "maw shndrer
'id.'), fitted into the unique OoOeO variant of OiOeO in order to
maintain the Yiddish sound. I TTOW shnorir was introduced by Bialik
- see m w n DmiW "IWNDI vekhaasher shnordrtem tishnoreni in beir
haharegd ('In the City of Slaughter') (1903, cf. Bialik 1959: 98b).6
This morpho-phonetic advantage of Israeli is comparable to the Chinese
(and Sino-Japanese) semantic inventory in which almost every foreign
syllable can be phonetically adapted by a suitable meaningful Chinese
syllable. The Israeli phono-semantic matcher enjoys a rich inventory from
which to choose a morpheme (in this case, noun- or verb-pattern) which
fits the vowels of the matched SL lexical item. The Chinese nativizer, on
the other hand, enjoys a rich inventory from which to choose a morpheme
(or lexeme) that fits the referent of the matched SL lexical item.
Thus, the Chinese nativizer(s) of Yahoo into MSC ? | j ^ y&hu, lit.
'elegant tiger', had many other options to choose from, e.g.:
• 3E yd 'inferior', I9E yd 'mute, dumb, hoarse', Y yd 'bifurcation, fork', M yd
'margin, limit', 3f yd 'tooth', *$} yd 'duck', ffi yd 'press, push down', W yd 'ah, oh
(indicating surprise)', ffl yd 'give as security, mortgage', JS yd 'precipice, cliff, W
yd 'bud, sprout', Myd 'pull up', $lyd 'roll, run over' etc.
• & hu 'neglect, ignore', H hu 'kettle', ¥ hu (expressing doubt),»? hu 'breathe out,

exhale', ffl hu 'non-Han nationalities living in the north and west in ancient times',
M hu 'lake', *8 hu 'paste', ® hu 'swan', HI hu 'fox', 9K hu 'arc', P hu 'door', #>
hu 'protect', S hu 'mutual' and so on.
Similarly, the phono-semantic matcher of E dock with I pMlo mivdok

could have used - after deliberately choosing the phonetically and
6
Note that the (O)Oi(a)(O)OiO(O) verb-pattern is currently the most productive verb-
pattern in Israeli (cf. Wexler 1990: 85-6 and Bat-El 1994). The reason is the ease of
inserting foreign consonants, which would thus constitute a camouflaged foreign influence
on the morphology of Israeli, cf. §8.3. Bat-El (1994) introduces a novel approach
according to which such verbs are based on the SL lexical item rather than on its
naturalized root within Israeli. In other words, wxrfi lemognet 'to magnetize' does not
derive from the root DBO ^mgnf fitted into the (O)Oi(D)(D)DiD(O) verb-pattern, but
rather from Intl magnet (cf. I tttJia magnet) fitted into this specific verb-pattern in order to
retain the phonetic form. This view might weaken the Semiticness of Israeli morphology
since the root system (which in this view does not play a role here) is one of the most
fundamental elements of Hebrew and the other Semitic languages. Yiddish, as well as
English, played a major role in this weakening process, as Yiddish and English words,
which often include clusters, were adapted into Israeli.
semantically suitable root (BH>RabH»)I pin Abdq 'check' (RabH),

'repair' (BH)7 - the noun-patterns miOOaOA* maOOeOd, miODeDet,
miOOaOdim 9 and so on. Instead, miOO6O9 which is not highly
productive, was chosen because the [o] in miOOoO makes the final
syllable of j?ra» mivdok sound like E dock.
Further examples include I VpT) teka 'plug', which is fitted into the
DeOeO noun-pattern (the final [a] is due to the third radical V, which is
historically a voiced pharyngeal [?]), in order to phono-semantically
match Y •wpjjw shtekor and G Stecker *plug\ (The Hebrew root of ypn
teka is VpT\ Vtyf 'blow, insert'.) This neologism was introduced or
adopted by HLC - see ZV 5 (1921: 94). Likewise, 110B meser is fitted
into the DeDeO noun-pattern, phono-semantically matching E message.
The Hebrew root of 10B miser is 100 Îmsr 'hand over, deliver, transmit'.
That said, let us assume that the PSM producer cannot find a pattern
which fits the vowels of the SL lexical item. From the vantage-point of
the Israeli-speaker, such an imperfect PSM can still be perceived as being
linked to the SL lexeme since the consonants are the same. This is the
case because the Semitic apophony of Israeli renders the consonants
(rather than the vowels) the invariable - and hence important - elements
in the Israeli lexis. The vowels provide the means for morphological
integration, functionalization and grammatical information, but the basic
referent is conveyed by the consonants. Hence the morphemic (or
popularly 'consonantal') nature of Israeli orthography, which, unlike the
phonemic/phonetic spelling of the European languages, lacks vowels.
Apophony is one of the most Semitic features of Israeli and relates it
to Semitic languages such as Arabic. The latter makes use of apophony in
nativizing foreign terms phono-semantically much in the same way -
albeit definitely not to the same extent - as does Israeli, e.g.:
• Ar. ^& [ltaqni]/[ltiqani] 'technical, technological', cf. VAr. [ttiqani]/[ltiqni]
• Ar. ^ [taq'nijja]/[tiqa'nijja] 'technology, technique'
7
1 pmii mivdok means 'dock, shipyard, an artificial basin excavated, built round with
masonry, and fitted with flood-gates, through which ships are received for the purposes of
repair and inspection', see qs pnao mivdok tsaf 'floating dock' and WT pmna mivdok
yavesh 'dry dock' - cf. Ipoa mispdn 'dock', mentioned in LeSonenu 18 (3-4): 240b
(1953). Another word fitted into the miODoO noun-pattern is 1110X0 mitspor 'lookout
(point) (with bird's eye view)', cf. (H>)I "nss tsipor 'bird'.
8
cf. I nwtfto miltashd 'diamond-polishing workshop' and I ruooD mispana 'dockyard'.
I npian mivdakd 'censor's office, testing laboratory' is not in common use.
9
cf. I DTODO mitbakhdim 'slaughterhouse*. I do not mention miOOdD because I pun
mivddk most probably existed previously with the meaning 'check, test'; the lexicographic
meaning 'test material' (cf. A/£S:840a) is uncommon.
These terms derive from both Intl technical and Ar. <jfc Atqn 'to master,
improve, bring to perfection' - cf. Blau (1981: 171-2). The Arabic root
Atqn can be found in L $ ['?atqana] 'improved (m, sg)\ cW [?it'qa:n]
'perfection, thorough proficiency', L£* ['mutqan] 'perfect, professionally
done, strong, finished up, improved' (often said about craft/art works) and
L£ [tiqn] 'skilful, clever'. It seems certain that Ar. C$* ^tqn played a role
here (hence the MSN) for two reasons. First, there is a semantic link
between technique and artistic mastery, as well as - in the information
age - between technology and perfection. Second, the expected form in
the case of a mere loanword in Modern Arabic would have used Ar. ^ [k]
rather than Ar. c3 [q]. In fact, the Arabic morphemic adaptation of Intl
technique is Ar. 4 ^ [tak'ni:k] rather than 4 J ^ *[taq'ni:k].^ Similarly, the
Arabic form of Intl technological is *<J*JJ& [takno:'lo:^3i] rather than
^jljffi *[taqno:'lo:<i3i]. See also Ar. I ^ ^ [mi:ka:'ni:ki] 'mechanic,
mechanical' and Ar. UJJ&! [?ilik'tru:n] (VAr. [?elek'tro:n]) 'electron'.
If asked to analyse Ar. ^£5 ['taqni] morphologically, I would say that it
consists of two morphemes: the adjective-pattern DdODi and the root
Atqn. Normally, Ar. DdODi serves as an adjectival form of DaODy the
final [i] being"***&^ [ja:? an'nisba] (an adjectival suffix). Consider Ar.
^ ['jamsi] 'solar', from Ar. o**** [Jams] 'sun', as well as Ar. 1^-^
'original, primary, authentic, pure, real', from Ar. J*-»' [?a§l] 'root,
trunk (of a tree), origin, source'. However, this is not exactly the case
with Ar. lp& ['taqni] since there is no such word as Ar. L£ *[taqn]. Hence,
one might suggest that there is a morphological compromise here. Even if
there is, it does not by any means weaken my PSM analysis.
A sceptical reader might object to my argument that Ar. 1f& ['taqni] is
a PSM - by adducing a non-PSM example of transposing a foreign [k]
into Ar. tS [q]: Ar. *j^ ['qam(a)ra] 'berth, bunk, cabin, stateroom', which
is traceable to It. camera 'room'. However, I would like to suggest three
possible explanations for the choice of [q] over [k] in this case:
(i) Differentiation from Ar. »j*£ ['kamara] 'glans, the head of the penis'.
(ii) Ar. »j*S ['qamara] 'cabin' is an 'orthographic PM' (cf. §5.4.2) using
Ar. j£ ['qamar] 'moon', cf. Ar. If j*S ['qamari] 'lunar'.
(hi) Unlike the relatively modern Ar. ^ ['taqni] 'technical', Ar. *j*S
['qamara] 'cabin' was introduced in the Middle Ages, when a non-
aspirated [k] - as in It. camera - was transcribed as <5 [q]. Consider
also Ar. J«lji*« [suq'ra:t] 'Socrates', Ar. ^yi [buq'ra:t] 'Hippocrates',
10
I have encountered native Arabic-speakers who, unaware of Ar. ^ ['taqni], when
confronted with Intl technical, naturally transposed the latter into ^ ['takni] 'technical'.
Ar. L > ^ (J) [(?al)qilqidi:s] (from Gk xakxviideQ khalkitides 'rock

alum', a kind of metal; genitive) and Ar. o^^^j^ (J)
[(?al)hibu:qisti:da:s] (from Gk {moKiaxlSac; hupokistidas 'Cytinus
hypocistis\ a kind of plant).11
To sum up, then, we have seen that in addition to its unique historical and
sociological circumstances, Israeli possesses basic Semitic morphological
characteristics - shared by Arabic too - which make it particularly
conducive to PSM. At the same time, Israeli apophonic morpho-phonetic
flexibility is analogous to the rich orthographic inventory of languages
such as Chinese, which use a phono-logographic script.
2.2 Disguising foreign influence
An MSN is an indigenous word which is morphologically 'pure' and

therefore has a high level of lexicographic acceptability. This then allows
the purist to 'kill the (foreign) messenger'. No one can accuse Alterman
(1963: 43), who uses 71*70 siltid to mean 'salute',12 of borrowing, since
•7V70 silud derives from MedH Tfro [sil'lud] 'awe, glory', from Y?0 VsW,
and therefore can be regarded as a word with an impeccable Hebrew
pedigree. The modern sememe 'salute', however, is an imitation of Intl
salute - cf. Y t)V?KO salut, R camoT salytit9 P salut (the latter usually
means 'cannon-fire as a mark of respect', cf. P salutowanie 'salute (n)
(with the hand)', from P salutowac 'to salute'), and (the orthography of) F
salut. Alterman was not the first to use 71*70 siltid; it appears in Davar (17
June 1934), Milon leMunekhey haHitamlut (Dictionary of Gymnastics
Terms) (1937: 96, Item 1218) and Avinery (1946: 143). Meltzer (1966:
78) uses 7*70 seled 'salute', a PSM which is a variant of 71*70 siltid.
In Megilat Brit Damesek 'The Damascus Covenant Scroll' 8:5 (Rab)H
iwa [nit'tur] means 'guarding, keeping'. However, AHL used this
perfectly Hebrew word (currently pronounced nitur) in order to refer to
'monitoring', see LL 144 (1984), LL 154 (1988) and LLN 3 (January
1994) - each time with a slightly different shade of meaning. Such use
was induced by the phonetic similarity to the twentieth-century Intl
11
In the last example, one can also observe Gk x (t) being transposed into the emphatic J* [\]
rather than into ^ [tj. However - as in the case of a foreign k, which can be transposed
either into ^ [k] or into the emphatic/pharyngeal J [q] - in modern times the non-emphatic
^ [t], like ^ [k], is preferred; see Ar. o*jfifi [§ti:ta:nu:s] 'tetanus', from Intl tetanus.
12
Alterman: ifroi m/ixm onw bipi nekabel otdm behatsdaa vesilud 'We shall welcome
them with a salute and silud'; Kna'ani (1960-89: 4049; 1998: 4031a) mentions fftel TiV'O
silud hanasi 'the president's salute' as having appeared in newspapers.
monitor - cf. I iwaio monitor, E monitor, G Monitor, F moniteur and P

monitor. The omission of Intl [m] could be explained by a (possibly
subconscious) Israeli morphological reanalysis of Intl monitor, as though
it consisted of 103 Anpr and the prefix B (m). In fact, -B [mV] is a
widespread prefixal element - cf. I nwfc mashgoakh, which also means
'monitor (n)\ from (BH»)I nw V/g/i. It might even be the case that in a
cognitive intermediate stage, there was itWB *manter for 'monitor (n)\
consisting of two morphemes: 1D3 Înfr and the noun-pattern maODeD.
Compare this with the geographical term I "1BJ1B 57*70 sela mutmdr
'metamorphic rock' (a rock that has undergone transformation by means
of heat, pressure, or natural agencies, OED), which usually occurs in the
plural form DnanD DÔ slaim mutmarim - see Flexer's geologya:
yesodot vetahalikhim (Geology: Principles and Processes) (1969: 157-
60). I "iBnB mutmdr is a PSM of Intl metamorphic/metamorphosis - cf.
I nnDTiBOB metamorfoza, E metamorphic, R MeTaMop(j>o3a metamarfoza
'metamorphosis' and P metamorfoza. IiBflD mutmdr is based on the
autochthonous (H>)I1Bfl Atmr (cf. MedH 'change, transform',
I 'permute', 'substitute', the latter sense mentioned in ZV6, 1928: 57a), a
secondary root from (B)H nman [temu'ri] 'change' (< TO V/wwr), which
exists in Israeli (as tmurd) also with the meaning 'permutation'.
Morphologically, "i&na mutmdr is the present form of iDn Vf/wr fitted into
the h uOOdO verb-pattern. The choice of the verb-pattern combined with
the present tense, which yields an initial -& (m-) in the Israeli form, is
obviously motivated by the wish to imitate the sound of Intl metamorphic.
The consequence of such a choice is the back-door influence of this
internationalism on the creation of an Israeli tertiary root, namely
Amtmr 'metamorphose' (cf. "liana mitmur 'metamorphosis'):
i mwr 'change' -> H mi&n [tamu'raj 'change1 ->

î 'change, transform, substitute' -> I "i&no mutmdr ->
-> i»n» V3 nftofr 'metamorphose' -> I Ti&nB mitmur 'metamorphosis'
Figure 21
The following are other examples demonstrating the autochthonousness

of Israeli MSNs. Note that these neologisms have been nativized, but that
Israeli-speakers, who either use them or at least understand them, are
almost always unaware of their alien co-etymon.
RabH flrfm [bo'lejet] (see Talmud: Sabbath 145b) meant 'army
regiment, platoon, reconnoitring troop', cf. RabH mhi [bal'lejet] 'id.'
(Jastrow 1903: 175b). Today, however, I ircfria boleshet refers to 'secret
police' (cf. Saddan 1955: 41), e.g. irVnai nufrran haboleshet hafederdlit
'FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)'. This is a PSM of kitl police - cf.
R nojimtfM politsiya, P policja, G Polizei and E /w/ice - via its Arabic
nativization o^ji [bu:'li:s] VAr. [bo:'li:s]. The PSM explanation is
strengthened if one notes that the form which gained currency is nttftn
boleshet, and not nw*n baleshet, the latter being preferred by Ben-Yehuda
(cf. MB7:i:557a,487b).
MedH rf?T\ [hil'll] denoted 'light, brightness' but at present I rfrn hild
is more commonly used to refer specifically to 'halo' (in its various
meanings, cf. 'a circle of light round the sun/moon or above the head of a
saint; positive image, glory'), nativizing Intl halo - cf. F/E halo, from L
halos, from Gk hdlos 'threshing floor, disk of the sun, moon, or a shield'
(OED); cf. It. alone and (the now rare) Sp. halon.13
Irrsno sofit 'suffix'14 hybridizes the following items: (i)Intl suffix -
cf. I op'910 sufiks, E suffix (documented 1778; OED), R cy(J>4>HKC suffiks,
P sufiks (cf. P przyrostek 'id.'), G Suffix and ModL suffixum - and
(ii) (BH»)I *yio sof 'end' + the suffix (H>)I rr- -it, which can serve as a
diminutive. It seems that n^wi tkhilit 'prefix' (from H>I rbr\r\ tkhild
'beginning'), as well as I rrDin tokhit 'infix' (from H>I "pnfofc/i'inside'),
evolved only after JVD1O sofit 'suffix', thus imitating its formation with I
-it. This intra-Israeli evolution, which resulted in a trichotomy (-rr^nn
irsno-rPDin tkhilit-tokhit-sofit) might explain the relative success of IVDIO
sofit. This is yet another process which illustrates the back-door influence
of PSM on Israeli. Thus, PSM has broader ramifications than merely the
nativization of a specific lexical item.
2.3 Recycling obsolete lexemes
MSN allows for the application of mna IlD^n khasifdt gnuzot

'rediscovery of hidden words' or 1*\£L>\ [?istin'ba:t] 'discovering,
producing, deducing' (see Blau 1981: 163), i.e. the adaptation of archaic
words to the modern world. I shall first briefly discuss this process in
Israeli in general and then link it with MSN. Sivan (1966: 200 = 1995: 26)
calls such words jynyanfc Dâ milim mitnaarot 'awakening words'.
Consider I mpK ekddkh 'handgun, revolver' (initially 'firing machine', cf.
MBY±313a and Ben-Yehuda 1978: 249-50), from BH rnp* [?6q'dah]
13
The foreign co-etymon of rfrn hild is mentioned by Klein (1987: 151c), Kutscher (1965:
70) and MES (:371c, which inaccurately mentions 'Gk alos* instead of hdlos).
14
Mentioned in Wexler (1990: 31).
'carbuncle, carbuncle-stone (red precious stone used for decoration)'

(Isaiah 54:12). The coiner, Ben-Yehuda, points out that he was affected
by H/I mp Aqdh 'drill' (cf. MBy:i:373a:fh3, mentioned also in Sivan
1995: 71). Note that the original mpti, 'carbuncle' can be traced back to
nip Aqdh as well (see Affir:i:373a:fhl). If Ben-Yehuda had in mind E
drill full of bullets or the like, mpN ekddkh 'firing machine', which gained
currency with the specific meaning 'handgun, revolver', would constitute
an etymological caique (see §1.3.2) or a sense-calque (cf. §1.2.5)
introducing a new sememe (see §1.3.1).
Very often, this infusion of new meaning includes the secularization
of obsolete religious terms. Consider the following examples:
• no»: RabH (*assembly'>) 'synagogue' » I kneset 'Knesset, the Israeli parliament'
• pw&: BH ('dwelling-placed) 'the Tabernacle of the Congregation (where Moses
kept the Ark in the wilderness), inner sanctum' (known as BH TOD *?nN ['?ohel
m o ' f e d ] ) » I mishkdn 'building for a specific purpose', e.g. nvttawn pwn mishkan
haomanuyot 'the Art Centre', 71033.1 ptOT) mishkan hakneset 'the Knesset building'
• yiiVti: MedH *the evening prayer' > Imaariv, the name of an Israeli daily
newspaper (referred to in this book as Maariv)
• mnw: RabH ('morning'>) 'the morning prayer' » I shakharit 'matinee (in the
original sense), theatrical/musical/cinematic performance before noon', e.g. nnrro
nytf? n^p^nD shakharit muzikalit (or muzikalit) lanoar *a musical matinee for the
youth'; cf. R yrpeHHHK utrennik 'matinee'
The same process also occurs in English, for example E cell, which
originally meant "monk's living place', took on an additional sememe
within the field of biology (cf. Hughes 1988:192). Similarly:
• sanction 'imposition of penance' > 'legal/political penalty'
• office 'church service' > commercial bureau
• hierarchy 'medieval classification of angels into various ranks (including cherubim,
seraphim, powers and dominions)' > in the seventeenth century: ranking of
clergymen > system of grading15
Bar-Asher (1995: 8) calls the process of recycling obsolete lexical items

D^Dna r o w n pipy ekron hasheivd mibifhim 'The Principle of Drawing
from Within' (also mentioned in Akadem 8, March 1996, p. 3),
corresponding to the view expressed by Pines (1893: 61): hagdold
shebamaalot lemild khadashd - im enena khadashd 'The greatest virtue
of a new word is that it is not new', and to that of Klausner (1940: 289):
kedey lekhadesh tsarikh limtso mild yeshand, sheyesh la shoresh ivri,
sheyesh la tsurd ivrit, sheyesh ba tdam ivri 'In order to neologize one
15
See also mercy, novice, passion and sanctuary. The reverse process to this secularization
is demonstrated in E bishop and F eveque, which come from Gk episkopos 'overseer', the
modern religious meaning resulting from the use of 'overseer' within the Christian
community (cf. McMahon 1994:180).
should find an old word, which has a Hebrew root, a Hebrew form and
Hebrew stress'. In response to Ben-Yehuda's rebuke of not having
neologized enough Aaron Meyer Mazia said:16
Not only am I unashamed of it but I am in fact satisfied that the [Hebrew Language]
Council decided on numerous words for athletics, arithmetic, dresses and the like,
but that the majority of these words were nothing but old words [...] we would not
want to create new words as long as we are able to satisfy our needs with what is
available from our ancient literature.
MSN is often used to resurrect obsolete words, as in I Tn taydr 'tourist':17
Israeli (Rabbinic) Hebrew

International
tourist
Tn [taj'jAr] 'guide'
(cf. Russian TypMcr turist,
Polish turysta, English taydr (< Biblical Hebrew
tourist, German Tourist,
Yiddish oonw turist) 'tourist' 'spy out, explore')
Figure 22
Consider also Tn tiyer 'toured, was a tourist (m, sg)', which is either a
secondary derivation from Tn taydr 'tourist' or a resuscitation of MedH
Tn [tij'jer] 'guided (m, sg)' (from Tn Vfvvr).
Similarly, I XTtopras means 'prize' (cf. Milon leMunekhey haHitamlitt,
Dictionary of Gymnastics Terms, 1937: 49, Item 625), nativizing Intl
prize - cf. R npH3 priz [pris] 'prize', G Preis 'prize, price', E prize (cf. E
price) and Y ms> priz 'prize'.18 Originally, H 01D [pa'r&s] meant 'half a
loaf - cf. Mishnah: K'rithoth 3:3. Consequently it referred to 'payment,
reward' - DID 'np1? ma bv x*?w [jel'lo Yal ma'n&t loqab'bel pa'r&s] 'not
motivated by the wish to get a reward/payment' (Mishnah: Aboth 1:3).
The latter expression is currently understood by many native Israeli-
speakers I have studied as meaning 'not motivated by the wish to receive
16
cf. ZVA (1914: 42). A similar view by Mazia can be found in ZV6 (1928: 85). Mazia was
born in 1858 in Mogilev (in Russia, now Belarus) and died in 1930 in Jerusalem. His
surname, RM<IT», an acronym for rViCK to y"iT» 'descendant of Israel Iserlin', is
sometimes spelled Masie.
17
Interestingly, Intl tourist (cf. I DoniD turist) is used as the 'nativizing material' in the case
of SlangI uomu turist 'digger, someone working with a large bladed hoe' (jocular, see
Sappan 1971: 35a), a jocular adaptation of Intl tourist to mean somone using a turtya - cf.
I nnw turiya 'a large bladed hoe, mattock' (<Ar. *3j>ftui'rijja]'id.').
18
cf. also Y r n s prayz PY pros 'price', that has recently gained the additional meaning
'prize'. Thus, dovid hqfshteyn prayz means 'Dovid Hofshtein Prize' - see Fdrverts
"Yiddish Forward*, 28 July 2000, p. 16. This is an incestuous PSM by semantic shifting of
E/?r/ze-see§3.1.4.
a prize*. Their belief that RabH DID meant 'prize' is thus no more than the
etymological truth turned upside down.19
The original meanings of words which are resuscitated according to
the 'Principle of Drawing from Within' are usually related to their
modern meanings. However, sometimes the meaning of a word can
change completely, even to the point of enantiosemy, i.e. the word is
semantically 'auto-opposite' (provided that the original meaning is
retained). Consider H ^ r o Iburgani. In post-biblical literature RabH
runa [burg&'nT] meant 'host' - see Chant 41 in Midrash Tehillim (Shoher
fob) (c. AD 900). It was related to RabH i m [bur'g&n] 'inn for travellers'
- see Midrash Rabba to Leviticus 7. RabH 'am also meant 'villager', as
well as 'resident of a burgus (a fortified settlement near the border)', cf.
Tosefta: P'sahim 1:27, where i r o means 'military settlement'. In Israeli,
however, *xna burgani is 'bourgeois, middle-class person, urbanite,
capitalist'. This modern meaning was introduced in 1906 by M. Lazarson
(later Ben-Eliezer; cf. Sivan 1981b: 8) because of the non-accidental
phonetic resemblance of burgani to Intl bourgeois, cf. G biirgerlich (cf. G
Burger 'citizen'), R Sypacyii burzhuX, P burzuj (currently derogatory, as
opposed to the still neutral ConP burzuazja 'the bourgeoisie') and F/E
bourgeois. The original (RabH) *3TQ derives from L burgus, which is in
turn the origin of Intl bourgeois.20 Thus, it is an incestuous PSM by
semantic shifting with Indo-European ur-source (§3.1.4.1).
The resurrection of obsolete terms (even hapax legomena) is common
in the case of biblical names, for example toponyms (including
potamonyms) and anthroponyms. I am referring to cases in which the
biblical name is used in Israeli as a word appearing in the dictionary and
no longer as a name. Consider khavila and parpdr, which share in
common both the resurrection of a biblical name and being an SPM.
I tfnn khavila 'villa' is an SPM of Intl villa - cf. I nVi vila, E/F/It./Sp.
villa, R BHJiJia villa and P willa.21 BH rfrin [hawl'la] is a country name,
cf. Genesis 2:11, Genesis 25:18 and I Samuel 15:7. Even-Shoshan (MES:
511a) links tfnn [hSwl'la] to RabH mtfnn 'castles, palaces', which
19
cf. the 1999 advertisement (in the UK) for Toblerone chocolate (which 'inspires the
world'), which showed a photo of pyramids in Egypt, asking: 'Ancient Tobleronism?'.
Compare this with the case of artichoke, described in detail in §6.2.7.
20
Kutscher (1965: 18), however, points out that there are claims that bourgeois and its
source, G Burg 'castle', may derive from G bergen 'to provide shelter' rather than from L
burgus whose possible origin is Gk purgos 'tower'. I '•oro burgani is mentioned by
Sarfatti(1970:58).
21
All of these go back to L villa 'country-house, farm', probably a diminutive of L vicus
'village, hamlet, country-seat'.
appears in Siphrei deBe Rab: 'Eqeb (a tractate in Deuteronomy): 37.

However, an added complication is that RabH nitfnn appears to be a
variant of mxîn, the plural form of Aram. N*?in 'fortified place, castle'
(cf. Jastrow 1903: 433b). It was reanalysed as the plural of nVnn and thus
linked to the modern sememe 'villa5, and hence I rfnn khavila constitutes
a sense-SPM (as opposed to the usual referent-SPM, see §1.2.5). Note
that the pronunciation of nîn is the foreign sounding khavila - in
contrast with khavila - the penultimate stress being induced both by Intl
villa (cf. 'orthographic MSN' in §5.4.2) and by the speaker's wish to
differentiate n'rin from (RabH»)I tfrnn khavila 'package'.
I "ID"IE> parpdr 'butterfly' is an SPM of one of the European forms of
'butterfly', e.g. It. farfalla or F papillon (cf. R 6a6oHKa babochka, Y
ViJTOtf?B fldterl and the less common Y yjWWQga bdbochko). I parpdr
resuscitates the hapax legomenon BH "1D1D [par'par], the name of one of
Damascus rivers - see II Kings 5:12. Ben-Yehuda, who coined the word
in 1902 (cf. MBF:x:5223a, Ben-Avi 1951 - see Sivan 1981a: 91; 1981b:
19, Rosen 1994: 94), could have used the compound RabH DWD rnDS
[§ip'poret karl'mlm] 'butterfly' (see Talmud: Sabbath 90b, Hullin 25a) but
preferred a one-word expression resembling the European onomatopoeic
sound which included a repetition of the labial {farfalla, papillon). He
rationalized his choice, however, by Ar. jjfij [far'fuir]. Consider (Syrian)
DialAr. j » [fur'fir.r] 'butterfly, moth' (cf. Hava 1915: 552a) and Ar.
JJ ['furfur] 'sparrow' (ibid.), 'small bird' (Wehr 1961: 708a; 1994:
829b). Weiss (1975: 50fh) ignores the European etymon22 and rationalizes
the sememe 'butterfly' by 1D1D Aprpr 'move, shake, shatter' (see Job
16:12), which derives from T)D ^prr 'shake, shatter' (see Psalms 74:13),
which might be onomatopoeic, cf. Ar. ^*J>j ['rafrafa] 'fluttered (m, sg)'.23
Thus, to summarize, if asked about the origin of parpdr 'butterfly', a
purist would say that it is a Hebrew word. If pressed further, the purist
would refer to an Arabic source (as did Ben-Yehuda). The truth, however,
is that parpdr is not entirely Semitic, which brings to mind, parva
componere magnis, the story of a well-known British politician who,
22
A s does Klein (:531c), who (perhaps typographically) confuses Aprpr 'crumble' with
Aprpr 'shake' - see the entry nDns parpdr. Whichever way one looks at it, 1101D parpdr
deserves to be categorized as a tri-sourced M S N , cf. I H/ano fromez (a kind o f cheese), Y
rwpurs nishkoshs 'bearable' and Y ^vr^W shlimdz] 'unlucky person* - see §4.4.
23
cf. SlangI 1D19 firfer 'spun, turned around (a football player) (m, sg)'; cf. Ar. J J
['farfara] 'flapped the wings (birds) (m, sg)' (Hava 1915: 552a), 'shook itself (animals/
birds) (m, sg)' (Wehr 1961: 708a); cf. Isaiah 24:19 and RabH Y19 Îprr 'crumb, crumble',
RabH TnD 'crumb'. Consider also the spooneristic, metathetical DOPE, according to
which E butterfly derives from flutter by.
visiting the streets of Brixton in London, asked a black woman where she
came from. The woman answered that she was from Brixton. 'But where
are you from originally?' persisted the politician. 'Oh, originally from
Stockwell!' came the reply.24
See also the PM I rfon khogld 'partridge', which resurrects BH
[hog'li], a female name - cf. the recent PM adoption of the Spanish first
name Emilio to refer to (E>)Intl email.
2.4 Facilitating initial learning
x^n nma pi rnrta nnwVi? nrna ID - iroiifrn rf?»n y^x1? anp m m rft&n yVxw n»3 >D
The more similar the sound of the foreign word is to the sound of the national word,
the easier its absorption in the language is, and the more easily it can be interpreted
as an original word and even influence changes of meaning in existing words.
(Avinery 1946:137)
An MSN can be internalized and memorized easily by speakers familiar

with the matched SLi expression since, by definition, the words sound
similar. This is a mnemonic method: the MSN serves as a 'mnemonicon'.
The tendency to create neologisms which sound similar to their foreign
parallels in order to facilitate nativization is admitted by Chernikhovsky
(1929), who reveals some of the rules on which he based his osteological
and syndesmological neologisms in Israeli. His suggested terms
resuscitate medical lexemes from Rabbinic Hebrew, some of which were
actually adaptations of Greek or Latin terms, which are themselves
surface-cognates of the current SLi terms, which he was in turn
attempting to transpose into Israeli usage. Therefore, his neologisms do
not usually involve quintessential MSN. However, the fact that he admits
to what is concealed by many FEN producers makes his testimony
valuable. Chernikhovsky's ipsissima verba are:
I used names that are as close as possible to the rabbinic names in order to help the
learner's memory, e.g. bsis hagulgolet - basis cranii, vildn hakhekh - velum
palatinum, sdif - xyphoideus processus, tik - theca,2S gmamidt hagarinim -
faveolae granulares,26 sumsemanin - ossa sesamoidea, karndim - cornua}1 kufsit
24
Stockwell is a London suburb near Brixton.
25
H jrn [tlq] can be traced back to Greek.
26
H psru [gar'TTn] 'grain' is involved in two PSMs discussed in this book: garinit 'granite'
(§5.3.5) and garinomet 'granuloma' (§4.2).
27
H p p ['qeren] 'ray, horn' is a Semitic word and if there is an etymological link between
pj? and L cornu, it is either Proto-Semitic-Proto-Indo-European or Nostratic; the term
- capsula. I allowed myself to use pis&t haregel in order to refer to Pes; kubyd - os
cubiti, kunkhiyd - concha™ du hakires - digastricus.
(p. 252, bold and italics are mine)29
These neologisms are memorable because of their phonetic resemblance
to the scientific foreign terms (see also §4.2).
The Jewish people have a long tradition of using mnemonic
techniques. Old Testament acrostics, where the consecutive lines begin
with the successive letters of the alphabet, are but one example. Consider
the famous poem in Proverbs 31:10-31 (which also appears in Jewish
prayers), beginning V7W1rf75D3*7 m no3 / 7TQKOT*3DDprni X2ttT 'a *rn nwK
norp N1? ['?ejet 'hajil mi jim'§S wor&'hoq mippnT'nlm mik'ri / bi'tah bi leb
ba?'lah waj&'l&l lo jeh's&r] 'Who can find a virtuous woman? For her
price is far above rubies. / The heart of her husband doth safely trust in
her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.9
A more recent illustration of this tendency is V'tfip*1 j.q.n.h.z., a PM,
which - compared to most PMs discussed in this book - is in the reverse
direction, from Hebrew and not into Hebrew. In the Jewish tradition, H
T"riJp\ usually pronounced yaknehoz, is an acronym for p lydin 'the
benediction of wine'; ump Ikidush 'the benediction sanctifying the
Sabbath or the festival'; 13 Iner 'the benediction of light' (lit.
'candle'); 7t?i3$i I havdald 'the prayer separating the Sabbath from the
following week'; pr Izman 'thanks-giving for the return of the season'
(lit. 'time'). This is the order of ceremonies to be observed at times when
certain Jewish holidays, such as the Seder (the ritual service and
ceremonial dinner held on the first evening of Passover),30 coincide with
the close of the Sabbath (when a Jew is supposed to perform the n^nn
I havdald). At the Seder Jews read from the Haggadah and in some
Ashkenazic versions of the Haggadah - for instance Mantoba 1560,
Prague 1526, Venice 1609 and the Goldschmidt Edition - there is a
picture of a hunter chasing a hare. Appearing near the Qaddesh section,
'the benediction sanctifying the festival (or the Sabbath)', this picture is a
very useful mnemonic for the Hebrew acronym T"n3p\ phonetically (and
pictorially) matched with ColloqG Jag 'en Has' [ jaken'haz], the spoken
'Nostratic' was first used by Pedersen (1924: 311). H pp ['qeren] is involved in two PSMs
discussed in this book: keren 'corner* (§3.1.4.3) and keren 'horn' (§4.3).
28
H rroup [qSnlp'ja] 'shell, conch* is a surface-cognate of L concha, cf. G k Koyxv kdnkhe,
Aram. WTDJip [qOnklta].
29
Other such terms are I rrn 1 ?! - L deltoidea and I rmV - L Os lunatum (ibid.: 262-3).
30
The other holidays are: Shavuoth (Pentecost), Rosh Hashanah (New Year's Day) and the
second day of Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles).
version of Jag einen/den Hasen! 'hunt a/the hare!', or with a

corresponding form in Yiddish, e.g. Y TKH V w yog 'n hoz and TKH 0571 a*P
yog dom hoz - cf. yokyhoz, yoknohoz, as well as yaknehoz (cf. Weinreich
1973: i:252) and PY yakyhus (Bernstein 1908: 130b).31 The picture might
have been taken from the foreign custom of hunting for eggs brought by a
hare during Easter.32 However, I could not find any evidence that this
custom was introduced in Germany before the seventeenth century,
whereas the picture appears in Haggadoth from the fifteenth century.
Furthermore, Weinreich (1973: iii:254) states that the oldest source for
this mnemonic is apparently the Mafozor of Worms of 1272.
The process embodied in T"rnp* is parallel to other Jewish traditions,
for example in Volhynia (a town near Rovno) the Sabbath of the weekly
portion of Emor (BH "TON [Te'mor], lit. 'Speak!, Say!', cf. Leviticus 2 1 -
24) was celebrated by carrying water - in allusion to Y "WBJ7 emor
'bucket, pail' (cf. Weinreich 1973: i:7), cf. the folk-traditions discussed in
§4.4 and §8.2. Such processes resemble the early 1991 process which
generated the term E gopher with the meaning 'a system for searching for
information on the Internet'. E gopher is an intra-English PM of go for
(the user asks the system to go for the information sought). E gopher was
used as the transposing material because its referent, a North American
hole-digging rodent, is perceived as a suitable symbol for a system that
'burrows' through the Internet. Moreover, a gopher is the mascot of the
University of Minnesota, where the system was developed (cf. Knowels
and Elliott 1997: 129). The pre-existent Slang(Am)E gofer 'low-level
assistant, one who runs errands, one who goes for things and finds them*
also played a role here, and as OED suggests, the etymon of E gofer (as
opposed to gopher) is itself both go for and gopher (cf. AmE twofer).
These multiple co-etyma render E gopher an MSN.
Consider also PM used for didactic purposes. For example, a group of
Canadian students (Young Judaea, Canada, 1993) learning Israeli had to
memorize the following sentences:
31
cf. Sholem Aleichem's comedy T"n^ {j.q.nXz. - written in 1894) (cf. 1942, ii, Part 2:
Comedies, 29-133).
32
There is a tradition o f (G) Osterhas 'Easter hare', a big hare w h o walks on two legs and
brings hen's eggs during Easter. Nowadays, for instance in England, Italy, Germany and
Greece, children eat chocolate eggs at Easter. Eggs might be a sign o f the spring season
and o f n e w life, and it is possible that this Christian tradition is related to the Jewish
tradition o f eating eggs during Passover. Raphael Loewe (pc) and others believe that eating
eggs during Passover might stem from the Romans' convention to start their meals with
eggs - cf. Ab ovo usque ad mala 'From the egg to the apples' (and consequently 'From the
beginning to the end') (Horatius, Satirae, 1,3,6-7).
• Oh Hell* there is a racoon in my tent\ (cf. I ^rtK ohel 'tent')33

• Quickly, my hair is burning! (cf. I "ino maher 'quickly')
All that said, in reality, MSNs are sometimes unsuccessful even among
bilingual Israeli-speakers. One of the reasons is that their knowledge of
the SL compromises the success of the MSN because they would rather
use the original term, of which they are reminded by the MSN itself (cf.
§5.3.1). For detailed explanations and examples, see §5.3.
2.5 Suggested classifications of Israeli MSN
Two basic steps are essential in the study of MSNs. The first is the
collection of PSMs, SPMs and PMs. During my field and library research
I found hundreds of MSNs in Israeli. The second task, crucial to the
analysis of the phenomenon, is the analytic classification of MSNs.
I propose to establish the following classifications in order to help answer
vital questions concerning the nature and function of MSN.
1. Lexicopoietic classification (see §3)

(a) Introducing a New Sememe: MSNs produced by shifting the
meaning of a pre-existent TL/SL2 word (creating a new sememe)
in order to restrict the word to the meaning of the semantically and
phonetically related matched SLj word. If the MSN is successful,
the original meaning (prior to the shift) often disappears. Consider
BH *p [kep] 'rock, cliff » I *p fa?/'cape' - nativizing Intl cape
(see §3.1.3) [I call this MSN BY SEMANTIC SHIFTING].
(a1) A subcategory of such semantic shifting consists of the
specification of the initially vague meaning of a pre-existent
TL/SL2 word so that it becomes limited to the specific meaning
of the related SL! word. Consider RabH DISK [?ab'bub] 'a kind
of a flute played in the Temple' » I rrOK abiiv 'oboe' -
matching Itlntl oboe (§3.1.1) [I call this SPECIFICIZING MSN].
(b) Introducing a New Lexeme: MSNs which are new TL lexemes
resulting from the etymological hybridization of an SL! word and a
TL/SL2 morpheme (or lexeme) which are phonetically (and
semantically) similar, e.g. I D^DpWB mishkafdim < Gk skoped + H
Afqp (see Introduction) [I call this CREATIONALMSN].
33
Such an association was used by the British Israelites (Geoffrey Lewis pc).
(b1) A subcategory of such hybridization results in a new TL

compound noun. Most of these compounds are jocular and
concocted for the sake of a yew de mots, e.g. 13TI3 *"irf?N alter
nativ, lit. 'improvise (m, sg) a path/lane!' for Intl alternative,
cf. F alternative (§3.2.4) [I call this COMPOUND/PHRASE MSN].
2. Classification by terminological area (see §4)

It is advisable to find out in which terminological domains MSN is
most likely to occur, e.g. zoology, medicine, gastronomy, music and
computers. Among the areas considered, one should also pay attention
to toponyms and anthroponyms because in Israeli these often display
similar characteristics to lexical items appearing in the dictionary.
3. Classification by general currency (see §5.3-§5.4)

An analysis of which MSNs were successful and which were not, and
whether MSNs are likely to take root, should be undertaken. It is
important to answer questions such as when MSNs are successful,
whether it is possible to predict whether they will gain currency, and
whether an MSN has a better chance of gaining favour with bilingual
Israeli-speakers or whether their very knowledge of the SL
compromises its potential success.
4. Source language classification (see §6)

It is necessary to answer questions such as which MSNs came from
which language(s) and whether purists prefer to nativize
internationalisms folk-etymologically, especially those appearing in
Yiddish, Russian and Polish (see discussion in §6.1), e.g. cholera,
villa, elite, salute, cyst and protocol. It is important to explore what
role has been played by languages such as Yiddish, Arabic and
English (both British and American), and whether the main cultural
superstratum languages have changed or been replaced throughout the
period of the 'Hebrew revival' and Israeli, particularly during the
twentieth century.
5. Semantic classification (see §7.1, cf. §1.2.3-§1.2.5)

(a) Semantic MSN (PSM, cf. § 1.2.4)
(b) Semanticized MSN (SPM, cf. § 1.2.5)
(c) Non-semantic MSN (PM, cf. § 1.2.3)
6. Chronological classification (see later discussions)

The date an MSN was coined should be provided and one should also
consider whether it is possible to provide a chronology of periods in
which MSNs were favoured and periods in which they were not.
7. Classification by author/authority (see later discussions and §5.1)

It should be established who coined MSNs:
(a) 'Professional revivalists' such as • The Father \ Eliezer Ben-
Yehuda (born Eliezer Yitzhak ben Yehuda Leyb Perelman): born
in 1858 in Luzhky (Lithuania/Russia); 1871-7 lived in Polock, in
Glubok (Vilna), and in Dvinsk; 1877-80 studied in Paris; 1881-
1922 lived in Eretz Yisrael As Harshav (1993: 55) argues, the
interest of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in Hebrew and Zionism began only
after he had read Daniel Deronda (1876), George Eliot's Zionist
novel, thus providing a Judaic channel for his Russian nationalism
and Slavophilia, which had in turn been created under the
influence of the Russo-Turkish war in the Balkans in 1877-8
[MSNs: parpdr, mivreshet, sheleU glida, ribd, ahdd, bubd\ note
that the total number of neologisms coined by Ben-Yehuda was
approximately 250]. • The Grandfather' (the Father of modern
literary Hebrew, who used post-Biblical Hebrew as a basis),
Shalom Jacob ben Haim Moshe Abramowitsch, also known as
Sholem Yankev (Broyde) Abramovich, but usually referred to as
Mendele Movkher-Sforim. lit. 'The (Itinerant) Bookseller' (cf.
I mendele mokher sfarim), his pseudonym since 1879.
Abramowitsch was born c.1835 in Kapuli (Belorussia); 1848-58
lived in Lithuania and in the Ukraine (Volhynia, Podolia); 1858-69
Berdichev; 1869-81 Zhitomir; 1881-1905 Odessa; 1905-8 Geneva;
1908-17 Odessa. On the crucial role of Mendele in the formation
of Israeli, see Patterson (1962) and Kutscher (1982: 190ff) [MSNs:
bulbus, tsoani, numerous names of animals]. • The Son': Itamar
Ben-Avi (born Ben-Zion Ben-Yehuda), Eliezer's son [MSN:
aviron (1TT1K)].
(b) Literary authors such as • Chaim Nachman Bialik [MSNs: ^rfrf,
kotlit, tilelon]. • Avraham Shlonsky [MSN: eshefkeshef].
(c) Linguists or educators such as • Naphtali Herz Tur-Sinai (born
Torczyner), last president of the Hebrew Language Council (1942-
9) and first president of AHL (1953-73) [MSNs: aviron (1TV3N),
eshgdr, khonen]. •Amnon Shapira, from AHL [MSNs: bagit,
mufin]. • Chaim Leib Hazan [MSN: mishkafdim-lntiodnction].
• David Yudilovich [MSN: makhsdri], • M. Lazarson (later Ben-

Eliezer) [MSN: burgani].
(d) Media personalities, cf. the popular radio presenters, Moshe
Khovav and Rivka Michaeli's PSM DVft lahit 'hit (popular song)',
as well as the National Israeli Television news broadcaster Haim
Yavin's successful 1977 non-MSN coinage 1DHB mahapdkh
'upheaval, change-over, shake-up, turnabout'.
(e) Politically influential people, for example Israel's former Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who might have assisted a possible
nativization of AHL's 1996 neologismttltf?Wshiltut 'zapping,
surfing the channels, flipping through the channels' by using it in
an interview for Israeli Television in April 1998.
MSNs may also have institutional authors: • Vdad halashon (haivrit)
'The (Hebrew) Language Council' (HLC), established in 1889 as a
branch of Safd Brurd 'Clear Language' by Ben-Yehuda, David Yellin
(1864-1941), Chaim Hirshenzon (1857-1935) and Avraham Moshe
Lunz (1854-1918) [MSNs: teka, tsilait, sikhsdkh, natrdn, pat
mordekhdy and kevet], • Haakademya lalashon haivrit 'The Academy
of the Hebrew Language' (AHL), established in 1953, (superseding
Va'ad HaLashon), still active, located in Giv'at Ram, Jerusalem
[MSNs: nitiir, misukh, kaletet, metsa, pat peer, kistd, sibit, klit, gladin,
svivol, migddr, palush and trufdt deme (a secondary derivative of
deme)\ see also ashgdr, bagit and mufiri].
One should study individual purists' attitudes towards MSNs (cf.
§5.1.1) and the relevance of the purist's background.
As mentioned above, the questions raised in my suggested classifications
will be thoroughly addressed in §3-§7. With regard to each MSN
mentioned, I shall attempt to refer to its semantic and lexicopoietic nature,
the terminological area to which it belongs, the SL, the date (or the
chronological period) on which it was introduced, who coined it, and
whether or not it gained currency. However, the current state of Israeli
lexicography is such that the exact chronology and information about the
coiner cannot be discovered in all cases. In fact, the Israeli lexicographic
situation is completely inadequate. I am referring not only to the neglect
of caiques and semantic loans, a lexicographic flaw characterizing even
OED, but also to the fact that there is no single Israeli dictionary which
answers serious etymological questions or lists all the early attestations of
a word as OED does: Klein's Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of
the Hebrew Language (1987) includes many inaccuracies. Ben-Yehuda's
milon halashon haivrit hayeshana vehakhadashd (A Complete Dictionary

of Ancient and Modern Hebrew) (1909-59) [abbreviated in this book as
MBY] is valuable and resembles OED but is nevertheless archaic for
contemporary Israeli. Kna'ani's otsdr halashon haivrit (The Hebrew
Language Thesaurus) (1960-89) is comprehensive but provides neither
etymologies nor clear references to the many attestations cited. GUT'S
milon ivri (Hebrew Dictionary) (1947, 2nd Edition) is neither
comprehensive nor etymological. Bahat and Mishor's milon hahove
(1995) and Choueka's rav milim: hamilon hashalem laivrit hakhadashd
(Rav-Milim: A Comprehensive Dictionary of Modern Hebrew) (1997) are
up-to-date and include many expressions not recorded in any other
dictionary, but they are not etymological. For a relevant brief survey of
milon hahove, see Shkedi (1995). The etymologies in Even-Shoshan's
The New Dictionary [MES] are not always reliable, and the dictionary
also includes several mistakes (for instance ynx I garon 'neck' is defined
as feminine although it is masculine, cf. p. 264c). Currently, however, it is
the best Israeli dictionary available.
The etymological inappropriateness of the existing Israeli dictionaries
is illustrated inter alia in the discussion of the Israeli PSMs TlTftpita 'pitta
bread' and mV Idba 'lava' (§5.4.3). For now, let us examine the
misleading treatment of I \\Tt7i dalton 'kite-shaped quadrangle'. LL 111
(1990) discusses this neologism, which sounds Israeli to the native
speaker's ear, mentioning that the parallel English word is deltoid. It
seems obvious that the Israeli neologism was a morphemic adaptation of
Intl deltoid. However, Klein (1987: 126b) and Even-Shoshan (1970:
436b) force a Hebrew etymon as well, namely (BH»)I rhi delet 'door' +
the suffix (H>)11*1- -on, 'in allusion to its shape - suggestive of two
triangular doors' (Klein, op. cit). Note that Intl deltoid goes back to Gk
deltoides from delta 'A', which is a surface-cognate of RabH rbl ['dalet],
the name of the fourth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, which is in turn
etymologically related to BH rfn ['delet] 'door'. However, H lV?7 'door'
does not seem to play a role in the neologization of llrfn dalton, and
Even-Shoshan and Klein's etymology appears to be groundless. Even-
Shoshan (1997, i.e. MES:3l0c) later corrects this misleading etymology
and does not mention any relation to BH Thl 'door*.
Under these circumstances, in order to write a proper classification of
MSN, it was necessary to create my own etymological dictionary of
Israeli MSNs. The lexical items collected and polychronically (both
synchronically and diachronically - cf. §8.7) analysed in this book (with
provision of full etymologies) might contribute in the future towards a
more comprehensive etymological dictionary of Israeli.
3
Addition of Sememe versus Introduction of
Lexeme
There are two main kinds of MSN, which differ in their lexicopoietic
nature: MSN introducing a new lexical item and MSN introducing a new
sememe to a pre-existent lexical item. PSM, SPM and PM can belong to
both lexicopoietic kinds, but this chapter will focus on PSM since it has
so often been used by Israeli purists (see the statistical analysis in §7).
3.1 Introducing a new sememe
The following figure illustrates the general process:
x 'a' -» - > - » - > TL(+MSN)y 'a' <r <r <-<r TL/SL2 y V

Figure 23
3.1.1 Specificizing MSN
This type of MSN is created by making a pre-existent semantically

opaque TL/SL2 lexeme more specific, giving it the same meaning as a
phonetically similar SLi word whose referent is from the same semantic
field as that of the opaque TL/SL2 lexeme.
SLt x V ->->•»-> TL(+MSN)y 'a' f f f f TL/SL2 y 'b''

b is semantically opaque and from the same semantic field as a
Figure 24
This process is especially common in the following terminological areas

(only one example for each area is mentioned here but other examples
appear in the following chapters):
87
Music - in the names of musical instruments:

• Israeli 313N abuv 'oboe' (mentioned in Bendavid 1967:147) <
1. Intl oboe (<It. oboe < F hautbois, a blend of haut 'high' and bois 'wood'), cf. P
obdj, G Oboe, E oboe, R ro6oft gobol
2. RabH MX [?ab'bub] 'a kind of a flute played in the Temple' (see Talmud'. Arakhin
10b).
Zoology - in the names of animals:

• Israeli mmp karpada 'toad' (cf. §1.4.1) <
1. F crapaud [kRa'po] 'toad'.
2. Aram. unsTip [qurpadaj] / '•Kionp [qarpadaj], an unknown kind of animal (see
Talmud:tfullin 63a).
This can be regarded as a creational MSN because of the difference between mDip
karpada and Aram. <lN7D"ip. That said, the n of m^p could be explained as a mere
adaptation of the Aramaic form.
Botany - in the names of plants:

• Israeli yim dimua 'Daemia cordata' (see Auerbach and Ezrahi 1928: 170; 1930: l i b ,
Item 191). Compare this with Daemia tomentosa, Pergularia tomentosa, which Alon
(1983: xi:31) adapts as I HTO1?TOIdemya levida. I yw? dimua derives from:
2. L daemia.
3. RabH wsn [ds'mQwaY] 'a kind of grass' (see Talmud Yerushalmi: B'rakhoth 10:2,
cf. 6:10).
Toponyms:
• Rabbinic Hebrew ]V (ja'wan] 'Hellas, Greece' {Midrash Rabba to Genesis 44) <
1. Gkldnia 'Ionia'.
2. BH ]V [ja'wan] 'one of Japheth's sons, the name of a people* (Genesis 10:2).
See also MedH moo 'Spain', MedH mWK 'Germany, Ashkenaz' and other Hebrew
toponymic specificizing FENs in Zuckermann (2000:137-41).
3.1.2 MSN by semantic shifting
This type of MSN is created by semantic shifting, i.e. by shifting the

meaning of a pre-existent TL/SL2 word (and thus creating a new sememe)
in order to restrict its meaning to that of the phonetically similar SI^
word. If the MSN gains currency, the original meaning (prior to the shift)
sometimes disappears, often through the speakers' pragmatic preference
for a one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents (cf. §3.1.3).
SL! x 'a' -»->-»-» TL(+MSN)y 'a' <r <-*- <r TL/SL2 y V \

b is not both semantically opaque and from the same semantic field as a
Figure 25
Addition of Sememe versus Introduction of Lexeme 89
Considering: BH \\V3 [kfdSn] meant simply 'spear' (see I Samuel

17:45). However, IyiTD kidon also refers to '(bicycle) handlebars', an
SPM of ¥ guidon [gi'dS] 'handlebars'. The [k]-[g] transformation is also
apparent in the case of I glik 'Click' (§5.4.3). Most young native speakers
of Israeli are unaware of the French co-etymon, but traces of its
foreignness can be found in the works of the purist Sivan (1962: 175;
1985a: 98a), who puts ln^D kidon on a list of foreignisms/loanwords
which the speaker should replace with autochthonous Hebrew lexical
items. In the case of ]TTD kidon, Sivan suggests run hege 'steering wheel'.
The change [g]>[k] is a phonetic compromise for semantic purposes, a
frequent characteristic of PSM/SPM. But it might also have been
influenced by the need to differentiate between *[gi'don] 'handlebars' and
H 1WU, an Israeli first name, currently pronounced gidon (or gidori). One
might claim that semantics did not play a role in this FEN since 'spear' is
not exactly related to 'handlebars'. Note, however, the physical similarity
between the two referents. A parallel case, in a different cultural
environment, is that of It. sciabola 'sabre', which took on the sememe
'shovel' in American Italian owing to E shovel (cf. Livingston 1918:
210). Both examples neatly illustrate the proverbial expression: BH innDi
nnmrf? orrnwam ovw*? ommn [wakitta'tu harbo't&m l3?it'tim
wahSnitote'hem bmazme'rot] 'and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks' (Isaiah 2:4).
A further case of MSN by semantic shifting is I nnD pekha. BH nnD
[pe'h&], meaning 'governor, lord of a district' (Jeremiah 51:23; Nehemiah
5:18), is traceable to Assyrian pajjati 'district', from belpafidti 'lord of a
district'. I nnD pekha, on the other hand, refers to 'pasha, bashaw',
(formerly) the highest rank of Turkish civil and military officials (now
reserved for generals) - cf. Tu. pa§a and its descendants Ar. ^W ['baija:]
'id.' (e.g. in Egypt), Y xm$ pasha and R pasha. Torczyner (1937: 107)
claims that Tu. pa§a {pasha in ibid.) can be traced to Akka. nnD, which
means that the TL material and the SL lexical item are surface cognates.
However, Tu. pa§a seems to derive from Per. pddSa(h), cf. Doerfer (1963-
75); cf. also Tu. ba$qi 'leader, supervisor' (the latter is mentioned by
Clauson 1972: 378a, cf. ConTu. ba§i '(group) leader'), traceable to ba§
'head' (ibid.: 375ab; still used). In some eastern Turkish dialects, ba§
yields the later form pa§ {bashaw was adopted by Western languages
before pasha). Note that in Old Turkish there was no clear distinction
between p and b; consider also the absence of [p] in Arabic and the
substitution of Persian and Turkish [p] by [b] (OED). AHL admits the
multiple sources of 1 pekha in a reply to a reader's enquiry - cf.
LeshonenuLa'am 3 (5) (1952: 29).
RabH rft^ya [matgi'la] meant 'roller, a slab for rolling over a

plastered roof (cf. Jastrow 1903: 813a), its etymon being H ^y Vfg/ 'roll,
round'. In^WQ maagild (sometimes maageld), however, refers to
'mangle, linen press' because of the phonetic similarity to Intl mangle -
cf. Y *73a$fc mdngU P magiel, G Mangel, WdschemangeL The rolling
function of both tools (roller and mangle) obviously helped to extend the
meaning. As apparent in Chernikhovsky's works (see, for instance 1952:
140), tfpxm maagild was also used to mean 'rolling pin (for dough)'.
Currently, both sememes are rare, although from Saddan's analysis (1955:
39), both were widespread in the mid-twentieth century. nVoro maagild
'mangle' is still known to some kibbutz members; see also Thwn maagild
'roller' (cf. G Wake) in Milon leMunekhey haDfiis (Dictionary of
Printing Terms) (1933: 76).
RabH yD [pin] referred to 'tooth of a key' and was probably created
out of the misreading of RabH ran [h&'pin] (Mishnah: Kelim 11:4) as
RabH pan [hap'plh], reanalysed as n 'the' (definite article) + I'D.l
However, in Israeli, yspin refers to 'pin'. This use is already apparent in
Milon leMunekhey haTekhnika (Dictionary of Technical Terms) (1929:
3a). The Israeli parallel of E safety-pin (linch pin) is lintD T»9 pin
bitakhon. IDF soldiers are familiar with the term row *7W VD pin shel
shabdt, lit. 'Saturday's pin' (the translation 'Saturday' appears in this case
to be better than the religious 'Sabbath'), a connecting pin of the M-16
gun, which they must have in their possession at all times; if they lose it,
they are confined to the base over the weekend (hence 'Saturday's pin').
The stimulus for this modern sememe of yD pin is the almost
homophonous Epin. (Note that y*2pin also refers to 'penis', which might
be an Israeli semantically shifting PSM of E penis ['pi:nis].2) Similarly,
RabH an [tag] 'crownlet, coronet, vertical serif (ornamenting Hebrew
alphabetical letters)'3 came to refer in Israeli (as tag) to 'apostrophe' and
1
Mentioned in MES (:1423b) and in Klein (1987: 505c). Note the graphic similarity
between the Hebrew letters n (h) and n (h) and compare this with another Hebrew 'ghost
word' likewise created: (Rab)H o w V [lTs'tlm] (also crooV [Hs'tlm]) ^bandit, robber,
brigand, plunderer', a misreading of H o w ^ [ITs'fls] 'id.', from Gk lestis 'id.'; note the
similarity between the Hebrew letters D (final m) and 0 (s). For a relevant discussion of the
importance of orthography, see §8.5.
2
Compare 1"»D pin 'penis' with (Parisian) SlangF pine (f) 'penis'. E penis is traceable to L
penis 'tail'. Compare this with I T»T zdin, from (H>)I y»T, the name of the seventh letter in
the Hebrew alphabet, abbreviating aar Izandv 'tail' and thus calquing Y p p w shvants
'tail, penis', cf. G Schwanz 'tail, penis'. Obviously, there are other possible co-influences,
e.g. H n 'dagger'; for a discussion, see Assaf and Bartal (1993).
3
cf. Per. taj (>Ar. £ u [ta:d3]) 'crown'. Under the influence of taj, Mumtaz Mahal (the
mausoleum built at Agra by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died
then to 'tag, tab, tie-label attached by one end to a suitcase, a label pinned
on as a badge', the reason being the close phonetic similarity to £ tag.
I niDO sifrd 'digit, number' is a PSM by semantic shifting of Intl tsifra
'digit, number' - cf. P cyfra, R tsifra, Y "WS'X tsifor, G Ziffer and F chiffre
(cf. the cognates cipher and zero). The internationalism can be traced
back to Ar. >-» [§ifr] 'zero, nought', from j»*-» [§ifr]/[$ufr]/[$afr] 'empty,
void', from j**-» [*§afara] 'was empty (m, sg)' (perhaps a caique of Skt
s 'unya 'zero, empty', note that Arabic numerals were imported from the
Indians). The hapax legomenon BH mDO meant 'book' (cf. Psalms 56:9)
and is a cognate of Ar. > - [sift] '(sacred) book'. Klein (1987: 456a) and
MES (:1268c) suggest that BH niDD is a cognate of Ar. >-» [$ifr] 'zero'.
If this were true, I mDO sifrd could be recorded as a Semitic ur-source
incestuous PSM (cf. §3.1.4.2). However, I have thus far been unable to
link [s] with [$] and thus relate mDO (cf. Ar. > - [sift]) to Ar. > - [$ifr]
etymologically.4 Semantically, though, it is easy to think of connections
between a book and a number - cf. E count-recount, (H>)I "IDO safdr
'count' - 1D0 siper 'recount' and so forth. For a secondary derivative
PSM from niDO sifrd 'digit', see I Jrrro sibit 'binary digit' (§4.5).
Sometimes, it is hard to distinguish between FEN by semantic
shifting, an active process involving the addition of a new sememe to a
pre-existent lexeme, and use-intensification, which only increases the
frequency of a pre-existent Hebrew expression because it sounds like a
(usually familiar) foreign expression. Thus, ( B H » ) I r m n tord was
intensified/changed by Intl theory - cf. I miNn teorya. H 7TWT\ meant
'(Old) Testament, doctrine' whereas I tord also means 'theory' as in rmn
1»W3"K *7W niorrn tordt hayakhasut shel dynshteyn 'Einstein's Theory of
Relativity'. For more on use-intensification stemming from phonetic
similarity, see Zuckermann (2000: 313-17).
There are cases of PSM by semantic shifting which is involved in a
caique introducing a new phrase (cf. §1.3.4). I b7 y n V* en rega dal, lit.
'There is no poor moment', translates E Never a dull moment. This
idiomatic expression appears in the Israeli song performed by Rivka
Michaeli, beginning uama hard 'Ooh ah, what has happened?'.
in 1631) turned into Taj Mahal.

4
However, see the link between H 03W and H m . Also note that H nDO originally meant
'letter (missive)', cf. Akka. saparu 'send' (Raphael Loewe pc).
3.1.3 One-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents
There are many cases in which semantic shifting of a TL word results in

its original sememe being abandoned. This can be caused by two kinds of
process. First, when the original sememe has existed in Israeli (FEN), the
native speaker abandons it due to a preference for a lexical inventory in
which there is a one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents.
Second, when the original sememe never existed in Israeli (LC), the
native Israeli-speaker does not know it and it remains in oblivion.
The following example of anti-polysemy is unique in that it falls
between these two processes: BH «p [kep] 'rock, cliff (Jeremiah 4:29;
Job 30:6; mentioned in Kutscher 1965: 37-8) came to refer in Israeli
(pronounced kef) to 'cape', which is a PSM of Intl cape (cf. E cape, Y 9Np
kap, G Kap). By and large, I *p kef is used in the fossilized expression HD
naion mpnn kefhatikvd hatovd 'Cape of Good Hope'. However, nap ID
kefkenedi 'Cape Kennedy' has been used too, especially when the late
Col. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, went into space (January 2003).
Prior to this PSM, in one of many failed attempts to resurrect obsolete
terms without the use of PSM, Bialik tried in 1905 to resuscitate H *p
with the meaning 'rock' (see megildt haesh The Scroll of Fire' 1905,
Section 5, cf. 1959: 105a). However, Israeli already had a word for 'rock':
yho sela, which acted against Bialik's promotion of *p kef5
This latter instance might in itself be another demonstration of the
preference for a one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents.
Here, this tendency is manifested not by anti-polysemy but by anti-
synonymy. Along these lines, BH HUM [?aj'jap] referred to 'magician,
wizard', see Daniel 1:20 and cf. Aram. 1WK [?&Jap] 'id.' (e.g. Daniel
2:10). In theory, BH HWK could have been resuscitated in Israeli with the
meaning 'magician'. However, Israeli already had a word for 'magician':
•Dip kosem. Thus, BH n^K was highly available for PSM. And, in fact,
owing to Intl chef (as in I *)W shef), I *|tt?R ashdf (cf. raon HWN ashdf
mitbdkh) came to signify 'chef, cf. F chefde cuisine, R mecj) noBap shef
povar (cf. R nie<J> •sAef'boss'), P szefkuchni (P szef mainly means 'boss,
5
A secondary reason might be the co-existence of the homonym I «p kef*Tun' (sometimes
spelled «p)» which came from Ar. ^ [kajf] 'well-being, enjoyment*. I «p kef 'fun'
participated in the Israeli MSN brand name «p-*T3 kif kef referring to an Israeli chocolate
bar similar to Nestle's Kit Kat - cf. I kakhikakhd for comme ci comme ca 'so-so' in §5.1.4.
A reinforcement of the relevance of 'fun' (kef) to kif kef can be found in the anecdotal
description of the sexual life of an orthodox Jew: pi poo D"ircw ^D-^D D^yiaw shvudim kif
kef, shvudim pesek zman 'Two weeks a lot of fun, two weeks time out', wherein both kif
kef and pesek zman are names of Israeli chocolate bars (cf. Time Out by Cadbury).
manager, chief), G Kitchenchef(c£ G C/ie/'leader, chef) and E chef6

Also with respect to anti-synonymy, often, when there are several
suggestions for filling a lexical void, only one endures. Sometimes, a
failed proposal is then dedicated to a referent slightly distinct from the
original, thus creating differentiation. Consider what happened to I mytoB
mis'eret, Bialik's coinage for 'brush'. Ben-Yehuda, a native Yiddish-
speaker, proposed the neologism nunaD mivrashd 'brush' (see MBYw'v.
2775b), a morphemic adaptation of Y o«rnp barsht (cf. G Biirste, E
brush, F brosse). In the footnote to the definiens he writes: 'In the
colloquial Arabic ^ j * * , from the verb tfiji. But it is possible that this
root is not Semitic' (ibid.) - cf. VAr. *A^* [WbraJa/eJ/fmibraJe]
'grater', VAr. <A>tf ['bubrufl 'making crumbs (present, m, sg)\ from Ar.
d*j* ['baraja] 'grated (m, sg)'.7 If Ben-Yehuda really had Arabic in mind
at the time of the neologization, ntiTDD mivrashd could be recorded as a
FEN of an internationalism using Arabic as the nativizing material (the
usual nativizing material being Hebrew; cf. §6.3). However, since he does
not mention it explicitly and as he does not seem to be sure of the
Semiticness of Ar. îjf* [Wbraja], it is likely that nun:i& mivrashd was
only a morphemic adaptation of Intl brush. I have encountered a popular
claim that rranaD mivrashd derived from (BH»)I wra brosh 'cypress,
Cupressus', thus constituting a creational PSM (see §3.2.1), but I consider
this to be a DOPE. Later on, w o n mivrashd became known as n^"an
mivreshet and Israelis are now not aware of the original nuniiD. Bialik did
not like WtoB mivreshet* probably because of its alien etymon, and
instead suggested the pure Hebrew neologism myttfB mis'eret, from H
•Wto [§e'?ar] 'hair'. In MMM (1938: 66) both nunna mivreshet and mtfm
mis'eret are mentioned as the parallel of (crumb-)brush. Eventually,
mivreshet was accepted as 'brush' (cf. §1.3 and §8.4) whereas mis'eret
received the specific meaning 'a soft brush with long bristles' (used in
order to remove pieces of breadfromthe table etc.).9
6
Note, however, that the currently more widespread signifier for 'chef is the very Intl chef
(I r\V shej). Compare I r\m ashaf with the unsuccessful PSM I t\VD *\m ishef keshef
'hocus-pocus' (§5.3.6).
7
cf. ModStanAr. *Aj* ['furja] 'brush' and DialAr. ['forja], [for'Jaj] and [fur'Jaija], which
might go back to Tu. jirca 'brush'.
8
Bialik's clear opposition to mivreshet is mentioned in a letter from Avraham Shlonsky to
Aharon Teiman (26 March 1969). The relevant part appears in Kna'ani (1989: 5).
9
cf. Sivan (1966: 214 = 1995: 40, as well as 1995: 99). Consider also (the now rare) I m\1
berush 'reviving/renewing one's acquaintance with anything' (see Smilansky 1958: 462),
which is a secondary derivative from mivreshet. Morphologically, it is based on mivreshet
but semantically, it is influenced by E brush up in its figurative sense. On 'semantic
shifting that includes semantic loan', see §3.1.5. Whilst mivr&shet has gained major
I have mentioned anti-polysemy and anti-synonymy, but I am aware

that there are enduring cases of polysemy and synonymy. For instance, in
Israeli, there are some famous pairs of synonyms, often manifesting the
influence of Biblical Hebrew versus Rabbinic Hebrew, for instance waw
shemesh - nan khamd 'sun', nT yareakh - nun*? levand 'moon', fy ets -
V?'K Han 'tree' and m khag - TCl» moed 'feast, holiday'. However, these
pairs are usually differentiated by register, where the second term is
formal and might be used in writing but rarely in speech. This could be
explained by diglossia, which is inapplicable to most of the neologisms
for the mainly modern referents, discussed here.
3.1.4 Incestuous PSM by semantic shifting
In order for PSM by semantic shifting to occur, it is necessary for the

TL/SL2 original word and the inducing SLi word to be semantically close.
Besides Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic, the main languages which have
influenced the lexis of Israeli are Indo-European. Some Indo-European
languages have both lent words to Hebrew (and other Semitic languages)
and borrowed them. Consequently, there are PSMs which are -
figuratively speaking - incestuous: their semantically shifted TL/SL2
lexeme is a surface-cognate of their SLi nativized item. In other words,
the paternal (i.e. via SLi) (great-)grandparent and the maternal (i.e. via
TL/SL2) (gceat-)grandparent of the 'born ' TL sememe are identical.
Figure 26 illustrates the general process:
TL(+PSM)
TL/SL2
XL
Figure 26
currency, mis *&ret is currently not in common use. As we say in Yiddish, PN "
Tvarnpra *\vi ^ nya dor govdronor iz mer vi dor gobdronor 'the convert ("becomer") is
more than the bom' (e.g. an immigrant often takes on more of the stereotypical
characteristics of his adopted country than the natives in fact possess).
I differentiate between three types of incestuous PSMs in Israeli,

according to whether their ultimate origin is Indo-European (§3.1.4.1),
Semitic (§3.1.4.2) or Nostratic (§3.1.4.3).
3.1.4.1 Incestuous PSM with Indo-European Ur-Source
Biblical, Rabbinic and Medieval Hebrew, regarded by language planners

as the TL lexical inventory (but in fact sometimes acting as co-SLs - cf.
§1.4.1), had many loanwords from Indo-European languages. In turn, the
main languages which have influenced Israeli lexis, besides these
varieties of Hebrew (as well as Arabic and Aramaic), are Indo-European.
Consequently, there are incestuous PSMs whose ultimate origin can be
traced back to Indo-European (see Figure 27).
Figure 27
Consider O1B*?1D pulmus 'polemic', o w n N2P yatsd bedimus 'resigned,
retired' and OD^D bulbus 'potato'. IOI&VID pulmuslpulmoslpulmus
'polemic' is a PSM - based on RabH 0ltf7iD [pul'mus] (also
[pul'mus]) 'war' (cf. Mishnah: Sotah 9:14) - of Intl polemic, cf.
polemika, G Polemik, Y p'OJfyp polemik, R noneMHica polimika, P
polemika and F polemique ( « G k polemikds; Drosdowski 1989: 539a).
Both RabH OIDÎD and Intl polemic can be traced to Gk pdlemos 'battle,
fight, war' (cf. Kutscher 1965: 31). However, the rabbinic meaning 'war'
is obsolete today.
I o w n Nr yatsd bedimus/bedimos 'resigned (m, sg) his position,
retired' is a PSM - based on RabH o w n N2P 'was released/discharged
(m, sg)' (Midrash Rabba to Leviticus 29) - of Intl demission (dimission),
cf. Y JP0W7 demisyo, P dymisja, R ACMHCCHH demissiya, F demission and
It. dimissioni (in plural form) 'resignation', all of which go back to L
dimissio (whose accusative form, on which the European forms are based,
is dimissionem), noun of action from L dimittere 'to send away, dismiss'.
Krauss (1898: 205) suggests that RabH 01BH [dl'mos] is a loanword from
L dimissus, and MES (:301a) mentions L dimissio 'sending out,
dismissing' as a possible etymon, these forms being of the very same

Latin etymon of Intl demission.10
I on^D bulbus/bulbus 'potato' is probably a coinage of Mendele (=
Abramowitsch), who uses it, for example, in Masaot Binyamin Hashlishi,
ch. 3 (O'onVo, 1878, cf. Mendele 1958: 64b) and in Beemek Habakhd 4:8
(1896-1907, complete publication: 1909; cf. Mendele 1958: 202a). RabH
onVn [bul'bus] (also onta) is a kind of onion or musk-hyacinth (cf.
Mishnah: Uktsin 3:2, Jastrow 1903: 146a). The reason for the modern
sememe 'potato' is Intl 'potato' - see (Lith/Ukr)Y yrfrn bulbo 'potato'
(cf. oyrftn biilbos 'potatoes'). Weinreich (1977: 701b), a purist, records Y
yn^n bulbo as a word to be avoided. The word is of Slavonic pedigree -
see Belorussian (Belarusian) 6yjn»6a bul'ba, P bulwa 'tuber (e.g. potato)';
cf. Lith. bulvies 'potatoes'. All these lexical items can be traced to Gk
0oA|8os bolbos 'onion, bulbous root' (cf. L bulbus, E bulb, bulbous),
which is the etymon of RabH on*?n.
3.1.4.2 Incestuous PSM with Semitic Ur-Source
I use the term 'Semitic Ur-Source Incestuous PSM' to describe the

process by which the phono-semantically matched SLi lexeme and the
matching TL/SL2 lexeme share the same Semitic origin. Note that TL/SL2
is often Hebrew, in contrast to Israeli, which is TL(+PSM):
TL/SL2
(«PS») Semitic ^
Figure 28
Thus, there are two etymological possibilities: either (i) the SLj lexeme
goes back to Hebrew itself or (ii) the SLj lexeme derives ultimately from
a lexical item in either Proto-Semitic or a Semitic language other than
Hebrew. This lexical item is a cognate of the Hebrew lexeme used as the
nativizing material of the SLi lexeme. However, synchronically speaking,
at the time of the neologization in Israeli the SLj lexical item will already
10
For a contrary view, cf. Saddan's suggested etyma to RabH o w l : either Gk dimos
'people' or Gk ddmos 'house' (1955: 36), both of which have no etymological link with L
dimissio. Thus, for Saddan I oi&H is not an incestuous PSM.
Addition ofSememe versus Introduction of Lexeme 97
have been either international or European (not Semitic); since the

analyses in this book are polychrome, I supply here the diachronic
account - cf. §3.1.4.4.
As an illustration of ii, consider Inm rdkhat '(tennis) racket'
(MES: 1708b, Kna'ani 1998: 5479b, introduced by Flaum 1937), whose
origin is both BH nm ['rahat] 'winnowing shovel' (Isaiah 30:24) and Intl
racket, cf. I HDpi raketa, F raquette, R paiceTKa raketka, P rakieta and It.
racchetta, cf. F raquette 'palm (of the hand)'. Intl racket can be traced
back to Ar. ^^ j ['ra.hat] (OED is not aware of the etymon; Devoto and
Oli 1995: 1577a write rfret), which seems to be derived from the nomen
rectum of the construct state ±& * ^ j ['ra:hat ol'jad] 'palm of the hand' (cf.
VAr. ['ra:ht 3l'?i:d]), a variant of Ar. ^ j [Va:ha] 'palm (of the hand)', the
latter being a cognate of the very same BH nm ['rahat], which is itself the
matching material of Intl racket, cf. the other cognates Akka. rittu and
Aram. Knm [rMta]. The following diagram illustrates this:
'(+PSM)
(«ps») Semitic
Figure 29
Similarly, I pna makhsdn 'storehouse, storage room' (cf. Torczyner 1938:

30) is an incestuous creational PSM of Intl magazine, cf. It. magazzino, F
magasin (OF magazin), It. magazzino, Sp. magacen, E magazine. The
internationalism is traceable to Ar. u j ^ [ma'xa:zin], the plural form of
Ar. D J ^ ['maxzan] 'stroreroom, storehouse', from Ar. u j ^ ['xazana]
'stored, stocked (m, sg)'. The root of pn» makhsdn is (B)H 30n ^hsn
'treasure, store' (cf. BH [lo je?&'§er wa'lo jeh&'sen] 'shall not be treasured
nor laid up', Isaiah 23:18), a cognate of Ar. a > fxazana] 'stored up', the
very ultimate etymon of Intl magazine, pna makhsdn was coined by
David Yudilovich in 1895 (cf. Sivan 1974: 184; 1981: 15).
In the aforementioned examples, Arabic was the origin of the
European lexical items. Even more remarkable is the case (see i above) in
which the ultimate Semitic origin of the matched SLi lexeme is the same
Hebrew lexeme used as the TL/SL2 matching material, as illustrated in
Figure 30:
TL(+PSM)
TL/SL2
Figure 30
Consider I tor yovel 'anniversary', in which the wandering lexical item
even undergoes an intermediate PSM (henceforth PSMi) before the
incestuous PSM (henceforth PSM2) occurs. One of the two co-etyma of
tor yovel is BH tor [jo'bel], referring to 'ram', see Joshua 6:5: BH mm
barn n?n 1W»3 [wsh&'ja bim'Jok bdqeren hajjobef\ 'And it shall come
to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram *s horn\ This most
probably derived from to^ Îjbl '(to) lead', hence the 'ram', which leads
the herd. Owing to whole-for-part metonymy (or 'reverse metonymy')
which resulted in polysemy, BH tor came to refer to 'ram's horn' and
'shofaf (cf. BH now [fop&r]), see Exodus 19:13: i m f w nan byn iân
[bim'Jok hajjo bel 'hemmi jaWlu b&'h&r] 'when the trumpet soundeth
long, they shall come up to the mount'. The ancient Jews used to blow a
ram's horn to proclaim the fiftieth year, after seven cycles of fallow
(shemittah) years. A fallow year - cf. H ntrattf nw I shnat shmitd - occurs
every seventh year. The fiftieth year was scheduled to be a Sabbatical
year for workers and soil. Thus, [jo'bel] came to refer metaphorically to
this fiftieth anniversary - see Leviticus 25:10: rxw Dânn rm nx 0TW7pi
OD*7 mnn wn bar mvr H? pan i v n on*npi [waqiddaj'tem ?et Jo'nat
hah&mifjun ja'ni, uqri'tem do'rSr b4'?are§to'koljo^bshijd bel hi tih'je
l&'kem] 'And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty
throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it should be a
jubile unto you'.
BH tor [jo'bel] was adapted in Greek as idbelos, whose adjectival
form was iobelaios. Gk iobelaios was nativized as Late L iubilceus (noun
and adj.) - this is PSMi; the other co-etymon of Late L iubilceus was the
etymologically unrelated L iubilare 'call out, shout for joy, halloo' (cf. E
jubiljubil-trumpet, jubilation) or L iubilum 'wild cry, exultant shout' (cf.
OF jubler, F jubiler, G jubeln, Du. jubelen 'to jubilate'). Note - very
importantly - that without the latter co-etymon, one would expect the
Latin word to be *iobelceus and not iubilceus. L iubilceus then spread to
many languages spoken by Christians, e.g. F jubile (documented in the
fourteenth century; OED\ Sp.jubileo, It. giubileo, E jubilee, G Jubildum;
cf. R K)6njieft yubilef, Vjubileusz and Y "Var yubil&y. Closing the circle,
Intl jubilee gives rise to I tor with the meaning 'occasion of joyful
celebration, (happy) anniversary' - this is PSM2. Note that in Israeli, in

order to refer to the fiftieth anniversary of Israel (1998), one says Vav
D'UPDnn yovel hakhamishim, lit. 'the fiftieth anniversary5 rather than just
Vnv yovel 'jubilee'. Even-Shoshan (MES:660b) 'kills the messenger' by
completely ignoring the influence of Intl jubilee. However, he is at least
consistent, taking into account that his definitions of H Var fail to reflect
the important celebratory connotation of ^72V yovel. The following
summarizes the loop discussed above:
whole-for-part metonymy (or 'reverse metonymy') >

BH *72V 'ram's horn, shofar' >
metaphor >
BH V3V 'fiftieth anniversary (after seven cycles of years of shemittahy >
borrowing >
Gk idbelos>
Gkiob8laios>
PSMi (together with L iubilare 'shout for joy* or L iubilum 'wild cry') >
Late L iubilceus (and not *iobel(eus) >>>
Vjubile, Sp.jubileo, It. giubileo, E jubilee, G Jubiliium,
R K>6wie1\yubiler, Vjubileusz, Y "^"P yubilfy - Intl jubilee >
PSM2 (together with BH Vav 'fiftieth anniversary') >
I *?av yovel 'celebration, (happy) anniversary'
It might be the case that PSM2 had already taken place in Yiddish and that
Israeli only adopted the new sememe of tar from Yiddish. Consider Y tav
yoyvl 'jubilee, (multi-)decadal anniversary', which produced the verb Y
\sh5v ydyvlon 'to celebrate (an anniversary)'. Y ^nv yoyvl might be a PSM
of BH "72V and Late L iubilceus - cf. Y ^Vyubl 'merriment, gaiety' and Y
lsftnv yubhn 'rejoice' (note the minimal pair ter ydyv] and Var yub\\
some native speakers use the hybrid Y yfivlan 'to celebrate (an
anniversary)'). In such a scenario, the last part of the illustrated summary
above should be changed as follows:
Late Liubilceus (and not *iobelceus)>>>
G JubilHum; Y «Vw yubiley >
PSMi (together with BH Var 'fiftieth anniversary') >
Y Kv ydyvl 'jubilee, round-numbered anniversary' >
I *?ar yovel 'celebration, (happy) anniversary'
Kutscher (1965: 30) puts forward the view that L iubilare 'shout for joy'
was influenced by BH ^2V. However, it is hard to find evidence to support
this 'Hierosolyma caput mundV claim. Sivan (1985b: 155-6) discusses
biv but ignores L iubilare. Note that many of those who discuss the origin
of E jubilee ignore the Latin co-etymon. For instance, W. Chomsky
(1957: 185) claims, superficially, that E jubilee was borrowed from

Hebrew', whereas Trench (1862: 12) says 'We have a certain number of
Hebrew words [...] as [...] jubilee9.
Figuratively speaking, this process resembles a game of 'Chinese
Whispers' (cf. 'Russian Scandal', '(Broken) Telephone') except that in
the case of the incestuous PSM, the distorted word is matched phono-
semantically with the original SL, using the original word (or its cognate)
as the matching material.
Another example of a 'Semitic ur-source incestuous PSM by semantic
shifting' might be I roon masekhd 'mask' (cf. Lesonenu 10.4: 356; 1940),
deriving from BH rDOB fmasse'kS] 'molten image' (cf. Deuteronomy
27:15) and Intl mask - cf. R Macica mdska, P maska, G Maske and F
masque (the latter is documented in the sixteenth century). The
internationalism can be traced back to It. maschera 'mask' (cf. Deroy
1956: 25) or Sp. mascara 'mask' (OED\ both of whose etymon is
controversial: (i) MedL mascus, masca (perhaps from Teutonic *maskwo
'net'; cf. E mesh; cf. OED) or (ii) Genuan/Neapolitan masca 'face, cheek'
(Devoto and Oli 1995: 1159), or (iii) Occitan/Catalan/Por. mascarar and
OF mascurer, mascherer (cf. ModF mdchurer) 'to black (the face)' or (iv)
Ar. Sja^* ['masxara] 'object of ridicule, laughing-stock, "joke"' (Kluge
1989: 464b, Stahl 1995: 267b and Ayto 1990: 340a: 'Mask may be of
Arabic origin'), which derives from j^» ['saxira] 'laughed, mocked (m,
sg)' (cf. j^»> ['saxara] 'exploited (m, sg)'). If the ultimate etymon of Intl
mask is Arabic, then I masekhd 'mask' closes the circle since its biblical
origin is likely to be a cognate of the Arabic lexical item.11
The root of BH rDOB 'molten image' is DCtf ^Jnsk 'pour, libate, anoint'
(see MES\ 1164a). Even-Shoshan (MES:9%2c) lists the sememe 'mask'
under H rooa 'cover' (cf. Isaiah 25:7), and not under H HDOD 'molten
image'. Thus, MES implies that the ultimate root is 303 Însk 'weave,
knot' (see MES:ll64b), not the homographic DD3 Însk 'pour, libate,
anoint'. However, I disagree with this analysis. Then, H 303 Însk 'weave,
knot' is related to H DDO *4skk 'screen, cover', the root of BH ion [ma'sak]
11
Note that although Ar. *>— [Wsxara] itself can mean 'masquerade', StanAr.
[9i:d alma'sa.'xir] 'Purim (the Jewish festival)', lit. *the feast of ridicules' (ridiculing King
Ahasuems and Haman the Evil), is not understood by Arabic-speakers I have interviewed
as 'the feast of masks', as opposed to (the rare) Ar. * j M ** [fi:d al'maskara] 'Purim (the
Jewish festival)'. Whilst the former includes the plural of Ar. * j a ^ [Wsxara] 'object of
ridicule', the latter includes the loanword »j£**» [Wskara] - cf. Sp. mascara 'mask'.
Consider also Colloql mnon mdskhara, which is understood and used by most Israelis to
refer to 'murky business, dark dealings' since they link this word to the etymologically
unrelated inoa mishkhdr 'trade*. Colloql mdskhara goes back to Ar. •jauu* ['masxara].
'curtain' (see Exodus 36:37; 39:1), which in Israeli means 'screen', e.g.
I ytrVip "JOB masdkh kolnoa 'cinema screen'. 1"JOB masdkh produced the
secondary root DOB Îmsk '(to) screen', in turn the origin of 11100 misukh
'screening, curtaining'. In LL 165 (1988), AHL restricts 1100 misukh to
the electrical term E masking,12 as opposed to 11130 sikukh 'screening'.13
The sound of E masking - which might be a surface cognate of BH DOJ
Însk 'pour, libate, anoint' - influenced this choice for 1100 misukh, which
is related to the distinct BH 303 ^nsk 'weave, knot'. Thus, 1100 misukh
'masking' - like the above-mentioned rDOO masekhd 'mask' - is a PSM
by semantic shifting. However, 1100 misukh 'masking' might also involve
semantic loan- see §3.1.5.
3.1.4.3 Incestuous PSM with Nostratic Ur-Source
I pp keren 'corner (in football or handball)', an ellipsis of pp ntPJD beitdt

keren 'corner kick' or pp npnr zrikdt keren 'corner throw' (cf. ZA 10-11,
1963-4: 64a), overrode the caique nrD "IHD kadur pind, lit. 'corner ball'.
]ip keren derives from both E corner and BH ]lp ['qeren] 'corner' (Isaiah
5:1), 'horn' (Genesis 22:13). In the 1950s, before ]ip 'corner' came into
use, it was common to refer to 'corner' as pip (DD^n) (beitdt) koren,
which was most probably a loanword: pip was penultimately stressed
(koren), sounding like corner, and is therefore unlikely to have been a PM
of E corner using the ultimately stressed (H>)I pip koren 'shining,
radiant, beaming' (and later 'radiator, transmitter'). The sememe 'corner'
of BH ]lp is not in use in Israeli other than to mean 'corner (in football)'
and in fossilized (rabbinic) expressions such as mT ]^\p I keren zavit
'(unobtrusive) corner' (lit. 'corner corner') and ninp w i 1 lyoshvey
kranot 'pedlars, idlers, layabouts' (lit. 'corner sitters'). Therefore,
I believe that ]^p keren 'corner (in football)' is a PSM rather than a
caique, with the obsolete loanword pip possibly having served as an
intermediate stage of this PSM. Finally, BH ]ip might be related to L
cornu 'horn' from a Proto-Semitic-Proto-Indo-European (or Nostratic)
stage. E corner derives from L cornu (<PIE *ker). BH ]1p has
participated in other PSMs: MedH WDp [qar'nlt] 'cornea' is a PSM of L
cornea, based on BH \yp 'ray' (Habakkuk 3:4) or 'horn' (Genesis 22:13).
I y\p keren 'horn (the wind instrument)' is a PSM of Intl corno - see §4.3.
12
Masking is 'the prevention of a substance or ion from taking part in a certain reaction by
causing it to undergo another preliminary reaction' (OED).
13
Screening is 'the action of shielding from electric and magnetic fields, especially by
means of an enclosing cover of conducting or magnetic material' (OED).
3.1.4.4 Implications
The fact that the semantically shifted TL/SL2 lexeme is a surface-cognate

of the SLi lexical item does not imply that in such cases PSM plays a
lesser role. Synchronically, the TL/SL2 nativizing material in Indo-
European/Nostratic ur-source incestuous PSMs is (B/Rab/Med) Hebrew,
not Indo-European/Nostratic. Similarly, the SI^ lexical item in Semitic
ur-source incestuous PSM is Indo-European, not Semitic. One could go to
the opposite extreme and suggest that it is not necessary to discuss
whether the semantically shifted TL/SL2 lexeme is a surface-cognate of
the SLi nativized item. My analysis, however, is polychrome; and I
consider it important to discuss such incestuousness for its global
implications. Inter alia, incestuous PSMs occur in most bilingual
environments in which the SL and the TL are genetically or historically
related. Consider caiques introducing a new sememe in communities of
European immigrants in the United States. For example, Por. humoroso
'capricious' changed its referent in American Portuguese to 'humorous'
owing to the English surface-cognate humorous (cf. §1.1). AmY pKp
kory 'rye' and AmNor. korn 'grain' came to refer to 'maize' because of
the cognate AmE corn (cf. related etymology in §5.3.5). Amlt. fattoria
lost its original meaning 'farm' in favour of 'factory' owing to the
phonetically similar surface-cognate E factory (cf. Stanlt. fabbrica
'factory'). Instead of the 'original' fattoria, the phonetic adaptation Amlt.
farma (Weinreich 1963: 49) became the new signifier for 'farm' - see
'one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents' (§3.1.3).
Another way of analysing this phenomenon is to see it as the process
by which faux amis {ox false friends) come to have the same meaning; in
other words, they become 'vrais amis' (or real friends) } A This is another
manifestation of the passive versus generative dichotomy which I
established in the case PE (cf. DOPE-GPE). Some scorn Spanish-
14
To be distinguished from 'false borrowings' (cf. ¥ faux emprunts, Deroy 1956: 63-4), e.g.
the pseudo-Anglicism G Handy ['hendi] 'mobile phone' (handy in English does not mean
'mobile phone', but see E handset, as well as SingE handphone 'mobile phone'; and cf.
the DOPE I heard in Stuttgart, that G Handy ['hendi] 'mobile phone' derives from DialG
Han die koy Schnur? 'Have you no cord?', cf. StanG Haben Sie keine Schnur?). Consider
also It. feeling as in Ho sentito subito chee'era unfeeling che ci legava 'I immediately felt
that there was a feeling that was binding us'. It seems that the pseudo-Anglicism It. feeling,
referring to 'personal chemistry, common bond', has been influenced by It. fili 'threads'
(pi of It. filo 'thread'). It. feeling is often used in Italian pop music, for example in the song
Pensami per te ('Think about me for your sake') (by Cogliati/Ciani/Cassano), sung by
Anna Oxa, includes Tra di noi c 'e uno strano feeling che ci lega ormai 'Between us there
is a strange/ee/mg that binds us by now' (Pietro Bortone pc).
speakers who use E actually to mean 'currently' due to Sp. actualmente

'currently' (cf. Sp. realmente 'actually') or Italian-speakers who use E
genial to mean 'of genius' due to It. geniale 'of genius'. But there is, after
all, not much difference between this difficulty in foreign language
acquisition and immigrants' GPE resulting in incestuous PSM.
3.1.5 PSM by semantic shifting that includes semantic loan
Semantic loan, i.e. (non-phonetic) calquing that introduces a new

sememe, was discussed in §1.2.1. In the case of PSM, semantic shifting
which includes semantic loan could occur as follows: a TL/SL2 word
sounds similar to an SLi word which coincidentally shares the same
meaning. However, the SLi word has another sememe which the TL/SL2
word does not share. The TL/SL2 word then acquires the additional
sememe of the similar-sounding SLi word - as illustrated in the following
figure:
SLt x 'a, b' - > - > - > - > TL(+PSM) y 'a, b' <- 4- <r <r TL/SL2 y 'a'
y is phonetically similar to x (a and b are related)
Figure 31
Note that SLi y has both Meaning a and Meaning b. If it had only
Meaning b, it would not have been a semantic loan. A typical example of
this process is H tfw. In the Old Testament oto ['Jelet] meant 'shield'
(II Samuel 8:7, Song of Solomon 4:4). However, in Israeli, iftw shelet was
resuscitated with the meaning 'sign(board)\ I believe that the co-etymon
of the new sememe 'sign(board)' is both G Schild [Jilt] (cf. MHG schilt)
and Y Yrrc shild (PY shilt), all of which refer both to 'shield' (G der
Schild) and to '(board)sign' (G das Schild).15 The new sememe was
introduced by Ben-Yehuda in 1909 (cf. 1977: 83; 1981: 21; cf. MBY:
7155a) and among its first users was Micha Joseph Berdichevsky (later
Bin-Gorion), a trilingual writer (in Yiddish, German and Hebrew, 1856-
1921). There are two alternative puristic explanations which would rule
out the possibility of PSM:
15
The original form of G Schild referred to 'shield' and its gender Artikel was masculine
(der). The differentiating neutral gender (das) for 'sign' was acquired in the eighteenth
century (Drosdowski 1989: 630b).
1. Intra-Israeli semantic shift:

H D*7ff ['Jelet] acquired the meaning 'sign(board)' independently, as a
result of an internal semantic shift. G Schild happened to undergo the
same semantic shift within German due to the universal semantic
connection between shield and sign(board).
I would like to refute this hypothesis: H tftw ['jelet] 'shield' had no
historical reason to acquire the remote meaning *sign(board)' during
the relatively short existence of Israeli - unlike G Schild 'shield',
which did. In the Middle Ages, knights used to put a crest on their
shields. Owing to whole-for-part metonymy (or 'reverse metonymy'),
G Schild acquired the additional sememe 'crest'. G etwas (Bdses/nicht
Gutes) im Schilde fiihren, lit. 'to display something (bad/not good) on
the Schild (crest)', means metaphorically 'to have an evil plan, be up
to something'. As soon as the crest became a mark of identification,
Schild came to mean 'sign(board)\ For obvious socio-historical
reasons, such a process could not have happened in youthful Israeli.
2. Mere semantic loan (non-PSM semantic loan):
H tf?W ['Jelefl acquired the meaning 'sign(board)' due to a semantic
loan of G Schild but independently of their similar sound.
This explanation is more difficult to refute. However, note that the
meaning 'shield' of H 0*7*0 ['Jelet] was an obsolete sememe in Israeli,
so this 'natural' process of simple semantic loan was unlikely to
occur. It seems to be a rather recherche resuscitation of the clinically
dead lexeme ti?W ['Jslefl; such carefully sought-out 'concoctions' are
likely to be PSMs.
Note also the derivatives of Israeli tftttf shelet 'sign(board)': the verb tf?W
shilet 'signposted (m, sg)' and its gerund into shilut 'signposting'; cf. tfw
shuldt 'was signposted (m)'. MES (:1837b) mistakenly attributes these
derivatives totf7W'shield' (although this could be a typographic mistake).
Another Israeli PSM by semantic shifting which includes semantic,
loan is no^D pisd (rarely spelled HOD). Its original meaning was 'scrap, bit'
but currently, it can also mean, especially in literary translation (see
Zuckermann 2000: 307-10), 'piece of work', e.g. referring to a symphony
or a play (cf. Toury 1990: 197). The source of this sememe is Intl piece -
cf. E piece and F piece, the latter adopted in Russian as m>eca p 'esa
'(short) piece (of music); (theatre) play' and calqued by German as Stuck,
e.g. TheaterstilcL Y yosrs pyeso '(theatre) play' is likely to be a
borrowing from Russian. The English and French lexical items denote
both 'bit' and its extended meaning 'piece of work', cf. masterpiece.
In the cases of shelet and pisd I do not accept the "mere semantic loan9
explanation (Explanation 2 above). However, lam aware of the
possibility that it could have been the case with I p w agurdn 'crane (for
lifting)' (mentioned by Eitan 1950: 22-3, ZA 12, 1965: 62a). This lexical
item is based on (BH»)I "my agiir 'crane (the bird), gurus gurus' (cf.
Jeremiah 8:7). I agurdn shares two consonants of F grue [gRy] 'crane'
and It. gru 'crane' - cf. L grus and Gk geranos - and also resembles the
sound of R KpaH kran 'crane'. These similarities are ignored by Eitan
(1970: 252) but I tend to believe that they played a role here. For this
reason I record it as a PSM. Theoretically, however, I ywxs agurdn could
have been created to refer to the technical tool only as a result of an intra-
Israeli metaphorical semantic change - from 'crane (the bird)' or as a
result of semantic loan (calquing) based on the double-meaning lexical
item in the aforementioned European languages. In the metaphorical
change, owing to its shape and height, the building tool was given the
name of the tall bird 'crane'. Compare this with I ton khargol (MES:
581b) 'oil siphon', based on înn khargol 'grasshopper' because of its
shape, which resembles that of a grasshopper.
I pOT agurdn consists of two morphemes, the basis inv agiir 'crane'
and the suffix (H>)I]- -an, and is in fact a new Israeli lexical item.
Following the dichotomy between semantic loan (caique introducing a
new sememe - §1.3.1) and caique introducing a new word/compound/
phrase (§1.3.2-§1.3.4), the Israeli imitation of the metaphorical change
from 'crane (the bird)' to 'lifting tool' is not a semantic loan but rather a
caique introducing a new word. Accordingly, even if the formation of
pOT agurdn had included 'caique phonetique\ or PSM, it could still not
have been considered a PSM by semantic shifting but rather a creational
PSM, which leads to the next section.
3.2 Introducing a new lexeme
3.2.1 Creational MSN
A creational MSN is an etymological hybrid incorporated as a completely

new TL lexical item. This is different from MSN by semantic shifting
(discussed in §3.1), which results only in a new sememe. In the case of
Israeli, whilst MSN by semantic shifting is sometimes a spontaneous
process, creational MSN is almost always puristic (unlike die case of
pidgins and Creoles - cf. §1.4.2). In the case of Israeli (or 'Ivrit'), I refer
to creational MSN as Hebroid, Hebrewoid or Ivrid (modelled on hybrid).
The following figure illustrates this process:
1 SL, x 'a' - > - > - > TL (+M SN) {y}+{z} V <r <-<- TL/SL2 {y} 'b' [
y is a lexeme/morpheme (root) which is phonetically similar to x
z is a TL grammatical morpheme (e.g. noun-pattern)
{y}+{z} is one word
Figure 32
Hebroid should be distinguished from the commonly used hybrid word

since the latter (sometimes called mongrel word) refers to a lexical item
consisting of morphemes from allegedly two different languages, e.g.
IrmViDin khupologya 'the art of finding a husband', a derogatory
reference to the 'studies' of those (female) students at Israeli universities
who are more interested in finding a partner and in socializing than in
academia.16 This lexical item is based on RabH HDn [hup'pi] 'canopy (in a
Jewish wedding)' (<BH, cf. Joel 2:16) and - owing to part-for-whole
metonymy - 'wedding ceremony'. I khupologya also consists of the
International suffix rpaftO)- -(o)logya (cf. E -(o)logy\ R -ojionra -
ologiya), which can be traced back to Gk logos 'word, speech, discourse,
reason'. It obviously imitates the model for naming academic and
scientific disciplines taught at university, e.g. rpaftlNDIX arkheologya
'archaeology', iTXfrrsno sotsyologya 'sociology' and n'Xfrra biologya
'biology*. This model is usually only productive in a close terminological
field of science and technology, which explains the playfulness of
khupologya. A similarly witty and derogatory hybrid is
kisologya 'the art of finding a political seat, especially in the
Israeli Knesset (Parliament)' based on (BH»)I NOD kise 'chair'.
In the previous paragraph I said 'allegedly two different languages'
because I believe that Intl rraXl)- -(o)logya was already part of Israeli
when I mf?iDin khupologya was coined. Thus, it can be regarded as an
intra-Israeli neologism (see § 1.4.1.2).
16
cf. (i) SingE paktorology 'the science of going on a date with someone', from Cantonese
tt J6 paktor 'to date someone* (cf. tt MSC pai 'hit* + % MSC tub 'haul, pull, drag,
draw') and E -logy; (ii) the pseudo-Anglicism SlangI rwftno merilogya 'the science of
finding a husband' (cf. E *marrylogy; Sappan 1971: 49a); (iii) SlangI rann khatenet 'the
"disease" of wanting to get married' (cf. Sappan 1971: 34b, MAM\\AX6\ from (H>)I ann
V/f/w 'marry, get married' - cf. (H>)I inn khatan 'groom' - fitted into the UaO&Oet noun-
pattern, used for names of diseases.
By contrast, a Hebroid (a creational PSM) is an etymological hybrid

rather than a morphological hybrid. In fact, in order to compensate for the
lack of roots in Israeli, AHL has often created intra-Hebrew etymological
hybrids (or, more accurately, intra-Israeli hybrids using Hebrew
elements). Consider the neologism TtoWyaifet for 'jet-lag' (LLN4> March
1994), fitted into the OaOiDet noun-pattern. This noun-pattern is mainly
used for names of diseases, e.g. row agivet 'syphilis'.17 The other
morpheme on which DD3P yaifet is based is BH DJP V/i)?, a secondary root
to both D^y VJ/p 'be tired' and DW V%> 'fly'. H DW V%? 'fly' is
manifested in I 15P yedf (often pronounced ydaf) 'hurry, rapidity' ( « B H
[ja'T&p] 'flight'), as in I *\T ro» makdt ydaf or r\W mPJD beitdt ydaf
'volley' (especially in football), the latter having been suggested in place
of the foreignism rhw vole, from F volie [vo'le] 'volley'. H &V Vi/p 'be
tired' is used in (the rare) I W ydaf'tiredness*.
Unlike T\W yaifet 'jet-lag', an intra-Israeli MSN, IHDT dime 'dummy,
military decoy figure' is an MSN created from a Hebrew root and a
foreign word, as in the case of rrDpWft mishkafdim 'glasses' (see
Introduction). I dime is a creational PSM as it stems from both H n&l
yldmh (cf. BH 'BT *idmj) 'seem alike' and E dummy (the latter having no
etymological link to BH 'OT Admj and deriving from E dumb 'that cannot
speak').18 I dime appears inter alia in HB7 1VDD mitdn dime 'dummy
bomb, dummy booby-trap', n&7 mofc matrdt dime 'dummy target', pat)
n»T tank dime 'dummy tank', n»T nmn totdkh dime 'dummy cannon', mttf
HD7 HDWfi sde teufd dime 'dummy airport' and n»7 mxa bitsuriy dime
'dummy fortifications', as well as in HD7 jmD mivkhdn dime 'dummy
examination'. In LLN 14 (December 1995-January 1996), AHL
introduced HD"? nDnn trufdt dime, lit. 'dummy medicine/remedy' meaning
'placebo'. These examples show that n»l dime has become a productive
word. A tracer for the SL co-etymon is found in the form in which some
Israelis pronounce n&i: demi rather than dime, although this could also be
17
Other examples include naiN ademet 'measles', nans tsahevet 'jaundice', and more
recently, by extension, nnno sakhevet 'red tape, bureaucratic delay', rnm daberet
'"chatterbox-itis", "diarrhoea of the mouth", "verbal diarrhoea", over-talkativeness', noDBD
patpetet 'id.', now naimet "'speech-itis'" (the latter was coined by Bialik - see Haaretz,
20 January 1928; cf. Avinery 1935: 29), and in military slang, nmo sagemet 'the arrogance
of a (new) second lieutenant'. The 'root' of the latter is mo ^lsgmt from D"ao sagdm, an
acronym for I mwo po segen mishne 'second lieutenant'. It is marked morphologically as a
disease because it describes the flawed behaviour afflicting the recipient of the officers'
first rank, who, as a result of the promotion, regards himself as omnipotent.
18
HOT dime is mentioned by Toury (1990:195). Compare it with I "wn dmay 'lack of clarity,
doubt, fantasy', from RabH "W31 [do'maj] 'doubtful thing, fruit about which there is a
suspicion (as to the tithes being properly taken)'.
explained by analogy to Israeli words like 'On bekhi 'crying'.19

Similar to HD7 deme is the case of I V)pn tikul 'tackle (e.g. in football)'.
MES fails to mention this lexeme and its verbal derivatives, e.g. *?pn tikel
'tackled (m, sg)'. However, this lexical item is widespread in the Israeli
sporting world. It derives from RabH *7pn ^tql 'fail, come across, stumble'
as in RabH rfrpn [taqa'la], currently pronounced takald, 'obstacle,
hindrance', and as in RabH ^pnn [hit'qll] 'tripped up, caused to stumble
(m, sg)'. In Israeli, *?pn Atql is fitted into the DiDuO gerund-pattern, the
other co-etymon being E tackle (cf. Toury 1990: 195). Compare this with
Colloql^pn (also bpm) tdkel 'tackle, quarrel' (cf. MAM:4l9b), most
probably a phonetic adaptation of E tackle.
111T1K aviron 'aeroplane' is based on (i) (RabH>)I TIN avir 'air' and
the suffix (H>)111- -on, and (ii) F avion 'aeroplane' (cf. L avis 'bird').
The word is not mentioned in Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's dictionary (see MBY:
i:96-7). It was coined in 1909 by Itamar Ben-Yehuda (the son of Eliezer)
- when F avion and aeroplane were already common words (cf. Ben-Avi
1951 - see Sivan 1981a: 91). Currently, fiTlK aviron is mostly used by
Israeli children, cf. the children's song Dntf? lO/llK np ,11T1K ir1?** n red
elenu aviron, kakh otdnu lamarom 'Come down to us, aeroplane, take us
heavenwards'. The current common signifier for 'aeroplane' is I DltOD
matos, coined by Bialik (see Lesonenu 1, 1928: 79; cf. Avinery 1935: 53).
The dominance of matos might be explained by the tendency towards a
one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents (see §3.1.3).
Furthermore, aviron cannot be used for 'warplane', whose signifier is
Imp 0108 metos krav (also pronounced matos krav). Torczyner (1941)
suggests a homophonous alternative creational PSM: irvntf aviron. H T3K
means 'exhale, blow, fly' - cf. BH "DX ['?eber] 'pinions (of dove/eagle)'
and BH mnx [?eb'ra] 'pinion (of ostrich/dove)' (cf. BDBJb). This failed
neologism is, in fact, 'more Hebrew' than 11T1X aviron since RabH TIN
avir 'air', used in the latter, can be traced to Gk air 'blow, breathe', the
origin of F aeroplane, an etymon of E aeroplane.
19
The same E dummy (above used as the SL lexical item) participated in another FEN - this
time as the TL material, as follows. In Arabic grammar there is a specific 'personal
pronoun* (cf. Wright 1896: i:53), which is a nominal suffix [hu] used to fill a syntactic
spot that needs a pronoun - cf. H nr Km "•» or WPK. It functions as a subject but its form is
that of an object. The Arabic metalinguistic name for this specific personal pronoun is Ar.
t^jiW JSJAJB [<Ja'mi:r affa?n] 'pronoun of the matter (to come)' (Ar. j * * * - [<Ja'mi:r]
'pronoun' literally means 'a word by which something is concealed/hidden', cf. ibid.:
105). Some American teachers have referred to d^ j***^ [aVmhr aj'l<fa?n] as a dummy
pronoun, dummy being an SPM of Ar. j&~± [aVmi:r], the semanticization being that this
personal pronoun functions as a dummy (i.e. it does not have a specific referent).
There follow two creational PSMs deriving from the same root o*7p
'record' (originally 'receive, absorb'). Iu^P klit '(video-)clip',
introduced by AHL (see LLN 8, December 1994; Akad&m 4, September
1994), converges xhy V^r//fitted into the DDiO noun-pattern with E clip
(cf. Gonen 1995: 93, Yalkut HaPirsumim 1998: 1080).
Israeli Hebrew
American
> klit <qlt
clip *(video-)clip' 'record'
(proposed by AHL in 1994, cf. ( « Rabbinic Hebrew
Akadtm 4, September 1994) 'receive, absorb')
Figure 33
This puristic MSN is more elegant than the French puristic proposal for E
videoclip: F bande promo, short for bande video promotionnelle, lit.
'promotional video'. Similarly, InoVp kaletet 'cassette, tape', introduced
by AHL in LL 145 (1984), uses tf7p Aqlt fitted into the DaDiOet noun-
pattern in order to replace Intl cassette - cf. I noop kaseta, P kaseta and R
KacceTa kasseta. Note that AHL decided not to restrict OaOeOet to names
of diseases alone (§3.2.1) - cf. K1T\ rakevet 'train' (coined by Ben-
Yehuda in 1893, cf. Sivan 1981b: 20; appearing in Pines 1897: xiv) and
mm shaminet 'cream' (see §4.4) (cf. Bahat 1987: 513).
So far, tr*?p klit has not been accepted by Israeli-speakers. I believe
that this failure has nothing to do with the homophonous E clit, a clipping
of clitoris, as most Israelis are unfamiliar with it. With regard to ntf?p
kalitet, this PSM, from the AHL assembly line, has confused a small
number of Israelis, namely those who say kaleta, a hybrid of kaseta and
kaletet}01 kaseta is still popular but kaletet has gained currency. Some
speakers, though not usually young ones, differentiate between the two by
using kaseta to refer to an audio cassette, and kaUtet to a video-cassette.
This distinction might have been influenced by the fact that video-
cassettes were introduced after audio cassettes and around the time of the
neologization. Another reason for this dichotomy is the term I mttop "IDT
zam&r kasetot, lit. 'cassette-singer', denoting a singer (crooner) of Middle
Eastern Arabic-influenced (usually emotional or melancholic) songs. For
20
A similar but orthographic confusion occurs with I yvVin (also written as ypVn) kholird
'cholera', a compound PSM of Intl cholera (I n-ta kholira). I have encountered students
and even a journal (of Kupat Kholim Maccabi 1994) that used the spelling mîn, an
orthographic 'contamination' of I yrVin and (Intl>)I mVtt kholira (see §5.4.2).
many years, this popular culture, widespread among Sephardim - or more

precisely mizrahi Jews (lit. 'Oriental Jews') - was not represented in the
(at least formerly) Ashkenazic-dominated Israeli media. Therefore, the
singers had to find an alternative method of disseminating their songs.
Audio cassettes were an affordable solution and those cassettes were sold
in Israeli street markets, such as Tel Aviv's old central bus-station. The
first Sephardic record was introduced only in 1974; it was the record of
tsliley haud Band, which included the mizrahi version of the song khanale
hitbalbela (1934). When AHL introduced kalitet 'cassette', the term
zamdr kasetot was already well established and could hardly be changed
to zamdr kalatot, which sounds of a higher register.
It is worth noting that such Middle-Eastern music now receives
normal media coverage and is much loved by many Ashkenazim. By now
it is an integral part of Israel's hybrid culture. In some cases, however, its
popularity results from 'inverse snobbery'; it is 'cool' for an Ashkenazi to
like Zohar Argov (rather than Beethoven). Compare this to the British
violinist Nigel Kennedy, who speaks 'Mockney', i.e. fake Cockney, to
improve his street-credibility. A cynic might argue that such an
affectation is similar to the tycoon Richard Branson preferring jumpers to
suits, as if he is saying that he is rich enough to ignore the norms.
It is sometimes hard to distinguish between PSM and (sometimes
subconscious) ex postfacto (DOPE) linking of a mere loanword to a
phonetically similar but unrelated pre-existent native Hebrew word (cf.
§1.2.2.4). Consider IppN ekrdn 'screen (for projecting films)'. Is it a
mere loanword from Intl ekrdn 'screen' - cf. F ecran [ek'Ra], Y ]*npy
ekrdn, R 3KpaH ekrdn and P ekran (Yanay 1990: 258 mentions it briefly
as a loanword from French) - or is it a creational PSM of Intl ekrdn
'screen' consisting of (BH»)I rip ^qrn 'radiate, shine, project' fitted into
the eDOdO noun-pattern (cf. I mpti. ekddkh 'handgun' - see §2.3)? The
PSM possibility is supported by Klein (1987: 52c) and MES (: 11 lb). Note
the existence of I (nraiprc/Dnno) ppB makren (sratim/shkufyot) '(film/
slide) projector' and I(tno) inpn hikrin (seret) 'projected, showed (a
film)'. The question is whether those new sememes were introduced after
the adoption of y\px ekrdn 'screen'. Currently, ekrdn is not often used
except in the expression I D^lpN1? RVyatsd laakranim 'was released, went
to the screens' (referring to the release of a film), as in haseret yotse
bashavua habd laakranim 'The film will be released next week'. The
pronunciation is often akrdn, rather than ekrdn. Note that if it is indeed a
PSM (which I tend to accept), it could hardly be a failure since its
pronunciation is identical to the phonetic adaptation - cf. TD pin 'pin', Ml
tag 'tag' (§3.1.2), 00pas 'band' (§6.2.2) and nnO'D kistd 'cyst' (§4.2).
3.2.2 Incestuous creational PSM
Incestuous creational PSM is creational PSM in which the TL lexeme is a

surface-cognate of the SL nativized lexeme (cf. §3.1.4). Consider Ipn}
natrdn 'natrium, sodium' (Chemical Symbol: Na\ Atomic Weight: 23), a
creational PSM of Intl natrium, based on (B)H iru ['neter] 'nitre' (cf.
Proverbs 25:20) with the suffix (H>)Il- -an. It was introduced (or
adopted) by HLC, see ZV 6 (1928: 54a, 56a), cf. I ~\T\l neter 'soda' (ibid.:
56b). The question remains: from where does Intl natrium actually come?
I propose the following sequence: Intl natrium derives from E natrium,
which goes back to E natron, deriving from F natron, which goes back to
Sp. natrdn, which can be traced back to (the now rare) Ar. OJJ^
[nat'ru:n] 'natron'. Ar. OJJ^ referred in particular to the native product of
Egypt extracted from the salt lakes of O J J ^ if^j ['wa.di: nat'nr.n],
northwest of Cairo - cf. Wehr (1961: 973b; 1994: 1142b). Ar. UJJ^ is
traceable to Gkvtrpov nitron (cf. L nitrum), which was borrowed from
BH nm ['neter] 'natron'. Note that BH "ina is translated in the Septuaginta
as Gk nitron and in the Vulgata as L nitrum (cf. Jeremiah 2:22 and see
also OED). I do not believe Ar. OJJ^ [nat'ru:n] 'natron* to be the ultimate
origin (although some dictionaries mention only this etymon) because it
has J» (/) as opposed to & (j)9 the latter being required for it to be a real
cognate of BH ~)T)l ['neter] 'natron', as well as of Ar. £AJ& [nit'ra:t]
'nitrate' (cf. Wehr 1961: 942b; 1994: 1106b), Akka. nitiru and Aram,
'nitre', all of these cognates using n (t), not 0 (/). On the other hand,
J [nat'ru:n] 'natron' could very well be the past nativization of a
foreign nitron (see the discussion at the end of §2.1.3). Since BH "im
['neter] serves as the nativizing material of the PSM yvn natrdn 'natrium',
the latter should be regarded as a incestuous PSM with a Semitic (indeed
Hebrew) ur-source.
Auerbach and Ezrahi (1930: 18b, Item 306) introduce the neologism
Iivnn khartsit 'Chrysanthemum' (cf. Tsimkhey Erets Yisrael, 1946: 16,
Item 218; LL 121, 1981). It appears to derive from (i) BH fnn [ha'ru§],
the name of a certain kind of gold (Zechariah 9:3), or a Semitic source
related to it, e.g. Phoenician fin, Akka. hura$u 'gold, "the yellow
metal'", Ugaritic p n (Klein 1987: 231c, A/£S:584a), Ar. u - > [xur§]
'gold/silver ring, earring' (Hava 1915: 162b), or a Punic source
(MES:590c); (ii) Intl chrysanthemum - cf. InooamD khrizantema, R
xpiraaHTeMa khrizantema, G Chrysantheme, E chrysanthemum, P
chryzantema and L chrysanthemum, all traceable to Gk khrusdnthemon
'the corn-marigold', from khrusos 'gold' + dnthemon 'flower'.
Gk khrusos 'gold' goes back to the same Semitic source as BH ynn
[M'ru§] (cf. Frisk 1970: ii:1123, Chantraine 1968-80, Masson 1967: 37-8,
MES:5&4z, Slouschz 1931: 119). Therefore, irnn khartsit is a Semitic ur-
source incestuous PSM (see §3.1.4.2).
LL 165 (1988) introduces the neologism 137X8 mitsa 'medium' with
the sole meaning 'substance or surroundings in which electricity is
transmitted or blocked', e.g. 'insulating medium'. AHL tried to correct
the usual pronunciation of 5?2i&, matsd, which had already been used by
chemistry students and teachers to refer to 'medium' in the sense of
'substance or surroundings in which something exists', e.g. 'sugar
medium' and 'petri medium'. Perhaps the Academy wished to distinguish
between ysD and the distinct BH STCB [ma§'§i?] (from W V/^f) 'mattress,
couch, bed', which in Israeli - pronounced matsd - also means 'political
platform'. Unlike BH 372TO, I i/XB mitsa derives from (Rab)H J/XB ^m$?
'place in the middle, centre, divide into two', cf. RabH SfSBN 'middle';
Aram. RJPXO 'middle, central'. However, there is more here than just
differentiation. The suggested Israeli pronunciation mitsa is induced by
Intl media, medium - cf. I m a medya and IoriD medyum, Y DV7JJ&
medyum, P medium, R Me/jHyM medium and L medium - or by It. mezzo
'middle'.2l H S?XB V/w^f and RabH V*m originate from Gk mesos
'middle', which is related to L medium, hence the incestuousness of ira
metsa, which has an Indo-European ur-source.
3.2.3 Creational PSMs allegedly in the Old Testament
There are cases in which purists allege that a creational PSM has already
appeared in the Old Testament. Consider I n^V Hit 'elite', a PSM of BH
n*?v [Yil'lit] 'upper (f)' (see Joshua 15:19 and Judges 1:15) and Intl elite.22
This coinage might have been influenced by (RabH»)I rny idit 'good
soil' (in Israeli also 'superior merchandise') (see Mishnah: Gittin 5:1) and
its Aramaic tautological intensification form i n y H3J 'the very best, top
quality' (Talmud: Baba Metsi'a 66b). However, lexicographers such as
Klein (1987: 473b) and Even-Shoshan (1988: 881) - and perhaps even the
neologizers of n^y themselves - have suggested that JV*?y already existed
as a noun in Biblical Hebrew. Some of them refer the naive reader to
Daniel 6:11 in the original Aramaic: BH tfWIT 7tt nn^sn [baTilli'teh
'neged jarufa'lem], wherein T)*?V meant 'upper chamber, loft' (cf. Aram.
21
cf. I "WXO for L medianus (in Even-Odem 1959:225).
22
Intl elite can be traced back to OF eslite, elite 'selection, choice' and later 'that which is
chosen', from MedL electa 'choice', from L eligere 'elect'.
'id.', Jastrow 1903: 1070b). Although the link between n^y Hit and
this possible BH n^y is more remote than that between D^V Hit and BH
n^y 'upper (f)\ some purists might feel more confident if they are able to
trace the entire substantive form rr*?y back to the Old Testament. In either
case, ir*?y Hit is a PSM of Intl elite - cf. Y trty elit and F elite, as well as
I HD^X elita, R 3JiHTa elita, P elita and G Elite. Note the orthography of Y
D^y elit '61ite' (cf. Y ytr*?y elito (f), mentioned by Stutchkoff 1950: 611a
and Rozeshteyn 1914: 189b): the y, which in Yiddish is a vowel
representing e [e], might have served as a shortcut to BH n^y [Til'lit]
'upper (f)' or to BH n^y [?il'lit] 'upper chamber' (see above). One might
argue that if the neologizers of I n^y Hit based themselves on BH n^y
[frl'Ht] (Daniel 6:11) rather than on BH n^y [Til'lit] 'upper (f)' or its
masculine form H *N [Til'li] 'upper (m)' (which does not appear in the
Old Testament), then the 'elite' of Jl^y should be considered a new
sememe. If this were the case, n^y Hit 'elite' would constitute a PSM by
semantic shifting rather than a creational PSM.
In LLN 6 (August 1994) AHL introduced n^y mV?rat) tekhnologya
Hit and n^y rrtpyn taasiyd Hit, both meaning 'high-tech'. In addition, the
term JV^y mDN ofnd Hit '(la) haute couture, high fashion' is used in many
Israeli clothes shops. In all three, n^y Hit serves as an adjective meaning
'high', modifying the preceding words (technology, industry and fashion).
More precisely, one might claim that n^y here is the feminine form of ^y
'upper (high)'. However, the fact that the masculine form (^y) is very
rarely used in the sense of 'high' might mean that suggesting that n^y is
the feminine form of *n is a back-formation ex postfacto, and hence that
in reality JV*?y Hit in tekhnologya Hit, taasiyd Hit and qfhd Hit was induced
by the aforementioned PSM rr*?y Hit *61ite'. I Hit 'elite' succeeded only
partially in replacing its SL origin, Intl elite, see §5.3.2.
I HDD sapd 'sofa, couch, divan' is a Semitic ur-source incestuous PSM
of Intl sofa - cf. Y y&KO sdfo, G Sofa, P sofa, R co(}>a sofa, E sofa, F sofa,
It. sofa and Sp. sofa. All of these go back to (the now rare) Ar. **-*
[*§uffa] 'alcove raised above floor level' (Hinds and Badawi 1986: 506a),
'saddle-pad, stone-bench' (Hava 1915: 398a), 'molding, ledge, shelf
('cushion', cf. Devoto and Oli 1995: 1862b; OED, Kutscher 1965: 70) -
cf. Ar. ^ [kanaba] 'sofa, divan', cf. Intl canape, e.g. F canape and It.
canape 'sofa'. Even-Shoshan (1988: 813; see also MES:1261b) finds HDD
[sap'pa] in II Samuel 17:28: BH ixr ^DIJTO01 DDWB [mij'k&b wsapfrot
uk'li jo'$er] as though BH JUDO [sap'pOt] meant 'beds'. However, this BH
mDD [sap'pot] is the plural form of BH HO [sap] 'cup' (cf. Akka. sappu,
Sappu), whose regular plural forms are BH D^DD [sip'pim] (see Jeremiah
52:19 and Zechariah 12:2) and BH moo [sip'pGt] (I Kings 7:50). Kutscher
(1965: 70) maintains cautiously that BH [sap'pot] has the general

meaning 'certain instruments'. Note that the translation in the King James
Version (KJ), as well as the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), for
the aforementioned beginning of II Samuel 17:28 is 'brought beds, (and)
basons, and earthen vessels'. Thus, HDO can be regarded as a back-
formation from (the irregular) BH DIDO.23
3.2.4 Compound/phrase MSN
A compound/phrase MSN is an expression consisting of at least two

words which is en bloc phonetically similar to the SL expression. It is 'a
lexical complex which is semantically simplex' (see Cruse 1986: 37). The
most common case is compound MSN. The so-called 'compounds'
discussed here are usually of the construct state type, smikhut, with
nismdkh {nomen rectum) and somekh {nomen regens) - cf. endocentric
noun-noun compounds}* Figure 34 provides a general illustration of this
process:
1 SLt x V -> •» -> TL (+M SN) y+z 'a' <r <r *- TL/SL2 y V , z 'c' [
y+z is phonetically similar to x

a and b+c are similar (PSM) / related (SPM) / unrelated (PM)
Figure 34
As was shown in the case of the lexical items meaning 'glasses', which
were superseded by Hazan's PSM D^DpWB mishkafdim (see Introduction),
compounds were favoured by the maskilim (D^DttfB) 'enlightened,
illuminati, emancipated', followers of the Jewish Enlightenment
movement Haskalah (rtoton) in Germany (1770s-1880s; cf. Aufkldrung),
led by the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86) and the poet,
linguist and exegete Naphtali Herz Wessely (1725-1805, also known as
VayzJ). The maskilim liked compounds most probably because they
followed a European (German) model. It is important to note that the
23
Compare this with the intra-Israeli morphological reanalysis ^D kli instrument; (military
slang) very talented man' > D^D kelim (pi) > .T>3 held 'talented woman* > rrto kelot (pi)
(cf. Zuckermann 2000: 229-30,328-32).
24
Singh and Dasgupta (1999), as well as Starosta et al. (1997), challenge the traditional
views and the 'general rules' of such 'compounding' as in Bloomfleld (1933), Bloch and
Trager (1942), Jespersen (1949), Dowty (1979), Lieber (1981), Williams (1981), Selkirk
(1982), Katre (1987), Spencer (1991) and Anderson (1992).
'resuscitation' of Hebrew by the maskilim was not an end in itself (see

Spiegel 1931). Rather, it appears to have constituted a somewhat
paradoxical means of assimilating into European non-Jewish culture.
On the other hand, the makhyim (D"n&) 'revivalists, revivers', people
of the Tkhiyah (n"nn) 'revival', usually attempted to replace compounds
with one-word lexical items. The reason may have been ideological (anti-
maskilic) but convenience was also a motive. As Pines (1897: ix) shows,
it is difficult to modify a Hebrew compound elegantly. Compare the
(new) elegant 3HT115W sheon zahdv (pronounced also as shaon zahdv) to
the (old) awkward 3HT rnyw mift more shaot zahdv, both meaning 'a
golden watch'. 11WW shaon 'watch, clock', which consists of rww 'hour'
and \\- -on (see below), was Pines's 1885 neologism for VftW miD I more
shaot, lit. 'indicator of hours'.25 The argument of convenience, or
efficiency, was also applied in Estonian, for example by Johannes Aavik
(1880-1973). Thus, relv 'weapon' (cf. §5.1.1) superseded sqjariist, lit.
'war+tool', laup 'forehead' (cf. §5.1.1) replaced otsaesine, lit. 'the end +
the place at the front', and veenma 'to convince' supplanted uskuma
panema, lit. 'to put to believe'.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's first neologism (in 1879, cf. Mandel 1984: 8)
was I lV?D milon 'dictionary' (appearing in M#y:vi:3029a), supplanting
the combination ModH D^B "IDO, I sefer milim, lit. 'book of words', which
was a caique of G Worterbuch (cf. Y ilTWtnsm vertorbukh). There is a
sentence in Bialik's \\vh ^nn khevley lashon (Language Sufferings)
(1907) where both lV?B milon 'dictionary' and D^» nDO sifrey milim
'word-books' are used (cf. Bialik 1959: 204b). From what Ben-Yehuda
says about this neologism we can learn a lot about his general attitude
towards compounds (MBY: Introductory Volume: 38):
"loo1? win uw ™ia rx lii^n rrnn to nfryan -px1? oâ to nap rmK nawnan rftnna ny
own Dinn *onw p*?a IDO HTD "»DO mf? mny DâniDn o^ri *o ,TKTOT./>>a wm ,HTD
.IT1? u mopio niato oô w o D^DIO ITIO^D ÔJ n^ra TK nas âs Wdrterbuch •
From the very beginning of my thought about a collection of words to meet the
practical need for a language revival, a new name for this book came to mind, and it
is mildn. I knew then that the writers of Hebrew are used to calling such a book
sifer milim, which is a translation of the German name Wdrterbuch, but even then
my soul abhorred names consisting of two whole words that are hyphenated.
Similarly, I morn tizmoret 'orchestra' (appearing in MB7:xvi:7713a) was

coined by Ben-Yehuda in 1893 to replace ModH n^m n^nptt, I makheldt
25
Klein (1987: 671c) mistakenly claims that the coiner was Ben-Yehuda.
nognim, lit. 'crowd of instrument players', or ModH D'ttlJ npn1?, I lehakdt

nognim, 'group of instrument players' (see Bialik's 7\w?m
hakhatsotsrd nitbayshd 'The Shamed Trumpet \ ii: *7W D'Bin
*axn mekhatsetser belehakdt hanognim shel hatsavd 'a trumpeter in the
army orchestra', cf. 1959: 150b). I "ins* gafrur 'match (for fire)' was
introduced c.1898 by Mendele (= Abramowitsch) to supplant ModH yv
nnw, I ets gofrit, lit. 'wood of sulphur'. I jnoy iparon 'pencil' was coined
by Joseph Klausner in 1896 (cf. Klausner 1940: 281; 1949: 80, Sivan
1981b: 18) to replace ModH mDW tw,1 et oferet, lit 'pen of lead' (cf. G
Bleistift 'pencil', lit. 'lead-pen'). I "lOp katdr 'locomotive' was coined by
David Yellin in 1893 to supplant mop TtilDa I mekhondt kitor, lit. 'machine
of vapour'; Yellin modelled his neologism upon Ar. J^ [qi'ta.r] 'train'.
It seems that compounds reminded the 'revivalists' too much of
German and that the manipulation in such creations was easily
recognizable, so they decided to make use of the apophonic Semitic noun-
pattern system (see §2.1.3), as well as of affixation possibilities. By
choosing a specific suffix or noun-pattern, they could leave out the first
element in each compound. This element is the indicator of the group.
Thus, I if?n milon 'dictionary', i.e. nto mild 'word' + the suffix (H>)I ]V
-on, replaced D'â *1DO sefer milim 'book of words', leaving out the first
element "1D0 sefer 'book'. Note that IV -on is a multi-functional suffix:
I liny iton 'journal, newspaper' was coined by Ben-Yehuda in 1891 to
replace MasH TO iron (I mikhtdv iti), lit. 'periodical letter', a modified
caique of G Zeitschrift (cf. Ben-Avi 1951 - Sivan 1981a: 91; 1981b: 18,
28). Other neologisms with p- -on are IyOTT darkon 'passport' and
I ]WW0paut6n 'creche, nursery' or Iimnn moadon 'club', cf. (RabH»)I
intJRn teatrdn 'theatre', traceable to Gk theatron 'id.'. Such word-
building suffixes with no specific meaning attached to them are
widespread in Turkish, for example -ge9 cf. Lewis (1999: 97). Such an
unspecific suffix is Esperanto -um as in plenumi 'fulfil' (from plena
'full') and amindumi 'make love' (from aminda 'worthy of love'), cf.
O'Connor (1907: 165a) and Zamenhoff( 1931: 177).
To return to MSN, there are three main traits which often characterize
compound/phrase MSN: structural compromise, semantic compromise,
and jocosity. STRUCTURAL COMPROMISE: It is impossible to change the
order of the lexemes involved (structural cohesion). Sometimes the nomen
regens has to switch places with the nomen rectum in order to maintain
the sound of the SL lexical item. The resulting impression of constraint
makes the imitation obvious. For example, MasHTOJ?1KD peeyr dmud
VAsKRpeayr amid, lit. 'glory of pillar', is an adaptation of \vA pyramid-
cf. Y r»8T9 piramid and E pyramid, as well as R irapaMHwa piramida
and P piramida (cf. Avinery 1946: 135; cf. the later I nroTD piramida).
MasH 1KDTOV*amud peeyr, lit. 'pillar of glory', would have been much
better semantically but not nearly as good phonetically.26 Furthermore,
the plural form ofTOV"1ND I peer amud is not the grammatically expected
TID5? nKD *perey amud but rather DHTO "INDI peer amudim, or as Klausner
(1949: 97) mentions DH1DV nND Ipeerey amudim, which resembles
(Intl>)I D'TDTD piramidim 'pyramids', cf. the currently more common
I mriDTDpiramidot 'id.'.
A similar 'poetic licence' appears in the following construct-state
compound PSMs, all found in early, uncensored copies of the Babylonian
Talmud, Sabbath Tractate, 116a:
• \[*?y I'M ['?&wen gil'jon] 'evil revelation-book*
• )V*7} )W [WwOn gil'jon] 'sin revelation-book'
• TP*tt p x ['Tefcen gil'jon] 'stone revelation-book'
These terms all refer to the gospels and are rejective adaptations (cf.
'lexical engineering' in Zuckermann 2004) of Gk etiayvSAiov euangelion
(> L euangelium) 'gospel'. Obviously, the neologizers themselves were
aware of their ingenious manipulation, and even knew that euangelion
originally meant 'good news, glad tidings; reward of good tidings, given
to the messenger', and consisted of eu 'good' + dngelos 'messenger,
envoy' (only later did it come to refer to 'divine messenger, angel' - as
in the diametric opposite Non angli sed angeli, si forent Christiani,
attributed to Gregory the Great, who was shown English children
reduced to slavery in Rome in AD 573). The concoction was produced to
support an anti-Christian position. Its effort not only to translate, but also
to correct, brings to mind Borges's amusing remark, made in 1943: El
original es infiel a la traduccion.27
(B)H itf» [gil'jOnj/tgill&'jOn], which I translate as 'revelation-book',
generally refers to 'blank parchment, the margin of scrolls, writing tablet'
(cf. Syriac rovto 'volume'). However, the etymon of yftl is ^ ylglj (cf.
7t?y ^glh) 'to uncover, reveal'. Thus, ]V*ft is a good nativizer of
euangelion since the latter was associated with Apocalypse (the
26
Note, however, the possible influence of the non-Semitic order in some Hebraisms coined
within Yiddish, e.g. m m rftnp yeshivo bdkhsr 'Yeshivah student', cf. I nzPW1 Tiro bakhtir
yeshiva. Consider also the modified caique IW12 in» madd bidyoni, lit. 'fictional science'
- as opposed to E science fiction* cf. I VVD DV yom tiyuU lit. 'trip day' versus E day trip.
Compare this with E mission impossible, body beautiful, court martial, secretary general
and consulate general, and cf. Lewis (1999: 6m). Such English constructions might have
been influenced by the French word-order.
27
*The original is unfaithful to the translation'; cf. Borges (1974: 732).
revelation), cf. L apocalypsis and Gk airo/caAuîs apokdlupsis, a noun of

action from aTTOKaXxmreiv apokaliiptein, the meaning of which is also 'to
uncover, disclose' (< arro apo 'off + KaXurrrew kaluptein 'to cover').
The structural compromise is apparent in the fact that ]Vbl "px ['?&wen
gil'jOn] literally means 'evil of book' rather than 'book of evil'; "px \\*n
•[gil'jOn '?awen] 'book of evil' would have been much better
semantically but not nearly as good phonetically. Such poetic licence
also occurs in Ch. K ^ f g Cantonese garlokfuk MSC jialefii 'Carrefour
(supermarket)', lit. 'family+happy+blessing', a domestication of the
French brand name Carrefour; fiSifcl^ *fuklokgar/*fulejia, lit. 'blessing*
happy+family', would have been more natural. The same $1 MSC fu was
part of the nativizing material of E Ford, which entered MSC as Wfe
fiite 'blessing+special'. Semantically, $f $1 *tefu 'special+blessing'
would have been better. The same applies to MSC $ti=f boyin, lit.
'wave+sound', an SPM of Boeing; whereas •§$$[ *ylnbd 'sound wave'
would have been a better semantic match.
Unlike MasH vw itiSpeeyr dmud, RabH irta ]m ['?&wen gil'jOn] and
Ch. ^ ^ ^ S , I "IND nD pat peer, which is an SPM proposed by AHL for
Flntl petit four, is structurally coherent. 1"1XD DD pat peer literally means
'glory bread' and therefore well describes the small, fancy cake. The
neologism was approved on 9 December 1959 during the 32nd session of
AHL, and is mentioned in ZA 7-8 (1960-1: 37b). This is InbaPs definiens
fox petit four (1994-5: 510a). Note that both SPMs (MasH TOy "i*«> and
I "1ND nD) make use of the Hebrew word "IND 'glory'. This might not be a
coincidence since "IND peer is good material for nativization, phonetically
and semantically.28 Phonetically, it is a short word which can replace
one or two alien syllables, thus resembling a Chinese character, a
monosyllabic morpheme. Semantically, it has a positive connotation and
hence can be inserted easily - cf. the PM of country names in Chinese, the
most obvious example being H B Mandarin m&gud, Cantonese meikok,
lit. 'beautiful country', a domestication of America (cf. §1.4.3.3). Note
also that in general, some Chinese characters appear more often than
others in loanwords.
SEMANTIC COMPROMISE: Consider the compound MSN I \\nv ^ D
pilpel iton, lit. 'pepper of journal', concocted by Reichmann (1965: 362)
for the sake of a jew de mots in imitation of Flntl feuilleton - cf. I
28
ns, the other element of IKD no, was also used in another MSN: "ft TID pitey bar, lit.
'pieces of bread of the countryside' or 'wild pieces of bread', a FEN of Flntl petit beurre
(a sweet butter biscuit) - see §4.4.
felyeton, F feuilleton, R tyenheroH fel'eton, P felieton and Y

felyeton (cf. Rozenshteyn 1914: 215b). Note that y\TM tow 'journal,
newspaper' was coined by Ben-Yehuda in 1891 (see above).
JOCOSITY: A less semantically compromising MSN is I Tt\i irbx alter
nativ, lit. 'improvise (m, sg) a path/lane!' (and Israelis are famous for
their improvisational skills), a witty (albeit failed) proposal for Intl
alternative, cf. F alternative and E alternative, as well as Ina^Wio^K
alternativa, R ajibTepHarHBa aVternativa and P alternatywa. I have also
heard of the jocular rrn HT l^N ilu ze hayd, lit. 'if it was' (had it really
been so), for Intl illusion - cf. I nntfpK iluzya, P iluzja and R HJuno3Ha
illyiiziya. Compare this with the jocular FEN by semantic shifting !np"nn
havrakd!, lit. 'flash of idea, brilliancy' (<MedH 'flash'), which translates
Intl Eureka, cf. R evrika, originally Gk hiureka, the perfect tense form (or
perfect/resultative aspect) of heurisko 'I find, find out, discover' (see
Liddell and Scott 1996: 729b), the exultant exclamation supposedly
uttered by the Sicilian-born Greek philosopher Archimedes (c. 287-212
BC) on discovering the notion of specific gravity.
Following these lines, the manipulation in this type of FEN is usually
transparent and therefore such FENs are regarded by native speakers as
rhetorical or mirthful and sometimes even ridiculous (see §5.3.4). Thus,
unlike the other lexicopoietic types of FEN, it is not an ideal means of
puristic neologization.
3.2.5 Compound/Phrase FEN in the Haskalah
As we have seen with MasHTOi?"iNDpeeyr dmud 'pyramid' and as can be

expected from the maskilim's liking of compounds, compound FEN was
very popular during the Haskalah (cf. §3.2.4). Thus, MasH *?D ^Wprotey
kol - pronounced in Israeli pratey kol or pratey kol - lit. 'details of
everything', was used to refer to 'protocol'. The co-etymon was obviously
Intl protocol - see Y ^KptjOKiD protokol, R npoTOKOJi protokol and P
protokol, as well as the Vipions I protokol (cf. §6.3).29 Avinery (1964:
476b) attacks this artificial coinage, and suggests 111ID1D proton, again
from (H>)I DID prat 'detail', as well as from the suffix (H>)I ]V -on,
which, as Avinery rightly claims, is not just a diminutive (see above).
I *?D ''DID pratey kol was used by HLC, for example in the title of a short
report in Lesonenu 1: 79-80 (1928): ]V£hr\
29
All of these go back to Gkprdtdkollon 'attached first page', fcomprdtos 'first' and kollao
'I stick*. I pratey kol is used by Gur (1949:231b) and OEHD (:575b, under minutes).
mitokh haprateykolim shel haveadd leshiptir halashon *From the

Protocols of the Committee for the Improvement of Language'.
Similarly, MasH ^'IK p/19 psak evil (cf. Iptak evil), lit. 'stupid note'
matched Intl pasquil ('pasquinade, lampoon') - cf. Y *nipWN9 pashkvil,
Wiypiwjs pashkovil (Weinreich 1977: 498b) and Yvpoxs paskvil (Harkavy
1988: 361a), R nacKBiuibpdskvil' and ¥ paszkwil™
There were three Maskilic Hebrew compounds/phrases for
'telegraph': (i) MasH m x\Yl dilug rav, YMasH dihg rav, PMasH dilog
raf, I dilug rav, lit. 'a big bound'; (ii) its variant m a*77 deleg rav, PMasH
deleg raf 'id.'; and (iii) mp ^ 0 tiley krav, PMasH tiley kraf, lit. 'battle
rockets'. Each of these three nativizes folk-etymologically Intl telegraph
- cf. R TenerpacJ) telegraf, P telegraf and F telegraphe (cf. Avinery 1946:
135 and Klausner 1949: 97; cf. I Tcto) telegraf). The link between Intl [t]
and MasH 1 [d] might have been facilitated by [d]~[t] variations within
Yiddish. Consider Y "WW&ytfWT dolmecher 'interpreter, translator' versus
WBXB^D tolmdch 'interpreter, translator', as well as Y WITH daych
'German' versus W0V0 taych 'Judaeo-German, Old Yiddish, German,
translation, meaning'. An additional factor is the ModG [d] - Y [t]
parallelism, as in ModG Dom 'dome' versus Y Dio turn 'cathedral' (cf.
MHG tuom). Note that F telegraphe was similarly adopted in Turkish
(not, in this specific case, by the language authorities) as Tu. telgraf
(OTEDA60, Heyd 1954: 91), as though it were connected to Tu. tel 'wire,
filament' (OTEDA59). However, many native Turkish-speakers I have
interviewed did not consider the influence of tel 'wire'. That said, the case
for the influence of tel is strengthened if one compares Tu. telgraf to Tu.
telefon 'telephone' and Tu. telepati 'telepathy', both of which retain the e.
MasH 11K mp kene on (the standard Ashkenazic pronunciation kney
oyn was probably not preferred), lit. 'power (gun-)barrel', is a
recalibration of Intl cannon - cf. Y l*GNp kanon (Harkavy 1910: 295a) and
V3K3Kp kanono (ibid.: 61b), G Kanone, F canon, R KaHOHa#a kanondda
'cannonade', kanonerka 'gunboat'. Intl cannon goes back to It. cannone,
from canna 'tube, pipe', from L canna31 (which extended the meaning
'(hollow) reed, cane' to 'tube, pipe' OED), from Gk kdnna (or kdnne)
'reed', from Assyrian kanu (Ayto 1990: 94a). The latter is a cognate of
Akka. qanu, Aram. N'Mp, Ar. ^ [qa'na:h] and BH nap [q&'n8], all having
30
All o f these g o back to the eponymous It. pasquillo, a diminutive of pasquino, from
PasquirtOy the name of a statue erected in Rome in 1501 by Cardinal Caraffa and named
after a school teacher who lived nearby. The modern meaning 'pasquinade, lampoon' was
created due to the tradition of putting satirical notices on this statue (Klein 1987: 517c).
31
L canna > OF cane (later canne) > E cane.
the meaning 'stick'.32 Consequently, MasH fix H3p is a Semitic ur-source

incestuous PSM. According to Rosen (1994: 99), it was coined by
HaMeasfim (1784-1829, see Klausner 1954: i:59-73), whose journal
HaMeasef written in Hebrew, appeared in 1783-1811 (cf. Pelli 1999: 61).
MasH ynD VI dapesa, lit. 'know (sg, m, 2nd, imperative) suddenly', is
an SPM of Intl depesha 'telegram, dispatch' - cf. P depesza, R aeneina
depesha, G Depesche, Y depesh (cf. Avinery 1946: 135; cf. InWDl
depesha). Note that the n (t) of yriD VI does not have a dagesh (i.e. it is not
a geminate) and is therefore pronounced [s]. Influenced by Yiddish, some
speakers might have pronounced the (first) V as the vowel [e], resulting in
MasH do pesa or do peso. Furthermore, in Lithuanian (Northeastern)
Yiddish, there is no phonemic distinction between s and /(cf. Weinreich
1952, Katz 1983: 1031a), a fact that might have made the Maskilic
Hebrew SPM phonetically identical to Intl depesha 'telegram'.
Some DOPEs have been independently used as maskilic
compound/phrase FENs. For example, nsn D I bo ded, lit. 'There is
knowledge in him', which according to Laniado (1997), is the ultimate
origin of Buddha (cf. §1.2.2.2), is indeed used in Shlomo Rubin's Maase
Bereshit (The Work of Creation) (published in HaShachar in its third
year) to refer to Buddha. Thus, MasH n*n D bo(y) deyo can be classified
as a maskilic compound SPM. Klausner (1949: 97), in fact, records it
along with MasH T) xb'1! dilug rav 'telegraph' (see above). Klausner
(ibid.) also lists MasH VDH IIK o(y)r hdk(o)l - cf. H tan TIK [?or hak'kol] -
lit. 'the light of everything', which refers to 'oracle'. This compound
SPM was used by Rabbi Yitzhak Lewinson, who in fact believed that G
Orakel 'oracle' derivedfromH tan 11K (cf. §1.2.2.2).
The Maskilic phrase FEN in l&D vb Ida kemo(y) tof lit. 'muzzle/
pharynx/mouth like a drum', is a nativization of Intl locomotive (cf.
TOlBlpl1? lokomotifin HaOr 1893, and rrtnaipV? lokomotiv in Avinery
1946: 135). Other variants include MasH nn 1BD f? I6(y) kemo(y) tof lit.
'[making noise] (to itself) like a drum', as well as the highly playful SPM
MasH nn 1DD i? iwy& measheyn lo kemo tof lit. 'smoking (m, sg) like a
drum', nativizing Intl machine locomotive - cf. G Maschin lokomotiv
(Toury 1990: 194), Y r»WKB mashin 'machine' (Rozenshteyn 1914: 145a)
and Y iVOK&KpX1? lokomotiv 'locomotive, engine' (ibid.: 124a), and F
machine locomotive 'locomotive machine'. If one applies the standard
phonology of Ashkenazic Hebrew (cf. Katz 1993a), *\n 1»D f? ]WVK would
yield measheyn loy kmoy tof. However, it was probably not preferred.
1
Deroy (1956:150) mistakenly mentions the non-existent 'H kanah'
It is, thus, possible to distinguish between the usual compound/phrase

FEN, in which the SL lexical item is not a compound/phrase, and its
subcategory where it is. The following are examples of the latter:
(i) MasH *7DyTOtur dyfel, lit. 'row of height', is an SPM of F Tour Eiffel BH to
means 'high fortified place', cf. Isaiah 32:14 (cf. 'tower' in Yeivin - under the
pseudonym Shvana - 1934: 166, cf. 'citadel' in Inbal 1994-5: 370a). MasH to TID is
used by Shlonsky (1954: 65). Compare this with I to Vua migddl ofel, lit. 'tower of
height', also referring to Tour Eiffel (cf. Avinery 1946:138).
(ii) MasH yftp IX ed kolon (the expected standard pronunciation eyd koloyn was probably
not preferred; cf. I ed kaldn),33 lit. 'vapour of shame' 'gas of disgrace', a nativization of
Flntl eau de Cologne, cf. F eau de Cologne, Y l^Npyrg; odekolon, R oaeicojiOH
odekolon and G Eau de Cologne. (Note, however, that the internationalism is often
perceived en bloc, constituting one word, e.g. in Russian and even in French.)
The following figure illustrates this specific subcategory:
SL! x+w 'a' - » - > - > TL(+MSN) y+z 'a' *- *• «- TL/SL2 y *b', z v""]
y+z is phonetically similar to x+w

a and b+c are similar (PSM) / related (SPM) / unrelated (PM)
Figure 35
Two other compound FENs in which the SL lexical item is a compound

itself are I n^D HUM eshef keshef, lit. 'magic-witchcraft', referring to
'hocus-pocus' (§5.3.6) and 11DQ ino sdkhar mekher 'trade, wheeling-
dealing', a nativization of Y "15DNB -ISDKW shdkhor mdkhor 'dark dealings,
swindler' (§6.2.7). On toponymic FENs in Maskilic Hebrew, see §4.6.
Finally, MSN introducing only a new sememe is usually harder to detect

than MSN introducing a new word. The most readily observable kind of
MSN is that which introduces a new compound/phrase.
33
One could rationalize MasH ]t?p IK ed kolon by suggesting that its coiners intended to
encourage or mock the use of cologne as concealing unpleasant personal odours. H iV?p
'shame, disgrace' participated in a much more obvious rejective PSM: Ar. dJ [qur'?a:n]
'Koran' was nativized in Hebrew as lV?j? [qi'lOn]. Serendipitously, RabH TH [?ed]
'disaster* (cf. Psalms 6:15), which is homophonous with H IK [?ed] 'vapour, gas* (in fact
Klausner 1949: 97 spells ed kolon as Yftp-TK), was lexically engineered to refer to a 'non-
Jewish holiday' - transposing Ar. ^ [fi:d] 'feast' and RabH TV [fid] 'non-Jewish
holiday' (cf. Mishnah: Avoda Zara 1:1).
4
MSN in Various Terminological Areas
Naturally, FEN is widespread in those terminological areas that suffer

most from lexical voids within the autochthonous lexical inventory. In the
early history of Israeli such areas have been zoology, medicine, music,
gastronomy and computers. In some cases, the extent to which FEN
infiltrates a specific terminological area is determined simply by whether
or not a prominent coiner in this area has favoured FEN as a means of
neologization. For example, Abramowitsch (also known as Mendele)
relied heavily on FEN in his (often failed) neologisms for zoological
terminology, as described below.
4.1 Zoology
Abramowitsch, a native Yiddish-speaker, was born in 1835 in Kapuli

(Belorussia) and lived in Kapuli (Lithuania), Volhynia, Podolia,
Berdichev, Zhitomir (Ukraine), Geneva and Odessa, where he died in
1917. In his first toldot hateva (History of Nature \)y published in 1862,
he introduces TflOBH hamastir, lit. 'the hider', to refer to G Hamster
'hamster' (ibid.: 31). On p. 304 (ibid.) Abramowitsch mentions hamster
in the text and Tnoan in the footnote, his explanation for 'the hider' being
the fact that the hamster 'hides himself during the winter in order to sleep
without any disturbance'.l After History of Nature 1, Abramowitsch
becomes more confident in his use of FEN, so that in History of Nature 2
(1866), which focuses on bird names, there are many more PSMs, SPMs
and PMs. Abramowitsch (1866) suggests the word *?r) ragli (ibid.: 343),
lit. 'leggy', to refer to the '(water) rail, Rallus (aquaticus)\ Taking the
bird's German name Ralle, Abramowitsch ignores its etymology and
attempts only to imitate its sound, using a pre-existent Hebrew morpheme
that is both phonetically similar to G Ralle and semantically connected to
the bird's features. In fact, the adjective ^ n ragli derives from (B)H ^n
['regel] 'leg, foot' and can mean 'leggy, with long legs'. This adjective is
appropriate since the (water) rail does indeed have long legs. It should be
1
mastir et atsmo bimot hakhoref lemaan yanum shnato been mafria (op. cit: 304fft). See
also Saddan (1955: 35).
123
noted that AHL preferred to borrow Ralle by means of morphemic

adaptation, as nî ralit (see ZA 10-11,1963-4: 36b, Alon 1983: vi:187) -
cf. the Academy's JTO"! ramit for the bird Remiz pendulinus 'penduline
tit'(cf.Z4 10-11, 1963-4: 23b).
Intl/E canary can be traced back - via French and Spanish - to L canis
*dog' because the Canaria insula, lit. 'Isle of Dogs', which gave the small
singing bird its name, was also populated by large dogs. Abramowitsch
enriches this intriguing lexical history with a further etymological
association: to a stringed instrument. He suggests ni3D TIDS tsipor kinori
(ibid.: 168) for G Kanarienvogel 'canary, Serinus canarius\ The
adjective "HUD kinori derives from BH TIJD [kin'nOr], a kind of a stringed
instrument, similar to harp (cf. I "ira kinor 'violin', see ZV 6, 1928: 47a),
and reminds the speaker of the canary's beautiful voice. Saddan (1955:
35) mentions variations of ni3D kinori: H13 kanari, lit. 'of violinist (m)',
as well as nnaD kanarit, lit. 'violinist (f)' (p. 35), the latter also being
mentioned by Masson (1986: 48). JVI3D kanarit turned out to be the most
successful proposal and was mentioned, for example, in an issue of the
daily newspaper Maariv (14 September 1998, p. 12).2 Coincidentally,
canary was used in some expressions in New York American English as a
PM of Y kinohoro, a haplological form of Y yin-i'y 1"P keyn eyn (h)6ro
(or keyn ayen horo), lit. 'without the eye of the devil', i.e. 'Good luck!' -
cf. G kein 'without' and RabH V17\ yy, Mishnah: Aboth 2:11; note that
I inn VV ^3 bli din hard derivesfromY snn-T» l"p keyn eyn horo?
Abramowitsch revives many obsolete biblical words, for example
proposing the PM lTftfc migron as a Hebrew replacement for Mergus
'diver (a kind of a water-fowl)' (1866: 413), and thus revitalizing the
toponym BH ]Y\Xft [mig'rOn], which appears in Isaiah 10:28. Dip1?** alkum
is Abramowitsch's PM coinage for G Alk ('auk, Alca') (ibid.: 363). BH
Dip^K [?al'qum] is a hapax legomenon, appearing in Proverbs 30:31; its
meaning is opaque, perhaps 'no rising up' (<*?N 'no' + Dip 'rising up').
Thus, BH IBS? oip^K -f?B ['melek Talcum frm'mO] (Proverbs 30:31) is
2
However, Ofek (1989: 33) prefers ivup (with j? q rather than 3 k\ which is a morphemic
adaptation rather than an SPM.
3
Consider AmE Have a canary! 'Good luck!* and Don 7 have a canary! 'Calm down!,
Don't throw a fit!', as well as He's giving me a canary mentioned by Julius G. Rothenberg
(cf. Mencken 1945: 435; cf. 1977: 262) - cf. German idiomatic expressions which are
FENs of Yiddish lexical items (Zuckermann 2000: 290-2). Consider G Hals und
Beinbruch! 'good luck!', lit. 'neck and leg break' ('may you break your neck and your
leg'; cf. E break a leg!), which might be an SPM of Y ,13131 nrfrxn hatslokho ubrokhs (PY
hatslukho ubnikho) 'success and blessing', from MedH nrai nrftsn [hasla'ha ufera'ka], cf.
H .1313 nrftsn [hasla'ha bsr&'ld] in Section 13 of the Jewish blessing after the meal.
MSN in Various Terminological Areas 125
translated as 'a king, against whom there is no rising up' (KJ) or as 'a
king striding before his people' (NRSV). "DNH haikdr, lit. 'the peasant, the
farmer', is a creational PSM of G Ackermdnnschen 'Motacilla {alba),
wagtail' (cf. Grimm 1854: i:174) (cf. Abramowitsch 1866: 132). Note that
G Acker means 'farmer's field'. Eidergans and Eiderente 'Anas
mollissima' are matched phonetically with Tin TIN avdz heder, lit. 'glory
goose; splendour gander' (ibid.: 408). (B)H "m ['heder] is the nomen
rectum form (in a construct state) of (B)H Tin [hi'dir] 'glory, splendour'
- see BH mD^D Tin ['heder mal'kut] in Daniel 11:20. Compare this with
the possible analysis of (B)H pN ['?ere§] 'country, land' - as the nomen
rectum form of (B)H p x ['?&re§J, die latter curently pronounced
drets and meaning specifically 'Israel'. Kdnigseider(gans) 'Somateria
spectabilis, King Eider' for Abramowitsch is 17K TIN avdz eder (ibid.:
411), an expression that means either 'glory goose' (like ")7H DN avdz
heder above) or 'mantle goose' - cf. (H>)I miN aderet 'mantle, cloak'.
The creational SPM lVD'D pifyon was suggested by Abramowitsch to
refer to G Pfeifer '(sand)piper' (ibid.: 133, also meaning 'whistler', cf.
Grimm 1889: vii:1653), cf. L Anthus. Abramowitsch might have thought
offifi, the approximate sound that the bird produces when it takes off (cf.
MES: 1424c, Klein 1987: 506c), thus introducing an onomatopoeia.
However, Abramowitsch's onomatopoeic creation was induced by G
Pfeifer, and should not be regarded as a mere onomatopoeia (as it is in
MES and Klein). Yet, keeping in mind the Congruence Principle, one
should not ignore the combined onomatopoeic influence - see §6.2.4.
Iwwp kashdsh, lit. 'straw gatherer' (from H Wp 'straw'), is
Abramowitsch's creational PSM of Ar. J&& [qaj'jaj] 'gatherer (of
straw)', cf. Ar. u53 ['qafja] 'collected, gathered (m, sg) and d& [qaJJ]
'straw'. Compare this with the commonly used Israeli PM tfwi khogld
'partridge, Alectoris' (Af£S:502a), 'Perdix' (OED) (cf. 'Alectoris chukar\
Alon 1983: vi:175) - for Ar. d**> ['haemal] 'partridge'. I khogld resurrects
BH rfttn [hog'Ui], a female name, e.g. in Numbers 26:33, 27:1 (cf. ZA 10-
11,1963-4: 37aandSarfatti 1981: 188)-cf. §2.3.
Metaphorically - and perhaps lexicopoietically - speaking,
Abramowitsch kills two birds with one stone by preserving the sound of
the foreign word, as well as using native Hebrew words. It is often easy to
rationalize the phonetically-induced choice by finding a semantic link,
however far-fetched, between the chosen word and the referent (the bird).
On the development of Israeli bird names, see Fischler (1990).
In History of Nature 3 (1872), which focuses on reptiles,
Abramowitsch introduces 'tf?wn nx tsav hashilti, lit. 'shield-like turtle',
for G Schildkrdte 'tortoise' (ibid.: 14), cf. Y o y i p i ^ shildkrot 'id.' (L
Chelonites). G Aim, a kind offish ('pasture') (cf. L Proteus anguineus, cf.

salamandra), is matched phonetically with pa^y (ibid.: 259), H [Yal'mon]
I almon, a biblical toponym (Joshua 21:18), probably identical with r\ti?V
[Ti'lemet] (I Chronicles 6:45).
4.2 Medicine
In his controversial book al sfat lashon (In the Lips of Talkers4),

published in 1950, Even-Odem (born Rubinstein), a medical doctor with a
remarkable degree of linguistic awareness, forcefully attacks HLC; the
editorial board of Lesonenu (Our Language); and the editorial board of
HaRefuah ('Medicine'), the Journal of the Palestine Jewish Medical
Association (in 1948 this association became the Medical Association of
Israel). Even-Odem accuses these three bodies of linguistic corruption and
of scorning the Hebrew language. He mentions a medical doctor named
Professor Dr ?. ?. P. (sic) [possibly Alexander ?. Freed], whom he
considers to be an expert in 'analytical phonetics' (op. cit.: 16), and who
'can adapt many foreign sounds to Hebrew words'. The following are
some of Freed's coinages attacked by Even-Odem (1950: 16-17):5
• rTNT 121 ganti reiya, lit. 'condemn (imperative, 2nd pi) a flowing!' - for Intl
gonorrhoea, which derives from MedL gonorrhoea, whose origin is Gk yovoppoia
gonorrhoia, from gonos 'seed' + rhoia 'flux'; so called because it was thought to
be a discharge of semen (OED). The compound PSM rron T» ganti reiya was
rationalized by the semantic link between Gk rhoia 'flux' (cf. rhod/rhoe/rhdos
'flow, stream') and RabH rrtn [rd?ij'ja] 'flowing, discharge, menstruation'
(Mishnah: Niddah 1:6; Zabim 1:1).6 Compare this to the DOPE suggested by
Valesco de Taranta in 1418 (Valescus of Tarentum, cf. 1535, fol. 327*) for the very
same L gonorrhoea: lGomorrhoea is taken from the word Gomorrha because of the
vain sheddings of human semen that occurred in that city' (note that in the late
Middle Ages, Latin authors sometimes exchanged n with m).
• "ion tomer, lit. 'palm tree' - for Intl tumour, cf. E tumour, G Tumor, It. tumore and
Y 1SB1B tumor (the latter is mentioned by Weinreich 1977: 599b). The reason for
this is the (mis)interpretation of BH ion nnn rarr KVII [wa'hi jd'Jefcet 'tahat 'tomer]
(Judges 4:5). Its standard meaning is 'And she dwelt under the palm tree' (KJ) or
'She [Deborah the Prophetess] used to sit under the palm' (NRSV). However,
understanding "ion ['tomer] as 'tumour in the body', the meaning turns into 'And
4
My translation is based on Ezekiel 36:3, see references.
5
Most of these coinages appear in the journal HaRofe Halvri in the 1930s and 1940s. Two
compound (S)PMs criticized by Even-Odem are discussed in §5.3.4.
6
It is possible that - although Krauss 1898 and Even-Shoshan 1997 do not provide this
analysis - the euphemistic RabH rr*O [r3?ij'ja] 'flowing, discharge, menstruation' was a
borrowing from Gk rhoia 'flux' or an SPM based on the latter, as well as on the pre-
existent RabH n'Xi [re?ij'ja] 'seeing, look, glance'.
she was sitting down because she was ill with a tumour*. On further PSMs alleged
by purists to have appeared in the Old Testament, see §3.2.3.
mis tsaveret (ibid.: 17, Freed 1944: 132b), from (H>)11K1X tsavar 'neck* - for bitl
cervicitis 'inflammation of the cervix uteri (the neck of the womb)' - cf. I o w i r r a
tservitsitis. Freed suggests this meaning instead of the regular meaning of nils,
namely 'torticollis, (rheumatic) affection of the neck muscles' as in HaRefuah
(1944: xxvi:178a; xxvii:182a, cf. Kna'ani 1998: 4951b), arguing that 'cervicitis' is
better than 'torticollis' since the OaEHOet noun-pattern refers to an inflammation.
A letter by Dr M. Ben-Ami in HaRejuah (1944: xxvi:16-17) may support this view
since it claims that DaD&Det refers to medical problems which cause a disease and
not to an ill organ (cf. Even-Odem and Rotem 1967: Introduction: ii). However,
Even-Odem(1950:17-18; 1959:187-8) severely criticizes this view.
"p-Op kibaron, from (H>)I lip k&ver 'grave', a 'macabre' Israelization of Intl cavern
- cf. I nrop kaverna and L caverna.
"K
' / trafd 'lack of food' - for Intl atrophy, cf. I ITDTOK atrofya, R aTpo<j>Ha
atrofiya and P atrofia.
• nrnDJ nikhretet (< ma ^krt 'cut down') - for Intl necrosis.
• natapx aktamd (< wp Aqpn 'cut ofT, lop off*) - for Intl ectomy.
• KTtiO panta (In the Talmud: B'rakhoth 43b, it means 'the upper leather of the shoe')
- for MedL pons (cf. pons cerebri/cerebelli, 'a band of nerve-fibres in the brain')
(later accepted by Muntner in his article in HaRefuah; see Even-Odem 1950: 29).
• *n& mire, a creational PM based on (B)H xno [ms'rl] 'buffalo' (cf. II Samuel 6:13)
and E marrow.
In 1959, Even-Odem created two PSMs and for some reason did not
criticize them: HKiDin tarpud 'therapy' (1959: 32, 85) is a PSM of Intl
therapy - cf. IrTD-in terdpya, R Teparaw terapiya and P terapia.
Morphologically, this is (BH»)I ND1 Arp? 'cure, heal' fitted into the
taDOuOd noun-pattern, cf. I nttnan tavrud 'sanitation'. Similarly, nm^Kn
taaluhd is a PSM of Intl theology - cf. ITOV?1RJ1teologya, R Teojionw
teologiya and P teologia (1959: 32, 127, 214). Note the n (h) whose
'Russian pronunciation' is [g]; cf. Russian immigrants' gertseliya for
Herzliyya (n^nn hertselia, the name of an Israeli city). In a letter to
Even-Odem dated 15 February 1952, Meir Frankel praised this neologism
for its sound, which is similar to Intl theology (ibid.: 237).
The following are newer creational PSMs, referring to 'rickets': I HDD")
rakekhet (cf. Even-Odem 1967: English-Hebrew Section: 571, and
Robashov 1971: 82); n^DI rakhit or rakit, mentioned by Rosenbaum
(1944: 23-4), the latter pronunciation appearing in HaRefuah (xxvi:183
(No. 10: 1), 15 May 1944). As illustrated in Figure 36, these are MSNs
from (i) Intl rachitis 'rickets' - cf. R paxHT rakhit, I O'tPDn rakhitis, G
Rachitis and ModL rachitis - and (ii) (BH>RabH») 111 rakh 'soft', as
the disease, which afflicted Mozart, causes softening of the bones.
International
Israeli Hebrew
rachitis 'rickets'
-•
wyy V
Russian paxirr [rak]
rakhit; German rakWrakhit
Rachitis; Modern or *softJ
Latin rachitis; Greek TOV\
0ax«lS rakhitis rakikhet Cf. DDT ylrkk
Figure 36
In LL 108 (1979), AHL suggests the neologism rmcro kistd 'cyst'. This is
an MSN based on I O'D kis 'sac' («RabH 'sac' < BH 'pocket', a sememe
existing in Israeli as well) and Intl cyst - cf. R KHCTa kistd, F kyste and L
cystis (cf. Gk kustis 'bladder'), as well as I nocrx tsista, P cysta, G Zyste.
Why do I not think that this is a simple loanword, for instance from
Russian? (Note that the Israeli and the Russian lexical items are
homophonous.) Firstly, the spelling is with D (A), not with p (q); the latter
is to be expected if nno^D kistd were a loanword. Secondly, in the
definition of nnCD kistd, AHL 'admits': kis, shenotsdr bekhaldl haguf
umekhil nozel 'a sac that is created in the body cavity and includes liquid'.
However, the current common Israeli word which refers to 'cyst' is
(Intl>)I n&O'X tsista.
In his milon refui lerentgenaut (Medical X-Ray Dictionary: English-
Latin-Hebrew) Ben-Ami (sine dato, c. 1957) mentions I 'tttJ dti for Intl
aetiology - cf. I rpyfrrox etyologya, R araojionw etioldgiya and P
etiologia. Intl aetiology can be traced back to L cetiologia, from Gk
aitiologia 'giving a cause', from aitia 'cause, reason' and logia
'discourse'. Ben-Ami appears to base his choice of term on I*w VW2
beetyd shel9 'due to, owing to, on account of, from RabH *?W VIDS7D 'due to
something bad', from RabH ^37 ['TStI] 'advice (usually bad), evil counsel'
- cf. Aram. NDS7 [Setft] 'advice'.
Consider also InairsnJi garindmet 'granuloma' (see AffiS:268a),
which derives from (RabH»)Irjn* 'nucleus' with the suffix Irav
-omet, as well as from Intl granuloma - cf. I n&V?i3"tt granuldma. (py"tt
'grain' is involved in another PSM: I n w u 'granite' - see §5.3.5.)
4.3 Music
§3.1.1 discussed, inter alia, Innx abuv 'oboe', a specificizing PSM of

Intl oboe (cf. It. oboe), based on RabH a m [?ab'bQb] 'a kind of flute
played in the Temple'. Similar is I rrm gitit 'guitar', a specificizing PSM
of Intl guitar, discussed in §5.3.2. An additional PSM referring to a
MSN in Various Terminological A reas 129
musical instrument is I pp keren 'horn', the wind instrument resembling a

horn in shape, originally formed from the horn of some beast, but now
made of brass or other material, cf. n w r c y\p keren tsarfatit 'French horn
(F cor d'harmonieY and Irp^K pp keren anglit 'English horn' (F cor
anglais)\ I keren 'horn' is a PSM of Intl corno 'horn' - cf. It. corno, F
come, cor. The matching material is BH pp f'qeren] 'horn (of some
beast)' (cf. Genesis 22:13, Daniel 8:3, 6), 'shofar' (cf. Joshua 6:5), which
might be related to L cornu 'horn', the very etymon of Intl corno 'horn',
cf. I y\p keren 'corner (in football or handball)', a PSM of E corner, based
on BH pp f'qeren] 'corner', see §3.1.4.3. See also MedH i m p [qar'nit]
'cornea', a PSM of L cornea, based on BH ]ip fqeren] 'ray' (Habakkuk
3:4) or 'horn' (Genesis 22:13).
I^wn tunpdn 'kettledrum', which appears in LL 21 (1967), is a
creational PSM of It. timpano, which goes back to Gk tumpanon. The
neologizer had in mind (BH»)I nn tof 'drum' or Aram. NDJl [tuppa] (cf.
Ar. C-k [daff] 'drum'). The dagesh in the Aramaic form - as well as in the
Hebrew plural form (B)H D^DJI [tup'plm] 'drums' and in ^T) tupi 'drum-
like, drum-loaded' (cf. ^n mpK ekddkh tupi 'drum-loaded pistol' -
§5.4.3) - could be interpreted as the result of an assimilation of /n/ to [p]
{dagesh compensativum)? In other words, the ancient form might have
been [tunpa], cf. I IN af 'nose' - 'DK apt 'nasal' - fyiMK inpuf
'nasalization, talking through one's nose' , as well as the cognate Ar. ^
[?anf] 'nose' (cf. the DOPE Ar. «>J «Jd [?anf ol'Tanza], lit. 'the nose of
the goat' for Intl influenza - §1.2.2.1). Thus, 1MH tunpdn 'kettledrum' is
related to *)T) H [top] 'drum', I tof.
PSM of musical terms proves that Italian played a major role in their
adoption, since the matched lexical items are Italianisms, or
internationalisms which can be traced to Italian. Consider also the non-
instrumental terms I W*K glish 'glissando' and I TTD^D salfit 'falsetto'.
I glish derives from both H wh^ Vg// 8 'overflow, glide, slide down' fitted
7
cf. mutatis mutandis the Latin assimilated form -// of the negative prefix in- before initial /,
cf. E illegal, illegitimate and illiterate. Phonetically, the Hebrew dagesh in letters other
than 3 (6) [v->b], D (k) [x*^k] and D (p) [f->p] is not pronounced in Israeli, although in
Hebrew and Aramaic it was geminately pronounced. Many speakers and linguists are not
aware that phonetically similar consonantal gemination appears in English, e.g. consider
two minimal pairs: E till late [-11-] versus till eight [-1-], and E Royal Horse Society [-ss-]
versus *Royal Whore Society [-S-], and see phone-number [-nn-], house-sit [-ss-],
bookkeeper [-kk-], subbookkeeper [-bb-, -kk-], bus stop [-ss-] and even (in normal speech)
last stop [lars'stop]. On the other hand, I hu shalal la et harishayon *He confiscated her
licence' is pronounced ...shaldla...- cf. Donna E. Shalala, President of the University of
Miami.
8
A creational PSM from the same root is rwVuB maglesha 'slide (n)\ which is also
into the ODiO noun-pattern, and Itlntl glissando. I JTDÔ salfit 'falsetto'
consists morphologically of (BH»)l!fto Îslp 'garble, fake, distort'
(allowing for the fake voice) fitted into the OaOOit noun-pattern, which
includes the common suffix (H>)I JV- -it. It is a domestication of Itlntl
falsetto - cf. P falset, Rfyanhuprfal'tset, E falsetto and F fausset? The
phonetic link between rPD*?O salfit and falsetto is transparent despite the
palindromic metathesis [s][l][f]]~[f][l][s]. Thus, it is different from
reverse-creations such as E therblig and E mho (from Gilbreth and ohm
respectively), and the back-slangisms E yob and perhaps E spiv (from boy
and VIPs respectively); see nsm Trance' in Zuckermann (2000: 137-41)
and I T\1WU shamenet 'cream' in §4.4, and see §8.10. Note that the use of
I D*?0 Îslpfittedinto the OiOeO verb-pattern, referring to 'garble, fake,
distort', might have been favoured by Intl false, cf. Y t^KD falsh, R
4)aubinHBbiH fal'shivyt 'false', P fafszywy 'false', G falsch and E false.
However, sfto *4slpfittedinto OiDeO appears in the Old Testament with
the same meaning, e.g. Proverbs 19:3. Therefore, it is not PSM but at
most use-intensification owing to coincidental phonetic similarity - cf.
Zuckermann (2000: 313-17).
The suffix n1- -it is commonly used to adopt morphemically the Italian
suffix -etto. Consider the following Israeli morphemic adaptations (as
opposed to the above PSM) of International Italian musical terms: IV"Q*7
livrit 'libretto' < Itlntl libretto; WTfrp klarnit 'clarinet' < Itlntl clarinet
(cf. It. clarinetto, I Oim^p klarinet), cf. the compound SPM Jim ^D, I kli
rinot, for Intl clarinet, cf. BH TW *to [ka'13 Jir] 'musical instruments' (cf.
I Chronicles 15:16); ivmp kornit 'cornet' < Itlntl cornetto ( « L cornu
'horn'). (H>)I rr- -it is also used to adapt other European suffixes, for
example in the following non-musical morphemic adaptations, for
example rrpop kaskit 'cap' < F casquette 'cap' (<F casque 'helmet'), and
ITD^D pifit (also pronounced pipit) 'pipette' < Intl pipette (cf. F pipette,
I TMWpipeta, It. pipetta, R nmieTKa pipetka) (cf. Lesonenu 10.4, 1940:
377a). LL 47 (1979) introduces TWM duit 'duet', which could be
considered a 'Hebroid' (cf. §3.2.1) of Itlntl duetto (cf. I &KH duet) and the
suffix rr- -it following (Gk>)H n [du] 'bi-, di-' (as a prefix) as in 'DTCID vr
du partsufi, lit. 'two-faced, hypocritical' and DVp n du kiyum 'co-
existence'. The suffix JT- -it is used in many non-musical PSMs, e.g.
jr*?ro kotlit 'cotelette', which leads to gastronomic MSNs.
pronounced by Israeli children maglechd (or miglachd); Y i w ' w i x oysglichen *slide

(verb)' (or G glitschen 'slip') has apparently played a role in this case. Consider also
Ittfannhitgalesh 'slid (m, sg)', also pronounced hitgalech, cf. Avinery (1964: 179).
9
1 JVDÔ is mentioned in Toury (1990:196).
4.4 Food
Gastronomic PE have been widespread in Judaism since many of its

feasts traditionally involve eating specific kinds of food. For example, the
tradition of eating carrot (see (Med)H "in ['gezer] 'carrot') on the eve of
Rosh Hashanah (New Year's Day) has been explained by (Rab)H "in
[ga'z&r] 'sentence, verdict, decree', which appears in a prayer read during
Rosh Hashanah, cf. wn i n y"i V"ipn«7 '[May] you tear up our bad decree'.
However, the same tradition has been rationalized in Eastern Yiddish on
the basis of the similarity between Y ps?B miry 'carrots' (cf. mm mer
'carrot') and Y yvm merq 'multiply (transitive)' (cf. Y "H ]im meri} zikh
'increase, multiply (intransitive)') - alluding to irnviDT D T 'May Our
Merits Multiply' (cf. Weinreich 1973: i:6, 191), which appears in the
same prayer, cf. 'May it be Your will that we have as many good deeds as
there are seeds in a pomegranate'. The latter is traditionally given as the
reason for the eating pomegranates in Rosh Hashanah. The habit of
consuming Y iypjft lekokh, a kind of cake (cf. 'honey cake') (cf. G
Lebkuchen, a kind of cookie; and Western Y lekukhon in Kerler 1999: 84)
on Rosh Hashanah has been explained as resulting from (B)H np1?
fleqah] 'moral lesson, teaching' (cf. Proverbs 1:5), pronounced in
Ashkenazic Hebrew as lekokh. As Even-Shoshan (A/ZsS:825a) mentions,
Y "WpV1? lekokh has often been written in Israeli as np1?, identical to the
spelling and vocalization of (B)H npV ['leqah] 'moral lesson, teaching'.
The Passover custom of eating (Rab)H 0D"D [kar'pas] 'celery' has been
explained palindromically: "PD 0 could mean '60 myriad (60 ribbo, i.e.
600,000) people underwent hard labour'. The gematric value of H 0 (s) is
60 and (B)H yiD ['perek] means 'oppression' and indicates "PD miss/
'hard labour', which the Jews were forced to perform in Egypt. Whilst the
0D1D case is a mere DOPE, "in, py» and itfpy*? are GPEs as they
introduce a new tradition - cf. H "ifcna Vlp, Y "W0K11 •» *7Kp etc. in §8.2.
Israeli has seen the introduction of many gastronomic FENs, often by
purists. Bialik's neologism (see Lesonenu 5, 1933: 198a; cf. Avinery
1935: 52) ln*?m kotlit (MESJ79c) is a PSM of Intl cotelette, the TL
native material being MedH VnD ['kotel] 'side' with IT- -ft. I record it as a
creational PSM despite the existence of the unrelated n^ns kotlit
'Parietaria, pellitory' (cf. Auerbach and Ezrahi 1930: 22b, Item 383). In
the end JV^ro kotlit 'cotelette' did not gain much currency. Intl cotelette
has yielded another Israeli PSM: Ttn ÎD kotley khazir 'chops, hams,
pork cotelettes'(§5.4.4).
I nrta glidd 'ice-cream', almost always pronounced glida9 is a PSM of
It. gelato, although Katan (1991: 24) links it to F gelee 'frozen'. Consider
also P lody 'ice-cream (pi)' (in general), as well as P loda 'ice-cream',

accusative of lod 'ice-cream (in a cone), ice-lolly' (distinguishable from
lod 'ice', accusative of lod 'ice'), cf. R Jigfl led 'ice'. I rmto glidd was
coined in 1906 by Ben-Yehuda, in whose dictionary only the co-etymon
Vtt VgW is mentioned (A/2?y:ii:779a) and, uncharacteristically, his
definiens of m ^ lacks the usual foreign parallels (English, French,
German); his definition is mamtdk astiy misukdr uveitsim venikpd vekdr
kiglid 'a sweet made of sugar and eggs, frozen and cold as ice ("P*7>)\
RabH v^l and Aram. XT*tt meant 'ice, hoar-frost' (cf. Jastrow 1903:
248b), cf. BH 'Y» 'my skin' in Job 16:15. HLC urges native speakers to
use rrrtl - it appears in MMM (1938: 75) and Lesonenu 5 (1933: 199b).
Compare mÂ with another PSM which makes use of Vtt VgW 'clot' as
nativizing material: yingladin 'gelatin' (§5.1.2).
I mm shamenet 'cream' (already in existence in Affly:xv:7262b, as
well as in Lesonenu 5, 1933: 199a, and MMM 1938: 22) is a PSM of Y
OTOVDO smetono (cf. LithY shmetono) 'cream', R CMeTaHa smetdna
'cream', P smietana '(sour) cream', G Schmetten (cf. Grimm 1899: ix:
1046), DialG Schmant (Drosdowski 1989: 640a). Morphologically, m&W
shamenet is based on either (H>)I pttf shumdn 'fat' or (H>)I pw s hem en
'oil' fitted into the DaOeOet noun-pattern.
Irnnp kdrtiv 'ice-lolly, popsicle' is an antonomasia modelled on
I p^triN drtik 'id.', the latter being traceable to Intl arctic (I 'OpnK drkti) -
cf. It. Artico 'Arctic' (without [k] between the [r] and the [t]), F VArctique
'id.' and G Arktis 'id.' (however, note that the meaning 'popsicle' is not
familiar in those languages). Some Israelis differentiate between TU^p
kdrtiv and pnrw drtik by using yu^p to refer to 'ice-popsicle' (e.g. lemon)
and p'WN to 'milk-popsicle' (e.g. chocolate/vanilla). Although not
everyone restricts pWX to mean 'cream-popsicle', TWip does normally
seem to be restricted to mean 'ice-popsicle'.
113 71D pitey bar, lit. 'pieces of bread of the countryside' or 'wild
pieces of bread' (cf. I IDTOXtsimkhey bar 'wild flowers'), referring to
'sweet, rectangular biscuits with ridges' (as distinct from all-butter
biscuits), is an SPM of Flntl petit beurre. The spelling is with n (/) rather
than tt (/), the latter being expected if it were actually morpho-phonemic
adaptation (see also orthographic FEN, §5.4.2). The Israeli food
companies Osem and Frumin (and later also Superclass) have used this
spelling in the name of their popular biscuit product. However, the
pronunciation by Israelis has always been either peti ber or peti bar, the
latter being lessfrequentbut endorsed by the existence of a Jerusalem bar
called Peti Bar, the coiner obviously having thought of the biscuits - cf.
other punning bar names such as Wunderbar (e.g. in Orvieto, Italy),
Zanzibar (e.g. in Tel Aviv and Vienna) and Khai-Bar (Tel Aviv) (cf. la-'n
khay bar, zoo for wild desert animals, in Yotvata, southern Israel).
I vnb TiD pat mordekhdy, lit. 'Bread of Mordecai', is an SPM of Intl
marzipan - cf. I IDÎD martsipdn, F massepain, G Marzipan, R martsipdn
and P marcepan. This was introduced by HLC in MMAf (1938: 79), most
probably on the basis of the pre-existent W i a orf? I lekhem mordekhdy,
lit. 'Bread of Mordecai'. H nD {I pat) matched Intl -pan better than Drf? (I
lekhem). One of the etyomological traditions holds that Intl marzipan can
be traced back to L Marci panis 'St Mark's Bread', which originated
during a famine in Liibeck in 1407. The creation of pat mordekhdy might
have also been inspired by F pdte d'amandes, lit. 'almond paste',
meaning 'marzipan'. The SPM was later neglected by AHL, which in this
case preferred the loanword I p ^ i n martsipdn. However, many bilingual
dictionaries mention it in the definiens for marzipan, see for example
Levenston and Sivan (1982: 668b). The Hebrew first name Mordecai and
its accepted non-Hebrew equivalent Marcus share a long history in
Hebrew and Yiddish literature, see Szmeruk (1959) and Mageddet (1993).
Other PSMs including DSpat 'bread' are "IND J1D pat peer 'petit four' (see
§3.2.4), HDD pita 'pitta bread' (see §5.4.3) and NT\*> path, referring to a
diet bread and hybridizing F petit 'small' and ( B H » ) I DD pat 'morsel,
piece of bread, bread' followed by the diminutive suffix TP- -it.
Another example of reverse order in folk-etymologically nativized
morphemes - as in the case of I WiB nD pat mordekhdy 'marzipan' - is
Ip»yn bv tal haemek 'EmmentaV (a kind of cheese). This is an
etymological hybrid of (i) Intl Emmental/Emmenthal (<G Emmentaler
(formerly -thaler), from Emmental, the region in Switzerland), a Swiss
cheese containing holes, as well as of (ii) pBS?n *?D 'the dew of the valley',
from *?V tal 'dew' and pavn haemek 'the valley' (cf. G Tal 'valley'; I pas?
emek, lit. 'valley', a kind of cheese).
Another caseous FEN is tt?&nD fromez, a kind of goat's cheese,
multisourcing Ffromage [fRo'ma3] 'cheese' and Efrom + ( B H » ) I W ez
'goat'. Thus, it can be considered a tri-sourced neologism, but native
Israeli-speakers are often unaware of this (advertising) manipulation.10
10
A similar tri-sourcedness is apparent in Y nwpw: nishkosho (cf. Weinreich 1977: 527a,
303a) and its homophonous later orthographic variant wnpvn (cf. Harkavy 1988: 328a),
both meaning 'bearable, so-so, tolerable'. Y nishkosho derives from both (i) G nicht 'not'
+ (B)H nwp [qa'Je] 'hard', and (ii) P niezgorszy [njez'gorji] (adj.), lit. 'not worse',
meaning 'not too bad, not bad' - this was used in the nineteenth century but is currently
out of use, overriden by P nie najgorszy 'not the worst' (adj.), from nie 'not' + najgorszy
'the worst* (<naj superlative + gorszy 'worse', adj.). Note that in Polish the superlative
derives from the comparative, not from the basic form (in the case of 'bad' there is an
Amnon Shapira (pc) of AHL proposed allying Flntl baguette with

I mn bagit (mentioned also by Yanay 1990: 258), a creational PSM based
on BH Ja JiD [pat'b&g] 'delicatessen, delicacies, dainty food, portion (of
food) for a king' (cf. Daniel 1:13), an ancient partial SPM: although it has
often been written ]Q DD (cf. J1D 'piece, bread'), its ultimate origin is OPer.
patibaga 'delicatessen', cf. Syriac KJQUD,rcaDD(cf. Klein 1987: 536a), Skt
prati-bhdga (BDB:$34a). Similarly, Shapira suggested I pDl» mufin for
AmE muffin (accepted on 22 May 2000 in Session 254 of AHL). I pain
mufin is modelled upon BH VDin [tu'plh] 'pastry, baked piece', a hapax
legomenon appearing in Leviticus 6:14, traceable to (B)H "D ' K A?pj (cf. H
A 'bake, cook'. Some Israelis use pom I tufin to refer to 'biscuit'.
Israeli (Biblical) Hebrew

'88 V/fe/
(American)
English mufin 'bake, cook'
'muffin' cf. Biblical Hebrew
V01J1 [tu'pin] 'pastry,
muffin (Officially introduced by baked piece', a hapax
AHL on 22 May 2000, in
legomenon appearing in
Session 254)
Leviticus 6:14
Figure 37
irregular suppletion anyway: zfy 'bad', gorszy 'worse', najgorszy 'the worst', cf. E bad -
worse - worst). A regular derivation is biafy 'white', bielszy 'whiter', najbielszy 'the
whitest'. Consider also ConP nie najgorzej 'not too bad', lit. 'not the worst' (adv.), from
nie 'not' + najgorzej 'the worst' (adv.) (<naj superlative + gorzej 'worse', adv.).
Similarly, Y to^w shlimdzl 'unlucky person', 'ne'er-do-well' (Weinreich 1977: 386a),
'clumsy person' (Harkavy 1988: 506a), is a portmanteau expression based on G schlimm
'bad' + (Rab)H to [maz'zal] 'luck'. A DOPE claims that -o*w shlim is actually Aram,
'complete, ended' (cf. Avinery 1946: 133). Altbauer (1945: 86:fh2) argues that Y
shlimdzl derives from G Schlimm and H to, but the editor of LeSonenu 14 (i.e.
Torczyner) takes the liberty of adding the note: en shlimdzl ela mivtd merushdl shel shelo
mazdl ''Shlimdzl is nothing but a careless pronunciation (sic!) of to iftw (Hebrew for 'that
no luck')'. Torczyner (usually a remarkable scholar) produced in this case a contrived
Hierosolyma caput mundi etymology, which is not convincing. But Y to^W shlimdzl
might well have another co-etymon: Y ^raVw shlemiol 'awkward, clumsy person,
blunderer', 'incapable person, fool, stupid fellow, unlucky fellow', from BH SiraVw
[jdlumiêl], the name of the president of the Simon Tribe (e.g. Numbers 1:6) said by the
Talmud to have met with an unhappy end (for discussion, see Sivan 1985b: 160), perhaps
influenced by the name of the eponymous hero of A. von Chamisso's Peter Schlemihls
wundersame Geschichte (1814) (for discussion, see Saddan 1950), and thus a PSM by
itself. On the relation between shlemiel and shlimdzl see the jocular explanation that a
shlemiel is the one who spills the milk on the shlimazj (compare this with the difference
between a yobbo and a lout: A lout is a yobbo who has had too many drinks). Other tri-
sourced neologisms include I "IDID parpdr 'butterfly' (§2.3) and several slangisms
discussed in §1.2.2.5.
AHL does not indicate that the muffin to which its neologism refers is the
sweet American variety rather than the plain English bun. However, an
advertisement for the new word - from the affiliated Mazia Institute in
Jerusalem - uses a picture of an American chocolate muffin. Furthermore,
AHL's coinage is likely to have been motivated by its anticipation of
increasingly American eating habits in Israel. However, both VD1B mufin
'muffin' and man bagit 'baguette' have so far been unsuccessful, the
common Israeli signifier for baguette being mva baget.
RabH DOT [grl'sTm] referred in the Mishnah: 'Orlah 2:7 to 'grits,
groats, wheat grains' and was used with this meaning by Bialik in shirati
(My Song), Verse 3, line 10 (1901, cf. 1935: i:91 or 1959: 30b). Although
the term is not rooted firmly in the Israeli lexis, some Israelis use this
word in the plural form (currently pronounced grislm) to denote
'breadsticks, grissini', nativizing It. grissini (<Piemontese grissin, a
variant of ghersin 'bread thread', a diminutive of ghersa 'a set (of
objects)', cf. Devoto and Oli 1995: 891a, Zingarelli 1986). Israelis do not
usually eat grissini, which is one of the reasons for the limited currency of
this SPM.
Other Israeli FENs referring to food are on^n bulbus 'potato'
(§3.1.4.1), rfw gladin 'gelatin' (§5.1.2), a r w shirov 'syrup' (§5.3.2),
DTn tiras 'maize, corn' (§6.2.1) and nm ribd 'jam' (§6.3). See also names
of food products in Zuckermann (2000: 310-13).
4.5 Computers
Computer technology is a fertile source of MSN all over the globe.

Consider the following examplesfromIsraeli:
(a) I riTO sibit 'binary digit' (LL 178,1990) <

1. E bit (either an acronym for binary digit or a semantic extension of bit 'piece'
which is reanalysed as an acronym).
2. Acronym for nnra moo sifrd bindrit 'binary digit' (I mso sifrd 'digit' is itself a
PSM-see §3.1.2).
Note that iryo had been used long before it was introduced in LL9 which is the voice of
AHL, cf. the Israeli Journal Anashim uMakhshevim 14: 55 ('People and Computers',
The Personal Computers Magazine) (July 1984), where it is even mentioned in its
Israeli plural form nv:ro sibiot 'bits', e.g. *nwo 36 [...] nviro 32'.
(b) ITObdit 'byte' (e.g. 'an 8-bit byte') <

1. Ebyte.
2. (BH»)I W2 bdit 'house', cf. RabH rpa ['bajit] 'one of the four sections of the
forehead tefillin (Jewish phylacteries)'.
(c) I ir& nofo sfat si 'C (language)' < SPM <

1. E C (language).
2. (BH *cttf *height'»)I irto si 'top, climax*. Note that C (computer language) was
considered 'strong' and advanced. See Anashim uMakhshevim 14: 53 (July 1984),
where it is regularly spelled as '0 si ' C but described as irfr nsi? sfat si 'top
language', namely wfr nsfr ton 'on nsto (s/a* Aas/ /115/0/ si).
The semantic link between 'top, climax' and C language in the last
example is definitely not transparent, and in the case of N2 'byte', the
semantic link is also loose. I therefore record the last two examples as
SPMs. Still, they are far from being simple loanwords. Consider the
puristic suggested spelling of JT3 'byte' (with T\ t rather than with 0 ^ the
latter being expected if it were a loanword), and the suggested plural form
crm batim, identical to DTD batim 'houses'. This plural form appears in
Anashim uMakhshevim 18: 31c (1985): DTia 460 [...] DTO 55 '55 bytes
[...] 460 bytes'. The plural nomen rectum form (in a construct state)
appears in ibid, (:30b): DK"i Via .p 64 '64 RAM kilobytes'. I m o batim
'bytes' is in contrast to IDW3 bdytim, which is the morphemic adaptation
of E bytes. In fact, bdytim is the common pronunciation, which aptly
demonstrates the failure of this PM.11
Note, however, that none of the three MSNs has actually entered the
spoken language. Israeli has the possibility of simple phonetic adaptation
of the SL lexical item, so puristic authorities, such as AHL, are unable to
influence the native speaker with their (FEN) neologisms in the English
dominated field of computers. (American) English is the language of
computer software and hardware, as well as the Internet and email.
Therefore, Israelis are exposed to English computer terminology to an
extent which makes them neither susceptible nor amenable to
'indigenous' computer neologisms.
The situation is different, however, in Chinese, where computer FENs
often gain currency due to the particular nature of FEN in phono-
logographic Chinese (§1.4.3.3). Examples include MSC Hfcfit ydhu
'elegant tiger', a domestication of E/Intl Yahoo (an Internet service
provider, which started off as a search engine; cf. §2.1.3). Another
computer SPM involving a zoological connotation is MSC # S I bentdng,
lit. 'gallop, surge forward', which came to refer to the similar sounding
(AmE)Intl Pentium (see Figure 38; note that # ben 'run quickly'
11
Consider also the rare Colloql *?im Jihf? legalgel bagugel, lit. 'to roll/scroll in the
Google', meaning 'to (search) google' - cf. verbal MSN involving reduplication (§6.2.3)
and Sp. Emilio 'email1 (§2.3).
participated in another MSN: (Mercedes) Bern was domesticated as MSC

1 benchi 'run quickly+gallop' - see §1.4.3.2.2):
MSC tenting
'gallop,
Pentium surge forward'
- ffi ben *run quickly* +
H ting 'jump, gallop;
rise, soar*
Figure 38
E hacker was recently nativized in MSC as H3lf heike9 from the pre-
existent word M § MSC heiki 'robber, violent burglar', used to refer to
LI Kuf, hero of zKSfcft ShulHH Zhuan 'Water Margin', a famous Chinese
novel written in the sixteenth/seventeenth century by Gu&nzh5ng LU6.
Also known as 'All Men are Brothers' and 'Outlaws of the Marsh', it tells
the story of a 108-strong band of 'Robin Hoods', said to have existed
between 1119 and 1121. Thus, H § heike 'hacker' can be recorded as
PSM by semantic shifting. H l f MSC heikd derives from H hei 'black'
(the burglars dress in black and work in the dark) and § ke 'visitor':
jig S hei 'black'
MSC hiike ^- § ke 'visitor'

cf. H£r, a robber in zK
'computer hacker'
Figure 39
Some native speakers mentioned ® § hdikd, lit. 'surprising visitor':
Adi'surprising,
astonishing,
shocking'
+
A£'visitor'
Figure 40
Others use %% haifa, lit. 'harming visitor'. This word is not mentioned
en bloc in CED and is uncommon in mainland China.
E/Intl Internet was domesticated in MSC as 5 ? # N yingtewting, lit.

'hero+special+net\ likely to have been triggered by 5?#^K yingtefr, the
name for the company InteL However, the common signifier in Taiwan
Mandarin is different: 7) £f£ N WangWeiW&ng, 'myriad+dimension+
net', thus 'net of myriad dimensions'. Semantically, the Taiwanese term
would seem to render more faithfully the Western concept of the Internet
as incarnating infinite possibility, open-endedness and freedom.
Phonetically too, it appears to be a striking adaptation of WWW- similar
to partial PMs such as Morris or Morton for Y HWD mdysho or *?BXB mot\
(cf. §1.2.3.2). Since during the 1990s, Taiwan's Internet was more
developed than that of mainland China, some mainland Chinese began to
use this term too. Another Taiwan Mandarin term for Internet is NIS&
bdnglo (which would yield MSC wdnglu) 'net+road'. Other MSC terms
referring to the Internet include S S ^ N hulidnwting 'inter-connection
net', ^£ftN duowdiwting 'a lot+dimension+net', and N£& wfinglud 'net
+ something resembling a net', thus constituting a tautological lexical
item, or a 'maim akhroynom vdsor\12
4.6 Toponyms
Onomastics is traditionally separated from the field of 'lexicographic

lexemes', i.e. those lexical items appearing in the common dictionaries. In
fact, toponyms are not normally listed in dictionaries. I would like to
challenge this convention. In Israeli, PSM and PM occur in the case of
toponyms and anthroponyms as they do in 'traditional lexical items'.
12
The latter is a Yiddish expression (nyosn tfjnrm O'B) which literally means last water
water' (cf. H D"»a ['majim] 'water', G Wasser 'id.') and which refers to 'water for washing
the hands after meal, grace water'. It is occasionally used in Israeli as the epitome of
tautological expression, thus referring to any phrase which includes linguistic redundancy.
Other Yiddish tautological compounds include VPHCOian khamereyzf 'womanizer', lit.
'donkey-donkey' (cf. H TOn [ha'mOr] 'donkey', G Esel 'id.'), "\mn nyoxrS fintstor
khoyshokh, lit. 'dark darkness' (cf. Gfinster 'dark', H "|«nn ['hOjek] 'darkness'). Consider
also Yiddish tautological first names such as Dov-Ber 'bear-bear' (H 37 [dofe] + Y "iya ber,
cf. G B&r), Tsvi-Hirsh 'deer-deer' (H ^X [so'bq + Y urrn hirsh, cf. G Hirsch), Ze'ev-Volf
'wolf-wolf (H 3NT [za'?eb] 'wolf + Y «f?Kil vo//, cf. G Wolf) and Arye-Leyb 'lion-lion' (H
m a [?ar'je] 'lion' + Y yh leyb, cf. G Ldwe). Compare this structure with Amlt.
canabuldogga 'bulldog' (Livingston 1918: 215, also mentioned by Menarini 1947: 163
and Weinreich 1963: 52), including both cana (reproduction of It. cane 'dog') and dogga
(phonetic adaptation of E dog). That said, E bulldog is perceived by native speakers en
bloc, like poodle rather than poodle-dog. This might weaken the tautological argument
with respect to the American Italian coinage. In other words, whilst in English saying
bulldog-dog is blocked by euphony, in Italian this is not a problem.
Hence, it is important to analyse them as well. In 1950, two years after the
establishment of Israel, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion urgently
founded a governmental Geographical Names Committee (abbreviated
here as GNC) for the Hebraization (Shnaton HeMemshala 1951: 279
prefers 'Judaization') of Arabic toponyms in the Negev (the southern part
of Israel).13 As a rough estimate, the GNC worked for 6 months, had 60
sessions and suggested over 500 Israeli names. The Head of GNC was Dr
Avraham Yaakov Brawer and among its members were Professor Shmuel
Yeivin, Professor David Amiran and Zalman Lif (Lifschitz). Analysing
Shnaton HaMemshala h.tf.j.?. (The Government Year-Book of 1950-1)
(1951: 259-311, and especially 279-88), it is possible to infer that the
GNC used three main methods for suggesting Israeli toponyms:
1. PM of the Arabic toponym.
2. Literal translation of the Arabic toponym.
3. Linking the discussed place to a site mentioned in Hebrew historical
sources, especially the Old Testament, and thus suggesting the
ancient toponym.
Of the 537 neologisms suggested by the GNC, 175 were PMs, 167 were
literal translations and 124 were ancient Hebrew toponyms linked to the
present sites. The remaining 71 suggestions included other kinds of
neologization such as 'euphemistic' translation, for example the
semantically positive 3rr yv enydhav, lit. 'The Spring of Hope', replaced
the semantically negative Ar. #IJJU 0 ^ [?ajn alwa'ba?], lit. 'The Spring of
Plague'; Ar. *Wj [wa'ba?] meaning 'plague, pest, epidemic'. Similarly, Ar.
j# ^ ^ [bi.T 'hindis] 'The Well of Darkness9 was translated as (H>)I -|*D
mix beer ord 'The Well of Lighf. However, the initial name for this
place, coined by the soldiers of the Israeli Army Engineering Corps who
stayed there while building the road to Eilat in 1949-50, was nO73H 1N3
beer handasd, lit. 'The Well of (the) Engineering (Corps)', a PM of Ar.
# . Examples of PMsfromthe suggested 175:
• Ar. îj>lt d * ['dâbal (al)xa'ru:f], lit. '(The) Mountain (of the) Ram/ Sheep' >
*pn in har kharif, lit. 'Hot/Sharp/Fast Flowing - Mountain' (p. 282b).14
• Ar. *$>-i*Jl [?al?unsVrijja], currently 'racism' (cf. ['ftinsur] 'component,
element, race') > 12U in har nitser (p. 284a).
13
The committee was called in Israeli haveadd hageogrdfit likviat shemdt banegev - mitdam
misrdd rosh hamemshala.
14
cf. MedH «pn Vra 'fast flowing river', which might have been taken into account by the
GNC. GNC also matched Ar. ^ j > &h ['wadi x^nirf]. lit. 'River of Ram/Sheep', with
«pn ^ra n&khal kharif, lit. 'Hot/Sharp/Fast Flowing River'.
• AT. *h**to cW ['dâbal almah(a)'wijja] (cf. »j*' ['?ahwa:] 'side of a valley, dark
green colour', ifj* V/fwy 'gather; dark green') > rrno "in har mikhya (p. 284a).
PM of Arabic toponyms is highly common in all areas of Israel, not only

in the Negev; consider the following:
• 310 "in har tov, lit. *a good mountain' (compare this with Chinese toponyms
possessing a positive literal meaning, cf. §1.4.3.3), the name of a settlement
located on a mountain in Judea and having good air, is a PM of Ar. <-»J}»JB.
[Yar'tuif], the name of the nearby Arabic village. Vilnay (1940: 323) asserts
that the Arabic name is meaningless; perhaps it is a nativization to L Aretusa.
Note the existence of the mistaken forms *-*£j* [Wtu:f| (KMV:\36) and
^ > J [?ar'tu:f] (Avinery 1946: 139).
• TYI "py en veredy lit. 'The Spring of the Rose', the name of a settlement in the
Sharon area (central Israel), is a recalibration of Ar. <^jjll OJSP [9a'j:un
alwar'da:t], lit. 'springs (for) the women going down (to draw water)' (cf.
Vilnay 1940: 325).
• p rP3 bet gan, lit. 'The House of the Garden', the name of a settlement near the
Sea of Galilee (cf. BH ]X1 iva, the name of a place in Samaria, see II Kings
9:27), is a partial PM of VAr. i > &# [be:t djan], lit. 'The House of the Ghosts'
{KMV\5%KVilnay 1940: 329) (cf. Ar. <> [d3inn] 'demons, jinn', but see also
Ar. !>- [*d3anna] 'garden').
• BDW nai ramat shafat, a neighbourhood in Jerusalem < Ar. dAi&y« [fu?a'fa:t]
(cf. «-**^ V/fflove, affection', *-i*—- Lfu'?a:f] 'madness (love sickness)').
For further recalibrations, see Maisler (1932), Tazkir HaVdad HaLeumi

(1932) and Vilnay (1940). Importantly, these creations were mostly
puristic - introduced by language planners. Sociologically, albeit not
structurally, they should be distinguished from lay toponymic PMs, which
are obviously a worldwide phenomenon. Thus, ismn HSD* givdt hanoar
'Hill of the Youth' was the name children in Givataim (Israel) gave to
nsn* givdt dnwar 'Hill of Anwar' (from the name of an Arab, cf. Ar.
[f?anwar], lit. 'giving more light').15 Compare this with Tamil
n°i ah [ambat'tan] (/ampat'tan/), lit. 'barber' (also a Hindu caste
traditionally of hairdressers), the name of a bridge in Mylapore, an old
cultural citadel of Madras (currently Chennai), which was a PM (perhaps
via Ambuton - cf. Yule and Burnell 1886, cf. 1903: 67a) of Hamilton, the
name of the engineer who built it. Note that this Tamil name was later re-
adopted in English as Barber's Bridge.16 Similarly, under the British
15
HaimBeer(pc).
16
cf. Jerusalem's neighbourhood rwD"rcn nyaan hagivd hatsarfatit 'the French Hill', an
adaptation of E French Hill, actually meaning the Hill of the British officer surnamed
French, who lived there during the British Mandate. Compare this 'misadaptation' to
I Voon "linn hakheder hasagoU lit. 'the violet room', used by some Israelis to refer to the
Oval Office in the White House since oval was translated with the high-registered 'H'WO
sgalgdl, which is usually understood by Israelis to mean 'somewhat violet, mauve', rather
than 'oval', its primary but unfamiliar sense.
Mandate, George V Avenue in Jerusalem was called (H>)

avinu malkenu, lit. 'Our Father Our King' (i.e. 'Our Lord'). 17
A non-Arabic toponym which was nativized folk-etymologically is
1K71H n r a givdt haraddr, lit. 'Radar Hill'; the name of a place near
Jerusalem where the British/Jordanian aviation radar was located from the
Second World War until 1967. It was matched phonetically with a 'more
Hebrew' name, IIK-in har addr> lit. 'Mount Addar' (Addar is the name of
a month in the Jewish calendar; cf. Akka. addaru).
To name just few examples out of hundreds in my lists: L unguentum
Neapolitanum, lit. 'Neapolitan ointment' was nativized as G
umgewendter Napoleon, lit. 'turned around Naploeon' (cf. Anttila 1989:
93); F Chateau-Thierry was referred to by American soldiers in 1918 as E
Shadow Theory (ibid.); Geras 'old people' (cf. Gk giras 'old age'), the
name of a Roman town in Jordan (Jarash) entered Arabic as Ar. d»j*-
['cfearaj] 'crop, grinding'; and Nahuatl (Aztec) cuauhnahuacy lit. 'near the
trees, beside the forest' (a place currently in Mexico) > Sp. Cuernavaca
(cuerna 'horn, glass made of horn' + vaca 'cow').
Consider also the (non-FEN) MSN am ^V aley zahdv, lit. 'golden
leaves', the name of a collective farm in southern Israel, coined in the
1980s and deriving from both the following sources: (i) H 3HT ^ 'golden
leaves' (which are common during autumn) - arising from the name of
the establishing group, T710 yy\x garin stav, lit. 'autumn nucleus (core-
group)'; (ii) acronym for T»X3 nrbjJ Alizah Begin, wife of Menachem
Begin, then Israel's Prime Minister, because the settlers were supported
by Begin's Kherut (-Beitar) Party. The settlers wished to commemorate
Alizah Begin but knew that there was no chance of accomplishing this
formally since it was too close to Mrs Begin's death and Mrs Begin was
not, at least officially, an influential figure herself.
Toponymic FEN was widespread also among diasporic Jews prior
to the twentieth century - see Zuckermann (2000: 137-41). Such
concoctions were very common among maskilim (see §3.2.4-§3.2.5).
Consider MasH n*?X m n harerey elef {or harerey olef)1* for Intl (The)
Alps - cf. R Ajibnbi Al'py, P Alpy. BH ^N m n [hard're '?&lep] (Psalms
50:10) means 'a thousand hills' (KJ, NRSV) (cf. ID^KH hadlpim). In
Israeli this expression could be understood as 'mountains of a thousand
(metres)'. Note that only a part of MasH harerey elef is a FEN, cf. I kotley
khazir 'cotelette' (§5.4.4).
17
Geoffrey Lewis (pc).
18
Mentioned by Saddan (1955:40).
Similarly, MasH D^DW 'N i shfdnim, lit. 'island of coneys' (D^DW could
colloquially also mean 'rabbits'), referring to the Iberian peninsula, was
used by Gordon (as D'JDWn ^K ^n 'peninsula of coneys') in his poem
bimtsulot yam (In the Depths of Sea), cf. Gordon (1956: 107a). It is a PM
of L Ispania, or Hispania, cf. Gk Etravia Spania, R Hcnamw Ispdniya, P
Hiszpania, OE Ispania. The origin of L Hispania, the name of the Roman
Province, is the Phoenician name for the western areas of the
Mediterranean Sea, described by the Phoenicians as 'the coast of coneys'
(see Rosen 1994: 90). If this theory is true, then O^DW nt might be a
Semitic ur-source incestuous FEN.
The following are 'politically correct' maskilic topynmic SPMs:
MasH K3D X*7i71D poydlo tovo, lit. 'good workingman/labourer' (an
Aramaic expression appearing in the Talmud, as [pO?a'la \kbk], cf.
Jastrow 1903: 281b, 1145a), was the name many maskilim used for
Poltava, a city in the Ukraine, south-west of Kharkov, east of Kiev - cf. Y
imxtfrKS poltdvo, R IIojrraBa Poltava and P Poltawa (see Avinery 1946:
135 and Klausner 1949: 97). MasH HT â HDpo novi ze, lit. 'here (this) is
my (beautiful) dwelling', was an SPM of Y W?invaN3 ponivezh (cf. LithY
ponivez) (used by Gordon 1883: 151, cf. Klausner 1949: 97). MasH ite
mo sar to(y)v, lit. 'good ruler', was an SPM of R CapaTOB Saratov (the
name of a city in Russia), cf. Weinreich (1955: 610fh). Positive maskilic
FENs are common in the case of anthroponyms (see below and also
§5.4.2).
In fact, H ma 'dwelling', which participates in MasH HT "»ia HD po novi
ze, is often used as nomen rectum in construct state Israeli toponyms, e.g.
3"1DN-rm neve ativ on Mount Hermon in northern Israel. In Biblical
Hebrew there are two different ma [na'we], deriving from two distinct
roots, both spelled as ma Înwh (cf. na Vwny). BH *4xnwh means 'pasture
site in the desert' (see II Samuel 7:8), 'dwelling, habitation' (see II
Samuel 15:25) - cf. Ar. tsy ['nawa:] 'emigrated, wandered (m, sg)' and
BH -mw (e.g. Joel 2:22, Amos 1:2). BH V2nwA means 'beautiful, comely'
(see Jeremiah 6:2) and is a variant of BH rnw - cf. Ar. •> fnawwaha]
'extolled, praised, raised, elevated (m, sg)' (Wehr 1961: 1013) 'excelled
(m, sg)', RabH nw 'beautiful', RabH 'U 'beauty', BH 7\W Aj?h (cf.
V/#) 'be beautiful' (Jeremiah 10:7) and Aram, np 'beautiful'. BH ^
was the nomen rectum of several biblical construct state toponyms, e.g.
1JVK nu [no1 we ?e'tSn] (Jeremiah 49:19, 50:44) and O'jn ma [no1 we
tan'nlm] (Isaiah 34:13, 35:7). Hence the modern use of -ma could be
regarded as deriving directly from these biblical construct states alone -
cf. I pNW ma neve shaandn {inter alia, the name of a neighbourhood of Tel
Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem), from BH \1W ma [n&'we Ja?8'nan] (Isaiah
3 3 : 2 0 ) . H o w e v e r , I suspect that the reality is m u c h more c o m p l e x , with

three elements w h i c h might have influenced the creation o f s o m e
toponyms including I -ma neve-:
(i) Ar. if* ['nabi:] 'prophet'; examples include:
• I ViPTT-ma nevi danyil, lit. 'Daniel's dwelling', the name of a communal

settlement in Mount Judaea, matches phonetically Ar. J ^ ^ [?an*nabi: dan'jal]
'the Prophet Daniel'. It was named after the Israeli convoy called [?an'nabi:
dan'jal], which returned from this area on 27 March 1948 and was attacked by
Arabs near Bethlehem (KMV347).
• I TW-#ra neve yamin, lit. 'the right side dwelling' or 'the dwelling of Yamin' (a
biblical name, e.g. the son of Simon, Jacob's son), a moshav (smallholders'
cooperative settlement) near Kfar Sava in central Israel. This is a PM of Ar. 0*s
v$ [?an'nabi: ja'mi.n] 'the Prophet Yamin', and was thus named in accordance
with the Arabic tradition that it is the place where Benjamin, Jacob's son, is
buried. Benjamin is called in Arabic i r a [binjaW.n] and on occasion t>s
[ja'mirn] - cf. (the now rare) Ar. t>* ['jamanaj/ftaminayt'jamuna] 'was lucky,
fortunate (m)', Ar. t>y ['jumn] 'luck', Ar. Qj*j* [maj'mir.n] 'lucky' and Ar. C&i
[ja'mi:n] 'right hand'; see also Entsiklopedya Mikrait (iii:701).
(ii) Intl new, cf. R HOBbitt novyt, e.g. HoBMtt A(J>OH novyt afon 'New
Athens' in Abkhaz; HoBbift Ap6aT novyiarbdt, a street in Moscow,
established in the 1960s; HoBwe HepgMyiiiKH novye cheremushki, a
neighbourhood in Moscow which is much newer and more beautiful
than the preceding Cheremushki. Compare these with Slovenian
Nova Gorica, a city in Slovenia, near Gorizia, Italy, as well as with
G neu(e), E new-, e.g. New Hampshire and New York.
(iii) BH V2«wA 'beautiful, comely'.
The last two inducing elements are apparent in the tendency to use I -rm
neve- in the names of new and supposedly attractive neighbourhoods of
existing cities. I neve- is associated with a place which is green, non-
urban, different from its environment. For example, Neve Savyonim near
Savyon in central Israel, Neve Avivim and Neve Dan in Tel Aviv, Neve
Granot (1963) and Neve Yaakov (1924) in Jerusalem, and Neve Khaim
(1950)inHadera.
4.7 Anthroponyms
One of the first things which Eliezer Ben-Yehuda did upon his arrival in
Eretz Yisrael in 1881 was to Hebraize his original surname, Perelman, to
Ben-Yehuda, lit. 'Yehuda's son', following his father's first name,

Yehuda, and also alluding to his Zionism ('The son of Judaea').19 In
1931, when Itzhak Ben-Zvi (born Shimshelevich) became the head of the
National Committee (HaVa'ad HaLeumi), he urged the Jewish settlers to
Hebraize their surnames. The year h.t.f.d. (1943-4) was declared by the
National Committee and the Zionist Management (HaHanhala HaTsionit)
to be the 'Year of Naturalization and Hebrew Names' and a special
booklet by Mordecai Nimtza-bi explained why the Jews should eradicate
their foreign names, providing methods for this and a Hebrew inventory.
In 1948, Israel's (first) Prime Minister and Minister of Defence David
Ben-Gurion (born Gruen) proclaimed that it was an ethical duty for all
army commanders to Hebraize their surnames, and a special Committee
of Hebrew Names (Veaddt Shemot Ivriim), chaired by Nimtza-bi,
suggested possible Hebrew names for the soldiers (cf. Arikha 1954).
Either due to these pressures or to a personal willingness to hide their
family background, many Jewish immigrants in Israel did Hebraize their
original names.20 Hebraization is so common that Israelis with a Hebrew
surname are often asked what their original name was. The story goes that
a Sephardi called Abarjil surprisingly changed his name to the
Ashkenazic Berkowitz and half a year later to the Hebrew Barak. When
asked by his friends why he did so, he said: 'Here in Israel people always
ask you "What was your surname before that?'" (note that some Israelis
perceive that there is a strong predisposition towards Ashkenazim). Most
often (in several cases owing to the ignorance of the Absorption Ministry
clerk, cf. Sean Ferguson in §1.2.3.2), the method of Hebraization was
PM. Here are some examples from the hundreds in my lists:
• lVw -Q bar ildn, lit. 'son of tree' < Berlin - cf. Meir Bar-Ilan (1880-1949), leader of
religious Zionism, after whom Bar-Ilan University was named.
• "im boger, lit. 'mature' < Bograshov - cf. Hayyim Boger (1876-1963), educator and
yishuv leader in Eretz Yisrael.
• a1? 12 bar lev, lit. 'son o f heart* < Brotzlewsky - cf. Haim Bar-lev (1924-94), the
eighth Chief of Staff of the IDF.
19
Eliezer first used this name in 1879 in his first public article, in the Hebrew newspaper
hashdkhar, edited by Peretz Smolenskin (cf. Mandel 1984: 3).
20
Some people whose names were Hebraized experienced a personal identity crisis. In fact,
while conducting research for this section I have found that such sociolinguistic
anthroponymic study can cause much sensitivity, related to the issue of what losing one's
original name means. Consider the film Sonnenschein (1999, E Sunshine), where the most
moving episode, at least for m e , was the readaptation o f the original surname
Sonnenschein in place of its deJudaized Hungarian form Sors [forfl, cf. Hun. sors [JorJ]
'lot, portion, destiny, fortune'. I have omitted one very interesting example of a Hebraized
surname because its bearer felt too uncomfortable.
• mna grandt, lit 'threshing floors, barns' < Granovsky - cf. Abraham Granott (1890-
1962), economist, head of the Jewish National Fund.
• VDWX eshkdl, lit. 'bunch (e.g. of grapes)' (also 'scholar'21) < Shkolnik - cf. Levi
Eshkol (1895-1969), labour leader, Israel's third Prime Minister.
• }W2 bashdn 'Bashan' (toponym - cf. § 1.3) < Bashari - cf. Yigal Bashan, singer.
• V^-in bargil, lit. 'son of joy' or a n rigev 'clod, divot (of earth)' < Abarjil.
After examining hundreds of Israeli surnames I have come to the

conclusion that the domesticated element in many of the Hebraizations
was not the original foreign surname itself but rather its Hebrew spelling
(unless the original name is Yiddish, which already uses Hebrew
orthography). I have even heard of pw "HD pri shamen, lit. 'fat fruit', for
Frischmann or Frishman9 which are spelled in Israeli as l W1D (with the
same Hebrew characters). Accordingly, Arikha (1954) allows himself to
suggest Hebraization methods such as:
1. Changing the vocalization
• ynnx Gdrin > "piJ gur-yan (the name of a Tannai, as well as of an Amora)
• m Ganz > m ginez 'treasure, coffer'
• *?on^ Levental > to1? loven-tal 'whiteness of dew' (Arikha 1954: 11-12)
2. Substituting one letter
• p i n Ddrman > rnn dordn 'present, gift'
• V&> L&pin > V&> lapid 'torch'
• TT) Rabi*a > 2*21 raviv '(light) rain, droplet, drizzle' (ibid.: 12-13)
3. Deleting the last part
• moy1?™ Abul 'dfya > âx abul 'arcade, gateway*
• r»3TB Gurdvits > THI gur 'cub, whelp, young animal'
• p*uw Shugerman (an Anglicization of Y iKOtypiX tsukerman or G Zuckermann) >
"ttW shoger 'consignor, consigner' (ibid.: 13-15)
In addition to Arikha's methods, there was afrequentusage of metathesis,
or more precisely anagram. Consider Tttfttt talshir 'dew of poem/song'
for Tischler, written in Israeli as "lVwo; ]ll^? lamddn 'learner, scholar' for
Mandel, written in Israeli as *773D; and IÔD kislev 'Kislev (the third month
of the Jewish civil year, corresponding to parts of November and
December) for Wechsler/Wexler, written in Israeli as -frODi (or
21
cf. (RabH»)I nV?13WX VTK ish eshkolot (puristically ish ashkolot) '(versatile) scholar,
encyclopaedist'. This expression was the model for the punning mVDON wx nvrr? p m Vttoy
'akhshdv hazmdn lihiydt ish askolot 'Now is the time to be a man of Askolof (lit. 'schools
of thought', the name of a study programme of the Open University, Israel) (Jedioth
Ahronoth Newspaper, 7 Days' Supplement, 5 September 1997, pp. 40-1). Compare this
with the English hybrid used in Siemens' billboard advertisement on motorways in
England (March 1997): Siemens - better talknology/rom Germany.
The fact that the nativized element is often the Israeli spelling of the
original foreign surname is also relevant to MSN of words which are not
names. From a phonetic point of view, it is more correct to argue in many
cases that the domesticated element is not the SL expression itself but the
SL expression as borrowed (i.e. as a foreignism/loanword) into the TL.
Since Israeli MSNs are often based on internationalisms, the SL
expression borrowed is in fact the internationalism rephonologized.
Sometimes a surname is nativized by re-establishing the boundary
between the first name and the surname, e.g. Jinn TX izi dorot (I r\rm
dorot means 'generations') for Isidor(e) Rot(h). Compare this with intra-
lingual reanalysis as in the historical napron > a napron > an apron >
apron and in the jocular psychotherapist > Psycho the rapist and together
in trouble > to get her in trouble.22 Such redivision of lexical boundaries
is apparent in the (cross-lingual) Japanese PSM H / £ sebiro 'suit-jacket,
blazer' (written in kanji\ which was introduced in the nineteenth century.
Morphologically, it consists of two kun-yomi Japanese morphemes: J se
'back (of the body)' (cf. W MSC bei 'back (of the body)') and J biro
'broad, wide', i.e. /hiro/ by the rule of rendaku (cf. Ch. If, cf. the
simplified MSC f~ gu&ng 'broad, wide'). Rendaku (or sequential voicing,
Martin 1952: 48) is a morpho-phonemic, sandhi, intervocalic, sequential
voicing, applied only to compounds, and more precisely to the first
consonant of the second element in a compound (for discussion, see
22
Note that at the end of the twentieth century there was a wave of similar redivisions of
anthroponyms in Israeli humour. For example, the generic name for a falafel salesperson
was said to be Simkha Rif, since this plausible name can be redivided to sim kharif, lit. 'put
hot*, i.e. 'add some pepper', a sentence often heard in falafel shops. Similarly, • one name
for a miserable person is said to be Boaz Orly (cf. bo azor li 'come, help me!); • Arab
female model - 'Alila Maslul (cf. ali lamaslul 'go up the catwalk! (f, sg)'; • Arab drug-
addict - Basam Shaka (cf. basam shaka 'soaked in the drug (m, sg)'); • a paratrooper
whose parachute did not open - Micky Pelli (cf. mi kipel li 'Who folded [it] for me?');
• female detective - Mira Tsakh (cf. mi ratsdkh 'Who murdered?', 'Who did the
murder?'); • ugly woman - Maya Feba (cf. ma yafe ba 'What is beautiful about her?');
• female army operator - Rut Tavor (cf. rut avor 'Roger' (the walkie-talkie signoff));
• female stenographer - Becky Tsur (cf. bekitsur 'briefly, in a short manner'); • pilot - Avi
Ron (cf. aviron 'aeroplane', see §3.2.1); • Ethiopian runner-Beri Tsakala (cf. beritsd kald
'running lightly'); • helicopter pilot - Eli Kopter (cf. helikopter 'helicopter'); • gay man -
Amit Romem (cf. hamitromem, lit. 'raising himself, referring to 'homosexual man');
• stinky person - Asaf Lots (cf. asd /lots 'farted (m, sg)'); • and cleverly: Louis the
Fifteenth - Avihu Medina (the name of a famous Israeli singer, songwriter and composer)
(cf. avi hu medind 'My father is a state', cf. Louis the Fourteenth's L'etat c'est moi).
Anthroponymically, all these names sound very natural as they often use existing first
names and surnames. Thus, the creative combination is highly entertaining. One should
not disregard creativity spotted in lay constructions inter alia because, as implied by one
of the conclusions of this book, lay creations can teach us a lot about puristic ones.
Vance 1987: 133-48). In fact, many suit-jackets have artificial shoulders

which give the impression of a wide back, and a further semanticization
could be that when one wears a suit, one maintains a straight posture and
thus one's back looks wider. However, this is not the whole story. J WJ£
sebiro 'suit-jacket, blazer' also has a foreign co-etymon: Savile Row, the
name of a street in London where exclusive tailor's shops are situated,
thus constituting antonomasia (cf. Armani suit)'}3
Savile Row Sino-Japaense (kanji)

(the name of a street in tfse'back(ofthe
London celebrated for body), shoulders'
fashionable and expensive +
tailoring establishments; used
JA biro *broad, wide'
to designate such tailors, their
styles or wares, especially (- hiro by the rule
men's suits) ofrendaku)
Figure 41
To come back to Israeli anthroponyms, in rare cases the Hebraization was

PSM (like J sebiro). Consider • nD peri 'fruit' < E Perry '(wild) pear-
tree', 'beverage resembling cider, made from the juice of pears expressed
and fermented'; • ]rtyn haelyon, lit. 'the upper' < It. Elione 'of the sun';
• run1? levdna (cf. BH [kb&'nS]) 'moon; white (f, sg)' < Sp. Luna, a
female first name (also a surname), lit. 'moon'.
Consider also surname PMs in other directions, for example »E
Robbins < Y tftni$ratp rabinovich (Weinreich 1963: 53; cf. the suitable
FitzRobbin); • Y IINM shneyor (H 'two light') < L senior (Wexler 1991:
39); • I \nrt? Idndon 'London' (cf. Yaron London, Israeli Television host)
< Y ytnh Idmdp 'scholar, learned'; • O'Hana (UJS Journal 1997, United
Kingdom), an anglicization of the Sephardic surname n:imN (cf. I okhdna).
23
Miller (1967: 253) claims that the co-etymon of sebiro is E civil, suggesting that in the
early Met/1 Period (1868-1912, cf. Nelson 1997: 1256b), Japanese civil servants and
public officials had to wear Western clothing. However, note that the 'Western civil
clothing' which Miller discusses was more likely to have looked like a collared military
uniform, while J If Jt£ sebiro refers to a fashionable, tailored blazer or jacket. Kindaichi et
al. (1975: xxii:66) also mention the toponym Cheviot as a co-etymon. I assume that this
refers to the Cheviot Hills in Scotland and northern England, which produce good quality
wool. Note that under normal circumstances of phonetic adaptation, E civil should have
been recalibrated as *shibiru, in which the palatalization of /s/ is due to the [i] which
follows it. This, however, does not necessarily rule out the possibility of civil because
PSM, being lexical, can violate phonetic laws. Furthermore, following the Congruence
Principle, more than one of the above sources could have contributed at the same time.
Sociolinguistic Analysis: Attitudes Towards MSN
in 'Reinvented Languages'
SA Neologizers* viewpoints
MSN producers are vulnerable to attack from all directions. On the one
hand, some ultra-prescriptive purists criticize them for contamination
(see, for instance, Even-Odem 1950 in §4.2). On the other hand, many
speakers would prefer to use the successful loanwords against which
MSNs compete.
5.1.1 Revivalists' opinions: MSN in relation to lexical enrichment from

within, from without, or ex nihilo (as in Estonian)
As we have already seen (§2.3), MSN allows neologizers to recycle

obsolete lexemes by adapting archaic words to suit the needs of modern
speakers. Despite this evident attraction for language planners faced with
native lexical lacunae, I suspect that MSN might not have been approved
of (at least overtly) by influential figures such as Pines, Klausner and
Mazia.1 This is because MSN is by its very nature an 'impure' process,
whereby the archaic words become 'contaminated' by the influence of
modern lexical items, often from another language. In other words, MSN
not only looks backwards at the archaic terms, it can also cast its net more
widely to collect foreign lexical items and drag them into the TL. If MSN
has a conservative side, this is far outweighed by its propensity for
innovation.
However, many of the biblical, rabbinic and medieval words so
warmly praised by these scholars were themselves loanwords, especially
1
cf. also Smolenskin (1883: 278), who asserts that 'we should pay attention to the Holy
Scriptures, bring out pearls from this sea [...] There are many words in these Holy
Scriptures that no one paid attention to' (see Persky 1962: 154-8). Echoing this sentiment,
Yellin (1933: 82) writes: 'Only in a combined creation will we be able to reveal the
treasures hidden in our language*. I assume that by combined creation he did not mean
MSN, although it might be an appropriate signifier for MSN.
148
Sociolinguistic Analysis 149
from Greek (e.g. RabH OW3 Inimus 'politeness, manners', from Gk

v6jio<; nomos 'usage, custom, law', see §1.3). It should be legitimate to
ask why ancient loanwords are better than modern ones. Bahat (1987:
517) posits that ancient loanwords are preferable for two reasons: (i) They
were absorbed into the 'language of the sages' (leshon khakhamim) and
were therefore 'Judaized properly' (nitgayru kahalakhd, op. cit.);
(ii)They have already survived over tens of generations and are,
therefore, no longer foreign. Logically, however, in the future the same
argument could be applied to the very loanwords that today's native-
speaking 'sages' adopt of their own free will despite the protests of Bahat
and other AHL purists. In other words, as much as the grammar of today
is the 'mistakes' of yesterday, the 'mistakes' of today are the grammar of
tomorrow-cf. Zuckermann(1999b: 327, 338).
Dissenting opinions existed among Hebrew 'revivalists'. The severe
deficit of roots led Ben-Yehuda to suggest in 1914 the creation of
artificial roots yesh medin 'something out of nothing'. This idea of
Urschdpfung (see Ben-Yehuda in ZV49 1914: 10-11, cf. die Urschopfung
der Wdrter in ibid.: 12, cf. Eliezer Meir Lipschiitz in ibid.: 21), formation
ex nihilo, was harshly and unanimously rejected by the members of HLC,
one of whom, Israel Eitan, predicted that such words would not win the
war of survival (ZF4,1914: 35, cf. Sivan 1966: 180 = 1995: 6). However,
Bialik (1929: 53) held a view similar to Ben-Yehuda's: we should 'create
the terminology, both from something andfromnothing'.
This method was employed by Estonian language planners such as
Ado Grenzstein (a journalist active in Estonia in the 1870s-90s). Consider
his coinages kabe 'draughts, chequers' and male 'chess' (on Grenzstein,
see Raag 1999a). The most famous reformer of Estonian, Johannes Aavik
(1880-1973), also used creations ex nihilo (cf. 'free constructions', Tauli
1977), along with other sources of lexical enrichment such as derivations,
compositions and loanwords (often from Finnish; cf. Saareste and Raun
1965: 76). Aavik belonged to the so-called Noor-Eesti ('Young Estonia')
movement, which appeared in Tartu, a university town in south-eastern
Estonia, around 1905 (for discussion, see Raun 1991). In Aavik's
dictionary (1921), which lists approximately 4000 words, there are many
words which were (allegedly) created ex nihilo. Consider • ese 'object',
• kolp 'skull', •liibuma 'to cling', •naasma 'to return, come back',
• nome 'stupid, dull', • range 'strict', • reetma 'to betray', • solge 'slim,
flexible, graceful' (which did not gain currency, cf. ConEst. graatsiline
'graceful'), and • veenma 'to convince'. Other Aavikisms ex nihilo (not
appearing in Aavik 1921) include • nentima 'to admit, state', • nordima
'to grow indignant', • stiurne 'conscience', and • toik 'fact'.
Note, however, that many of the coinages that have been considered
(often by Aavik himself) as words concocted ex nihilo could well have
been influenced (mostly consciously) by foreign lexical items, for
example words from Russian, German, French, Finnish, English and
Swedish. Aavik had a broad classical education and knew Ancient Greek,
Latin and French. Consider • relv 'weapon' versus E revolver, • roim
'crime' versus E crime, • siiras 'sincere' versus E sincere/serious
• embama 'to embrace' versus E embrace; and • taunima 'to condemn,
disapprove' versus Fin. tuomita 'to judge' (these Aavikisms appear in
Aavik's 1921 dictionary). Consider also • evima 'to have, possess, own'
(cf. also Est. omama 'to own', and mul on, lit. 'to me is', i.e. 'for me there
is', meaning 'I have') versus E have; • laup 'forehead' versus R JIO6 lob
'forehead'; • morv 'murder' and morvama 'to murder' versus E murder
(these Aavikisms do not appear in Aavik 1921); and • laip 'corpse' versus
G Leib 'body' and G Leiche 'body, corpse'. These words might be better
regarded as a peculiar manifestation of morpho-phonemic adaptation of a
foreign lexical item. The often irregular and arbitrary sound changes
could then be explained not as subconscious foreign influence but rather
as conscious manipulation by the coiner. Aavik seems to have paid little
attention to the origin of his neologisms. On occasion, he replaced
existing native words or expressions with neologisms of foreign descent.
Therefore, Aavik cannot be considered a purist in the traditional sense,
i.e. he was not 'anti-foreignisms/loanwords' as such.2
To return to Israeli, in addition to supporters of creation ex nihilo
(which is rare in Israeli), there were 'drawers from without', who
favoured the use of foreignisms and loanwords.3 Professor S. Rosenbaum
(1942), a member of the editorial board of the journal HaRefuah writes:
'we should leave the technical terms as they are and give up on translating
[...] There is sense in rendering the Latin terms into Hebrew by changing
the suffix, but nothing more!' Dr David Arye Friedman, editor of
HaRefuah, argues: 'all demand for pure Hebrew words for scientific
2
For Aavik, the crucial aspects of a lexical item or a grammatical element (on new
grammatical elements introduced by Aavik, see V. Raag 1998) were aesthetic qualities,
efficiency and originality. Aesthetic quality is a very subjective concept and Aavik's taste
was rather elevated and special. For example, he had a clear dislike for the sounds [s] and
[t]. For him, originality meant that neologisms were to be created in such a way that they
had to be inflected according to unproductive or at least infrequent and irregular paradigms
(Raimo Raag pc; Anna Verschik pc). On efficiency, see §3.2.4. For a relevant discussion,
see Tauli (1965), V. Raag (1998), R. Raag (1999b) and Hennoste (1999).
3
Following Bar-Asher's rim» r u w n \\ipv ekrdn hasheivd mibakhuts 'The Principle of
Drawing from Without* (1995: 8).
terms, whether renewed or already used by our ancestors, is abhorrent to

me' (letter to Even-Odem: 3 December 1947; see Even-Odem 1950: 131).
As Nedobity (1989: 171) asserts (albeit not with regard to Israeli), 'the
formation of international terms certainly offers a number of advantages
to technology transfer' (cf. Wiister 1959). The methodology outlined by
Muntner (1946: 88-9), a medical linguist and Hebrew researcher, suggests
a more moderate view on the translation of medical terms:
a. All terms which are used in discussions between specialists and laymen (e.g.
tendons, muscles, eye-inflammation, lack of blood, fracture etc.) need
translation.
b. All foreign terms which serve only as a means for understanding between
professionals need no translation.
Levias (1928) makes the interesting suggestion that 'revivers' should

create pure Hebrew terms for alien words, but should avoid using biblical
or rabbinic terms whose ancient meaning is not precisely known (p. 156).
In addition, he asserts that 'revivers' should not be allowed to change the
meaning of an ancient term lest a discrepancy arise between the current
and former meanings (pp. 156-7). He points out that the quality of
neologisms is more important than their quantity, so that 'if no proper
name is found, it is better to preserve the foreign name rather than to use
an idle Hebrew name' (p. 159). He then goes on to say - optimistically -
that 'the foreign name will eventually give way to the Hebrew one but the
lazy Hebrew name contaminates the language and is hard to get rid of
(ibid.). Thus, although he does not mention the phenomenon of FEN
specifically, it seems that Levias would strongly oppose it.
Avinery (1964: 301-2) too is against what I call MSN. Analysing his
views, it seems that he would oppose FEN by semantic shifting, but be
more receptive to creational FEN. Avinery is very preoccupied with
homonyms. Perhaps owing to the tendency towards a one-to-one
correlation between sounds and referents, he urges readers to refrain from
13 bar 'bar' (cf. pub) because of the homophonous pre-existent 13 bar
'countryside, open fields, wild-' (ibid.: 301a). Similarly, he says that one
should not use TID pukh 'feather' (cf. 11D ns'Oto smikhdt pukh 'feather
duvet'), only yopukh 'kohl (for eye-shadow), kind of precious stone' (cf.
also Avinery 1946: 136); nor should one use nnilp kurva 'whore' (cf. Y
jnmp kiirvo and P kurwa 'id.'), only (H>)Imi(i)p kurva 'affinity,
relationship' (cf. §1.2.2.4). His fear is that the moment one adopts the
foreignism, one ends up losing the homophonous indigenous lexical item
(cf. 'one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents', §3.1.3).
This fear is not often justified, cf. the co-existence of 0D pas 'pass' and
the homophonous 00 pas 'band, stripe' (§6.2.2).
5.1.2 FEN in the service of the Academy of the Hebrew Language
A large number of Israeli FENs were manufactured by AHL. Thus, I

klit '(video-)clip' was introduced by AHL in 1994 (see LLN 8, December
1994; Akadem 4, September 1994). As mentioned in §3.2.1, O^p klit
converges oVp ^qlf fitted into the DEAD noun-pattern with E clip. The
attitude of AHL purists towards FEN is perplexing but the following
account might cast some light on it.
During the 76th session of AHL, on 4 December 1967 (see ZA 14,
1967: 19-20), there was a discussion of yin gladin, the suggested
neologism for (Intl) gelatin - cf. I puVa dzhelatin, F gelatine, It. gelatina,
Y V&K^yw zhelatin, R acejiaraH zhelatin, P zelatyna and G Gelatine. Eitan
opened the discussion, saying: 'For the name of the material well-known
in foreign languages, the Committee suggested a Hebrew form IH^
gladin. According to this suggestion, the Hebrew consonant * [g] will
replace the foreign '* [^3], and with the replacement of n (t) with 1 (d), the
word will be linked to the Hebrew root Yw VgW 'clot [congeal, form a
coating, stretch (skin) taut]'. It follows that the verb to gel/jell/jelly will be
translated as l+nn higlid' (ibid.: 19). His colleague Shraga Irmay
objected, arguing that 'this method resembles T) xfr'7 dilug rav of the end
of the Haskalah period' (ibid.). MasH 31 xtm dilug rav (PMasH dilog
raf)9 lit. 'a big bound', is a PSM of Intl telegraph - cf. R Tejierpa<|>
telegrdfand P telegraf(see §3.2.5, in which other PSMs for telegraph are
mentioned). Irmay proposed that they remain with ôVa dzhelatin
'gelatin' and Committee Member Daniel Leibel joined the protest,
arguing that 'the Committee proposal is in the form of manipulation,
which were used in the times of Va 'ad HaLashon [Hebrew Language
Council]. Today we do not manipulate [words] in this way' (ibid.: 20).
Committee Member David Zvi Banet proclaimed that 'we ought not to
proceed with the method of dilug rav, because in this way, the level of the
terms will deteriorate' (ibid., italics mine). pY?* gladin is obviously a
PSM, similar to the earlier rrrta glida 'ice-cream', a PSM of It. gelato,
which also uses Ytt VgW 'clot' (see §4.4). So far, we can understand from
the discussion that AHL deems PSMs to be 'second-class' neologisms
and lexical temptations better avoided. However, Committee Member
Shimshon Rosenthal later defended FEN stating: 'What is wrong with the
root "fa VgW? Only that it accidentally has a similar sound in the
Romance languages? There is nothing [inherently] flawed in it.' His
colleague, Chaim Rabin then added: 'If there is a possibility here of
determining a Hebrew loan-translation which is similar to the foreign
noun, I see no problem in it. And in my opinion, it is beautiful. Is it
forbidden to use a Hebrew root because it accidentally resembles a

foreign root?' (ibid., italics mine). As usual, at the end of the discussion
there was a vote, the exact results of which were:
12 votes in favour of yf?l
7 votes against yin
7 votes in favour of roVa (a Hebrew way of writing gelatin)
11 votes against VBVJ
Accepted: H1?* (ibid.)
And so, despite their high ideals, even the AHL purists were seduced by
the delectable charms of a PSM such as gladin. As Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1876: 144) said, 'wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions.
No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against
good wit.' However, yf?l gladin 'gelatin' did not gain major currency
among native speakers. These still prefer the foreignism VOVJI dzhelatin
(or pt)VT zhelatin - corresponding with Y rONtoWT zhelatin and F
gelatine). A variant of the latter, namely ptftt g(e)latin was approved by
AHL itself in 1959-60 (cf. 7A 6, 1959-60: 7a). However, the Academy
still uses rfw gladin, for example in LLN 33 (2000), where the neologism
noiBD kmusd (for Intl capsule, cf. I nViODp kdpsula) is defined as trufd
asuyd avkd o nozel unetund betokh batey gladin (dzhelatin) 'a medicine
made of powder and liquid and put inside portions of gelatin'. Note that
when mentioning yf?* gladin, the Academy adds the parallel foreignism,
which proves the limited success of this PSM. For a list of MSNs
introduced or adopted by AHL, as well as by HLC, see §2.5.
5.7.3 'Hierosolyma Caput Mundi': attempts to prove that the SL lexical

item is of Hebrew pedigree; comparison with Turkish
In his article '"Htiktim" Nasil Kurtuldu?' (How Was the Word MkUm
'judgement' Saved?), Atay (1965) describes how the word MkUm
'judgement' (used in contemporary Turkish) was accepted during the
Turkish language revolution in the 1930s:
AbdUlkadir [Inan] [...] said, 'You look worried. Tell me what words are bothering
you and I'll find Turkish origins for them.' 'Well,' I replied, 'there's this word
hilkOm.' 'Don't worry,' he said, 'tomorrow we'll make hilkUm Turkish.' Next day
he quietly put into my hand a slip of paper on which he had noted that some
dialects had a word 6k meaning 'intellect', which in several of them took the form
ilk. I had myself discovered that in Yakut there was a word-building suffix -urn. The
rest was easy: ilk plus Urn had in the course of time become MkUm. When the
meeting began, I said, 'The word hiikiim is Turkish,' and gave a full account of
what I had learned, which reduced the two professors to silence. We had laid the
foundations of the science of - I shan't say fakery, but flim-flam. That evening
I reported to AtatUrk on the Commission's proceedings and he was very pleased
that we had won so important a word by this fabrication. What he wanted us to do
was to leave as many words in the language as possible, so long as we could
demonstrate that they were Turkish.4
Whilst Atay was folly aware of the manipulation and knew that hiikum
was in fact a loanword from Ar. £*- [hukm] 'judgement, verdict,
valuation, opinion', Professor Nahum Slouschz (1930) seems to have
been acting in good faith when he suggested that Intl Technion (I ]V3Dta
tekhnion/tekhniyon) is traceable to (B)H 3Dfl Îtkn 'regulate, measure,
estimate, be adjusted to the standard' (cf. BDB:\067a)y a secondary root
of (B)H 31D ^kwn. 'be firm, be set up/established/fixed, prepare5 (BDB:
465b). However, the mechanism and the motivation in the case of Turkish
and Israeli are similar, as we shall see in §5.2.3. Following his etymology,
Slouschz (1930: 343) justified Bialik's suggested spelling iroan
'Technion' as opposed to the mere loanword 1V3DU (the latter ultimately
took over). Note that Slouschz's original proposal for Technion was
I Iran, cf. (H>)1113DT1 tikhnun 'planning'. The result is a false incestuous
FEN with an alleged Semitic ur-source. In the same article, Slouschz
suggested that Intl machine was traceable to H ruiDft and that Intl
technical is related to H man 'plan' and mrcn 'trait' (cf. the PSM Ar. ^
['taqni]/['tiqani] 'technological, technical', §2.1.3). Slouschz's account
slouches as Intl machine is traceable to PIE *magh 'be able to' (Pokorny
1959: i:695, cf. G Macht 'power', and see §5.4.1), and Intl technical goes
back to PIE *te£fi 'plait' (cf. Pokorny 1959: i:1058). However, under the
influence of Slouschz's DOPE (Shraga Irmay, member of committees of
HLC from 1935 onwards, pc), Milon leMunekhey haTekhnika (Dictionary
of Technical Terms) (1929) was spelled with fl (t), thus hinting at a link
with (B)H ttfl Vrtw. Compare this with the spelling of the later Milon
leMunekhey haTekhnika (Dictionary of Technical Terms) (1946) - with to
(/), i.e. as a loanword. Both dictionaries were published by HLC.5
5.1.4 FEN not introduced by 'language authorities*
One of the most successful creational PSMs was coined in the 1960s, not
by AHL, but rather by the popular radio presenter, Moshe Khovav (cf.
Sivan 1966: 208 = 1995: 34), although Rosen (1994: 85) also mentions
4
Translation by Lewis (1999: 54).
5
See also 'orthographic FEN' in §5.4.2.
Rivka Michaeli as a possible co-coiner. I am referring to wrt? lahit 'hit

(popular song)',6 which is an etymological hybrid of H &rf? V/A/1 'blaze,
fierce heat'7 (implying passion and craving) and (Intl)E hit (cf. ConP hit).
Iovfr lahit prevailed over the following suggestions for filling this
musical native Hebrew lexical void in Israeli, i.e. for replacing (Intl>)I
•ntfrw (or itfw) shldger 'hit' - cf. YTOK'Wshldgor, G Schlager, R
nuwrep shlydger and P szlagier (the Polish word is now slightly archaic,
superseded by ConP hit, cf. also Pprzebqj 'id.'):
a. Dov Saddan provided the shrewd semantic loan Df?rr yahalom, an
intra-Israeli hybrid of the following two elements:
1. (BH»)lDV?rr yahalom, rarely spelled xhx\\ 'diamond', and
sometimes metaphorically 'any precious matter' - referring to the
success of the song.
2. (BH»)I tf?n Ahlm '(to) hit', thus calquing the meaning of E hit or
G schlagen (the origin of Schlager 'hit').
b. Naphtali Herz Tur-Sinai (born Torczyner), the (first) President of
AHL (1953-73), proposed the creational PSM -WR ashgdr* which
hybridizes the following:
1. RabH mWK [?ajg&'ri] 'flow of words, routine expression, current
phraseology', cf. RabH ywh IVWR [?afg&'rat l&'JOn] in Talmud
Yerushalmi: Megillah 73:2. Consider (MedH»)I ixnm nishtager
'became common/routine', which goes back to the same root
*4fgr. Thus, IJiWN ashgdr is a 'commonly heard song'.
2. (IntlÎ-tttfw shldger 'hit'.
c. AHL's official neologism - suggested by Uri Zvi Griinberg (see ZA 7-
8, 1960-1: 172) - was mriDD kaftor, lit. 'button', which alludes to
(BH>RabH») I rnDl TinDD kaftor vaferakh, a fossilized idiomatic
exclamation meaning 'Beautiful!, Marvellous!, First-class!', which
6
In leksikon dvir leshipur halashon (Dvir Lexicon for the Improvement of the Language),
Sivan (1985a: 79) emphasizes that the!? (/) of wrb has schwa, i.e. the word is pronounced
lehit. However, in LL 169 (1988) BTf? is defined as an exception to the OOiO (sometimes
OeOiO) noun-pattern, implying that it should be pronounced lahit and not lehit. Note that
the n (h) is hardly pronounced in Israeli. It is pronounced only in the case of uncommon
words, and by some speakers at the beginning of phrases (see §11.1). Indeed, most Israelis
pronounce m1? as hit but some still stick to left. Note the existence of the homophonous
Colloql 'ntf? lehit (pronounced lett\ a clipping of niKinnV lehitraot 'see you, goodbye,
later'; although some Israelis regard this clipping as a modernism, it had already been
mentioned by Persky (1933:95).
7
There could be a slight influence from the intra-English similarity of heat to hit.
8
cf. Nir (1993:163), who ignores the PSM of this proposal.
was adopted in Israeli en bloc and is therefore often pronounced kaftor

vaferakh rather than kaftor veperakh, the latter following the non-
puristic Israeli grammar.
d. Isaac Avinery, as a purist, proposed ynat zimrdn, based on (H>)I "IBT
zemer 'singing', cf. Avinery (1964: 168b).
In contrast to the popular success of WTfr lahit, Trfra biltin 'built-in', a
creational PSM suggested by a young composer, failed to enter the
language. It hybridizes E built-in and the Israeli acronym 'l-vbn bilti-n.,
for TlM-'nta bilti-nifrdd, lit. 'inseparable; integral.'91 mnD nxnp kvutsdt
prazot, lit. 'open/unwalled set' (rnriD is mentioned in Ezekiel 38:11,
Zechariah 2:8 and Esther 9:19), is sometimes used at Haifa and Bar-Ilan
Universities to refer to E fuzzy set (in computing and logic: a set which
allows for imprecise membership criteria and gradations of membership).
This neologism was coined by Professor Michael Katz (pc) owing to the
phonetic resemblance between prazot and fuzzy, the semanticization being
that - like H mnD T » 'unwalled city' - a fuzzy set does not have exact
boundaries. The usual Israeli signifier is nm»3? nsi3p kvutsd amumd, lit.
'dull/dim group'. Note, however, that a fuzzy set does have members
which are definitely its own.
Another example is âiD movil 'conveyer, carrier', from ^mn hovil
'carried (m, sg)', from H(>I) iy Îjbl 'lead' (this is the ultimate co-
etymon of yovel 'jubilee' - see §3.1.4.2). V>mo movil was used in 1923-4
by teachers and authors to refer to the vehicle that travelled between
Jerusalem and Bet-HaKerem (cf. Sivan 1966: 206 = 1995: 32; 1981b: 58).
Thus, they matched phono-semantically Intl automobile - cf. I 'miD'iOlK
otomobil, R aBTOMo6HJH> avtomobiV and P automobil (the Polish word is
now archaic, the current common signifiers are P samochod, auto and
woz). Consider also the nickname of tgged (the major bus company in
Israel): ^Dix^n âiBn hamovil haleumi 'the national carrier'. Furthermore,
Avinery (1946: 139) mentions ^maimx otdmovil, lit. 'carrying him',
which is a PSM of Intl automobile, and which has possible declinations:
^lia-'jnR oti-movil '[a vehicle] carrying me', ^ma-inix otkha-movil '[a
vehicle] carrying you (sg)' and so forth.
PSM is also frequently observed in Israeli slang (cf. §1.2.2.5).
Colloql T"1OD matrif 'amazing, nifty, terrific' might be a PSM by
semantic shifting based on E terrific, as well as on rpttn I hitrif 'mixed,
confused (m, sg)', from H Dito Aprp - cf. (r*?y) VWl HD1D3 'he went crazy',
9
AHL preferred rmia muvne - see Bahat (1987:527).
Talmud: Mo'ed Qatan 26b. SlangI roD 'OD kakhi kakhd 'so-so' (cf. MAM:
177a) is a compound PSM based on F comme ci comme qa 'so-so' and
I HDD HDD kakha kdkha 'so-so', the latter being a caique (cf. E/G so-so)
based on H HDD [kiki] 'so, thus, this way'.
Some Israelis use Colloql !«p jvÂ 'Great!' - cf. ( B H » ) I r yesh
'there is/are' - when notified about success in an examination or football
match or the lottery. I believe that it was influenced by E Yes!, an
exclamation familiar to almost every Israeli. However, in the mid-
twentieth century, W yesh meant 'Yes, as you say!', a common response
by a soldier or sailor to his commander's orders. MES (:696c) provides
the following example:
- rvrrn&n ns Taxi1? lehagbir et hamehirut! '(To) Speed up!'
- \W yesh *Yes, sir!'
Here, W yesh might have been influenced by R ecTb est' [jestj] 'there is',
used as 'Yes, sir!' (e.g. in the army), cf. P takjest, lit. 'so it is', also used
as 'Yes, sir!' (cf. Vjest 'is', 'there is'). Having considered popular versus
puristic FEN in Israeli, let us now turn to the case of another 'reinvented
language': Republican Turkish.
5.2 FEN in Revolutionized Turkish
I know most of the dialects of the Asian Turks. I also understand the dialect spoken
by you and people like Yakup Kadri. If there's one dialect I can't make head or tail
of, it's the dialect of the Turkish Language Society.
(AbdMkadir to Atay in (he 1930s, cf. Atay 1965,1969:
478; translation by Lewis 1999: 54, cf. 1997: 26)
5.2.1 The Turkish Language Revolution, 1928-36
Before 1928, the Turkish writing system was of Arabic origin and
numerous Turkish words were Arabic or Persian. However, in 1928-36,
Mustafa Kemal AtatUrk, usually known as Gazi Pa§a, put into action the
'language revolution' (Tu. dil devrimU OttTu. lisan inkildbi).10 The spirit
of linguistic revolution existed long before Ataturk. One manifestation
can be found in the Turkic, anti-Arabic ideology of the circle of authors
associated with the journal Geng Kalemler 'Young Pens', first published
10
Tu. gazi literally means 'champion/warrior (on behalf of Islam), ghazi, (outstanding) war
veteran', cf. Ar. J^ [Wz(in)j 'raider, invader, warrior', from j > ylitzw 'make a raid
upon, invade, assault, turn against, strive for'.
in 1911. Atatiirk's revolution is commonly referred to in the West as the

'language reform' but, as Lewis notes in his invaluable book (1999: 2),
this phrase is less accurate, albeit less cumbersome. As a first step in
purifying the language, the Arabic orthography was replaced by roman
letters in 1928 and so-called 'foreignisms' (i.e. Arabicisms and
Persianisms) were superseded by indigenous Turkish lexical items
(dzturkge 'pure Turkish'), often dialectal or archaic words. In his
foreword to Maksudi (1930), Ataturk wrote:11
The Turkish nation which knew how to defend its country and noble independence
must also liberate its language from the yoke of foreign languages.
There were several methods of neologization. According to the statistics

(which should be treated with caution) published by the Linguistic
Society (see the journal Turk Dili, series I, No. 16, 1936: 22-3), of the
8752 words selected (out of approximately 125,000 suggestions) by the
Linguistic Society between 1932-6 to replace the foreignisms/loanwords
in Ottoman Turkish, 74 per cent were Turkish dialectal and archaic words
and their derivatives, and 10 per cent were words and derivatives from
Turkic languages outside Turkey. However, 16 per cent were foreign
words and derivatives (mostly Arabic and Persian) which were perceived
as being Turkish. Many of the suggestions which fall into the category of
Turkish dialectal and archaic words and their derivatives (74 per cent)
were, in fact, PSMs, camouflaging a Western co-etymon. It seems that at
the beginning of the language revolution, up until 1935, Ataturk was
particularly concerned with ridding Turkish of the Arabic/Persian
components, but did not much mind the influence of French (which he
knew well). In other words, he was anti-Arabic/Persian rather than
'purist' in the traditional sense.
5.2.2 Turkish FENs
(Con)Tu. terim '(technical) term' overrode OttTu. istilah. Although this

PSM gained currency, the camouflage has not been successful as it is
often perceived as a loanword (cf. OTED and RTED). Its origin is both F
terme 'term' and Turkic ter+im. Turkic ter (cf. ConTu. der-) means
'collect' (Heyd 1954: 91) and should not be confused with the unrelated
(Con)Tu. ter 'sweat, perspiration'. Tu. -Im is a deverbal suffix, i.e. terim
11
Translation according to Heyd (1954:19).
means 'something that has been collected'.12 Terminology is in fact a

collection of scientific words. Onat (1952: 49-50), who is described by
Lewis (1999: 122) as 'a respectable enough scholar apart from his
obsession with the Turkish origin of Arabic', suggests that the word
already existed as Kirghiz terim, a cognate of (the outdated) Tu. derim
'assembly, gathering', but was not chosen because of the possible
misleading association with (Con)Tu. demek 'to say' (cf. ibid.).
Revolutionized Turkish Turkish

terim ter- 'collect' (cf. der-)
French + 4m (deverbal suffix,
'(technical) term' -Im vocalically
>>
terme harmonized)
(superseding the Ottoman
istilah, a loanword from 'something that has
Arabic) been collected*
Figure 42
Tu. belleten 'bulletin' (Heyd mentions belletem, 1954: 91) derives from
F/Intl bulletin and Tu. belle- 'learn by heart' (cf. Tu. bellek 'memory',
bellemek 'to learn by heart'). Although Tu. belleten has not gained
widespread currency, it enjoys limited usage as the name of the bulletin of
the Turkish Historical Society (Turk Tarih Kurumu) (see Belleten 1996).
OTED (:65) defines Belleten as 'learned journal'. A mere phonetic
adaptation, which is in fact the current term for 'bulletin', is bulten
'bulletin' (cf. Lewis 1999: 61-2).

belle- 'learn by heart'
belleten (cf. bellek 'memory')
French 'bulletin' + -/ causative suffix ('have
someone learn by heart,
bulletin From 1937 the name of the journal of
teach someone something')
the Turkish Historical Association
(Turk Tarih Kurumu) + -en (participle)
cf. biilten 'bulletin', a mere morpho- 'something that allows
phonemic adaptation one to learn (by heart)'
Figure 43
12
cf. Tu. yapim 'production (something that has been made)', from yapmak 'to make'; Tu.
yazim 'spelling, orthography', lit. 'that has been written', from yazmak 'to write'; Tu.
kurum 'institution', lit. 'that has been set up', from kurmak 'to establish, set up'; and Tu.
kesim 'section, cut (of clothes)', lit. 'that has been cut', from kesmek 'to cut*.
Perhaps the most famous Turkish PSM is the one whose current form is
Tu. okul [o'kul9] 'school' (cf. OTED364 and Deroy 1956: 287). It was
created to replace OttTu. mektep, an old loanword from Arabic. Tu. okul
was obviously based on F ecole 'school' and might have been influenced
by L schola 'school' (cf. the original Turkish coinage okula(g), mentioned
below). On the other hand, the autochthonous co-etymon of okul is Tu.
oku- '(to) read', cf. okumak 'to read, study', okuma 'reading', okur
'reader' (OTED.364). Note the semantic affinity with Ar. M& ['kataba]
'wrote (m, sg)', the ultimate origin of OttTu. mektep. However,
synchronically, Tu. okul cannot be regarded as ozturkqe (pure Turkish)
since the final -/ is not a Turkish suffix and was imported ad hoc from
French. One might claim that the -/ is a result of analogy to Turkish words
ending in /, e.g. Tu. kizil 'red, ruddy', from Tu. kizmak 'to get angry/hot'.
There was also a suggestion that the suffix is in fact the Turkic -ul.
However, adding the suffix -ul to oku would have yielded *okuyul (cf.
Lewis 1999: 118). Diachronically, however, the original form of Tu. okul
was allegedly okulag or okula, in which -la(g) might be explained by
analogy to (Ott)Tu. h§la 'barracks, winter quarters' (cf. ki§ 'winter') and
(Ott)Tu. yayla 'summer pasture' (cf. yaz 'summer'), although these two
are not verb-based (ibid.: 117). Refet, the Deputy for the city of Urfa,
falsely suggested that okula already existed in the Urfa dialect (ibid.: 118,
cf. Heyd 1954: 91). Indeed, purists are likely to apply the method of
revitalizing and standardizing dialectal words. However, in the case of
Tu. okul, such an explanation seems to be no more than a DOPE. Figure
44 summarizes this PSM.

okul
French 'school' okula
icole (chosen by Gazi Mustafa Kemal cf. oku- 'read'

Ataturk in 1934) (superseding
the Ottoman mektep, a loanword -la ('locative suffix')
from Arabic) (cf. -lag)
Figure 44
Tu. okul constitutes a successful creational PSM. As Lewis (1982: vi,

reprint of 1953) puts it:
Nothing is to be gained by adopting the ostrich-attitude and saying: 'Okul ('school')
is a ridiculous hybrid, out of the Turkish oku- 'to read', by the French icole. We
shall ignore it and continue to use the good old Ottoman word mektep* Turkish
children nowadays don't go to mektep; they go to okul.
An additional successful PSM, which like okul, might be regarded as

morphologically flawed, is Tu. genel 'general, public' (also 'collective,
global, universal', cf. OTED:\90). This is a domestication of Intl general
(cf. F general), superseding OttTu. umumi 'general' (cf. ConTu. umumi
tuvalet 'public toilet'). However, it seems to be perfect Turkish, deriving
from Tu. gen 'broad, vast, abundant' (OTEDA90, outdated, cf. ConTu.
geni§ 'wide, broad, spacious', Old Turkic keH 'wide'). Nonetheless, a
trace of the foreign co-etymon is found in the fact that the adjectival
suffix -el (cf. Tu. ulusal 'national', from ulus 'nation') is added even
though gen is already an adjective, thus creating a redundancy such as *E
generalic and *E vasty.n
Tu. soysal 'social' hybridizes F social with Tu. soy 'race, family,
ancestry' and -sal, the latter stemming from F -el/-al (cf. Lewis 1999:
101) - cf. Tu. yapisal 'structural' (from yapi 'building, construction,
structure'), kurumsal 'institutional' (from kurum 'institution'), duygusal
'emotional' (from Tu. duygu 'emotion') and ki§isel 'personal' {<ki§i
'person'). RTED (:1029) defines soysal as 'civil, civilized' and the
Redhouse Contemporary Turkish-English Dictionary (1983: 349b) as 'of
a good family, noble, high-born'.
Revolutionized Turkish
soysal Turkish
'social, civilized'
soy 'race'
(successfully nativized only as a surname,
cf. Israeli n^y Hit '61ite\ a PSM -sal
mostly successful as a female first name)
(adjectival suffix,
cf. sosyal 'social', from French -el/-at)
a mere morpho-phonemic adaptation
Figure 45
However, today native speakers use the loanword sosyal rather than the
PSM soysal The latter has been adopted as a surname. Prior to Atattirk,
surnames (in the Western sense) were not used and Turks had to choose a
family name only after the language revolution, often from published
lists, which explains why so many Turkish surnames begin with a and b
(people picked a name from the beginning). This process in which a failed
PSM is employed as a personal name is a universal phenomenon, cf. jy^y
Hit '61ite' in §5.3.2. It is opposite to the mechanism by which obsolete
13
Note, however, the existence of alleged (see §1.4.1.2) 'cross-lingual hybrids' such as the
rephonologized I ^WilDrN informativi 'informative'.
Hebrew biblical personal names and toponyms are revived in Israeli to

serve as a 'native inventory' in the FEN industry - cf. khavila *villa' and
parpdr 'butterfly' in §2.3.
Tu. kamu 'public (civil, state)' (OTED:266-7) - as in kamu yaran
'common good, public interest', kamuoyu 'public opinion' and (the rare)
kamu fikri 'common opinion' - is a PSM of F commune 'common'
semantically shifting OttTu. kamu 'all, the whole'. Heyd (1954: 91)
presents Tu. kamun 'common', which is mentioned in neither OTED nor
RTED and which is not known to the native Turkish-speakers whom
I have studied. Note also the neologism Tu. kamutay 'assembly' (Lewis
1999: 105), which is not widespread.
Tu. diyelek 'dialect' (OTED:l39b) is traceable to both F dialecte and
(Lit)Tu. diye '(by) saying' (cf. OTED: 139) (cf. ConTu. diye diye 'by
saying repeatedly'), gerund of (Con)Tu. demek 'to say', cf. diyen 'the one
who says'. However, diyelek is outdated and the actual words referring to
'dialect' are Tu. lehqe, agiz, and the phonemic adaptation diyalekt.
Tu. orgen 'organ, limb' (OTED.375, not currently used, the current
word being Tu. organ 'organ, limb', a loanword from French), as well as
Tu. orgtit 'organization, association' (OTED:375), 'union', is a
nativization of F organe, making use of (Con)Tu. drgii 'knitted/braided/
plaited item, plait' (cf. also 'plexus, bond (of bricks)' in OTED:315).
Owing to differentiation from Tu. te§kildt 'organization' and
organizasyon 'id.' (cf. Tu. ogrenci dernegi 'student organization/
society'), the meaning of Tu. drgilt has normally been restricted to
political, and especially terrorist organizations (cf. Lewis 1999: 99), cf.
parallel Israeli examples in 'one-to-one correlation between signifiers and
referents'(§3.1.1).
Tu. odev 'duty' (now usually used as 'assignment, homework') can be
analysed morphologically as consisting of (Con)Tu. ddemek 'to pay' and
the Turkic suffix ev/v (cf. Kazakh), cf. E *paykeit (<E pay + G -keit,
Lewis 1999: 95). However, it is likely to have been a PSM of F devoir
'duty, obligation; homework, exercise (in class)'.
Tu. nomal 'normal' (outdated, mentioned by Heyd 1954, but not by
OTED and RTED, which do both mention the loanword Tu. normal)
hybridizes F normal and OTu. nom 'law' (outdated, cf. Gk nomos 'usage,
custom, law', cf. I nimus 'politeness' cf. §1.3) + suffix -ah
Tu. somtoz 'synthesis' (outdated, mentioned by Heyd 1954: 91) is a
domestication of F synthese, and Tu. som 'concrete, unabstract'
(outdated) and Tu. toz (outdated) (cf. the allegedly related (Con)Tu. dr
'knit!', ormek 'to knit'). However, the loanword sentez is currently
preferred, cf. also ConTu. sentetik 'synthetic'.
Heyd also lists Turkish suffixes which are homophonous to parallel

suffixes in other languages, for example (i) the adjectival suffix -(s)al/el
as in (Con)Tu. ulusal 'national' (see above) and (Con)Tu. dinsel
'religious (about religion)' (from din 'religion') sounds like F -al, -el;
(ii) the agent noun suffix -men/man as in (Con)Tu. segmen 'elector' (G
Wahlmann 'id.') resembles E -man and G -mann.
5.2.3 Turkish FEN versus Israeli FEN
Lewis (1999) defines the success of the Turkish language revolution as

'catastrophic', taking into account not only the loss of Ottoman Turkish
but also of natural linguistic development. Thus, according to Lewis,
contemporary Turkish suffers from both artificiality and lexical lacunae.
Of course, a descriptivist (who might regard language planning as part of
the natural interaction between language and society) might regard
Lewis's attack on the prescriptive language engineering, conducted by the
Turkish purists, as itself prescriptive. The case of Israeli bears many
similarities to the Turkish 'reinvention' and lam certain that some
factions would not object at all to describing the success of Israeli as
'catastrophic'. In fact, I think that a decent parallel book to Lewis's 1999
The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success might be The
Emergence of the Israeli Language: A Catastrophic Success.
The similarity between Turkish and Israeli PSMs lies in the fact that in
both, most of the neologisms are a result of deliberate, institutionalized
fabrication by language planners, rather than spontaneous PE creations by
anonymous laymen. Still, in both Turkish and Israeli the methods used by
the purists are technically and structurally - but not functionally or
motivationally - folk-etymological (see §8.2). I believe that Lewis's book
supports my use of the term 'folk-etymological nativization' (FEN). An
example of a Turkish (partial) PSM which was not dictated by language
authorities is Tu. telgraf 'telegraph', a reinterpretation of F telegraphe as
though it were connected to Tu. tel 'wire,filament'(cf. §3.2.5).
In fact, Atatiirk was himself an amateur etymologist and often
Turkicized Western words folk-etymologically. The following have been
attributed to him: Ne yay gara 'Niagara' is morphologically based on Tu.
ne 'what (exclamatory)' and Tu. yaygara 'howl, shouting, hullabaloo,
fuss' and thus means 'What tumult!' (Lewis 1999: 43), 'What a noise!',
the instinctive response of some visitors to the Niagara Falls. Ama uzun
'Amazon' derives from Tu. ama 'but, still; really, truly' and Tu. uzun
'long' and thus constitutes 'But it is long!' (ibid.), 'How long!'
(surprised) (cf. ColloqTu. amma 'how', an exclamation expressing

surprise, 'but, still'). Compare Neyaygara and Ama uzun with I n\T HT I^K
ilu ze hayd, lit. 'if it was' (had it really been so), a jocular compound PSM
(which did not catch on) for Intl illusion (cf. I mVrx iliizya) - see §3.2.4.
However, there is a crucial difference between many Turkish PSMs
and Israeli ones: the former often involve the reanalysis of a foreign term
as if it were Turkish rather than the adaptation of a foreign term into
Turkish. This 'Istanbul caput mundV attitude corresponds to the Giine§-
Dil Teorisi 'The Sun Language Theory'. lam not arguing that
'Hierosolyma caput mundV theories have not existed among linguists in
Eretz Yisrael (see, for example, Slouschz in §5.1.3), but, indubitably, they
have never been as successful as in Turkey.
5.2.4 The Sun Language Theory
Roughly speaking, there were three phases in Ataturk's attitude towards

the linguistic revolution: the anti-Arabic/Persian phase (1928-35), the Sun
Language Theory phase (1935-7) and the 'confused phase' (1937-8).
Gune§-Dil Teorisi 'The Sun Language Theory' was Ataturk's 1935-6 pet
project, inspired by a paper by Dr Hermann F. Kvergid, who was born in
Bratislava (Slovakia), lived in Graz and worked at the University of
Vienna, where theories by the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr were taught.
Kvergid's paper 'The Psychology of Some Elements in the Turkish
Language' was understood to imply that Turkish was the origin of all
languages. The name 'Sun Language Theory' was related to Mayan sun
worship and derived from the belief that language began when primitive
humans looked up at the sun and uttered the sound 'Aaa!' The link
between this and Turkish as the Ursprache is that Tu. ag was 'the first-
degree radical of the Turkish language' (cf. Lewis 1997: 28), originally
meaning 'sun' (and later 'sunlight, warmth, fire, height'); currently, it
means 'net to catch fish; spider-web'.
Accordingly, it was suggested that Tu. poligon 'polygon' (cf. ConTu.
qokgen 'id.') derived from Tu. bol 'abundant, plenty, a lot' (>pol) and
geni§ 'wide' (>gew)> thus meaning 'of much width' (cf. Lewis 1997: 34;
1999: 63) - cf. the DOPE relating E raspberry to Hindi W ^ ras bharii
'full of juice, juicy' (ras 'juice' + bharii 'full'). l4 Similarly, Tu.
filozof(i(k)) 'philosopher/-phy/-phical' was allegedly traceable to ip/ep
'reasoning power' (cf. the etymologically related ConTu. dp- '(to) kiss',
14
Rajendra Singh (pc).
dpmek 'to kiss'), il (cf. bit 'know', ConTu. bilmek 'to know') and (Gk)
sophia 'sound judgement, wisdom' (cf. ConTu. sag 'alive, sound', 'right',
Tu. sav 'word, saying') (see Lewis 1997: 29-30, cf. parallel, geometry
and atom in ibid.: 33, as well as likid/liquid in ibid.: 34).
However, the Sun Language Theory acted as a two-edged sword with
regard to FEN: FEN is usually produced to disguise alien elements,
whereas if one proves that all languages stem from Turkish, every so-
called 'foreignism' ceases to be a foreignism, and thus is no longer a
threat. As Atay (1965) suggests, Atatiirk did not mind the Turkish
Language Society leaving foreign words in the language, so long as it
could demonstrate that they were in fact Turkish (see important
discussion in §5.1.3). Furthermore, it is possible that the Sun Language
Theory was adopted by Atatiirk precisely in order to legitimize the Arabic
and Persian words which the Turkish language authorities did not manage
to uproot. This move compensated for the failure to provide a neologism
for every foreignism/loanword.
5.3 Possible Explanations for Failed MSNs
It is generally believed to be almost impossible to explain why a

neologism does not gain general currency. Torczyner (1941: 166) argues,
somewhat fatalistically, that hamazdl, shebo taluy hakol, hu hamakhria
gam begoraldm shel milim uvituim balashon 'Luck, on which everything
depends, is the deciding force also for the fate of words and expressions
in a language'. A similar view is presented in Oman's 1996 The Words
Not Taken: A Dictionary of Forgotten Words (Introduction: 7). I believe
that we cannot currently give an explanation not because it is impossible a
priori but rather because linguists have not yet developed an analysis
sophisticated enough for the 'duel between grammar and life'.15
Despite their possible advantages, such as relative ease of learning,
approximately half of the suggested Israeli MSNs have not gained
currency. The following are possible explanations for their failure:
1. The FEN is too close phonetically to the SL word.
2. The FEN was suggested after its SL parallel (usually an
internationalism) had already been borrowed and had become
widespread.
15
1 translate Avraham Shlonsky's expression dukrav sheben hadikduk vehakhaim, which
appears in his letter of 26 March 1969 to Aharon Teiman (cf. Kna'ani 1989:5).
3. The FEN is by semantic shifting and the semantically shifted Hebrew

lexeme is already highly diffused in its original sememe.
4. The FEN is regarded as ridiculous/obscure.
5. The FEN has not reached the mass of native speakers.
6. The referent of the FEN is alien (non-Israeli) by nature.
Explanations 1 and 3 could be perceived as being related specifically to
neologisms which are PSMs. But Explanations 2, 4, 5 and 6 are more
generally applicable. Explanations 1-6 are illustrated in the following
sections. Note that - by an extension of the Congruence Principle -
several explanations can act simultaneously on one FEN.
5.3.1 The FEN is too close phonetically to the SL word
Especially in the case of creational and compound/phrase FEN, when

there is a great degree of phonetic similarity between the FEN and the SL
word, the manipulation is too transparent and the Israeli-speaker is
reminded of the SL word. This, in turn, may result in the use of the
loanword/foreignism based on the SL word in cases where the speaker is
familiar with it. As demonstrated in §6.1, very often the 'SL' is
International, and therefore familiar to most native Israeli-speakers either
because it already exists in Israeli or because they are familiar with it in a
foreign language. As a result, the speakers often reject the PSM and
incorporate the internationalism. Indeed, this process is even more
prevalent among bilinguals, for instance speakers of Israeli and Yiddish/
Russian/Polish (a widespread phenomenon at the time of the 'revival';
currently though English is the second language among Israelis). This
conclusion agrees with the research of Thomason and Kaufman (1988:
32-3), which gives examples of loanwords taken from Russian into
Asiatic Eskimo during two different periods: (A) pre-Soviet (before
1917): a period of very little bilingualism, (B) late-Soviet: a period in
which Russian became the second language and the main teaching
language. The data show that during period A, Russian lexical items (e.g.
chay 'tea', tabdk 'tobacco') underwent major phonetic adaptation (saya,
tavaka), whereas during period B, when the Eskimos knew the original
Russian words, the latter almost always remained unchanged (chay,
tabdk) (ibid.: 33). These results, however, might equally well be
explained by enforced Russification.
For "modus (tollendo) tollens' examples, i.e. FENs which gained
currency by the very fact that they are not too close phonetically to the SL
lexical item, see §5.4.1. Sometimes the result is an orthographic FEN, i.e.
the neologism is spelled as though it were a FEN but pronounced as a

loanword, cf. §5.4.2.
53.2 The internationalism being matched is widespread in the TL
Often, a FEN is suggested after its SL parallel has already been borrowed
and become widespread. This process often occurs in cases where the SL
is Intl (see §6.1). Thus, the creational PSM Iarpff shirov (mentioned
briefly in MES: 1820b) 'syrup' had little chance of being internalized by
native Israeli-speakers since they already used (Intl>) I DITO strop
'syrup'.16 I a v w shirov derives from both Ar. ^j^» [fa'ra-.b] 'drink,
beverage' and Intl syrup, the latter being manifested in R cupon sirop, P
syrop, G Sirup, Y syvo strep (Weinreich 1977: 323b, 518b) or 9NT0
sirop (ibid.: 518b, Harkavy 1988: 339b), F sirop and E syrup}1 All these
forms may be traced back to Ar. ^ j& [ja'ra:b] 'drink, beverage' (cf. Ar.
U J ^ ['jariba] 'drank (m, sg)'), which is the very same co-etymon of aww
shirov. It is, therefore, a Semitic ur-source incestuous PSM.
The specificizing PSM JTJtt gitit 'guitar' (mentioned in Avinery 1946:
140-1) hybridizes Intl guitar - cf. I mtn gitdra, R nrrapa gitdra and P
gitara - and BH rrm [git'tit], the name of a musical instrument (cf.
Psalms 8:1). rrm gitit 'guitar' did not gain acceptance since (Intl>)I niton
gitdra was already widely used.
Similarly, 1112HV eratson 'erosion' did not manage to supplant the
already widespread internationalism which it was trying to match
(Intl>)I nnnK erozya 'erosion' - cf. E/F erosion, R 3po3HH eroziya and P
erozja (all going back to L erosio, from erodere 'erode'). liny eratson is
a creational SPM using BH yMV I aruts 'ravine' as indigenous material.
The failed creational PSM WB mashdsh 'massage' derives from Intl
massage - cf. I 'TOD or 'TNOD masdzh, F/E massage, R Maccaac massdzh, P
masaz and G Massage - and (BH»)I UW& Vro/]f'touch, grope' fitted into
the DaOdD noun-pattern (dagesh forte in the second radical18). The same
16
MES (:1241a) says that the Hebrew pronunciation of this internationalism is sirup and
mistakenly claims that the origin is 'F syrup* whereas syrup is English, the French form
being sirop.
17
cf. It. sciroppOy siroppo (MedL siropus, sirupus, surupus), Du. siroop (ConDu. stroop),
Swc/Dan. sirup; Catalan aixarop, (the now rare) Sp. jarope *medicinal potion, bitter
draught', Sp. jarabe (obsolete ajarabe) 'syrup*, Por. xarope [fa'ropi] (and the obsolete
enxarope) 'potion, syrup*. On the other hand, cf. F sorbet and E sherbet.
18
Thus, in theory, ITOOmashdsh should have meant 'masseur' - cf. Slouschz's failed
neologism ITOOmashdsh 'sculptor, engraver/carver (especially in metal)' ('sculpteur,
ciseleur*; cf. Slouschz 1931: 113). Intl massage was subject to FEN in Taiwan Mandarin
failure mechanism is demonstrated by the creational PSMI n^V Hit 'elite'

(see §3.2.3), which has not replaced its SL origin, Intl elite - cf. I noiV?K
elita. Furthermore, the name of the most famous chocolate factory in
Israel, known abroad as Elite, is spelled in Israeli n^y, i.e. like Hit.
However, it is pronounced elit, rather than Hit. Interestingly, JV*73J Hit has
been nativized as a female first name - cf. §5.2.2.
5.3.3 The semantically shifted TL lexeme is highly diffused in its original

sememe
This type of failure obviously refers only to FEN by semantic shifting.

Consider 17\vn midd, lit. 'measure', which was used in Brandstaedter's
kfar mezagegim (Glaziers' Village) to mean 'fashion', nativizing Intl
moda 'fashion' - cf. I mi» moda, Y yiNB mode, R MOfla moda, G Mode
and P moda.19 Brandstaedter wrote loveshet bigdey almanot shkhorim al
hamidd hakhadashd shebakhadashot '(she is) wearing black widows'
clothes of the very latest fashion' (1920). However, (H>)17\vn midd with
the meaning 'measure' was already widespread and HTB midd 'fashion'
was overtaken by Hemda Ben-Yehuda's 1904 suggestion of I mDN ofnd,
an etymological caique, deriving from pK 'mode' - imitating Intl moda
'fashion', which can be traced back to L modus 'mode' (cf. §1.3.2).
5.3.4 The FEN is regarded as ridiculous or obscure
This reason is common, especially in the case of compound/phrase FENs

(see §3.2.4). Consider the following two medical (S)PMs criticized by
Even-Odem (1950 - for other FENs attacked by him, see §4.2):
m pvn khayddk ganu kaakut (ibid.: 18), lit. '"condemn (imperative, 2nd pi) ring-
shape" microbe' for Intl gonococcus 'the micrococcus found in the discharge of
gonorrhoea', cf. I "\V3 kaakh 'ring-shaped roll, "beigel"', as well as the FEN I m n m
ganu reiyd, 'lit. 'condemn (imperative, 2nd pi) a flowing!' - for Intl gonorrhoea (§4.2).
JX1? lignay ulemum (ibid.: 89), lit. 'for condemnation and for disability', for
(MedL) lyngiasmus 'hiccup', cf. Gk lunks 'hiccup' and luzo 'to have the hiccup', as
well as Welsh llyncu 'swallow, gulp'.
Similarly, bV2 'aip karney bdal 'horns of Baal (the pagan deity)' and the
obscure *?3"P 'mp korney yuvdl and D^ *O pip koren ba ladm were
too - see the visually evocative ^ ^ # 1 mdshaji 'massage', lit. 'horse kills chicken'.
19
Mentioned in Saddan (1955: 36-7).
suggested (cf. Almagor 1993: 54) for 'the Purim carnival', folk-
etymologically nativizing Intl carnival - cf. I *?:mp karnavdl, Y
karnavdl (cf. Vgimgp /carnival, Stutchkoff 1950: 902c and
karnovdl, ibid.: 621b), R KapHaBaji karnavdl and P karnawat. Compare
this to the possible FEN of carnival: MSC M^tfr jianidnhud, consisting
of jian 'good' and nidnhud 'time'. lrt?v\l) "TO nyar toelet, lit. 'utility/
usefulness/benefit paper' is an expression which contains a FEN, where
Jfann toilet is a PM of Intl toilet - cf. I tfrNlD tualetltoalet, F toi/ette
'toilet', toilettes 'bathroom' and P toa/eta 'toilet', as well as E toilet
paper, G Toilettenpapier, R TyaneTHaa 6yMara tualetnaya bumdga and P
papier toaletowy 'toilet paper' (cf. Y T9N9 UP 1W8 asAer yotser /wip/r
'toilet paper').
Avinery (1946: 139) mentions I n t o fc/wv, lit. 'cage' ( « B H mto
[kd'lub] 'wooden bird cage'), as a proposed adaptation for Intl club - cf.
G Klub, R KJiy6 A/M6, P klub and E c/w&. He says that this proposal was
unsuccessful owing to the pronunciation [v], as opposed to [b] (see
lotdmovil 'automobile' in §5.1.4). At this stage one might think that
Avinery is talking about an orthographic FEN only (see §5.4.2).
However, Saddan (1955: 37) clearly regards the spelling aV?D as the pre-
existent lexical item (H>)I rrto 'cage'. This spelling was used by Gordon
in haatsamot hayeveshot (The Dry Bones) (1881) (cf. Gordon 1960: 87a),
and in Gur's dictionaries (1947: 406b; 1949: 142a). However, in these
sources the 3 of aV?D is written with a dagesh forte, hence [klub].
According to Saddan (1955: 37), yho was used by Brener (no reference
given by Saddan). The expected spelling of Intl club is yfop (cf. Kna'ani
1960-89: 5227, 2130; 1998: 2115b), so it is either an SPM (if Saddan is
right) or an orthographic FEN (cf. §5.4.2). In any event, contrary to
Avinery's surmise (1946: 37), it seems that the reason for the failure of
this SPM is that it was seen as ridiculous. Intl club was phono-
semantically matched in Japanese - see §1.3.5.
5.3.5 The FEN is inaccessible to the mass of native speakers
The following creational FENs have not gained much currency since they
never reached common native Israeli-speakers. I TWmx garinit 'granite'
(cf. Affi5:269b and Avinery 1946: 143) is a domestication of Intl granite -
cf. I DTtt granit, Y O'38"tt granit, R granit, P granit and G Granit. All
these forms go back to It. granito, lit. 'grained', from It. grano 'grain',
from L granum 'grain, seed, small kernel', the latter being traceable to
PIE *gf-nom 'corn, worn-down particle', from PIE *ger 'become rotten/
ripe/old, wear away' - cf. Pokorny (1959: i:391). Morphologically,

garinit is based on (RabH»)I VJ7"fl garin 'seed, grain, granule, nucleus5 -
which goes back to Gk kdruon '(any kind of) nut', the latter being
traceable to PIE *kar 'hard' (cf. Pokorny 1959: i:531) - and the suffix
(H>)I W- -it. The semanticization is the granular crystalline structure of
granite, which consists mostly of quartz, orthoclase-feldspar, and mica.
Since the etymology of Intl granite is semantically related to pj7"tt garin
'seed, grain', I still record this FEN as a PSM, not as an SPM.
Similarly, I VD'30 svivol 'swivel' is a failed creational PSM of E
swivel, consisting of the suffix I *71- -61 and (BH»)1330 Asbb 'go round,
encircle, rotate', cf. (H>)lM0 saviv 'around, round' and (H>)1113^30
s(e)vivon '(spinning) top, dreidl'. I svivol was suggested by AHL (see
Lesonenu 18 (3-4), 1953: 242a and ZA 9, 1962: 43a). The suffix I ^- -61
can be found in I *?W0D patishol 'malleolus, malleol, a bony eminence of
the leg bone at the ankle', an unsuccessful neologism concocted in 1953
(cf. Even-Odem 1959: 109, 173) from VPDD 'hammer', perhaps imitating
L malleolus, diminutive of malleus 'hammer'. The suffix H *?V [-51]
appears in (B)H ton [har'gol] 'grasshopper', perhaps from H nn ^hrg
(AffiS:581b), cf. (B)H ^cnp [kar'sol] or ^cnp [kar'so:l] 'ankle'.
111V7D tilelon is Bialik's coinage (cf. Avinery 1935: 20) for 'teil tree,
lime (-tree), linden (-tree)' - cf. F tilleul, E teil, L Tilia (cf. G Linde). It is
a creational SPM based on Aram. NV?D [tal&la] 'shadow'. I tilelon has not
reached the native speakers. Compare this with the loanword I rrô tilyd
'lime tree' (Linde) in HLC's Milon leAvoddt Ets (Dictionary of
Woodwork Terms) (1933: 10, Items 66-8), cf. n^B tilyd in MES (:621c).
The nativizing material Aram. xV?0 [talali] 'shadow' is a cognate of
(B)H *7X [§el] (Itsel) 'shadow' (e.g. Judges 9:15), which was the
nativizing material - along with the suffix IVN- -it - for another failed
Israeli MSN which never filtered down: rPN^X tsilait 'silhouette'
domesticates Intl silhouette, from the French appellative (eponym) of
Etienne de Silhouette (1709-67), a French author and politician 20 - cf.
I OKlÔ siluet, Y oyVro siluet, R CHJiy3T siluet, G Silhouette (cf. G
Schattenrifi) and E silhouette (cf. P sylwetka 'figure'). rPN*7X tsilait
'silhouette' appears in HLC's Milon leMunekhey Kadarut (Dictionary of
Ceramics Terms) (1950: 58) and in Eitan and Medan (1952: 32).
20
The name was intended to ridicule either the petty economies introduced by Silhouette
while holding the office of Controller-General in 1759 or his brief tenure of that office.
Alternatively, Silhouette himself made outline portraits with which he decorated the walls
of his chateau at Bry-sur-Mame (cf. OED). Rosen (1994: 89) mentions only the latter,
whereas Whitcut (1996: 89-90) claims that the reason is Silhouette's parsimony.
These two sources also discuss 10D0 sikhsdkh 'zigzag', a PSM of G

Zickzack, the neologizing material being H DODO Îsksk 'confuse,
complicate'. Notwithstanding the fact that phonetic compromise occurs in
many attempts to find a semantically adequate autochthonous lexical item
which can serve as the neologizing material and despite the Congruence
Principle, the unvoicedness of the consonants leads me to believe that the
SL is specifically German rather than Intl zigzag - cf. I TO zigzag, G
Zickzack, Y ignn zigzag (PY zigzdk) and R 3HT3ar zigzag [zig'zak].21
A vinery (1946: 143) mentions Itf?t2;& mashlet, proposed in 1945 by
the Israeli Rentgenologists Association to supplant G Schalter. I mashlet
is a creational PSM based on Htf7WV/7/ 'control, rule'. However, this
neologism has not caught on (cf. Itf7Wshelet in §3.1.5).
In 1938, Torczyner (under the pseudonym Ben-Yitzhak, see Ben-
Yitzhak 1938: 122-3) suggested the word I pin khonen for G gonnen 'not
to begrudge'. Israeli already had a parallel for jemandem etwas gonnen,
e.g. I W O bw raitn wnf? lidrdsh betovato shel mishehu - cf. the later
neologisms: the successful inD firgen (see §2.1.3) and the failed rf?xn
titsleakh and niTH ritd, all meaning 'did not begrudge (m, sg)\ Moreover,
Er gonnt ihm nicht could be translated into I D ms iry eyno tsard bo. But
Israeli had no specific parallel for Ich gdnne dir das 'I am happy for you
to have this'. Following Torczyner, the parallel Israeli sentence should be
m "O7 "f? p r a 'ON ani mekhonen lekhd davdr ze. Although Torczyner does
not hint at it, pin khonen is in fact a PSM by semantic shifting, since (B)H
pin meant 'took pity on, favoured, granted freely (m, sg)'. However, this
neologism is another one which did not reach native speakers.
5.3.6 The FEN's referent is alien by nature
In some cases the referent (signifie) of the MSN is alien (non-Israeli) by

nature and therefore, owing to 'authenticity', a foreign signifier is
preferred. Some of the FENs mentioned in the previous chapters fall into
this category but a new one is Avraham Shlonsky's compound PSM,
IHWD ^WN eshefkeshef, lit. 'magic, witchcraft', referring to 'hocus-pocus'
(but not succeeding in supplanting the widespread Intl hocus-pocus) and
perhaps prompted by BH W *)W ['Je§6p 'qesep] (I shetsef ketsef) 'flood
21
This view is supported by MES (:1244b). G Zickzack 'zigzag', as well as its descendants,
e.g. E zigzag and R 3Hi3ar zigzag, are not onomatopoeias. G Zickzack originally referred to
'angular pits near a castle' (first used in the curfew on Landau in 1703) and derived from
G Zacke 'peak, point' (see Pisani 1967: 129). Compare the structure to that of the
onomatopoeic G klipp, klapp! 'click-clack' (Drosdowski 1989: 829a).
of anger, little wrath' (Isaiah 54:8). MedH 1WK ['?ejep] derives from H
«1WX [Taj1 Jip] 'magician, wizard', see Daniel 1:20 (cf. Aram. *1WN [?&Jap]
'id.' as in Daniel 2:10), which itself happened to be involved in another
PSM, that of Intl chef (see §3.1.3). I^D ['kejef], on the other hand,
existed in the Old Testament in the plural form BH O'DUD [kaj&'plm], see
Micah 5:11 and Nahum 3:4. Intl hocus-pocus derives from the magical
formula haxpax max Deux adimax (Drosdowski 1989: 288a, Ayto 1990:
284a), although it has also been suggested that it is a parody or
misinterpretation of L hoc est corpus, lit. 'This is the body' (meaning
'This bread is the body of Christ', during the Eucharist, OED). According
to Kna'ani (1989: 36a), HWD HWN eshef keshefwas coined by Shlonsky,
whose eshef keshef gets ben reshef (see 1947: 48) resembles Hocus
pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter iubeo 'Hocus-pocus, stupid
Talontus, go quickly, I order!' (cf. OED)}2 Since Israel does not have a
particularly well-developed tradition of conjuring and as most Israelis
have been exposed to stories of international magicians (e.g. David
Copperfield, i.e. David Seth Kotkin, b. 1956; or the escapologist Harry
Houdini, i.e. Erich Weiss, 1874-1926), eshef keshef d\& not have much
chance beside Intl hocus-pocus,
5.4 The success ofMSNs in gaining currency
Despite the failures described in §5.3, the statistical analysis in §7

demonstrates that 50 per cent ofMSNs are successful. This success rate is
much higher than that for neologisms in general. I shall demonstrate the
extent of failure-success in §7. MSN has been widely successful amongst
(i) speakers who are not familiar with the SL expression (this especially
applies to the generations following the coinage); (ii) speakers who are
familiar with the SL expression but who cannot see the connection;
(iii) Israeli purists who know the SL expression but who deliberately
refrain from using it. The following sections examine some particular
cases of successful and partially successful MSNs.
22
cf. the DOPE that the second-century AD Latin expression abracadabra derives from
Aram, rrray "D .Tvay, lit. 'sin (n.) when sin (n.)' (cf. MESMa and Alcalay 1967: 4).
Consider also T. A. G. Balfour's 1860 explanation that abracadabra derives from twice
max, the first letters of H tmpn nn , p ,3N I av ben ruakh hakodesh 'Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit* (cf. OED; cf. other abbreviating reanalyses in Zuckermann 2000: 317-19).
5.4.1 The FEN is not phonetically close to the SL lexical item
Sometimes a FEN is nativized successfully because of the very fact that it

does not sound similar to the SL lexical item, so that the native speaker is
not reminded of the latter (§5.3.1). Consider l])XX gaon 'genius, person
with a very high IQ'. BH ll*U [g&'?<Jn] meant 'excellence' (e.g. Psalms
47:5, Isaiah 4:2) and 'pride' (e.g. Isaiah 16:6, cf. BH miu [ga?S'w&]
'pride'). MedH \m [g£'?On] began to serve as 'gaon' (OED), an honorific
for the heads of Jewish academies in Babylonia, Palestine, Syria and
Egypt from the sixth to the eleventh centuries. Later, throughout Spain
and Italy and in eighteenth-century Vilna, iiiu came to refer to a 'person
with exceptional knowledge of the Torah'. It appears that in the
nineteenth century, to match Intl genius (cf. Y 'aywr zheni, R reHHfi genif,
P geniusz and F genie), it began to refer to 'genius, prodigy' and only
then returned to 'Hebrew' as IIM gaon 'genius'. Not only has this last
meaning been successful, but many secular Israelis understand Tttîtt liton
hagaon mivilna as a person of phenomenal IQ rather than one very well
versed in the Torah. It is, however, possible that the semantic shift might
have occurred in Yiddish, cf. Y ]m goyon 'gaon, genius' (pi: D*anu
geoynim). Synchronically speaking, ittci gaon does not sound very similar
to E genius, and is therefore in no danger of being rejected for genius.
The case of I rmDB mekhond 'machine' might be similar; Wexler
(1990: 32fh) suggests that its mnemonic 'failure' might be intentional.
BH 7VXDQ [mako'n&J (e.g. I Kings 7: 27, 30, 35, Ezra 3:3) means 'base'
(from BH J1D ^kwn 'be firm, set up, establish'). In Israeli, pronounced
mekhond, it means 'machine', nativizing Intl machine', cf. R MauiHHa
mashina (and perhaps also R mekhanizm, mekhdnika; R makhina 'bulky
and cumbersome object', Wheeler et al. 1997: 232b), P maszyna (cf. P
machina, used in very specific contexts: either figuratively, e.g. machina
wojenna 'war machine/effort', or referring to obsolete, big machines, e.g.
machina oblqznicza 'siege-machine'), G Maschine (and perhaps G
machen 'do, make'), L machina (see also Sivan 1966: 200 = 1995: 26).
Consider also (Doric) Gk makhand (cf. Glare 1988: 1057), a variant of
mekhane, whose ch [x] resembles I [%]; cf. the internationalistic morpho-
phonemic adaptation I 'JNDB mekhdni 'mechanical'.
RabH ^Dia [muk'ni] or [mlk'nl] 'machine, part of a machine' (see
Mishnah: Yoma 3:10), which was used by Mendele and other modern
writers, might have assisted in the introduction of the new sememe in
Israeli ('machine') to H^miDB. RabH '3D1B is a morpho-phonemic
adaptation of Gk mekhani 'machine'. However, Slouschz (1930: 348)
suggests that the etymon of ^DlB is H 31D ^kwn (the root of H niDD).
Moreover, he claims (1930: 352, 355) that H H31DQ is the origin of Gk

mekhani, implying that the adoption of Intl machine as I HTDB (appearing
in the nineteenth century; cf. MBY:vi:29$9?L, Milon leMunekhey
haTekhnika 1929 passim) is in fact a case ofTOOT1?mtw mtnn hakhzardt
atard leyoshnd 'restoring [the crown, here 'the word'] to its former glory'
(cf. Slouschz 1930: 355). However, it seems that the real etymon of Gk
mekhani is PIE *magh 'be able to', the origin of G Macht 'power' (cf.
Pokorny 1959: i:695, and Menge 1913: 455a, under Gk mikhos 'means'),
and perhaps a cognate of PIE *meg(h) 'big', the origin of Intl mega.
5.4.2 The neologism is spelled as FEN but pronounced as the SL word:

'orthographic FENf facilitated by the 'consonantal' Hebrew script
A famous medical compound SPM is I yvîn23 khblird, consisting

'disease' and sn 'bad', for Intl cholera - cf. I m^lD kholera (puristically
kolera), Y JHJftKD kholero, R xonepa kholera, P cholera, L cholera, G
Cholera and Gk xoAcpa kholera. The neologizer might deny that srtfnn is
a new lexical item by referring to Ecclesiastes 6:2, where this
combination appears.24 Thus, I yT*?in can be regarded as a PSM alleged
by purists to have appeared in the Old Testament, cf. I Hit 'elite' and
Isapd 'sofa' in §3.2.3. Unlike Avinery's prediction that yiîn 'will
definitely not change its form' (1946: 139), it has not been phonetically
nativized and the current word for cholera is (Intl>)I rrfro kholera, which
purists prefer to pronounce kolera (see MES:722c). However, I S/Tîn has
confused many native speakers trying to spell mîD and both hybrid
spellings SJTÎD and riTîn exist - see, for instance, Journal of Kupat
Kholim Maccabi (1994). In his Lexicon of Foreign Words, Gur (1949:
23
This form, srvVin (as one word en bloc as distinct from sn ••Vin) appears in • Even-Odem
and Rotem's milon refui khaddsh (New Medical Dictionary) (1967: 148); • Robashov's
milon refui ivri rusi (Hebrew-Russian Medical Dictionary) (1971: 35), Gur (1949: 118a,
141b); and • MES (:512a). The form vr'in (without 1) appears in Klausner (1949: 72),
Choueka (1997: 641), and MES (:543c). However, neither VpVin nor W^n is mentioned
in Feingold and Freier (1991), who only mention IHTVQ, the alternative spelling (see
above) of (Intl>)I mVo kholera.
24
BH o ^ x n OT'W XÎ mwr im •?:>& waft ion "orw TQDI DÔDJI -wy tfrftxn V? in1 -WN WX
xin sn frni ^ n m tftoip naa tzrx o uno VDN1? [?Tf ?a"Jer jit'ten 16 ha?glo'hTm 'tofer
unska'sim waka'fcOd wd?e'nennu ha'ser tenap'Jfi mik'kol ?a"Jer jit?aw'w6ww3'lo
jaJlt'tennQ ha?glo'hTm le?g*kol mi'mennQ, kT ?TJ nok'rT joka"lennO zs 'hebel wa'h&lT ra9
hu] "A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth
nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof,
but a stranger eateth it: this is a vanity, and it is an evil disease* (KJ) (Ecclesiastes 6:2),
cf. 'grievous ill' (NRSV).
118a) mentions yrîn both as a definiendum (sending the reader to

and as a definiens (of n-frlD). This might prove the 'schizoid' nature of
this FEN: it is both foreign (i.e. it is only an orthographic Hebraization of
m*7iD) and native (i.e. it is a pure Hebrew word). Even the alternative
spelling m^TD - with * (y) might have been induced by snîn. Consider
also the derivative wirrtin 'cholerina' (Even-Odem and Rotem 1967:
Hebrew-English Section: 102). SlangI kholera refers to 'evil/bad person',
an adaptation of the additional sememe of Y Viy^KD kholero, cf. P
cholera, referring to 'a malicious person', usually a woman - perhaps
because of the feminine (linguistic) gender (however, P cholera is more
frequently used as an expletive such as E shit! or G Scheifie!). However,
some native Israeli-speakers whom I have studied linked kholera 'evil/
bad person' to (H>)I sn ra 'bad'.
(Yitzhak) Adolf Cremieux (1796-1880) was a pro-Jewish French
minister of law. Out of respect and affection, Haskalah writers called him
IT1 DID ['kerem j&] 'God's vineyard'. Such a 'magnanimous FEN' brings to
mind MasH 1KD ran rabes per, lit. 'full (feminine) of glory', for
Robespierre, as well as Chinese positive anthroponymic FENs (cf.
§1.4.3.3). The form ['kerem ji], thus vocalized, is employed, for example
by Gordon (cf. 1956: 304-5, 373). Compare such a Hebraization with the
process described in §4.7, where surnames are Hebraized according to
their Hebrew spelling, thus ridding the surname of its foreign sound.
However, the reason for presenting this FEN in this section is synchronic:
the spelling rp DID — albeit normally not the vocalization — is still used on
the signs of the Tel Aviv street named after Cremieux. The usual
pronunciation is not kerem ya but rather kremye, thus constituting an
orthographic FEN. As in the case of wVin 'cholera', the word is spelled
as though it was a FEN, but pronounced as foreign.
I mnoa mistori 'mysterious' might be considered an orthgraphic FEN
of Intl mysterious. The nativizing material was the earlier MSN RabH
imnoa [misto'rih] 'mystery, secret' (Midrash Rabba to Exodus 19;
Jastrow 1903: 812a suggests that the meaning was 'confusion'), which
derived from both BH "iinon [mis'tOr] 'hiding place' (from "ino Îstr 'hide,
secret') and Gk mustirion 'mystery'. The spelling of lmnoa, which uses
n (0 rather than D (/) strengthens the PSM analysis. H D (/) is the usual
transliteration of Gk x (t), whilst H n (t) transliterates Gk 9 (th) - cf. Ar.
v*25 ['taqni] 'technical' in §2.1.3. Compare nwon mistori to ModH nnoo
P1KD misterey pariz, lit. 'the hiding places of Paris', which is the title of
Schulmann's Hebrew translation (1857-60) of Eugene Sue's Les Mysteres
de Paris (1842-3, cf. 1989). Schulmann chose (the nomen rectum form
of) (B)H Dnno» [mist&'rim] 'hiding places' rather than (B)H
[taTiilu'mot] 'mysteries' because of its coincidental phonetic similarity to

F mysteres 'mysteries'.
Other examples of orthographic Israeli MSNs are • 31*73 kluv-klub
'club' (§5.3.4); • to kevel-kdbel 'cable' (§5.4.4); • m bait 'byte' (§4.5);
• "in T)D pitey bar-pet ber 'petit beurre* (§4.4); and • ]V2DT\ tekhniyon
'Technion' (as opposed to 1V33D) (cf. §5.1.3).
A partial orthographic MSN is exemplified by I np'Jtiy antika 'antique
(n)', from Intl antique (cf. Y j^tttK antik, G Antike), most probably via Ar.
*££l [?an'ti:ka] 'antique, object of ancient art'. The Israeli spelling np'Jiay
(see, for example, OEHD: 1030a, cf. InpÔJS;, ibid.: 593b) imitates
(H>)IpW atik 'old, ancient', whose use, in turn, might have been
intensified because of Intl antique - cf. use-intensification (Zuckermann
2000:313-17).
One test for determining whether a neologism is a classic FEN or just
an orthographic FEN is to ascertain that it appears in a lexicon of
foreignisms/loanwords. For orthographic MSNs in Hebrew (not in
Israeli), see Torczyner (1938: 20-1).
Orthographic FEN is often possible because Israeli uses the
'consonantal' Hebrew writing system- cf. apophony (§2.1.3). In the case
of Israeli this script lacks a one-to-one correlation between signs and
sounds. For example, 3 (k) and p (q) are both pronounced [k], and T\ (t)
and £>(/)- [t]. In addition, common Israeli orthography does not include
vocalization (vowel marking, nikud 'pointing', cf. diacritics), which
leaves the reader with several possible pronunciations (note that there are
many cases of Israeli words spelled in the same way but differing in
vocalization), and which sometimes results in 'mispronunciations' such as
the following:
• mitabnim instead of metaavnim - for o^xno 'appetizers', from Tnsn teavon
'appetite'. Note the distinct Q'ttMTiD mitabnim 'becoming fossilized (m, pi)'.
• maale edomim instead of maale adumim - for the toponym BH D"7rrN rftya in Joshua
15:7,18:17 (seeZiv 1996:77;£A/F:313).
• The hypercorrect yotveta instead of yotvdta - for the toponym BH nrao\ mentioned
in Deuteronomy 10:7 (see KMV:23\).
• farafost instead of farafoset - for the anthroponym 0019 mKD Farrah Fawcett (an
American actress).
Sometimes the process is more overtly analogous. For example, the

toponym nmw (by and large written without the diacritic on the W - as
opposed to Jimitf), lit. 'boulevards, avenues, rows', is often pronounced
shderot, instead of the sderot - owing to (H>)I mTO shidrd 'spine, spinal
column' (see Sarfatti 1972: 186). Lack of vocalization might even result
in a new name. For instance, there is an Israeli named Reviel who is thus
called because his mother heard a child misreading *7Wn pronouncing it
REVIEL instead of ROYAL (a brand of cigarettes). Often, the only way of

discovering what the writer means is by context. Consider the
homographs spelled p*?3: baleben 'in the sour milk', belavdn 'in white',
balaban 'Balaban (a surname)', belibdn 'in their heart' (cf. p'te).
I remember looking for a Morasha Shooting Range (thinking it might be
near Morasha Junction, not far from Tel Aviv) because I was asked to go
to ntmo miDB in order to renew a handgun licence. I ntzniB actually stood
for murshe (Vr$) 'authorized, allowed, permitted' (and also 'deputy,
representative, delegate'). I morasha (ÎjrJ) literally means 'legacy,
inheritance, heritage'. Finally, nunio could also stand for mivdrsha 'from
Warsaw'. Similarly, I nfrn can represent both hayaldd 'the girl' and
hilda 'Hilda (a name)', and I rrtwn can stand for both hashfeld 'the
lowland' and hashpald 'humiliation'. Intriguing examples include
misreading the newspaper headline 1D3 rrn TiKDiy as arafdt hayd babun
'Arafat was a baboon' instead of arafdt hayd bebon 'Arafat was in Bonn'.
Thus, even gvirol is the common pronunciation in Tel Aviv of pN
•flTDl Ibn Gabirol, a street named after Solomon Ben-Yehuda ibn Gabirol
(in Latin: Avicebron, 1022-70). This is probably a (subconscious/semi-
deliberate) de-Arabicization assisted by (Hebraized) surnames such as
IWiW-pK Even-Shoshan (a lexicographer; Milon EvenShoshan [MES] in
one edition or another, is familiar to almost all Israelis), toponyms such as
•mrp pK even yehuda (a town in the Sharon), TDO pN even sapir (a
moshav near Jerusalem), DruD pN even menakhem (a moshav in Galilee)
and j?n2P pK even yitskhdk (a kibbutz in Ramat Menashe).25
Absurdly enough, Israelis, almost all of whom can read roman letters,
sometimes turn to the English transcription on Israeli signs (confused
though it is) in order to find out how to pronounce an Israeli toponym
previously unknown to them.26 This situation has prompted some linguists
and non-linguists to propose romanization. A peculiar form of
25
The 'mispronunciation' iven gyirdl is not that apparent in Jerusalem, inter alia because its
inhabitants are more used to the names o f medieval Spanish Jewish thinkers.
26
That said, there are cases in which the Israeli orthography is more effective than the
'English', compare IltfrK'XW with E Ocalan, the latter sometimes being pronounced
['okolan] or [o'kolan], as though he were Scottish, rather than a Kurd bearing a Turkish
surname meaning 'revenge seeker, vengeant' (cf. Tu. 6c 'revenge' + Tu. alan 'taker', cf.
Tu. almak 'to take, get, buy'; his full name being Abdullah (Apo) Ocalan) - cf. the
Anglicization O'Hana of the Sephardic surname raniK lokhdna (§4.7). Compare also
I lpwn^lD miloshevich with E Milosevic, usually pronounced [mi'losavitj] with [s] instead
of Lf], The Israeli pronunciation is more faithful to the Serbian one. Whereas English tends
to maintain the original spelling of surnames, Polish, for example, prefers to adapt the
spelling to maintain the original pronunciation - cf. Szekspir 'Shakespeare' and
Waszyngton 'Washington'.
romanization is already apparent in witty Israeli advertisements, e.g.

arpfcS (speaking, note the schwa below the S), the name of a school
teaching English in Z.O.A. House ('Zionists of America House', Tel
Aviv), %$fk (note the vocalization) and m r o n £ (ze tapuzina 'This is
Tapuzina (the name of an orange juice drink)'). Compare such creations
to the use of roman letters in Japanese.
5 A3 The MSN is deHebraized and regarded as alien
The 'authenticity' described in §5.3.6 is sometimes so dominant that a

potentially effective camouflage for a foreign word in the form of MSN is
doomed to failure. However, this does not necessarily mean that the MSN
does not gain currency. Consider, for example, I HUD pita 'pitta, pitta
bread (a flat, round, slightly leavened bread, hollow inside so that it can
be filled with food)' (mentioned in MMM 1938: 77). The penultimate
stress (which characterizes the Judaeo-Spanish co-etymon of this PSM -
see below) might remind an Israeli of Arabic. In fact, this type of bread is
perceived by many Israelis as being non-Jewish, in contrast with the
Ashkenazic braided bread loaf known as challah. Glinert (1992: 186)
claims that 'The word pitta isn't as Arabic as it sounds. It's...Aramaic'
His statement, however, should be modified since nriD pita is not only
Aramaic but also Judaeo-Spanish. It hybridizes:
1. JudSp. pita 'a slightly leavened flat bread', which can be traced back to ModGk nixa
pita ( » S p . pita 'id.'). ModGk i&xapita 'a slightly leavened flat bread, pie' - which is
also the origin of Tu. pide 'a slightly leavened flat bread' (see RTED:933SL) (ConTu.
pide usually refers to a long pizza but also to naan-like bread) - can be traced back to
MedGk nttta pitta (cf. mfyrca pitta) 'bread, cake, pie', which might derive from Gk
nenxdqpeptos 'cooked' (from Gk neooa) pesso or TTSTTCO p&tto 'cook, bake'). Andriotis
(1967: 283a), however, believes that, ModGk nixa pita is a borrowing from It. pitta,
from L picta, from Gk nrjKTf| pekti (f) 'thickened, congealed' (from Gk Terry- peg-
'fasten'). Note that, by and large, no Turkish word of Turkic descent begins with p.
2. Aram, xno [pita] 'piece, bread' (Talmud: B'rakhoth 40a), cf. BH no [pat]27 'morsel,
(piece of) bread', which appears in II Samuel 12:3 and Proverbs 28:21; cf. BH nns ^ptt
'crumb, crumble' (Leviticus 2:6) and Ar. &* ffatta] 'crumbled (m, sg)', cf. VAr. JP& t i
['fatt al'xubaz] 'crumbled the bread, separated the loaves (m, sg)'.
Israeli dictionaries completely ignore the (Greek) Judaeo-Spanish co-

etymon. Kna'ani (1960-89: 4891; 1998: 4873b) does not discuss any
possible source whilst Even-Shoshan (MES: 1496a) mentions only
27
H no participates in several other PSMs: I IKS no pat peer 'petit four* (cf. Zuckermann
2000: 114-15), 113 ^BOpitey bar 'petit beurre* (cf. ibid.: 130), and even BH JQ no [pat'bag]
'delicacies, portion (of food) for a king' (cf. ibid.: 131).
Aramaic. Note that in some places, the Vernacular Arabic parallel for
pitta is ['bita]. Stahl (1995: 84a) is incautious in claiming that Aram. KDD
is the origin of both 17\n*)pita and (the rare) VAr. ['bita] since Aram. D (p)
would yield/in Arabic, not b. I believe that the ultimate origin of VAr.
['bita] is ModGk nixapita. Since there is no [p] in Arabic (hence a further
inaccuracy in Glinert's remark above), the phonetic realization of ModGk
nixapita could only be ['bita]; cf. VAr. £ ^ ['kmasi] 'pitta' (in northern
Israel), VAr. c ^ l j ^ [xubz al'lonac^] 'pitta', Ar. 6£j j± [xubz ra'qi:q]
(lit. 'thin bread') 'Iraqi pitta, non-hollow pitta, lafa' (cf. naan, pastilla), cf.
Lebanese VAr i3A>* j ^ [xubz mar'qurq] 'id.'.
Similarly, I mb laba 'lava', which sounds alien to the native speaker's
ear, is a nativization of Intl lava (cf. R JiaBa lava, P Iowa, G Lava, Y JniK1?
lavo, E lava), cf. inter alia Florio (1598: 199c): laua 'a running gullet,
streame, or gutter sodainly caused by raine'. The nativizing form was
induced by BH ,13*7 [lab'bS] 'flame' (see Exodus 3:2: BH WK m1? [lab'bat
?ej] 'flame of fire'), traceable to BH mn1? [lehi'ba] 'flame'. Israeli
dictionaries explain neither the preferred pronunciation laba as opposed
to lava nor the preferred spellingTO*?as opposed to the foreign-seeming
TON1? (the latter term is preferred by Choueka 1997: 871) or miN1?.
Probably due to the (Italian) penultimate stress, the dictionaries chose to
ignore the possible influence of BH 7\?b [lab'bi] 'flame'28 and to treat
ITO1?laba 'lava' only as a loanword from Italian. The direct Italian origin
itself is disputable, sinceTO*7'lava' probably entered Israeli from other
European forms of lava, which in turn go back to Italian (hence my use of
Intl lava rather than It. lava).29
28
However, the stress o f I na1? is the same as in Italian, i.e. penultimate.
29
Such flawed lexicographic practice is universal. I call it the 'cf. ~2from' fallacy since it
occurs when one writes 'deriving/row' instead of 'compare with' or 'can be (ultimately)
traced back to*. A lexicographer should not fall into the trap of claiming that E
ressentiment is a foreignism from French; it entered English from German (cf. Nietzsche
1887, for example in the First Article, Section 10, cf. 1966: ii:782). Similarly, one should
not be misled into believing that I V?rx iglu 'snow house' entered Israeli directly from the
Eskimo/Inuit/Inupik term for 'house*; it derives from its descendant, Intl igloo (cf. E igloo,
G Iglu, R Hrjry iglu). An incautious reader of MES might end up believing that I ViiTO^K
alkohdlldlkohol 'alcohol' is from Ar. Jj^» [?alku'hu:l] (cf. J ^ i [?al'kuhl] in MESJlb -
see the PSM I to kohel/kdhal 'alcohol' in §6.3) although it is actually an adaptation of
Intl alcohol (cf. R ajiKorojib alkogdl', P alkohol, Y VKnKpVK alkohol, E alcohol), which in
turn can be traced back to Ar. d j * ^ [?alku'hu:l] 'the alcohol'. Similarly, an incautious
reader might think that I rnrD khimyalkimya (the latter is rare and is mostly uttered by
purists, but note also the spelling rrcrn, for example in ZV6,1928: 53) 'chemistry' is from
Ar. * W ['ki:mija:?] (cf. VAr. ['ki:m(i)ja], cf. Ar. • W ['fhzija:?] 'physics1 versus VAr.
['fi:z(i)ja] 'id.') (cf. MES:133b) whereas it is actually a naturalization of Intl chemistry (cf.
R XHMHJI ximiya, P chemia, Y SPOiD khemyo), which in turn goes back to Arabic.
With regard to Intl lava, etymologists link It. lava to It. lavare 'wash'
or to L labes 'falling in, sinking in', cf. L labe 'sliding (adv.)' (cf. OED,
Cortelazzo and Zolli 1999: 855a). It is important to note, however, the
early Ar.*<&['la:ba] 'tract of black stones' (cf. Hava 1915: 699b), 'earth
covered with (volcanic) black stones'. This form is documented already in
the sixth century AD: (i) Ar. vj* [lu:b] 'lavas (of the ffarrah, the great
volcanic uplands north of the Persian Gulf)' (plural of Ar. Vtf [V.ba])
appears in a poem by Al-Jumaife (i.e. Munqidh Ibn AHammah), who fell
at the battle of Shi'b Jabalah, fought in or about AD 570 (cf. Lyall 1918:
ii:7-9); (ii) Ar. ^V ['la.ba] itself appears in a poem by 'Amir Ibn AHufail
(pre-Islamic), cf. Lyall's translation of Ar. &j*± Vtf ['la:bat 'danrad] as
'the Lava of parghad' (1918: ii:301, Section 3). Thus, I believe that
Arabic played a role in It. lava. The latter might have been a PSM of Ar.
*JV ['la:ba], the nativizing material being It. lavare 'wash'. L labes
appears to be a DOPE. Note that Arabic-speakers occupied Sicily and
southern Italy (cf. Lyall 1918: ii:9, Note 10) and it seems that It. lava first
referred to volcanoes in southern Italy, perhaps to 'a lava-stream from
Vesuvius' (in the Neapolitan dialect, cf. OED).
Ar. Vtf [fla:ba] is traceable to MJ* V/W6, which is related to H 3*6
'be thirsty', cf. BH n(l)aKbn p « a naioa [bammid'bfir b3'?ere$ tal?u'bot]
'in the wilderness, in the land of great drought' (KJ), cf. 'burning heat')
(Hosea 13:5). Even-Shoshan (M£S:1939a) links H art? <l?b to H arfr
Alhb, which is the very root of mrfr, the origin of BH na1? [lab'b&] 'flame',
used to nativize (Ar.>It>)Intl lava. Thus, I rch 'lava' should be regarded
as an interesting case of Semitic ur-source incestuous PSM (see §3.1.4.2).
The following figure summarizes this process:
Italian Israeli
t
Arabic Semitic
t
Hebrew
Figure 46
A similar case of deHebraizing stress is exemplified in (the non-MSN)

I^sn tupi 'revolver', which is originally Hebrew and under normal
circumstances would have been pronounced tupi. It derives from BH ^n
[top] 'drum' and generally means 'drum-like' or specifically (in the case
of the weapon) 'drum-loaded', since the cartridges are kept in a drum

(cylinder). Ben-Arye (1988: 33) suggests that it was induced by R
6apa6aH barabdn 'drum, revolver'. However, I ^T) (mpti) (ekddkh) tupi
'revolver' is pronounced tupi and is conceived of by many Israelis as a
foreign word, sometimes even spelled ''DID, with D (/) rather than T) (t). The
main reason is the foreignness of the referent (the revolver is associated
with wild west movies). An assisting factor might be an analogy (small
Systemzwang) to W1D ran tove tutu> lit. 'tutu rifle', referring to the rifle
whose diameter is 0.22 (hence two-two > I tutu) inches (5.56 millimetre).
Another possible reason is an analogy to I "On 'parrot', which is almost
always pronounced with a penultimate stress: tula.
Penultimate stress often implies alienation or foreignness. Consider
lyerikho 'Jericho', a derogatory form of (H>)I i m \ usually yerikho, the
oldest town known in Eretz Yisrael Israel's late former Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, pronounced ifTT as yerikho once it became clear that the
area was going to be ceded to the Palestinians, as though attempting to
create revulsion for this land by hinting that 'it is not biblical BH [jari'ho]
but rather alien yerikho9. Possibly the stress was also induced by Ar. ^jil
[?ar'ri:ha:] 'Jericho'. An example working in the contrary direction,
which might sustain my argument is Israel's former Prime Minister
Shimon Peres's pronunciation of the Israeli acronym H'^K Rf.p. 'PLO
(Palestine Liberation Organization)'. In what I perceive as an attempt to
'humanize' the PLO at a time when it was widely seen in Israel as a
terrorist movement, Peres pronounced n"WN as ashdf, unlike the common
pronunciation dshaf.30
Penultimate stress in Israeli words which are originally ultimately
stressed is not a simple matter. In contrast to the previous examples, it can
sometimes serve to imply affection. Consider khatula 'female cat', an
endearing form of I rftinn khatula 'female cat'. This tendency can be
linked to a Yiddish influence, for example in the case of anthroponyms
(see Zuckermann 2001a). Thus, the existence of alienating penultimate
stress does not weaken the influence of Yiddish on Israeli. A similar
phenomenon, mutatis mutandis, also contributes to derogatory plural
forms in Yiddish. Consider Y cnvirnw shrdybors 'writers', which has the
derogatory form Y osnKT'HW shraybdros 'bad writers'. In such forms, a
Hebrew plural suffix is sometimes added to a non-Hebrew lexical item,
3O
cf. political use of euphemisms, e.g. Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
use of the neutral nwyo peimdu lit. beatings (of the heart)', to refer to the stages in the
Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. Xpeimot might lessen the opposition of
right-wing Israelis to such * withdrawal' (I nroa nesigd).
for instance Y c r a r w shndydors 'tailors' has the derogatory parallel Y

DnN"P3W shnaydorim 'bad tailors', and Y o w n w vundors 'wonders'
exists along with Y O'T'TON vundeyrim '"miracles", "wonders'". Future
research should thoroughly analyse the functions and implications of non-
native stress in Israeli, cf. also mizbala for I nâtfe mizbald 'refuse heap,
dunghill' and sakin kfitsit for I M P D P roo sakin kfitsit 'stiletto,
switchblade'. For further discussion of penultimate stress in Israeli, see
§1.2.1 and §2.3, as well as Zuckermann (2001a).
Penultimate stress is not the only way of making an Israeli word sound
foreign. l3/"ns> (p.h.f.) pdkha, an acronym for rw ^nn xn^D pigiia
khablani oyen 'hostile terrorist event', is usually pronounced by Israelis
fdkha. Autochthonous Hebrew words - as opposed to Arabic ones - can
begin with [p] but not with [f]. Hence the Arabic sound of fdkha, cf.
Israeli words of Arabic descent such as r&o^D falestin 'Palestine', rf?D
faldkh 'farmer' and nn'7S fadikha 'embarrassment, an event causing one
to put one's foot in one's mouth'. The Arabicization of 57"nD was induced
by the association in Israel between terror events and Arabs.
A curious case of MSN turning an Israeli neologism into a foreign
word is embodied in I ]Vlp 'mall'. The coiners of this word in the late
1980s may have had in mind H ^p ^qnj (cf. its later form nap Îqnh) 'buy'
and I inn khanyon or khenyon 'parking place'.31 They had the intention of
pronouncing it kanyon - see LLN11 (July 1995) and Gadish (1998: 59) -
or kniyon. However, ]Vip is often pronounced kenyon, in exactly the same
way as Israelis pronounce E canyon.31 This could be because the
architectural structure of the first Israeli mall(s) resembled a canyon. It
seems, however, that this is a unique deHebraizing PM of an indigestible
Hebrew-based neologism. As a result, they matched it phonetically with
the foreign - but still more familiar - E canyon ['ksenjan]. I mention E
canyon specifically rather than Intl canyon (cf. Sp. canon, R Kam>0H
kan 'on, G Canon) because ]Vlp 'mall' is usually pronounced kenyon in
accordance with the American pronunciation - as opposed to kanyon.33
The normal Israeli orthography, which lacks vocalization, might have
contributed to this confusion.34
31
cf. I man khaniydlkhanaya 'parking, parking place*. MES (:560b) provides only the
pronunciation khenyon. However, in LLN 11 (July 1995) it is stated that ]V2p should be
pronounced kanyon as ]VX\ khanyon and irao savydn ('ragwort').
32
Note also the English spelling o f ]Vip on signs o f the Egged Bus Company: canion (not
kanyon) e.g. in Giv'at Ram, Jerusalem.
33
1 wonder whether the pronunciation kanyon is frequent among Russian immigrants t o
Israel owing to R KaHbOH kan 'on 'canyon*.
34
E canyon derives from Sp. carton, traceable to a Semitic cognate o f B H ruj? [q&'ne] 'cane*.
The deHebraizing process resulting in kenyon is opposite to the

mechanism typical of puristic FEN. The latter attempts to camouflage
foreign influence, whilst in kenyon the foreignness is welcome. Such
desirable foreignness occurs in the 'recherche AmE Htiagen Dazs,
coined to give a false impression of Scandinavian origin.35 A lack of
camouflage as in kenyon 'mall' also exists in another successful Israeli
neologism: I "JIDK^D pelefon 'mobile (phone), cellular (phone)' is an
antonomastic partial SPM of (Intl>)I pDVo telefon 'telephone', consisting
of (H>)I vbspele 'wonder' and (Intl>)111D- -fon 'phone'. The clipping N*?D
pile 'mobile (phone)' has also been used.
Yitzhak Dov Berkowitz's 1932 MSN smViy adlaydda, pronounced
adloydda, 'the Purim carnival',36 was modelled in pronunciation and
gender upon (Intl>)I nWDO'^lN olimpyada 'Olympic games, Olympiad'.
Morphologically, jrrtny consists of RabH vv ti?l IV [Yad da'Hl j&'da?] '[at
Purim, one should get drunk] until one cannot know [the difference
between the sentences "Cursed be Haman" and "Blessed be Mordecai"]'
(cf. Talmud: Megillah 7b). Either olimpyada or adloydda were the model
ferrmrciD'Dy afifonydda 'kite game festival' andmKWit) trempiydda
'hitch-hiking spot' - see naturalization by morphological reanalysis in
Zuckermann (2000: 328-33).
A different type of PM into a language which is not the speaker's
mother tongue occurs in the following cases, some of which are a result of
hypercorrection. MedL/It. Via Dolorosa, lit. 'sorrowful/painful way'
(Christ's route through Jerusalem to Calvary) is often transformed by
Israelis into Via della Rosa, isolating the well-known signifier rosa (or
Rosa) by recalibrating the unfamiliar *dolo into the Italian preposition
della, common to many Italian surnames, e.g. Della Crusca, Della
Robbia, Della Chiesa; cf. also Eco's // Nome della Rosa (1980).
Similarly, E Westminster is pronounced by many Israelis Westminister, in
accordance with the well-known but unrelated words minister or Prime
Minister, cf. the phonetically hypercorrect forms in § 1.2.1.
Sometimes the native speaker hypercorrectly renders a foreign word
even more foreign, or rather paradigmatically foreign, by changing one
35
Counter-examples include the Israeli M S N s glida 'ice-cream', kartiv 'ice-lolly (§4.4) and
kif kef'Kit Kat' (§3.1.3), as well as I pfaglik, a chocolate candy (similar to M&M's) sold
in Mea Shearim, the ultra orthodox Yiddish speaking neighbourhood of Jerusalem. I glik
hybridizes the common Jewish surname p*1^ Glik (cf. Y p"1^ glik and G GlUck 'good
fortune, luck') with Click, the usual name of the product. This is a clever social adaptation
since the residents of this neighbourhood are not Americanized and would therefore reject
a product called Click, or at least not be particularly attracted to it.
36
Mentioned by Almagor (1993:54); cf. Almagor (1995).
phonetic feature. Consider the 'correction' by many Israelis (and others)

of It. paparazzi [papa'rattsi]37 into ''nDD papardchi (as if it were It.
*paparacci).3% I papardchi might sound more Italian to non-speakers of
Italian, influenced by the many international Italianisms and names which
do include the sound [ft], e.g. cappuccino, ciao, arrivederci, ciabatta,
fettuccine, concerto, Cicciolina, Lancia, La Dolce Vita, Luciano
(Pavarotti), (Andrea) Bocelli, (Leonardo) da Vinci, Marcello
(Mastroianni), (Salvatore Toto) Schillaci, Puccini, Pagliacci, Boccaccio
and Fiumicino?9 Similarly, E mess tin was domesticated as Colloql ar&OB
mesting, echoing the widespread English suffix -ing. E special ['spejal] is
usually pronounced by Israelis as *7W"D0 speyshel, the diphthong ey being
perceived as typically English. Compare this with the hypercorrection
associated with Y oy: some Israelis attempting to imitate Yiddish
pronounce shdyhm instead of sholem (oV?W 'peace') and khoyhm instead
of kholem (m*?n 'dream') - cf. the case of the American club of
Yiddishophiles called OTan mevinom 'experts, connoisseurs' (cf. AmE
maven 'expert', also used sarcastically as 'self-proclaimed, opinionated'),
which originally billed itself as mevdynim, a hypercorrect plural form of
n'raa, perhaps induced by Y D'Tiop^p doktoyrom 'physicians', the
standard plural form of Y ly&pKl doktor. Consider also the hypercorrect Y
klezmdyrim, as though it were the plural form of Y "iBT-^3 klezmor, the
grammatically correct form in fact being Y DnBT-^3 klezmorom.40
37
It. paparazzo derives from Paparazzo (played by Walter Santesso), the name o f one of the
protagonists in Fellini's 1960 film 'La Dolce Vita' (see, for example, Devoto and OH
1995:1373a, Zingarelli 1986).
38
See, for instance, Maariv (14 September 1997, 'Today' Supplement, p. 4 ) and La'Isha
Magazine (8 September 1997, p. 127).
39
Israelis pronounce Chicco (an Italian company) as chiko (instead of kikko). This occurs
both for the above reason and because of an orthographic analogy with English or Spanish,
which are better known to Israelis than Italian, and where ch is pronounced [tj]. Similarly,
on 12 July 2002, Haaretz published an article entitled tsolelot bevenetsya beikvot hatrad
leflgua 'Submarines in Venice following a terror attack alert 1 , where the Chief Rabbi o f
Venice was said to be na'jm n^K elia richeti instead of nspn n^X elia riketi as his name is
Elia Ricchetti rather than Riccetti - cf. GhiVad [gil'Sad] rather than GiVad [oîl'Yad].
40
cf. intra-Israeli hypercorrect 'snobbatives9 such as tsorfdt instead o f tsarfdt for n o i s
'France' (see Zuckermann 2000: 137-41), khupim instead of khofim for c o i n 'beaches',
and amdn instead of omdn for p « 'artist'. Some further cross-lingual hypercorrections:
(Intl>)I '•DijnmD 'pornographic' is pronounced by some Israelis as fornogrdfi instead o f
pornogrdfl (cf. Gk iropvypdrne 'harlot'), while (Intl>)I rPDloV^D 'philosophy' is sometimes
pronounced hypercorrectly as pilosofya instead o f filosofya (cf. the German-based
'snobbative' jilozofya). Note that in Hebrew an initial /p/ (0) cannot be pronounced [f].
However, despite puristic rebukes this rule does not always seem to apply in Israeli.
Compare such hypercorrections to E klezmer (Eastern-European Jewish music), which is
sometimes pronounced ['kletsmar] instead of ['klezmar] as though the z were German (the
5.4.4 Perception en bloc of a compound containing a FEN
BH V3D ['kebel] meant 'chain' - cf. BH *?rD ^333 [bakab'le bar'zel] 'with
fetters of iron' in Psalms 149:8. Bialik tried to resurrect this and
mentioned ta) with the meaning 'chain' in mishirey hakhoref (From the
Winter Songs, 1902), Verse 27, line 2 (cf. 1935: i:114; 1990: 117). In
Israeli, ^DD, pronounced kivel, came to refer to 'cable'. This neologism
was introduced by HLC, cf. Milon leMunekhey haTekhnika (1929: 10b),
Milon leAvodot Khashmdl (1935-i: 76b; 1937-ii: 21-36), ZA 9 (1962:
42b). The reason for the semantic shift was Intl cable - cf. G Kabel,41 R
Ka6ejib kabel\ P kabel, E cable, F cable and Sp. cable421taD is apparent
in the commonly used D^2Da rppV?D televizya bekvalim (puristically
bikhvalim) 'cable television' but this is perhaps the only successful case
where taD is used. In fact, D^3D3 rPPV?t) is conceived of en bloc, and can
therefore hardly serve as an example of the viability of *73D. The difficulty
in disseminating to is recognizable in the orthoepic attempts of AHL to
uproot the popular pronunciation kabel (the latter is the aforementioned
Intl cable which has undergone the special Israeli rephonologization - see
§6.1.1). Such efforts can be found in LL 55 (1970), LL 82 (1972), LL 165
(1988), and in Tsahalashon 58 (1992). Sometimes the spelling to is used
as an orthographic FEN - rather than the spelling VnNp, which is that of
the internationalism kabel Thus, OEHD (:485a), as well as Gur (1949:
141a), uses the spelling to with the vocalization [a, e], resulting in kabel.
Compare this with other orthographic FENs such as I yT^n pronounced
as kholera (see §5.4.2). An additional indication of the failure of kevel
'cable' might be the unsuccessful attempts of the orthoepic Hebrew
purists to uproot rakhbal, the widely used pronunciation of the Israeli
origin is in fact H "i&T "to 'musical instruments'). The opposite process occurs in E
Alzheimer's, sometimes pronounced with [z] rather than [ts]. Some English-speakers
pronounce E masorti 'traditional (but not orthodox) Jew' as [ma'zo:rti] (instead of
[ma'so:rti]) as though the intervocalic s were German (the origin is in fact H vniDft, lit.
'traditional') (however, note the possible analogy to English words like laser). Similarly,
some Germans pronounce liver as ['liwsr] as if to counter-balance their frequent
pronuciation of E w as [v] - cf. 'What question invites the answer "9W!"?' -'Do you spell
your name with v, Herr Wagner?' (-'Nein, wV).
41
Saddan (1955:41) claims that G Kabel entered German from both L capillum 'hair' and H
*?3n 'cord, rope' (thus constituting an MSN). Note that H ^ n was adapted in Rotwelsch
(the argot used by vagrants and criminals in Germany and Austria, see §1.2.3.1) as Chewel
(cf. Wolf 1956: 73a, Item 869), Saddan mentions also Rotwelsch Kebel and Kabl\ cf.
Kutscher(1965:70).
42
cf. Y 'wnsp kabd (Rozenshteyn 1914: 221a) or *n?p kdbf (Weinreich 1977: 437b, 44a).
However, it does not seem to play a role; see also discussion in §6.1.
portmanteau word ^3D1 'cable-car' which 'should' in fact be pronounced

rakevel since it consists of TDDI rakevet 'train' (a word coined by Ben-
Yehuda in 1893 - cf. Sivan 1981b: 20) and to kevel 'cable'.43
Another PSM by semantic shifting which has survived only because
of a perception en bloc is I *p tef'cape', a PSM of Intl cape, based on BH
*p [kep] 'rock, cliff (§3.1.3). I *p fe/'cape' is used almost exclusively in
the toponym I mion mpnn *p kefhatikvd hatovd 'Cape of Good Hope'.
Similarly, I *?m kotel 'cotelette, cutlet' hybridizes MedH "ito ['kotel]
'side' - cf. BH *7ro ['kotel] 'wall', a hapax legomenon appearing in Song
of Solomon 2:9 - and Flntl cotelette 'small piece of meat', cf. I tf70ip
kotlet, Y tjyôgp kotlet, R KOTJieTa kotleta and E cutlet. The ultimate
etymon, F cotelette, formerly costelette, is a diminutive of costele, a
diminutive of coste, cote 'rib'. E cutlet is a creational PSM of F cotelette.
I^TiD fc5te/ 'cotelette' is apparent only in Tin ^riD &of/ey khazir
'porkchops, pork cotelettes, pork cutlets'. That said, in the case of to
kevel, the compound lexical item D^toa rppfrc televizya bekvalim was
created after the PSM to replaced Intl cable. However, in the case of *?J1O
'cotelette', the compound lexeme Ttn *?I)1 kotley khazir is the PSM itself.
Thus, if kotel by itself means 'cotelette', it is a back-formation from
kotley khazir 'porkchops' - just like the case of the semantically almost
identical burger, from hamburger. The main reason for my proposed
back-formation is the pre-existent Aram, nnm *>TO 'bacon, hams' (see
Talmud'. JJullin 17a), which is the parallel, almost identical, Aramaic form
of I Tin ^ro - cf. the Aramaic alternative spelling 'Tttn ^mp, based on
Aram.tf7Jllp'side' (cf. Jastrow 1903: 1345a, MES:119c). This Aramaic
form, as well as the fact that Intl [k] is usually Israelized as p (q) (rather
than D k), explains the alternative spelling of inn *?TV as inn ^np (cf.
MES:779c). Finally, despite Aram. *vmi ^JD, I regard inn *?m as PSM
(by semantic shifting) rather than use-intensification (on the latter, see
Zuckermann 2000: 313-17). Intl cotelette has also yielded the PSM
I n*?ra kotlit (§4.4) and note also the adaptation of F cotelette as E cutlet.
43
One should also take into consideration the awkwardness of rakevel and of its plural form
rakavlim (cf. the popular pronunciation rakhbalim). In addition, there might have been an
analogy with the productive quadriradical noun-pattern OaOOdD, cf. • (Military) I W"au
nagmdsh (an acronym for jnwa iron Ktsna nosi gyasot meshwyari) *APC (armoured
personnel carrier)' - pi: nagmashim; • (Military) I D'"?nT zakhlam (an acronym for ^m
nxno1? zakhali lemekhetsa 'half-track') 'APC (armoured personnel carrier)'- pi:
zakhlamim; • 1122V akhbdr 'mouse' - pi: akhbarim.
6
The Source Languages
MSN demonstrates that the most important contributor languages for

Israeli are: (i) Indo-European - mostly Germanic and Slavonic: Yiddish,
Polish, Russian, English and German; (ii) Western Semitic: Hebrew,
Arabic and Aramaic (on Aramaic, see Eliezer Meir Lipschiitz in ZV 4,
1914: 20). Until the first half of the twentieth century, Yiddish was the
most influential among these Indo-European languages, overtaking
Russian and Polish. Currently, however, English, which became dominant
during the British Mandate in Eretz Yisrael, is the main SL owing to its
globalization. For classification by source language (percentage), see
Graph 1 in §7.2.1.
6.1 'International': particularly Yiddish, Polish and Russian
PSM occurs predominantly with internationalisms. 'Internationalism' is a

lexical item which appears - in various phonetic adaptations - in many
languages, and is often conceived of as international. However, this
perception is relative and can vary from speaker to speaker. Can the naive
native speaker distinguish between an internationalism and another kind
of foreignism/loanword? This still has to be researched but I would
imagine that s/he usually does. The reason might be morphological: some
suffixes - e.g. 1TTX- o-tsya (cf. P <f-cja9 R a-mra a-tsiya, Y JPX- o-tsyo,
F-tion9 It. -zione [-S'jone], E d-tiori) - appear more frequently in
internationalisms than in other foreignisms/loanwords. The explanation
might also be semantic: there are terminological areas in which
internationalisms occur more often than other foreignisms/loanwords, for
example in the case of newly invented technological devices or scientific
and specialized terms. With regard to their origin, many internationalisms
originate from Latin and some are takenfromFrench, Italian and English.
However - and very importantly - from a synchronic perspective, they
are international. In my particular area of research, the most important
languages in which a lexical item should appear in order to qualify as an
internationalism are Yiddish, Polish, Russian, French, German and
English. Whilst English is the current international language, these other
languages, and particularly Yiddish, were widely spoken by the first
187
Israeli-speakers. If this book analysed only MSNs introduced during the

fin de siecle 'Hebrew revival', it would have used the term Europeanism}
Since it also takes into account very recent MSNs, many of which are
based on American, I chose internationalism.
There are some difficulties in defining 'internationalism' (cf. Wexler
1969). However, in the cases in which I mention Intl as the SL, I found
the use of 'international' far more correct than any attempt to argue that
there was a specific SL whose lexical item was matched phono-
semantically. Unless it can be proved beyond doubt that the coiner of the
PSM was influenced only by a specific language, for example his/her
mother tongue, it would be artificial and superficial to claim that I *?2D
kevel 'cable', for instance, is exclusively a PSM of F cable (see Sarfatti
1976: 126) or of G Kabel and E cable (see Saddan 1955: 41). Israeli-
speakers who came from Russia might might have used *?3D kevel because
of R Ka6ejib kdbel\ whilst Polish-speaking Israelis might have used VaD
kevel because of P kabel and so forth. Note also that, usually, the
neologizers were educated people who knew several other languages.
This idea is in accordance with the Congruence Principle.
Why are internationalisms so frequent among Israeli PSMs? First,
although this has not yet been researched, I believe that the percentage of
internationalisms is very high for Israeli neologisms in general, not only
MSNs. The reason is that many neologisms were signifiers for new
referents, for example zoological/botanical/medical terms. But, obviously,
Israeli was not the only language with lexical lacunae, and these same
signifiers were also used, albeit often earlier, to fill the gap in the
European languages, resulting in an internationalism. Thus, MSNs can
teach us much about neologisms in general.
Second, in order to produce a complete picture one should also
provide an explanation that is MSN-specific: purists seem to prefer to
match internationalisms phono-semantically. The internationality of these
lexical items might serve to legitimize the suggested parallel Israeli PSMs
(although this could in some cases cause their failure - cf. §5.3.1). As
Thomas (1988: 104; 1991: 69) argued, 'internationalisms do not pose an
intense or immediate threat to the autonomy or integrity of a language'.
Gerdener (1986: 42) conducted research on Nynorsk (one of the two main
1
cf. europeanism, pan-European, common European (Wexler 1990: 31, 54). These terms
should not be confused with Whorf s standard average European (SAE) (cf. Whorf 1956:
25), referring to a group of European languages (including English, French and German,
cf. Sprachbund), distinguished semantically by a set of common categories of time, space
and so on.
The Source Languages 189
varieties of Norwegian, the other being Bokmil) and found that whereas
loanwords from Danish have been rejected by purists, internationalisms
have been accepted. Similar evidence has been brought to bear with
regard to Slovak and Slovene - cf. Auty (1973). That said, Israeli purists
still prefer the PSM to the internationalism that it matches. Compare this,
mutatis mutandis, with the pronunciation of Latinisms in English, there
being periods in which the pronunciation which was closer to the original
was regarded as incorrect. In the sixteenth century, the reason was anti-
Catholic de-italianization of Latin.
6.1.1 Rephonologization
Evidence in favour of internationality as opposed to language specificity -

and thus support for the concept of 'International' - is the special
rephonologization applied to loanwords in Israeli. This rephonologization
is mostly influenced by Yiddish, Polish and Russian. In the case of the
aforementioned Israeli suffix rrx- d-tsya, for instance, it seems that Polish
played a major role: compare P d-cja to R G-UHH d-tsiya, Y XPX- d-tsyo, F
-tion, It. -zione [-S'jone] and E <f-tion. Among the numerous Israeli words
which use this suffix are n'ruorR integrdtsya 'integration', rrxnnorR
intuitsya 'intuition', nntafl'R infldtsya 'inflation', rwaiDR ambitsya
'ambition', n w r u gravitdtsya 'gravity', iPxptniD protektsya
'connections, nepotism' and mrtRlp koalitsya 'coalition'.
However, rephonologization often results in a distinct Israeli
pronunciation (taking into account stress as well), different from all
foreign forms, including the Slavonic ones. Consider • ntfnpD fakulta
'faculty' - as opposed to Y oyo^pgS fakultet, R âxyjibTeT fakul'tet, G
Fakultdt, P fakultet (currently used to refer to Catholic colleges of higher
education, cf. P wydzial 'faculty (of a university)'), F faculte, It. facoltd
(Olt. facultd), Cz. fakulta ['fakulta], L facultas, E faculty; • ntPtnMlR
universita (formerly also universita, similar to the stress in one of the
Polish variants, as well as universita among some purists) - as opposed to
Y DVtrcnsnraR univorsitet, R ymroepcHTeT universitet, P uniwersytet
[uni'versitet] (cf. the less common and less scholarly [univer'sitet]), G
University F universite, It. universita, E university, Cz. univerzita
[Wverzita]; • rrDillWD khimoterdpya 'chemotherapy' - as opposed to E
chemotherapy (1907, OED), R XHMHOTepaniw khimioterapiya, P
chemoterapia, G Chemotherapie; and cf. • ivn&OTl historyon 'historian';
• lip'PDBB metaflzikon 'metaphysician'; • ppm1? logikdn I 'Rp'aV? logikdy I
}p*xt? logikdn 'logician'. Shapira (2001: 43) mentions IrwnR oditsya
'audition', a rephonologization of E audition, and obviously not of P

audycja 'broadcast'.2
There are cases of morphemic treatment in which an Israeli
internationalism has a suffix which is completely different from any form
of the internationalism in any specific language. Consider rrsDPttOK
astigmdtsya 'astigmatism', as opposed to R acTHraaTH3M astigmatizm, P
astygmatyzm, G Astigmatismus, F astigmatisme and It. astigmatismo.
Although this phenomenon could be explained by way of analogy to
forms that use n^S- o-tsya, it could equally constitute evidence for the
notion of 'International', as well as for the special Israeli hybridizing
phonological system, which is influenced simultaneously by several
Slavonic and Germanic languages, such as Yiddish, Polish and Russian -
cf. Congruence Principle. See also I rrxp^m reanalizdtsya 'reanalysis'.
For further discussion, see Masson's Langue et ideologic: les mots
etrangers en hebreu moderne (1986).3 The following is a list of Israeli
PSMs based on internationalisms - along with the parallel forms in the
various languages.
2
The Polish word meaning 'audition* is przestuchanie.
3
However, note that Masson's book is not completely up-to-date and includes
misrepresentations of the pronunciation of foreignisms and loanwords in Israeli. Often it
bases itself- either orthoepically or unintentionally - on MES or on immigrants rather than
on native-speaking young adults who have grown up in Israel. Consider the following non-
descriptive pronunciations mentioned: • tokos 'coconut' (ibid.: 34, MES:\5S7b) instead of
kokus (Oipnp); •punsh 'punch (the drink)' (ibid.: 32, MES:\406b) instead of punch ('fJiD);
• veterindr 'veterinary surgeon' (ibid.: 42, MESM6c) instead of vetrinar ("urnn); • klarnit
(JVJiVp) 'clarinet' (ibid.: 40, MES: 1609c, this is a morpho-phonemic adaptation), whereas
most Israelis uttering this word stick to klarinet (ttrftp); •mitsika 'music' (ibid.: 139,
A/£5:879a) instead of muzika (npTO); •filoziof 'philosopher' (ibid.: 145) instead offilos&f
OyioV?*^). Young Israelis do not pronounce jilozdf unless they are trying to sound
intellectual by emulating the German pronunciation. In other words, filozdf is the
'snobbative' form of nioiVo filosdfi • magnet 'magnet* (ibid.: 37, 68) instead of magnet
(0X10); • kompliment 'compliment' (ibid.: 68) instead of kompliment (wa^DOip);
• temperament 'temperament, temper' (ibid.: 68) instead of temperament (itta-isao). Other
inaccuracies are kus umek (an insulting curse) (p. 70) instead of feus emek or kusemek (DID
30N), mtuman 'octagon' (p. 54) instead of metuman (pino), and shravnav 'plumber' (p. 50)
instead of shravrdv (m3"W) (a typographic mistake).
6.1.2 Comparative Table: Source Language = International
The following table is sorted alphabetically according to the English lexical item; the lexical items with no semantically parallel English cognate are
listed at the end. When a Yiddish word appears in neither Weinreich (1977, originally 1968) nor Harkavy (1988, originally 1928,1st Edition: 1925),
I mention the other source used. If I have not found any documentation (but have rather based myself on the intuition of native Yiddish-speakers) I mark
the form with an asterisk. For some specialist internationalisms in Polish I have sometimes followed Kopaliiiski (1988). I mention gender for the
convenience of future researchers, who might want, for example, to examine the camouflaged influence of foreign languages on the gender of lexical
items in the TL (cf. §8.4).
Table 2
Israeli MSN Intl in Israeli English Yiddish Russian Polish German French
1. dti etyologya aetiology etyologyo (f) 3TH0JI0riW etiologiya (f) etiologia (f) Atiologie (f) etiologie®
2. kohel, kohal alkohol, alcohol alkohol (m) aJIKOFOJIb alkogol' (m) alkohol (m) Alkohol (m) alcool (m)
ARABIC
[?al'kuhl]
3. MasH hadlpim The Alps dlpn (pi), Ajibnu Arpy(pl) AlpyfrV) Alpen (pi) Alpes(p\)
harereyelef dlpan (pi)
(cf. harereyolef)
4. alter nativ alternativa alternative alternativ (f) anbTepHaTHBa alternativa alternatywa Alternative alternative
(f) (0 (0
5. amareka amerika America ypnyax amerikQ (f) AMepmca amerika (f) Ameryka (f) Amerika (f) America (f)
6. TjP*l US am reykani amerikdni American amerikanor AMepmcaHeu amerikdnets Amerykanin Amerikaner Americain
7. akvd akvifer aquifer akvifer aKBe(}>ep [fl^v^/er (m)] cf. akwedukt [Wasser aquifere
fuhrendeSchicht
(m) 'aqueduct' (m)
(01, cf.
Aquddukt
(m) 'aqueduct'
8. kdrtiv drtik Arctic drktik(m) ApKTOKa Arktika(f) i4rfcyfar (f) ,4rfcw(f) I'Antique
('ice-lolly, [ctdyzlikhtl [clsosul •&(()] [cf./oJ(m)'ice- [cf Eis (am (m)
(ncut), strempl cream', whose StielJivcat.)]
popsicle, ice- accusativeformis
[cf esquimau
cream bar') (ncuL), ayztsepl /odfl 'ice-cream',
(m), glace®}
(neut)] distinguishable
from lod 4 ke\
whose accusative
form is /A/ 'ice']
9. TWIST* itrafd atrofya atrophy atrofyeif) arpo(J)iw atrofiya (f) 0frq/MI (f) Atrophie (f) atrophie (f)
10. movil otomoba automobile oytomobil (m) aBTOMO6HJIb avtomobiV automobil (m) Automobil automobile
(m) [cf.jamocA<k/(mX (neut) &
mito(n)
andwr(m)l
11. otdmovil otomobU automobile oytomobil (m) aBT0MO6HJIb avtomobiV automobil (m) Automobil automobile
(m) (neut.) (f)
12. iraa bagit bagit baguette 6arer fog#(m) Baguette baguette (f)
(neut,
rarely f)
13. ••arm burgani burzhwd bourgeois Hwrm burzhud (m), 6yp)Kyfi 6ttAz/w/f(m) burzuj (m) Burger (m), bourgeois
namo burzhuy (m) burgerlich, (adj. or n:
Bourgeois m,£)
( m ) , bourgeois
14. 7727712 MasH biida Buddha XTQ biida (m) Byana budda(m) 2?iuftfa (m) Buddha (m) Bouddha
bodeyo (m)
cil boded
15. to kevel cable kdbl(m), Kafejib fezê/'(m) kabelim) Kabel cflWe (m)
'psnKp kdbol(m) (neut)
(the latter appears
in Rozcnshteyn
1914: 221a)
16. •no kanari kanari canary kandrik (m) KaHapeflKa kanareika kanarek (m) Kanarien canari (m)
(m) -vogel (m)
17. JVH33 kanarit kanari canary kandrik (m) KaHapeifca kanareika kanarek (m) Kanarien canari (m)
(m) -vogel (m)
18. •pKrnp MasH cannon kanon [nyimca] (pu5Ma(f)] [armata (f), tt/a/o Kanone (f) canon (m)
kene on (kney (ct Harkavy 1910: (neut)],cf.
oyn was probably 295a), kanonier (m)
not preferred), cf. kanonQ 'cannonist'
Ifcieon
(cf ibid.: 61b),
[Aon»wr(in)]
19. kef cape (geology) SKp fcap(m) [MHC] [«^(m)] [pfzy/*/dfe(in)] Xqp (neut) ca/?(m)
20. karney bdal karnavdl carnival karnavdl (m), KapHaBaji karnavdl (m) karnawal (m) Karneval camaval
karnivdl (m) (nO (m)
^K-nra-iKp (cf. StutchkoflF
1950: 902c),
karnavdl (m)
(cf. ibid. 621b)
21. korneyyuvdl karnavdl carnival •pynipTHp karnavdl (m), KapHaBan karnavdl (m) karnawal (m) Karneval camaval
^KTPaiKp karnivdl (m) (m) (m)
*?WmX73"lKp karnavdl (m)
22. koren ba karnavdl carnival ^wmxaiKp karnavdl (m), KapHaBaji karnavdl (m) karnawal (m) Karneval camaval
DP1? ladm b«TP31Kp karnivdl (m) (m) (m)
b«1W3TKp karnavdl (m)
Israeli MSN IntI in Israeli English Yiddish Russian Polish German French
23. i\vhp kaletet kaseta cassette S7C3X7OKp kasetQ {f)(cl xaccera £0S5£to (f) Jfcaseta (f) Kassette (f) cassette (f)
[XTDBKO] Tsanin 1994a:
408b),cf.r<u^»9(f)
24. Trap kibaron kaverna cavern KaBepHa kaverna (f) kawerna (f) Kaverne (f) caverne (f)
(medicine)
(cf. cavity)
25. JVTOt tsaveret tservitsitis cervicitis UepBHUHT tservitsit (m) cerwicitis (m) Zervizitis (f) cervicite (f)
(Drosdowski
1994: 1453b)
26. (ram) HVK ashdfmitbdkh shef chef shef(m) me({)-noBap sAe/(m) szefkuchniChef(m), chef(m)de
(FRENCH) povar (m) Kuchenchej cuisine
(m)
27. kholira kholera cholera kholersif) xojiepa kholera (f) cholera (f) C/io/erfl (f) cholera (m)
28. khartsit khrizanUma chrysanthemum 17QS703KP-O khrizantemo xpioaHrreMa khrizantema chryzantema Chrysantheme chrysantheme
(cf. Tsanin 1994a: (0 (0 (0 (m)
242b)
29. klirinot klarinet clarinet avnttbp klarnet (m) KjiapHer klarnet (m) klarnet (m) Klarinette clarinette
(ITALIAN (0 (0
clarinetto)
30. kluv klub club af?p klub KJiy6 tfn&(f) tftt£(m) K/KZ>(m) c/u^ (m)
31. kotley khazir kotlet cotelette kotlet (m) Korjiera kotleta(f) £o;/ef (m) Kotlett cotelette (f)
(FRENCH) (cf. cutlet) (neut.)
(•pork chop')
32. kotlit kotlet cotelette DSTÔKp kotlet (m) Korjiera kotleta (f) kotlet (m) Kotlett cotelette (f)
(FRENCH) (neut.)
33. agurdn crane kran (m) KpaH kran Airfl/i ( m ) grue(f)
34. kistd tsista cyst *CSU/9 (f) KHcra kistd (f), cysta (f) Zysfe (f) kyste (m)
UHCTHT cf./5-wft7(m)
35. yatsd bedimus demission snon»n demisyz (f) AeMHCCIU demissiya (f) dymisja (f) [Ausscheiden
(neut.)]
demission
(f)
Israeli MSN InU in Israeli English Yiddish Russian Polish German French
36. MasH odekolon eaude odekolon (m) OAeKOJIOH odekolon (m) WOrffl (f) Eaude eau (f) o*e
edkolon (FRENCH) Cologne kolonska Cologne Cologne
(eydkoloynwas (neut,
probably not
preferred), cf. rarely f)
ledkolon [cf tofeucA
fFower(neut.)l
37. 77ttt9j?K aktamd ectomy - - 3KTOMHJI ektomiya ektomia (f) Ektomie (f) ectomie (f)
38. JP7S7 Hit elita elite urbv e/i7(m), 3JIHTa elita (f) e/i la (f) Elite (f) elite (f)
e///3(f)(thelatt«
is mentioned by
Stutchkoffl950:
611a,Rozcshteyn
1914: 189b)
39. eratson erozya erosion srnni; erozyo (f) (cf 3pO3HJI erozryfl (fO eroz/fl (f) Erosion (f) erosion (f)
Tsamn 1994a:
314a)
40. !fTJ7*Qn havrakd evreka Eureka — — 3BpHKa evrika eureka, heureka eureka
heureka (f)
41. salfit fdlset, falsetto falset (m) (cf 4)aji£»uer fal'tset(m) /fl&el (m) Falsett fausett (m)
falseto Rozenshteyn 1914: (neut)
2Mb) Jaltset{m),
(ITALIAN dbaykolkhl
falsetto)
42. pilpel iton felyeton feuilleton felyeton (m) (JKJiberoH fel'etdn(m) felieton (m)
Feuilleton feuilleton
(FRENCH) (neut) (m)
43. VT1?* gladin dzhelatin gelatin, zhelatin (m) 5KeJiaTHH zhelatin (m) zelatyna (f) Gelatine (f) gelatine (f)
gelatine
44. TttO gaon dzhinyus genius zAe/ii (m), cf. reHHft geiw7(m) geniusz (m) Genie ge/i/e (m)
goyon (m) (neut),
Genius (m)
Israeli MSN IntI in Israeli English Yiddish Russian Polish German French
45. glish glisdndo glissando *glisdndo rjiHccaimo glissando glissando Glissando glissando
(ITALIAN (neut.) (neut.) (neut.) (m)
glissando)
46. khayddk gonokokus gonococcus — — rOHOKOKK gonokokk gonokok (m) Gonokokkus gonocoque
ganu kaakut (m) (m) (m)
47. iTTltt ganu reiya gonorea gonorrhoea gonore (f) (cf. roHopea gonoreya (f) [neiqczka(f)] Gonorrhdfe) gonorrhee
Rozenshteyn 1914: cf. gonorea (f) (0 (0,[c£
55b), Wewiamfcfe(f),
gonococcie(f)]
*gonoreyo (f)
48. garinit granit granite granit (m) rpaHHT granit (m) granit (m) G/wwf (m) granit (m)
49. garinomet granuloma granuloma *granulom9 (f) rpaHyjiOMa granuloma granuloma (f) Granulom gramilome
(f) (neut.) (0
50. gitit gitdra guitar giWr(f) nrrapa g'>flrfl (£) gitara (f) Gitarre (f) gw/tore (f)
51. hila halo [orw/(m)](cf. rano ^j/d (neut.) [aureola (f)] /fa/o(m) Afl/o (m),
Tsanin 1994a; cf. aureole (f)
114a)
52. eshefkeshef hokus hocus-pocus OipKS-OipKTT hokus pokus 4)oicyc fokus pokus hokus pokus Hokuspokus
pokus (m) noicyc (m) (m) ( m ) (referring
to the magic
itself)
53. keren korno horn torn (m/neut.) [por, [nt^(m), [rdg (m), waltomia fforw (neut.) corne (f),
BajrropHa] valtorna(f) (f) ('French horn')]
(ITALIAN ('French horn*)] cor(m)
cornd)
54. T*nnT'fy|K ilu ze haya Uuzya illusion i/uzyp(f) HJIJIIO3IUI illyuziya (f) iluzja(f) 77/ltfKM (f) i/toio/i (f)
55. yovel jubilee yubiley (m), K>6iuie& y«6i7ef(m) jubileusz (m) Jubilaum jubile(m)
cf.j*>yv/(m) (neut.)
56. TO1? Idba lava /flVP(f) jiaBa /flVfl (f) /mv<i(f) Lavtf ['lava] lave(f)
(0
57. MasH lokomotiv locomotive lokomotiv (m) JIOKOMOTHB lokomotiv lokomotywa Lokomotive locomotive
Zoo &emo ro/ (m) (0 (0 (f)
{loakmoytof
was probably not
preferred)
58. MasH lokomotiv locomotive lokomotiv (m) JIOKOMOTHB lokomotiv lokomotywa Lokomotive locomotive
(m) (0 (f) (0
59. 7131919 mekhond mashina machine fBSD mashin (f) MauiHHa mashina (f) maszyna (f); Maschine machine (f)
machina (f) (0
(figurative or
referring to
obsolete, big
machines)
60. MasH mashin machine- mashin (f) ManiHHa, mashnna (f), maszyna (f), Maschine machine
measheyn lokomotiv locomotive lokomotiv (m) JIOKOMOTHB lokomotHV lokomotywa (0. locomotive
lo kemo tof
{measheyn lay
(m) (0 Lokomotive
hnoytof (0
was probably not
preferred), cf.
Imeashen
lo kemo tof
61. makhsan magazin magazine magazin (m) Mara3HH magazin (m) magazyn (m) Magazin magasin
(neut) (m), (cf. OF
magazin)
62. HVASTTD maagild mangle ma/zg/ (m) [IMTOK] [cf.faz/o*(m)] magze/ (m) Mangel (m), mangle (f)
Wascheman
gel
63. pat martsipdn marzipan martsepan (m) MapimnaH martsipdn marcepan (m) Marzipan massepain
mordekhay (m) (neut) {m)\p8te
(0
d'amandes
Israeli MSN InU in Israeli English Yiddish Russian Polish German French
64. TtSOfi masekha mask tfpOKD mflsitp (f) MacKa mdska (f) maskaii) A/fl5ike(f) masque (m)
65. mashdsh mas&zh massage ffTKOKD masdzh (m) Macca»c massdzh (m) masaz(m) Massage (f) massage
(FRENCH) (m)
66. metsa medyum media, DYHS7D medyum (m) MeAHyM medium (m) medium Medium medium
medium (neut) (neut.) (spiritual)
(chemistry) [cf. mi/feu,
vehicule]
67. sela mutmdr metamorfoza metamorphosis 37TK9"U(OKC3S7D metamorfozQ MCTaMOp4)O3a metamorfoza metamorfoza Afeto meta
(metamorphic (f)(c£Tsanin (0 (0 -morphose -morphose
rock) 1994a. 276a), cf. (0 (0
68. •ntaa nitur monitoring monitor monitor (m) MOHHTOp monitor (m) monitor (m) Monitor (m) moniteur
(monitoring) (cf. Tsanin (m)
1994a: 261b),
69. mistori mysterious misteryez MHcrepvw cf. misteriya cf. misterium mysterioz mysterieux
(f) 'mystery' (neut.)
'mystery*
[cf. tajemniczy
'mysterious'1
70. Tina natron natrium natrium (gas), natrium H3TpHft nflfnT(m) natron (m) Natron [sodium
natron [cf.5oda(f) (neut.) («)]
(compound, 'sodium
sodium bicarbonate*, <zzo/ 'sodium
bicarbonate) (m) 'natrium'] bicarbonate,
cl Sodium
71. nikhretet nekrozis necrosis nekrozis (m) HeKpO3 ne^rdz (m) nekroza (f) Nekrose(f) necrose (f)
(cf. Rozenshteyn
1914:163b)
Israeli MSN IoU in Israeli English Yiddish Russian Polish German French
72. (ITALIAN oboe oboe(X) ro6oft gobof(m) aft#(m) Cfeoe(f)
hautbois
oboe) (m)
73. MasH orakel oracle ordk((m) opaxyji ordkul (m) [c£Myrw»iifl(f)] Orakel (n) w<zc/e (m)
orhdk(o)l
cf. I or hakol
74. MasH paskvO, pasquil pashkvil, nacKBHju> pdskvU'im) paszkwil (m) Pasquill pasquin
/waA; eviY pashkvU pashkavil, (neut) (m),
(psakevil) bvnpoKB paskvil (m) pasquille
dipt ok evil (0
75. taw pitey bar petiber petit beurre [MJUIHfi] [mdlMm)] petit-beurre peftY 6eu/re
(m)[cf. herbatnik (m)
(m)1
76. "WDDD pat peer petifur petit four — — nero^yp petifur^(m) — Petitfour petitfour
(FRENCH) (neut) (m)
77. pisa piece Ryew(f)'play, nbeca p'esa(f) [ttfttor(m) [&fidt(neut)] piece®,
'piece of
musical/ music/litersture']
[clmorceau
(m)]
theatre piece'
78. pulmus polemic polemik (f) nojieMHKa polemika (f) polemika (f) Polemik (f) polemique
(0
79. boleshet police politsey (f) nojiHmu politsiya (f) policja(f) PolizeiiS) po/ice (f)
(>Ar. U4JI
[bur'fcsJVAr.
[bo:'K:s] 'police')
80. pros prize priz (m), c£ npH3 priz (m), [nagroda®. Preis (m) prix(m)
m9prayz(PY \yygrana(t)i\
npeMiu premiya (f)
prat) 'price' (and
recently'prize')
81. MasH protokol protocol protocol (m) npOTOKOJl protokol (m) protokol (m) Protokoll protocole
protey kol, (neut) (m)
cf. I prateykol,
prateykol
82. bubd ARABIC puppet [/^«1 [Kywia [lalka®] Puppe(f) powpee (f)
JUUIbKa lydl'kaii
(doll) uamca] tsdtska (f)l
83. MasH piramida pyramid T»D«-PB piramid, nHpaMHâ piramida (f) piramida (f) Pyramide pyramide
peeyr dmud,
cf. PMasH
piramido (f) (0
peayramid
84. mm rdkhat raketa racket rflA^f (m) paxera raifeieto (f) Racket raquette (f)
(neut.)
85. rakekhet, rakhitis rickets rakhitis (m) (cf. paxHT rfl^/i// (m) rachityzm (m) Rachitis (f) rachitisme
Rozenshteyn 1914: [cf. the more (m)
240b, and Tsanin common JbzyMUH
1994b: 759a) (01
86. JVOT rakhit/rakit rakhitis rickets rakhitis (m) paxirr ra£/z// (m) rachityzm (m) Rachitis (f) rachitisme
(m)
87. •rto silud salut salute salut (m) cajnoT 5fl/«r (m), cf. Sa/u/ (m) 5o/w/ (m)
salutowanie
(neut.)
88. seled salut salute 5«/M/ (m) canoT Sfl/yii/ (m) salut (m) 5fl/i//(m) 5a/irt (m)
89. tsilait siluet silhouette siluet (m) CHJiy3T 5i7i/e/ (m) Silhouette silhouette
(FRENCH) (f) (f)
90. TOO sapd sofa s4/S>(f) co(J)a sq/a(f) so/a (f) ^q/iz (neut) 5<?/fl (m)
91. Jim sofit sufiks suffix Op^BTO 5M/Ifo(m) Cy(J)(J)HKC s,^(m) sufiks (m) [cf suffixe (m)
przywstek (rn)] (neut.)
92. strop syrup 317T»O strop (m), CHpon sir op (m) jyrop (m) 5/rwp (m) 5irop (m)
ARABIC
5irop (m)
[fara:b]
'beverage'
93. MasH telegraf telegraph telegraf(m) Tejierpa$ telegraf'(m) telegraf(m) Telegraf(m) telegraphe
dilug rav9 (m)
YMasHdilog
/wv.PMasH
dilograf
94. MasH teiegraf telegraph telegraf (rn) TenerpacJ) telegrdfim) telegraf(m) Telegraf(m) telegraphe
deleg rav, (m)
PMasH delegraf
95. MasH telegraf telegraph telegrdf(m) xejierpa^ telegrdf(m) telegraf(m) Telegraf(m) telegraphe
tiley krav, (m)
?MasRtileykraf
96. taaluhd teologya theology teologyo (£) xeojionw teologiya (f) teologia (f) Theologie theologie
(f) (f)
97. ?mn torn teorya theory teoryoiS) TeopHH teoriya (f) teon'fl (f) 7%eone (f) //reone (f)
98. mro-m tarpud terdpya therapy terdpyo (f) Tepanwi terapiya (f) terapia (f) Therapie (f) therapie (£)
99. nyartoelet nyar toalet toilet tualet(m) lyajier /wfl/e/ (m) toaleta (f) r<?/fe//e (f) toilette (f)
{toilet paper)
IOC taydr twist tourist turist (m) TypHCT tans/ (m) turysta (m) Tourist (m)touriste
(m,f)
101 nan tomer tumour ft/mor (m) [onyxojib] [<*/»!***/'(f)] tamor (m) Tumor (m) tumeur(f)
[cf. the more
convnon guz (ni)]
102 khavila vila villa v//p(f) BHJUia vi7/fl (f) vv/7/fl (f) Fi/to ['vila] (f) villa (f)
103 parpdr ARABIC ('butterfly') [/W/cr/1 6a6oHKa bdbochka (f) [mo<y/(m)] [Schmetterling papillon
(m)]
(m)
[far'fiiT], cf. bdbochks
Itfarfalla
Vpapillon
lfr JT3&U shamenet ('cream') shmant (m), CMeraHa smetdna (f) smietana (f) (dialectal) [crcme(Q]
smetens (f) Schmant
(neut./m)
105 moo sifrd tsifra ('digit') /5i/ar(m/f) UH(J)pa tsifra (f) c)/rfl(f) Zi^r(f) c/t#*e (m)
106 n7 s Ja midd moda ('fashion') md<fd(f) Moaa WOrffl (f) moJo (f) Mode® morfe (f)
(cf. mode)
107 tsoani ('Gypsy') tsigdynor (m) uwraH tt^fl/i (m) Cv^fl/z (m) Zigeuner Tsigane
(m) (m,f),
fcf bohemien]
108 "WTO ashgdr shldger ('hit, popular shldgsr (m) m JW rep shlydger (m) szlagier (m) Schlager [asucces (adj.)]
song') (m)
109 013*713 bulbus ('potato') ta/fofy (f/pl) [xaproiiiKa [*a/*a*Afcz(f). 6u/wa (f) [Aortoifc/Cf)] [pom/we (f)</e
(coUoq.), /brfd/e/'(m)] terre]
(ofSlavonic
Kapro4)ejib
'tuber (e.g.
descent) potato)'
(fonnal)]
[cfPVTflwrwj? [cf.ziemniak(m),
cf Belorussian
(Belarusian) kartofel (m)];cf
6yjib6a bul'ba(f) Lith. fcu/vics
'potatoes'
110 ekrdn, akrdn ('projection ekrdn 3KpaH ekrdn (m) eAran (m) [I«nH«i«/(01 ecran (m)
screen')
111 MasH depesha ('telegram') depesh (f); Aenema depesha (f) depesza (f) Depesche (f) depeche (f)
dapesa, J7BS753XH depesha (f) (obsolete)
dzpesa, (Rozenshteyn 1914:
76b)
depesQ, c£LithY<fcpe»
cf. I da peta
6.2 Yiddish
Although internationalisms are frequent in Israeli MSN, in many cases it

is possible to detect the influence of a single language. As we have seen,
Yiddish was a primary contributor to Israeli, particularly at the end of the
nineteenth century and during the early years of the twentieth, when Eretz
Yisrael experienced the greatest migration from Eastern Europe. These
immigrants were, by and large, native speakers of Yiddish, which had
served as the main language of Jews in central and Eastern Europe from c.
the tenth century AD. 4
6.2.1 PSMs by Semantic Shifting
My hypothesis is that I s n m tsaatsua 'toy' is a sense-SPM (cf. §1.2.5)

LC deriving from:
1. The hapax legomenon BH ram [saWsu'tttn], which appears in II Chronicles 3:10

together with BH D'aro [korO'blm] 'angels'. As mentioned in Saddan (1989: 135),
attempts were made to link BH o^yxyx [saf&su'ftm] with BH tfrnx [se?gsa'?Tm]
•children* (cf. Isaiah 34:1), as well as with BH rnwro OaT&fu'fim] 'joyful and
precious things' (cf. Psalms 119:92, Jeremiah 31:19). Others understood BH D^ym
[saf&su'ftm] as 'carving or sculpturing work' (e.g. Tandkh:\3\ 1), perhaps related to BH
ypyp [qafciqa?] 'tattoo' (cf. Leviticus 19:28), cf. Iowpyp kaakuim 'tatoos', as well as
Ar. t^* ['§a:ifa] 'carved, shaped (out), formed (m, sg)' (from £ j * - Îfwtr). Owing to the
phonetic similarity, some writers used D'yxyx to refer to Y COT03NWI: chdkhchos 'chess'
(see Saddan 1989: 135; cf. Y -\W shakh 'chess'). In the Yiddish translation of Bialik's
arye baal guf (Aryeh the Brawny, 1898/9) (cf. Bialik 1959: 113-27), I r a i m npy»
maasey tsaatsuim was translated as Y oypxgx tsdtskos 'toys' - see (2).
2. Y ypxsx tsatsko 'toy' (also 'trinket, ornament'), traceable to P cacko [lEaSko] 'toy,
plaything', given as the primary meaning by Stanisiawski (1969: i:105a), although
current native Polish-speakers whom I have studied feel that this meaning is rather
archaic or non-standard, as opposed to 'small, beautifully made, fragile thing; precious
thing*, e.g. an expensive jewel; cf. R uaua tsatsa 'children's toy, plaything' (Vasmer
1958: iii:284), ColloqR uaua tsatsa 'pretty and spoiled girl', and ColloqR uauica tsatska
'toy, doll'. The ultimate origin might be children's talk (ibid.).
Figure 47 illustrates this process:
4
According to the traditional view, it started off as a form of Middle High German, fused
with an inherited Semitic component (Hebrew and Aramaic) and some elements from Old
Italian and Old French. When Jews migrated from the German territories to Eastern
Europe (due to the Crusades, as well as the Black Death in 1348-9), Yiddish underwent
Slavonization. For a completely different view on this matter, namely that Yiddish is a
Slavonic language relexified to German, see Wexler (1991). In brief, whereas most
linguists regard Yiddish as a Slavonized Germanic language, Wexler perceives it as a
Germanized Slavonic language.
Yiddish (Biblical) Hebrew

ypsgx tsdtsko Israeli D'yxyx [§a?a?u'Ylm]
'toy' yi m tsaatsua 'carving or sculpturing works'
(also 'ornament, pretty and 'toy' (cf. D^yipyp) or 'precious
spoiled person, tsatske') things' (cf. owwyw) or
(also 'pretty and ^^ 'children' (cf. D"»NXNX)
cf. Polish cacko ['tsatsko] 'toy,
plaything' (archaic, appearing in
spoiled person, (a semantically obscure
Stanistawski 1969:105a), 'small, tsatske, hapax legomenon,
beautifully made and fragile mischievous, cf. II Chronicles 3:10, appearing
thing, precious thing' precious thing') together with D'nro 'angels')
Figure 47
Yiddish also created the colloquial use of I snxyx at the beginning of the
twentieth century so that yrax referred to 'mischievous', cf. Y IWDJI
tdkhshot 'mischievous', from (Rab>)H ouran 'jewel'. The author Shamir
(1959: 95) uses I ironxsra tsaatsuit 'fussy/demanding woman', influenced
by Y y p m tsdtsko 'fussy/demanding (person)'.
Consider H mn. In Genesis 11:24 BH mn ['terah], Nahor's son, died
at the age of 205. Later in the Old Testament, he is mentioned as
Abraham's father (Terah). Colloql mn terakh means 'foolish (m, sg)' and
is usually used in conjunction with I lpT zaken 'old', as in lpT mn terakh
zaken 'old fool'. Colloql ipr mn terakh zaken is a Hebraization of Y
rnn "WO^K dltor terakh, which in turn makes use of the similarity between
the ancient biblical name mn and Y •wtDnyt) terikhtor 'stupid' (first
documented in 1687, cf. Saddan 1957: 318) or Y Oinitt turos 'fooleries'
(documented 1820, 1863; cf. ibid.). These Yiddish terms derive from
MHG tore 'fool, foolish'. Saddan (1957: 316-17, cf. 1954) mentions other
sources that might have influenced the creation of Y mn "tf&Vx dltor
terakh, namely the Yiddish derogatory expression Y p"iJ?U "Wtf?N ]K an
dltor terk, lit. 'an old Turk', this view being endorsed by Sappan (1971:
84b). Another explanation is (B)H mo ['torah] 'bother, burden, trouble',
but this seems to be far-fetched. The Israeli connotation of 'old' in
addition to 'foolish' could be rationalized by Joshua 24:2, where Terah is
mentioned as an early forefather (hence old) but also as an idolator (hence
foolish). This verse is famous since it appears in the Passover Haggadah.
Y p-wo terk 'Turk' is involved in another Israeli PSM of a Yiddish
expression: I OTn tiras 'corn, maize' (cf. MMM 1938: 35). This is an
ellipsis of OTn ^n (I khitey tiras) 'wheats of Turkey', which matches
phono-semantically Y pm yurp"OT terkisho veyts, lit. 'Turkish wheat',
referring to 'maize, Indian corn'. The reason maize is called 'Turkish
wheat' in Yiddish might be that it was brought from Spain to Turkey and
from there to the rest of Europe (cf. the ultimately stressed Tu. misir
'corn' versus the penultimately stressed Tu. Mmr 'Egypt', as well as Tu.
Hindi 'turkey' versus Tu. Hindistan 'India', Hint/Hintli 'Indian'). Note,
that MedH 0TJ1 [tfr&s] meant 'Turkey' (cf. MES: 1935a). This itself was a
PSM of (i) BH OTJi [ti'r&s], the name of one of Japheth's sons, (cf.
Genesis 10:2), and (ii)Intl Turkey, cf. P Turcja. According to the
'Jonathan Targum', OTn is '•p^nn W2 and in the Middle Ages 7"-m might
have been linked to Turkey.
6.2.2 Yiddish and Polish
1OD pas 'stripe, strip, band' appears to be a PSM by semantic shifting of

Y OXB pas 'stripe, line, belt' and?pas '(broad)belt, strip, lane, stripe' (cf.
P pasek 'belt, stripe'), the nativizing material being H OD [pas] which is
semantically opaque. Although Jastrow (1903: 1191a) defines RabH OD
[pas] as 'strip, stripe', Ben-Yehuda (Affly:x:5013b) seems to believe that
the meaning 'strip, band' did not appear in Hebrew sources. Israelis, who
currently understand BH D'OD naro [ko'tonet pas'sTm] (e.g. Genesis 37:3)
as 'striped (night-)gown' or 'striped shirt' (the latter is mentioned by
Sarfatti 1990: 123), might have turned the etymological truth upside down
because the original meaning was most probably different, cf. inter alia 'a
coat of many colours' (KJ) or 'a long robe with sleeves' (NRSV). In fact,
Ben-Yehuda (ibid.) admits that IDD pas 'stripe, band' was induced by
both BH D'OD mriD [ka'tonet pas'sTm] and 'Slavonic pas'. Note that I '•OD
*?n:ipasey barzel means 'railway-tracks'.
Consider also (i) Itf?WHp OD pas min haoldm, lit. 'came to its end in
this world', which translates Flntl passe 'that has passed'; (ii) OD Dttf sam
pas, lit. 'put stripe (m, sg)\ meaning 'ignored, did not give a damn'.
Although, synchronically, it seems to have arisen via 'put stripe' (cf. I OD
pas 'stripe, strip, band'), i.e. 'erased', it is likely to have been induced by
Epass 'giving up, the act of declining to make a bid (e.g. in card games)';
(iii)IOD pas 'pass' (permit to go home, Form 71 in the IDF), which
derives from Intl pass but is linked to the homonym I OD pas 'band' since
the permit is on a rectangular form (on similar links, see §1.2.2.4). One
might reject this claim by saying that the plural form of I OD pas 'pass' is
almost always WOBpdsim rather than WOBpaslm, the latter being expected
if OD pas 'pass' were regarded as autochthonous. However, the 'foreign'
plural form can be explained by differentiation from DÔD pasim 'bands'.
Compare this with I DÔ salim 'baskets, vessels' versus DÔ salim 'goals
scored in basketball' (both based on I *?0 sal) and see other examples in
§1.2.1.
6.2.3 Verbal MSN involving reduplication
Yiddish verbal MSNs by semantic shifting often include reduplication.

Consider Colloql 1313 nidned 'bothered, pestered, annoyed (m, sg)', as in
the somewhat redundant Colloql !p'iTO *P ,1313*? iÔDn tafsik lenadned, ya
nudnik 'Stop bothering, pest!' I 1313 nidnedhybridizes (i) PY )WT\l nidyon
(cf. LithY nudyonlnudzhon) 'bore, bother, nag' (cf. Sappan 1972: 38), as
well as Ip'ira nudnik 'bore, pest' (from Y p'3113 nudnik 'id.'); and
(ii) (Rab)H 1313 [nid'ned] 'moved (m, sg)', from H 1313 Andnd 'move' -
cf. BH113 înwd and 113 Îndd. The process can be illustrated as follows:
Polish Yiddish
lirru nidyon
Israeli Hebrew
(cf. Lithuanian
Yiddish ira i:ra
nudyon/nudzhsn) nidnid [nid'ned]
'bore, bother' 'bother' 'move'
cf p'yra 'bore, pest*
Figure 48
The semantic nature of Y p*ma nudnik 'bore, pest' involved it in jocular
expressions in both Israeli and Yiddish. Consider (the currently rare)
Colloql p^rm V3 na venudnik 'wandering lecturer', borrowed from
Yiddish. Y pni3i 373 na venddnik 'vagabond, migrant, homeless' was
modelled upon (BH»)1131373 na vendd 'vagrant, nomadic, forever on the
move'. BH 131 373 [n&? w&'n&d] (see Genesis 4:12) is a tautological
expression literally meaning 'moving and moving'. Colloql pt)3ii3i 373 na
venudnik was used by Mordekhay Halter in hamemrd bakfdr, p. 38 (cf.
Fraenkel 1949: 67). A Yiddish jocular secondary derivative from Y p^3ii3
nudnik 'bore, pest' is Y p'mS fudnik CPHiiDnik'), which stands for K
rr W K '9 K tra jwna a nudnik mit a pi eych di 'a bore with a PhD'.5
Consider also a secondary derivative from Colloql 1313 nidned:
Slanglni3i3 nadnedd 'pest, bore', based on IH1313 nadnedd 'see-saw,
swing' (the latter was coined by '?. Sapir', most probably Eliahu Sapir, in
1895, cf. Sivan 1981b: 18; and was used by Bialik and HLC, cf. ZV 4,
1914: 82). This slangism appears in MAM (:244a). See also the acronym
Slangln"&3 namer, lit. 'leopard', for aawm nman p'ma nudnik
mimadregd rishond 'first-class pest'. Consider also SlangI O'V3 nidzhes
5
cf. Rosten (1971: 277) and Tuleja (1990: 158). Luckily, at Oxford one gets a DPhil.
'bothered (m, sg)\ I believe that this verb derived from SlangI
nidzhes 'bore, pest'. The latter slangism was imported from SlangAr.
[§ni3is] (e.g. in Galilee and Lebanon) 'impure, unclean, filthy; repulsive
person', cf. Ar. o^ f'nacisis] 'impure, contaminated, dirty, filthy\ Ar.
ai [na'dsarsa] '(legal) impurity, filthiness', Ar. o*** ['nadûsa]/
d ^ i ] 'was impure, unclean, dirty, stained (m, sg); dirtied, polluted,
contaminated (m, sg)'. However, it seems that the specific meaning 'bore,
pest' was acquired by SlangI O'VJ nidzhes because of PYflPTOnidyon
(LithY nudyonlnudzhm) 'bore, bother, nag' - see Zuckermann (2001b).
Thus, SlangI 0*r3 nidzhes 'bothered (m, sg)' might be regarded as an LC
(cf. §1.4), the product of an intriguing combination of influences from
two distinct languages: Yiddish and Arabic. Such a combined influence is
apparent in the penultimate stress in some Israeli names.
As in the case of Colloql 7J73 nidned, Y ]vr>B pish$ 'piss' was
phonetically matched with (Rab)H W9WD [pifpej] 'searched (through),
scrutinized (m, sg)' (I 'rifled through, searched desultorily') - cf. (Rab)H
rfoyM WDW9 [pifpej bdmaf&^&w] 'scrutinized his own actions'.
Colloql WDWD pishpesh 'piss' might be considered a lay SPM if one
accepts a far-fetched link between pissing and desultory searching, e.g.
for the opening of one's trousers.6
Such reduplication exists in an Israeli MSN of an English lexical item.
Sappan (1972: 44; 1971: 82b; 1972: 44) suggests that Colloql pvpw
shikshek means 'horrified, shocked (m, sg)' and derives from E shock
'come into violent contact, assail'. However, the meaning 'shocked' is
outdated, although, if it existed in the past, Sappan's etymology might be
justified. The current meaning of Colloql pwpw shikshek is 'was terrified/
frightened (m)'. It seems that this is a PSM of E shake (in fear), and in
fact pwpw shikshek usually appears in the expression I iriDB pwpw shikshek
mipdkhad 'shook from fear (m)', cf. Sappan's addendum He's all shaken
up (1972: 89). (Note also the military meaning of I pwpw shikshek: 'cock
the gun repeatedly before checking there is no bullet'.) Whether shock or
shake, the nativizing material is I pwpw shikshek 'made noise, rustled,
jingled, jangled (m, sg)', from BH pwpnwn [hijtaq'jeq] 'creaked, made a
noise by rubbing or clashing', cf. Nahum 2:5.
6
cf. SlangI ^\m fishtinlpishten 'pissed (m, sg)', a hybrid of Y jm pisky (cf. §6.2.3) and
I vnwn hishtin, both meaning 'piss*.
6.2.4 MSN cum onomatopoeia
Bialik's coinage Itmtm rishresh 'rustled, made noise (m, sg)' was
induced by Y lttm royshy and Y 1WJH rashy. In a letter in HaDo 'ar in
1939 (27 Elul h.t.r.$.d., according to the Jewish Calendar), Bialik says:
[...] "ITIXVI1 ,7irro Tina ,p^w)ronnrain K*?K ,vmh ,nm):i pn«rmtf?[...] nwmn oân
W w VN ,:frn p rinaOTD- ,vn«rrrw; xm SWISH *»w .totfJ ,sntnftnsnnin
The new words [...] - I have not coined them deliberately, but rather they have
arisen naturally, while writing and ad hoc [...] Thus, the verb rishresh, for example,
which I am guilty of coining - I simply invented it from my heart, may God not
make me suffer.7
Avinery (1935: 43-4; 1964: 173a), a purist, praises this neologism (in fact
LC), arguing both that it is onomatopoeic and originates from ( B H » )
I mi rdash 'noise' - cf. RabH aW? Îglg 'sneer, mock, scoff, which
derives from BH Hh [*la?ag] 'ridicule, jeering, mockery'. However, it
might very well be the case that Bialik was influenced - in this case
subconsciously - by Y i w n r&yshy (cf. G rauschen and E rush) ('rustle,
swish, make noise'), cf. also Y WJH rash 'noise', Y iwsn rasht} 'make
noise', both traceable to (B)H Win ['raTaJ] 'noise'.
Yet, in the spirit of the Congruence Principle, one should not ignore
the onomatopoeic co-explanation. The following are two further cases
where a possible onomatopoeia was ignored:
1. Kihm (1989: 352) claims that Tok Pisin rokrok 'frog' came from both
Tolai rokrok 'frog' and E croak croak. He writes: 'Of course, the
phonetic similarities between English and Tolai are entirely
accidental'. E croak croak might have played a role. However, the
similarity between the Tolai and the English words is not accidental at
all: both words are onomatopoeias.
2. Saddan (1955: 41) claims that I ix\x Îgrgr 'gargle' was induced by G
gurgeln 'gargle', ignoring a possible onomatopoeia.
Kihm and Saddan were not wrong: E croak croak did participate in the
creation of Tok Pisin rokrok 'frog'; G gurgeln influenced "tt"fl Îgrgr
'gargle'. However, their explanations do not seem complete. See also
pifyon '(sand)piper' (§4.1) and parpdr 'butterfly' (§2.3).
I m m rishresh 'rustled, made noise (m, sg)' is a 'PSM introducing a
new word', which leads to the next section.
7
On the use of psycho-ostensive expressions, such as the latter, see Matisoff (2000).
6.2.5 Creational MSNs
Consider I Binw shirtet 'scribbled (m, sg)', which appears in MBY (xv:
7458b). According to a suggestion in MES (:1891c) and Klein (1987:
680c), it could be derived from (B)H xnr\m [Jar'bit] (cf. I sharvit) 'rod,
sceptre, wand' (cf. RabH: 'twig'). The semantic link, however, is far-
fetched. It is more likely that PY \yyw shrdbp (LithY shraybq) 'write'
(cf. 1$ a ? w N py> gebq a shrayb on 'scribble', Weinreich 1977: 284a; as
well as V T O ? W shrdybsr] 'scribbler') induced the creation of I t a w
shirbet 'scribbled (m, sg)' or I tmtf Ajrbt 'scribble'. The pre-existent
RabH 03W 'ifibt 'extend, stretch, stiffen' (and perhaps also I t a w Afrbf
'flog, whip') was suitable material (despite the U f) for such a PSM; cf.
1221W Afrbb 'insert in the wrong place (especially in writing)', e.g. DWH
n w a lUWft m w rbw hashem shela shurbdv lareshimd betaut 'Her
name was inserted in the list by mistake'.
Colloql f ^sn hiflits 'farted (m, sg)' (already in existence in 1933, cf.
Persky 1933: 95) is a PSM of Y pngSJbrftp 'id.'. The nativizing material
is (B)H tit) ^pl? 'shake, horrify' as in MedH r*?D [pil'le§] 'shook,
horrified (m, sg)' and BH fi*>m [hitpal'le§] 'was shaken', the Israeli
meaning of the latter being 'was deeply shocked'. As far as we can tell, H
2ftD V/>/£ has not been fitted into the hiOOiD verb-pattern prior to Israeli.
Therefore, r*?m hiflits should be deemed a creational PSM. I D^DH hiflit
'ejected, cast up, let fly (m, sg)' might have facilitated the PSM.
10"T3ip 'prankster, practical joker' is currently pronounced kundds
rather than kundes, e.g. (i) I O73lp nteWD maase kundds 'mischievous act,
prank, trick, practical joke', and (ii) I iiOTOp kundason, the name of the
mischievous smurf in the Israeli version of the American cartoon series
'The Smurfs' (which are called in Israeli D'0TTT(n) (hajdardasim).
However, I Oinp 'prankster' is based on RabH cnnp [kun'das] 'pole, rod'
(Mishnah: 'Erubin 3:3) (from Gk KOVT6? kontos 'pole') and, possibly
metaphorically, 'reckless' (MES: 1582a). The modern sememe 'prankster'
is added because of Y Cttlp ktindos (m) 'trick, stunt, feat', which
Weinreich (1973: i:308; iii:321) regards as being of Slavonic descent, cf.
P kundys (mentioned by Stanisiawski 1969: i:439b and Bruckner 1974:
282a, but not in current use) 'mongrel, cur, tyke' (cf. ConP kundel
'mongrel', OHun. kondor 'curly, curled, crispy, frizzly', cf. ConHun.
gondor 'curly', to be distinguished from Hun. kondorkeselyil 'condor'),
'mutt' (a term of contempt). Alternatively, Iomp was semantically
influenced by Y YW kunts (f) 'trick, stunt, feat', cf. MHG kunst
'skilfulness' and swarziu kunst 'magics', cf. G Kunststiick 'trick'.
Wexler (1991: 43) points out that Y OiJip kundos is regarded as

Hebrew (cf. Weinreich 1955: 610) because its plural form is DÔlTip
kundeysim, with the plural suffix D''- d-im, which can be traced back to H
D1- [-im]. (Rab)H Diaip [kun'd&s] 'pole, rod' might be the reason for this
misunderstanding. A counter-example, however, is Y DvV'i0p*n doktoyrom
'doctors', the plural form of Y "Wtopxi doktor. This plural form also uses
the plural suffix 0'- d-im but is nevertheless not regarded as Hebrew. The
use of the suffix D1- d-im might be explained phonetically: *doktoyron >
*doktoyrin > doktoyrim > doktoyrom. Consider also some derogatory
plural forms in Yiddish. In some forms a Hebrew plural suffix is
sometimes added to a non-Hebrew lexical item, for example Y c n y p w
shndydors 'tailors' is a derogatory parallel Y DHR'TW shnaydorim 'bad
tailors' and Y O'T'TON vundeyrim '"miracles", "wonders'" is a derogatory
parallel of Y o i r a i l vundors 'wonders' - cf. §5.4.3.
I whs palush 'corridor, vestry (of a synagogue)' is a PSM of Y W^N3
polosh 'corridor'. The PSM is based on H ufrs V/?//'invade', fitted into
the DaDuO (adjectival) noun-pattern, cf. MedH rcVw [pa'luj] 'rolled'.
Compare this with (H>)IW*7DB XDB mavo mefuldsh 'hallway', IttftDO
mifldsh '(covered) passage', as well as with Intl passage: I 'TDD or 'TN09
pasdzh, F passage. Saddan (1955: 37) suggests that Y rc^p polosh goes
back to MHG palas/palast 'main building (of a castle)', borrowed from L
palatium 'palace, imperial court' (cf. Gk nak&txov paldtion, naXk&snxov
palldntion, F palais 'palace, castle', G Palast 'palace', Du. paleis 'id.').
I wftD palush 'corridor, vestry (of a synagogue)' is used inter alios by
Agnon (1953: 365) and Hazaz (1955: 102). Saddan (1955: 37-8) predicted
that I Wl*?9 palush would gain currency, but now we know that it failed
miserably. Having said that, AHL recently tried to revitalize I ltfV?D palush
with the meaning 'bellows (gangway), the concertina-like passage
connecting two sections of a long bus, the passage connecting two train
compartments', cf. LLN26 (December 1997-January 1998).
6.2.6 Yiddish and Ukrainian/Russian
tsoani 'Gypsy, Romany' is a creational PSM deriving from:
1. Ukr. UHraH [tsyhan] and Y "wrjwx tsigdynor, cf. R UbiraH tsfgdn, P

Cygan, G Zigeuner and F Tsigane (cf. bohemien), all meaning 'Gypsy,
Romany'.
2. Either of the following:
a. BH arc V^Di 'wander, migrate, move from place to place',8 see Isaiah 33:20
BH ivr Va ^HN ['?ohel bal jis'fan] 'an immovable tent' (NRSV)> 'a tabernacle
that shall not be taken down' (KJ)y cf. (the now rare) Ar. O*± ['?a?ana]
•journeyed, went away, left the place, departed, was off(m, sg)\
b. BH "|yx ['soYan]9 'Tanis = (Hyksos) Avaris • Zoan - Ar. (>• j**& [§an
al'hadâr]' (cf. DialAr. i>-» J**»<^J ['rarsu 'nadâr san], lit. 'His head is a hard
stone', i.e. 'He is stubborn'; cf. Ar. C)'y [saw'wain] 'flint-stone, granite'), the
name of an ancient city in Egypt which was built c.1700 B C - see, for example,
Numbers 13:22 and Psalms 78:43; thus imitating the English link Egypt >
Gypsy (cf. the early English form, gipcyan, of the sixteenth century, cf. OED).
In the hope of sounding analytical rather than conspiratorial, I suggest that

there are three questions regarding the phonetic difference between I 'osnx
tsoani 'Gypsy, Romany' and its Eastern European co-etymon:
1. Why is there y [?] and not y [g]?, i.e. why is it 'asns tso(i)ani and not
•'am tsogani?
2. Why is there 1 [o] rather than ' [i]?, i.e. why is it *Mnx tsoani rather
than *>MPX tsiani?
3. Why is there ' [i] at the end?, i.e. why is it 'ayix tsoani and not *iyix
tsoani
Let me try to answer these questions. Sivan (1981b: 19, 25) suggests that
'ayix tsoani 'Gypsy, Romany' was coined in 1898 by '?. Sapir' (most
probably Eliahu Sapir, 1869-1913). However, the earliest attestation of
^yix tsoani 'Gypsy' which I have found is by Abramowitsch (1866: 177,
cf. Mendele):
.pro ran van m TCBP vv&ixn *J» ^ ,DIJ?O to yap urn ntwr K1? a^?san
The crossbill [cf. MedL Loxia, G Kreuzenschnabel Wintervogel, L Crucirostra
pityopsittaeus] will not settle down permanently in one place because like the
Gypsies it will wander around the country [side].
Much later attestations appear in Kna'ani (1960-89: 4960; 1998: 4942b).

Abramowitsch might have coined the word. As a Ukrainian-speaker, the
signifier he was most likely to use for 'Gypsy' was Ukr. imraH [tsyhan],
cf. R ubiraH tsfgan. He probably linked Ukr. [Syhan], or its possible
variants [Syan], [Syjan] or [tsejan], to his native Lithuanian Yiddish
8
According to Sapir (1888) and Klein (1987: 543b, 553b).
9
SeeSarfatti(1976:136).
pronunciation [tsejan] of AshH tsdyan, the latter being the phonetic

realization of BH pre ['§o?an] Tanis' (cf. the ey\\oy isogloss as in LithY
skheyra, for Y mino skhdyro, AshH skhoyro 'merchandise, goods'). In
other words - and most importantly - the Israeli pronunciation of
Abramowitsch's coinage (i.e. tsoani) is different from Abramowitsch's
own pronunciation (most probably tseydni). However,
Thou mad'st them, but sith them in print I see,

They must the peoples not the authors bee.
(Wits Recreations 1640: Section 90)
So far, I have answered the first two questions. However, the third
question asks why it is WZ tsoani and not *13nx tsodn (or tsoen), which
bears greater similarity to Ukr. imraH [Syhan]. The reason might be either
Y nsjiprx tsigdynor or the plural form of Ukr. imraH [Syhan], i.e. Ukr
[Syhani]. Furthermore, since the Gypsies constitute an ethnic group, the
coiner might have wished to mark that point morphologically by adding
the suffix *- a-i, cf. (BH»)I mm yehudi 'Jewish', I 'On rusi 'Russian'
and so forth.
6.2.7 Compound PSM
Y "WDKB ivim shdkhor mdkhor 'dark dealings, wheeling-dealing, dealer,

swindler' was domesticated in Israeli as 11DB nno sdkhar mekher 'trade,
dealing, buying and selling (often derogatory), wheeling-dealing, dark
dealings'. It is used, for example, by the author Brenner (1956: 226).
Compare it to (RabH»)1IDDBl npB mikdkh umimkdr, also mekakh
vemimkdr. Due to 'vowel harmony' assimilation, 11DD ino sdkhar mekher
is also pronounced sekher mekher, and sometimes previously sdkhar
mdkhar (the latter appearing in M4A/:265a), cf. BH pnv yin [hon Y&'teq] 'a
fortune, great fortune' (Psalms 8:18) » I hon atdk. I "D» ino consists of
(BH»)I ino sdkhar 'trade' and (BH»)I 1D& mekher 'selling', whilst Y
•TOKB -WDKW shdkhor mdkhor consists of the following:
1. Germanized Y lyDKW shdkhor 'petty traffic, huckstering, bartering' (cf. Harkavy 1988:
484a), cf. Y pyagw shdkhon} 'to huckster, barter', G Schacher 'haggling (also
politically), horse-trading', as well as G schachern 'haggle' (cf. Rose*n 1950: 22). Y
nysxw shdkhor goes back to (B)H ino ['sahar] 'trade' (pronounced in Israeli sdkhar),
which is the very lexical item used in the PSM of this Yiddish expression in Israeli,
thus closing an etymological circle. Wexler (1990: 31) claims that the Germanized
form of Y "WDXW shdkhor might have been taken from its German slang form, which in
turn had been borrowed from Y "ino *sdkhort cf. Y inoa miskhor 'trade, commerce,
business', from (B)H nno» [mis'hSr], in which case the 'palindromic-symmetric' loop
is the following:
| Hebrew -> Yiddish •» German -» Yiddish -> Israeli |
Figure 49
Note that some Yiddish-speakers associate Y iy:>KW shdkhsr with prw *shdkhort} 'to
darken, blacken' or pTO *sh6khsn} 'id.' (cf. iTrwrf? lehashkhir 'id.'), hence 'dark
dealings', cf. Y pirwcw dysshokhorq 'blacken, inform (to the police), spy out'.
2. Y nyDKO mdkhor '"politician", fixer, leader, broker, swindler' (originally 'doer,

maker'), cf. G Macher 'doer', machen 'to do, to make'. However, this has no relation
to BH "D» ['meker] 'merchandise, price' and therefore I "DB ino sdkhar mikher is only
partially incestuous: only "ino nativized a Yiddish lexical item which was originally the
very same "ino.
The following figure illustrates the Israeli PSM:
Yiddish Israeli (Biblical) Hebrew

-DB "ino
sdkhar mikher I 'traded
shdkhor mdkhor sikher mikher
'dark dealings, 'trade, dealing ['meker] 'selling'
dealer, swindler' (often derogatory)'
YIVIM shdkhor «- G Schacher <- Y *sdkhor «- H ino f'sahar]
Figure 50
Compare the Hebrew ur-source incestuous loop of the compound PSM

I sdkhar mekher to the Arabic ur-source non-incestuous loop of the
compound PSM Ar. ^ j ^ ^ J ['?ar<Ji 'Jawki] 'artichoke', VAr. [,?ar#
•Jo:ki], cf. (Galilee) VAr. [,?ar# 'Jo:k]. Ar. ^ ^ » J ['?ar(Ji 'Jawki] is
used {inter alia) in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. It hybridizes (i)Intl
artichoke,10 and (ii) Ar. ^ » J [f?ar<Ji] 'earthly, terrestrial, of ground5
10
This lexical item has been subject to PSMs in various languages, for example:
• North It. articiocco, arciciocco (>E archychock) < arcicioffo < Olt. *alcarciqffo
(Modlt. carciofo, carciqffo) - by association with the native Italian words arci- arch-
'chief, ciqffo 'horse-collar' and ciocco 'stump'.
• F artichaut/chou/chaud/chault/chaut - by assimilation to chou 'cabbage', chaud
'warm', hault, haut 'high'.
The Italian and French forms were Latinized in the sixteenth century as articoccuslcoctusl
cactus. E arti/horti/harty-choke/chock/choak is explained by the fact that 'it chokes the
garden', 'it chokes the heart' or 'its heart causes one to choke'. Note, however, that E
choke 'the mass of immature florets in the centre of an artichoke' might have emerged
from reanalysing the existent artichoke as having in its heart a 'choke', cf. OED and
Deroy(1956:58).
('artichokes grow in earth') + Ar. I^j^ ['jawki] 'thorny, prickly' (cf. &y*
[Jawk] 'thorn', fcj*S ['jawka] 'id.') ('artichokes are thorny'). Intl
artichoke 'Cynara Scolymus' goes back to OSp. alcarchofa (cf. ConSp.
alcachofa, Por. alcachofra), from SpAr. [?alxar'Jbfa], from Ar. uijjfijaJl
[Talxar'Jurf] (cf. VAr. [xor'fe:J], the name of a thorny plant).
Consequently, Ar. *^y* I ^ J ['?ar<Ji 'Jawki] closes a circle which began
in Arabic with the etymologically unrelated Ar. <-f>£jaJl [?alxar'j'u:f|:
Ar. [?alxar'Ju:f] > SpAr. [?alxar'Jbfa] > OSp. alcarchofa >

> It. alcarcioffo > North It. arcicioffo > arciciocco >
> articiocco » Intl artichoke > Ar. ['?anji 'J
Figure 51
Note that Jerusalem artichoke, the species of sunflower (Helianthus

tuberosus) which tastes rather like an artichoke, is a lay PM of It.
Girasole Articiocco 'sunflower artichoke'. It is said to have been
distributed under this Italian name from the Farnese garden at Rome soon
after its introduction to Europe in 1617 (cf. OED). Ar. ~^j& l^J ['?ar<Ji
'Jawki] 'artichoke' leads to the next section, which focuses on Israeli
PSMs involving Arabic.
6.3 Arabic
Arabic played an important role in the lexical enrichment of Israeli. Some

language planners, such as Ben-Yehuda, wanted to imitate Arabic terms
to strengthen the 'Semiticness' of the Israeli lexis. Ben-Yehuda's
ipsissima verba are:
We do not have too much from and with which to create because our language is
currently not whole. Of the many roots which existed in our language only a small
number were left. The rest disappeared, and we lack the material necessary for
creation. In all the excavations done so far, no important Hebrew inscriptions have
been found and in the HaShiloah Inscription only two, three new words...(but)
Eureka! I have found tens and hundreds of Hebrew roots! I shall not hide from you
the place where I have found these treasures... in the Arabic dictionaries!
(ZF4,1914: 8)
Compare this practice to the case of Estonian, in which the genetically

related Finnish has been resorted to as a favourite source of new
vocabulary (as opposed to German and Russian). Both Arabic and Finnish
- as opposed to Israeli and Estonian - are languages that have an
unbroken history. Arabic-based coinages in Israeli, as well as Finnish-
based coinages in Estonian, have the advantage that they are easy to
create and are perceived as native, historical and natural (a further
discussion of language planning in Estonian can be found in §5.1.1).
There have been three main ways in which Arabic was used in Israeli
MSN: (i) as the TL nativizing material (instead of the regularly used
Hebrew, or sometimes Aramaic), (ii) as an SL, and (iii) as the SL whose
form of a particular internationalism was considered in the MSN.
Arabic was the SL (see ii above) for hundreds of toponyms in Israel
(see §4.6), as well as for the PM Irfan khogld (Ar. j ~ * ['haemal]
'partridge'; see §4.1) and the creational SPM I&wp kashdsh (Ar. u&5
[qaj'jaj] 'gatherer (of straw)'; see §4.1). Similarly, I nm ribd 'jam' was
coined by Ben-Yehuda in 1888 on the basis of Ar. Jij* [mu'rabba] 'jam'
(from MJ VrW>), as though it derived from H M"i Îrbb (cf. Torczyner
1938: 30). HLC lists ribd in MMM (1938: 80). IlHK ahdd 'liked,
sympathized (ms, g)' was Ben-Yehuda's PSM of Ar. Ajl* ['ha:wada]
'returned to, made peace with, felt sympathy towards, complied (with the
humour of) (m, sg)' - cf. also I mnK ahadd 'sympathy', Ben-Yehuda's
1899 parallel to Ar. *±\jk [ha'wa:da] 'complaisance, clemency, sympathy,
indulgence'. The rationalization might have been the Hebrew names BH
Tin* [?e'hud] (Judges 3:15) and BH TIN ['?ohad] (Genesis 46:10) (the
current pronunciation is the quasi-hypercorrect ohdd) (cf. Torczyner
1938: 30). I moiD parpard 'top (toy), dreidl' was a failed creational SPM
based on either Colloql mDTiD forfera or DialAr. >j*J [fur'fhra] 'top
(toy), dreidl' - cf. Ar. j * ^frr 'to flee, escape, run away' (Hava 1915:
552a), as well as Ar. J>J> ['farfara] 'to flutter, quiver, shake, flap the
wings (past, m, sg)' - cf. I WSparpdr 'butterfly' (§2.3).
Arabic served as SL (see iii above) when its own form of an
internationalism was chosen to be matched in Israeli FEN, for example
the PSM by semantic shifting I jro^D boleshet of Intl police, via its
nativization Ar. o4ji [bu:'li:s] VAr. [bo:'li:s] 'police' (§2.2).
Arabic lexical items were used as the TL nativizing material (see i
above) in the following FENs which have already been discussed: (i) the
FMparpdr (Intl 'butterfly', cf. It. farfalla, F papillon, as well as (Syrian)
DialAr. jjj [fur'fu:r] 'butterfly, moth' and Ar. JJ ['furfur] or jjj
[fur'fu:r] 'sparrow, young bird, small bird' (see §2.3); and (ii) the
creational PSM I n v w shirov (Intl syrup > cf. Ar. ^j& Lfa'raib] 'drink';
§5.3.2). Consider also the morpho-phonemic adaptation

mivrashd, niznaa mivreshet (Intl brush, cf. Y Wl*q barsht; Ar.
[Wbraja/e] 'grater'; §3.1.3).
In addition, an Arabic lexical item was used as the TL nativizing
material in the case of 1naa bubd 'doll', Ben-Yehuda's creational SPM of
Intl puppet - cf. G Puppe, F poupee, L pupa, It. pupa, pupazzo, bambola,
E puppet. Ben-Yehuda, who coined this word in 1904, seems to suggest
that naa bubd 'doll' is based on (B)H naa [bS'bi] 'pupil (of the eye)' (cf.
M£r:i:457a:fh2), cf. BH py naa (Zechariah 2:12) 'pupil of the eye'.
However, one should ask how it came about that the [k] of H naa [b&'bli]
'pupil (of the eye)' changed to [u] in naa bubd 'doll'. The likely answer is
that Ben-Yehuda used Arabic nativizing material, namely Ar. jiji ['bubu]
(AfflF:i:457a:fhA) 'small baby' (in children's talk), 'little child' (cf. MES:
132b, Klein 1987: 62b) or 'doll' (Klein 1987: 62b). Ar. X * [Wbu?]
means 'pupil of the eye' (Wehr 1961: 38b) - cf. Ar. ctfJ y>* [ W b u ?
al'Tajn] 'pupil (of the eye)', 'apple of the eye' (Hava 1915: 19a); VAr. £W
['bu?bu?] 'monster, frightening figure, ghost, bogy, bugbear, bugaboo,
mumbo jumbo'; and PY bubalo '"sweetheart"', from Y vbHSXI bobale
'little grandmother', from Y SDNa bobo, bobotso 'grandmother'.
The puristic PSM naa bubd 'doll' was used as the nativizing material
of a later Israeli PSM, this time a colloquialism: Colloql nan buba 'babe,
"baby", "chick"' is a nativization of ColloqE baby, babe - cf. Y '3"3
beybi 'baby', as well as the affectionate address Colloql W2 beybi (cf.
MOLM:34a), and ColloqG Puppchen 'little sweetie, "dolly bird'", from G
Puppe 'doll'. Colloql nan is a second generation PSM: a PSM that uses
an earlier PSM as the nativizing material.
Similarly, I^HD kohal 'alcohol' - fitted into the OoOaO noun-pattern
like (H>)11HT zohar 'brightness' and (H>)I into tohar 'purity'; but usually
pronounced kohel, and thus vocalized in Alcalay (1964: ii:997) - is
etymologically analysed by Klein (1987: 271b) and MES (:718c) as
deriving solely from Ar. cU^t [?al'kuhl] '(the) kohl (the powder used for
painting the eyelids), antimony, collyrium', cf. *J±£ ['kuhli] 'dark blue,
navy blue', dj*& [ku'hu:l] 'pure spirit of wine, alcohol' and J ^ l l
[?alku'hu:l] 'id.'. This analysis seems to be flawed since it ignores the
influence of Intl alcohol - cf. I îmD^K or împ^K alkohol, Y ^rmp^x
alkohol, R ajiKorojib alkogol', P alkohol, G Alkohol and F alcool. Intl
alcohol goes back to the very same Ar. J ^ l [?al'kuhl] - cf. Jj*£S
[?alku'hu:l] 'alcohol'. Bierce (1911, cf. 1996: 19) defines Alcohol
jokingly as 'The essential principle [i.e. property] of all such liquids
[such] as [to] give a man a black eye'. Shapira (1956: 62) suggests that
the name (alcool in ibid.) was coined by the physician/chemist Paracelsus
(1492-1541). In the sixteenth century this name (cf. MedL alcohol) was
borrowed by English and French (alcohot>alcool). OED suggests that L
alcohol derives from BH VnD [k&'hal] 'stained, painted (m, sg)' as in
Ezekiel 23:40. I kohal is a Semitic ur-source incestuous creational PSM.
HLC urges the speakers to use kohal 'alcohol', for example in MMM
(1938: 46). Note that the Israeli spelling of Intl alcohol is usually ViniD^K,
with D (£), not with p (q). Thus, the Arabic influence is apparent, cf.
orthographic FEN (§5.4.2). The pronunciation is alkohol but also alkohol,
hinting at the influence of English (cf. §6.4).
6.4 English
It is important to distinguish between two periods in which English

influenced Israeli:
(a) Early twentieth century: the British substratum - deposited by the

British Mandate in Eretz Yisrael.
(b) Late twentieth century: the American .superstratum - deposited by
American as the global language.
English is the world's universal language. The number of languages

currently spoken (around 6000, cf. Crystal 2000: 2-11) is diminishing
every year. It seems that in the future the world will be even more
dominated by English. The Israeli language is no exception. Many MSNs
whose SL is British have already been mentioned: p p keren 'corner'
(§3.1.4.3), V*>pin 'pin' (§3.1.2), Ml tag 'tag' (§3.1.2), 7\m dime 'dummy'
(§3.2.1), OD mere 'marrow' (§4.2), hnrrao svivol 'swivel' (§5.3.5), lw
yesh 'Yes!, Great!' (§5.1.4) and pwpw shikshek 'shake (in fear)' (§6.2.3).
The following are Israeli MSNs whose SL is American: pTTDD mivdok
'dock' (§2.1.3), "10D meser 'message' (§2.1.3), VT y n y»N en rega dal
'Never a dull moment' (§3.1.2), "poo misukh 'masking' (§3.1.4.2), *?ipn
tikul 'tackle' (§3.2.1), o^p klit '(video-)clip' (§3.2.1), rDio mufin 'muffin'
(§4.4), JVn bait 'byte' (§4.5), JTT0 sibit 'bit (binary digit)' (§4.5), K'fc JiDttf
sfat si 'C language' (§4.5), V>?h lahit 'hit (popular song)' (§5.1.4), *pu»
matrif 'terrific' (§5.1.4) and m n btiba 'baby, babe' (§6.3). The following
are further examples of recent PSMs of American lexical items.
MedH Dim [dib'bub] 'speech' - cf. BH D W ^nDto m n [do'beb Sip'te
jdje'nlm] 'causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak' in Song of
Solomon 7:10 - came to refer in Israeli (as dibuv, often pronounced
divtiv) to 'inducing (someone) to speak', and then to 'dubbing'. The latter
is a PSM (by semantic shifting) of E clubbing (cf. Touiy 1990: 195).11

This neologism is recent - note that Even-Shoshan (1970: 387b) does not
mention it, while Even-Shoshan (1997, i.e. MES\211c) does.
(Medieval) Hebrew
Israeli
am
am
4-
[dib'bub] 'speech'
'inducing someone
dibub/divuv
to speak* (in Israeli)
'dubbing' cf. o w visto aan
(Song of Solomon 7:10)
Figure 52
BH K} [ge] meant 'proud', e.g. Isaiah 16:6. In Israeli, *tt ge - usually
written as nto and pronounced gee - acquired the sememe 'homosexual',
nativizing politically correctly E gay. It is usually used in its plural form
tPNXgetm 'homosexuals'.
(Biblical) Hebrew
to
[ge]
'proud'
(cf. Isaiah 16:6)
Figure 53
I n*u gee 'homosexual' seems to override I v^v aliz 'homosexual', which

originally meant 'gay (merry, cheerful)' and thus constituted a caique of E
gay. Note the semantic connection between the literal meaning 'proud'
and the use of E gay pride to imply an empowered homosexual
community. For many LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered)
native speakers of English, signifiers which include the word pride
immediately imply gay pride, cf. pride week (Innion J?nw shviia
hagaavd), gay pride parade.12 In*U gee 'homosexual' is a 'politically
11
It. doppiaggio 'dubbing* and E dubbing might be MSNs too. It. doppiaggio hybridizes It.
doppiare 'to surpass (e.g. in motor-racing)* and F doublage "dubbing, doubling* (cf.
Devoto and Oli 1995: 640b). Note that It. doppiare 'dub' is a secondary derivative from It.
doppiaggio 'dubbing*. Similarly, E dubbing might be based simultaneously on E double or
F doublage 'dubbing' and E dub 'to name, to speak of or set down as'.
12
cf. the politically incorrect pun found near a gay cemetery in San Francisco: Y ny'-n yN "1
gey in drird^ lit. 'Go to earth!*, meaning 'Go to hell!*, 'Go to the devil!*, reinterpreted as
'gay in earth*.
correct PSM', in contrast to 'rejective PSM', which is politically

incorrect; on rejective and adoptive PSM - see Zuckermann (2002,2004).
I y\yto migddr 'gender' is a recent innovation that nativizes E gender
and that is based on (H>)I "m Îgdr 'fence, enclose', and later 'define'.
Hebrew
•fence, wall up*;

(MedH) 'define5
cf. wrtrn nxa (Talmud:
Yebamoth 90b)
Figure 54
The form migddr could be accounted for either by (H>)I TTI Vgrfr fitted
into the miDOdD verb-pattern or - hypothetically - as a result of the
process: (H>)I T»a min 'sex' + "m gdar (cf. Îgdr 'fence') -> assimilation
of the n to the following g -> miggdar -> deletion (elision) of one g ->
migddr. I migddr was adopted (but not invented) by AHL - cf. Gadish
(1998: 59). One might argue that the form "ma existed prior to Israeli as
(Aram.>)RabH Tn» 'fencing' (cf. Krfro Tfo» in Talmud: Yebamoth 90b).
However, I doubt that the neologizers took that expression into account.
I therefore record Israeli TUB migddr 'gender' as a creational PSM rather
than as a PSM by semantic shifting. The fact that a form identical or
similar to a PSM existed prior to it does not automatically imply that the
PSM is by semantic shifting - see also nftro kotlit (§4.4).
The Americanization of contemporary Israel is apparent in many
aspects of life, for example gastronomic habits and relationships between
people. In the linguistic domain, the Israeli special rephonologization of
internationalisms (originally and mostly influenced by Yiddish, Polish
and Russian) currently shows signs of Americanization. Sometimes a pre-
existent Israeli form of an internationalism is even superseded by a more
American one. For instance, nr* giga 'giga' is overriden by rurti dzhiga,
n^ftx tseluldri 'cellular' is replaced by nW?o seluldri (contrast this with
the still current nrftfw tseluloza 'cellulose', thus constituting a minimal
pair), ipo^riD 10 san frantsisko 'San Francisco' is slowly being
supplanted by lpOôriD ]0 san fransisko, and DpDcn respekt is substituted
by DpDon rispekt. See also I ON^D ON^D '0 siplasplas 'C++' (the computer
language), as opposed to the expected oV?D oV?D so *si plus plus but this
might also be explained as a borrowing en bloc. With regard to euro, the
official signifier is 11TK eyro (cf. the non-English based It. euro ['ewro]
and G Euro ['OJKO]) but I have encountered Israelis who prefer the
English-based yuro. OEHD even mentions (either exaggerating or
prophesying) that ad hoc is pronounced by Israelis as ed hok (rather than
ad hok), aphasia as efdzya (rather than afdzya), deus ex machina as deus
eks mekina (rather than deus eks mdkina or deus eks mdkhina), tetanus as
tetenus (rather than tetanus), conceptual as konseptudli (rather than
kontseptudli). Indubitably, OEHD reflects the pronunciation of some
Israelis but not that of the current majority.
I believe that this very Americanization has caused the recent DOPE
which I have heard in Israel, according to which I opianx dmbreks (cf.
§1.2.1) actually derives from E *armbrakes (rather than E handbrakes).
In fact, if handbrakes were to be adapted phonetically today, when
American English is the main superstratum language of Israeli, it would
probably be in the form of *embreks. However, dmbreks entered Israeli
from British, where the vowel in hand is more open.
Consider also recent Israeli slangisms which use 1W"- -eyshen rather
than I r\^- d-tsya. For example, SlangI *|W":rttB magniveyshen 'coolness,
great stuff, consisting of SlangI Tttft magniv 'cool' (from :m Vgwfe
'steal', cf. E magnificent) and E -ation - cf. SlangI tttrrpttft magnivizent
'magnificent' and SlangI T»:M magnif'cooY, based on both E magnificent
and SlangI a^Q magniv 'cool'. The suffix -eyshen can also be added to an
Israeli noun, e.g. iW^BlDrm tikhkumeyshen 'sophistication', lW"Dl2np
kirtsufeyshen 'cleaning by scraping and currying', iw^^np kartsiyeyshen
'"louse", nuisance, bother, pest' and "|W"rfa balaganeyshen 'mess'.
Compare these with old slangisms such as WXWpWp kishkushdtsya
'nonsense' - cf. n^np^p kishkuzdtsya in Sappan (1971: 74b). On the
influence of American on Israeli orthography, see §5.4.2.1.
Such Anglicization (and more recently Americanization) is also
apparent in more established languages, for example Dutch, whose
essence was consolidated long ago (albeit remaining subject to influences
from German, French and English). Consider the twentieth-century
tendency to change the pronunciation of Du. efficientie [efis'jensi]
'efficiency' to the more business-like [e'fijonsi]. The American influence
seems to have superseded that of German and French.
7
Statistical Analysis
My lists are comprehensive and folly representative, but while I can be

sure that they cover almost all successful Israeli (and Maskilic Hebrew)
MSNs, I cannot be certain that they include all failed MSNs. This is
simply because many of the failed MSNs never reached the literature or
oral tradition. While my sources include obscure terminological books,
dictionaries and literature, an important part of the statistical analysis in
§7 still deals solely with successful MSNs.
7.1 Table of classification
The following table classifies MSNs in Israeli (and Maskilic Hebrew) by

source language, general currency, semantic and lexicopoietic categories,
and terminological area. It also acts as an index, referring the reader to the
section covering etymological analysis and other discussions. For
convenience, I place the Source Language column on the far left and the
Success column on the far right. The sorting is first according to Source
Language and then according to general currency, ranging from the
highly successful to the failed. The pronunciation of the TL lexical item
reflects the prevalent current pronunciation, but in the case of FENs
introduced in Maskilic Hebrew (there are 13 of those) there is also a
posited past pronunciation, which is often closer to that of the SL lexical
item than the current Israeli pronunciation. For further maskilic phonetic
variations, see Table 2 (§6.1.2).
221
KEY TO TABLE
(including inventories of classifications, abbreviations and figures; the number in the first
brackets indicates the frequency, the total number of lexical items being 167; the second
brackets indicate the percentage)
SOURCE LANGUAGE
1. INTERNATIONAL (INTL) (101) (60.48%)
a. International (Yiddish, Polish, Russian...) (81) (48.50%)
b. International originally French (often gastronomic terminology) (11)
(6.59%)
c. International originally Italian (musical terminology) (5) (2.99%)
d. International, whereas the 'nativizing material' is Arabic (as opposed to
SL=Arabic)(4)(2.40%)
2. ENGLISH (22) (13.17%)
a. British: Early twentieth century British substratum (7) (4.19%)
b. American: Late twentieth century American superstratum (15) (8.98%)
3. YIDDISH (10) (5.99%)
4. GERMAN + YIDDISH (3) (1.80%)
5. GERMAN (8) (4.79%)
6. FRENCH (7) (4.19%)
7. ITALIAN (3) (1.80%)
8. ARABIC (5) (2.99%)
9. LATIN (including Neo-Latin) (5) (2.99%)
10. JUDAEO-SPANISH (1) (0.60%)
11. TURKISH (1) (0.60%)
12. ANCIENT GREEK (1) (0.60%)
GENERAL CURRENCY, i.e. usage by contemporary native speakers

S Highly successful in entering the language, commonly used (48) (28.74%)
s Successful (22) (13.17%)
(s) Partly successful, successful only amongst people using the specific
terminological area, or passively (being familiar but not often used), or
orthographically (14) (8.38%)
f Failed (83) (49.70%)
LEXICOPOIETIC CLASSIFICATION, indicating, inter alia, whether or not the

Israeli lexical item pre-existed the MSN
MSN introducing a new sememe (69) (41.32%)
Sh MSN by Semantic Shifting (pre-existent lexeme) (64) (38.32%)
Sp Specificizing MSN (pre-existent lexeme) (5) (2.99%)
MSN introducing a new word (66) (39.52%)
C Creational MSN (new lexeme) (62) (37.13%)
C(h+) Creational MSN which consists of the Hebrew/Israeli determiner h
('the') and a pre-existent lexical item (new lexeme) (2) (1.20%)
C('OT') Creational MSN alleged by purists to have appeared in the Old
Testament (see §3.2.3) (new lexeme) (2) (1.20%)
Statistical Analysis 223
MSN introducing a new compound (or phrase) (32) (19.16%)

Co Compound/phrase MSN (new compound/phrase) (24) (14.37%)
CoCo Compound/phrase MSN which matches an SL item which is also a
compound (new compound/phrase) (7) (4.19%)
Co('OT') Compound/phrase MSN alleged by purists to have appeared in the
Old Testament (new compound/phrase) (1) (0.60%)
(com) A compound/phrase of which only a part is an MSN (in all cases
except I harariy ilef the compound is new) (9) (5.39%)
ETYMOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION (IN THE CASE OF INCESTUOUS

MSN) (20) (11.98%)
cogSem Semitic Ur-Source Incestuous MSN: an MSN in which the TL nativizing
material is a surface-cognate of the SL nativized item, both being
traceable to the same Semitic origin (13) (7.78%)
coglE IE Ur-Source Incestuous MSN: an MSN in which the TL nativizing
material is a surface-cognate of the SL nativized item, both being
traceable to the same Indo-European origin (5) (2.99%)
cogNos Nostratic Ur-Source Incestuous MSN: an MSN in which the TL
nativizing material is a surface-cognate of the SL nativized item, both
being traceable to the same Proto-Semitic-Proto-Indo-European or
Nostratic origin (2) (1.20%)
SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION
PSM Phono-Semantic Matching, Semantic MSN (104) (62.28%)
SPM Semanticized Phonetic Matching, Semanticized MSN (the default being
Referent-SPM with Sense-SPM highlighted) (50) (29.94%)
PM Phonetic Matching, Non-Semantic MSN (13) (7.78%)
TERMINOLOGICAL AREA
academic general academic terms (2) (1.20%)
astronomy astron.(l)(0.60%)
animal animal (zoology) (11) (6.59%)
chemistry chem.(3)(l.80%)
colloq colloquialisms (8) (4.79%)
computers computers (3) (1.80%)
document general term referring to something written (3) (1.80%)
food food (gastronomy, culinary) (17) (10.18%)
g general (30) (17.96%)
geography geog.(5)(2.99%)
linguistics linguistics (1) (0.60%)
mathematics maths (1) (0.60%)
medicine medicine (18) (10.78%)
military military (4) (2.40%)
music mus.(10)(5.99%)
object general object (9) (5.39%)
person general term referring to a person (including professions and
ethnonyms)(6)(3.59%)
place place (3) (1.80%)
plant plant (botany) (4) (2.40%)
sport sport (3) (1.80%)
tech. technology (including electronics) (18) (10.78%)
transp. transportation (7) (4.19%)
Table 3
SL TL Section Termino- Sem- Lexico- Cur

SOURCE (of this logical antic poietic ren
LANGUAGE lexical item lexical item book) Area Type Type ncy
Intl machine WOO mekhond §5 4 1 tech. PSM Sh
s
2 Intl tourist Tn taydr §2 3 person PSM Sh
s
3. Intl prize DID pras §2.3 g PSM Sh
s
4. Intl sofa HOD sapd §323 object PSM C('OT')
(cogSem) s
5. Intl mask masekhd §3.14 2 object PSM Sh
(-cogSem) s
6. Intl genius ym gaon §5.4 1 person PSM Sh
s
7. Intl 'Gyps^' (cf. Ukr.
iwraH [tsyhan] & Y
tsoani §6 2 6 person PSM C
s
nyrjVX tsig$ynar\_
8. Intl magazine
('storehouse')
makhsdn §3.14 2 g PSM C
(cogSem) s
9. Intl 'digit' (cf. P cyfra,
GZiffer)
mso sifrd §3 1.2 maths PSM Sh
s
10. Intl 'cream' (cf. Y
yayuyao LithY
ruaw shamenet §4 4 food PSM C
s
shmetsno)
11. Intl Arctic (cf. artik)
('ice-lolly,
rtnp kdrtiv §4.4 food
(antono-
SPM C
s
popsicle') masia)
12. Intl jubilee yovel §3 1 4 2 g PSM Sh
(cogSem) s
13. Intl natrium pro natrdn §3 2 2 chemistry PSM C
(cogSem) s
14. Intl halo hild §2.2 astron./g PSM Sh
s
15. Intl chrysanthemum khartsit §3 2 2 plant PSM C
(cogSem)
s
16. Intl cassette ntf?p kaletet §3 2.1 tech./mus. PSM C
s
17. Intl bourgeois •ma burgani §2 3 person PSM Sh
(coglE) s
18. Intl polemic pulmus §3 14 1 g PSM Sh
(coglE) s
19. • Intl theory mm tord §3.1.2 academic PSM Sh
s
20. * Intl mysterious nwon mistori §5.4.2 g PSM C
s
crane, F grue
21. • Intl
R KpaH kran
piay agurdn §3 15 object PSM C
s
22. Intl lava laba §5 4.3 geog. PSM Sh s
(cogSem)
23. Intl cable kevel §5.4.4 tech. PSM Sh s
24. Intl elite Hit §3.2.3 g PSM ceor^ s
25. Intl police (cf. VAr. nwîa boleshet §2.2 g PSM Sh s
U4M [boi'liis])
26. Intl villa rfnn khavila §2 3 g SENSE
SPM
Sh s
27. Intl demission oi&rQKr vatsa §3.1.4 1
bedimuS g (verb) PSM Sh(com) s
(coglE)
28. Intl suffix JT'SIO sofit §2 2 linguistics PSM C s
29. Intl cape kef §3 13 geog. PSM Sh s
30. Intl piece pisd §3 15 mus./g PSM Sh s
31. Intl monitor(ing) •nm nitur §2 2 tech. PSM Sh (s)
32. Intl metamorphic rock sela mutmdr §2.2 geog. PSM C(com) (s)
TL Section Lexico-
SOURCE SL (of this
Termino-
logical
Sem-
antic poietic
Cur
ren
33. Intl 'rickets' (cf. Y royy rakikhet §4.2 medicine PSM C (s)
onro*n rakhitis)
34. Intl 'rickets' (cf. R rakhitlrakit §4.2 medicine PSM C (s)
paxirr rakhlt)
35. Intl 'potato' (cf. Y 013*713 bulbus §3.1.4.1 food PSM Sp (s)
yaVu bulbs) (cogffi)
36. Intl §3.1.2 tech. PSM Sh
mangle maagild (s)
37. Intl cholera yTVin kholira §5.4.2 medicine PSM CoCOT')
38. Intl protocol pratey kol, §3.2.5 document PSM Co (s)
prateykol
(M*$H protey
kol)
39. • Intl §4.1 animal PSM C
canary kanari (s)
40. * Intl nnaD animal PSM C
canary kanarit §41
(s)
41. Intl gelatin Ytn gladin §5.1.2 food PSM C f
42. Intl erosion limy eratson §5 3.2 geog. SPM C f
43. Intl salute Tto silud §2 2 military/g PSM Sh f
44. Intl salute •to seled §2-2 military/g PSM
PSM
Sh
C
f
45. Intl cyst nncrD kista §42 medicine f
46. Intl hocus-pocus quo nwN eshefkishej §5.3.6 g PSM CoCo f
47. Intl granite rrry-fl garinit §5.3.5 geog. PSM C f
48. Intl racket nrn rdkhat §3.1.4.2 sport PSM Sh
(cogSem)
f
49. Intl marzipan "OT1D J1D pat §4.4 food SPM Co f
mordekhdy
50. Intl media, medium yxa metsa §3.2.2 chem/g PSM C f
(coglE)
51. Intl guitar rrro gitit §5.3.2 mus. PSM Sp f
52. Intl alternative alter nativ §3.2.4 g SPM Co f
53. Intl toilet paper n^ym -n nyar toilet §5 3 4 g SPM Sh (com) f
54. Intl The Alps harareyilef §4.6 place SPM Sh (com) f
55. Intl telegraph 3"! XlVl dilug rav §5.1.2 tech. SPM Co f
(MzsUdilug
rav, PMasH
dilsgra/)
56. Intl telegraph 3 1 A1?! deleg rav §5.1.2 tech. SPM Co f
(MasH deleg
rav, PMasH
deleg raft
57. Intl telegraph 3"lp *V»D tileykrav §5.1.2 tech. SPM Co f
(MasH tiley
krav, PMasH
tiley kraj)
58. Intl cannon lwrnp kne on (MasH § 3 2 5 military PSM Co f
keneon, (cogSem)
cf. kney oyn)
59. Intl pyramid 11»y IXD peer amud §3.2.4 g SPM Co f
(MuHpeeyr
amud, PMasH
piayramid)
60. Intl pasquil ViN j?DD ptak evil §3.2.5 document PSM Co f
(MasH/wait
evil)
61. Intl automobile V31J3 movil §5.1.4 transp. PSM Sh f
TL Section Sem- Cur

SOURCE
SL (of this
Termino-
logical antic
Lcxico-
poietic ren
62. Intl automobile Vznaimx otomovil §5.1.4 transp. PSM Co f
63. Intl atrophy itrafa §4.2 medicine SPM Co f
64. Intl therapy nxiD-in tarpua §4.2 medicine PSM C f
65. Intl theology nnV?xn taaluhd §4.2 academic PSM C f
66. Intl aetiology ati §4.2 medicine PSM Sh f
67. Intl granuloma garinomet §4.2 medicine PSM C f
68. Intl 'fashion'
(R MOAa moda)
nro mida §5.3.3 g SPM Sh f
69. Intl 'hit (popular ashgar §5.1.4 mus./g PSM C f
song)'
(Y Wtfw shldgor)
70. Intl 'dispatch, tele- ynoyi da pita §3.2.5 tech./ SPM Co f
gram' (P depesza) (MuUdapisa, document
cf. depesa)
71. Intl machine
locomotive
nn I&D r> \wn meashen lo §3.2.5 transp. SPM CoCo f
kemo tof
(Y I'tPga mashin, (MasH
measheyn lo
lokomotiv) kemo tof)
72. Intl locomotive i nTODy1? Ida kemo tdj §3.2.5 transp. SPM Co f
(Y woxnsps1? {M%sH Ida kemo
lokomotiv) tdj)
73. Intl locomotive «in W D V? lo kemo tdf §3.2.5 transp. SPM Co f
(Y ivoKnxptf? (Mull lo kemo
lokomotiv) tdj)
74. Intl cervicitis mix tsaviret §4.2 medicine PSM Sh(C) f
75. Intl tumour inn tomer §4.2 medicine SPM Sh f
76. Intl necrosis nmM nikhritet §42 medicine SPM Sh f
77. Intl cavern imp kibaron §4.2 medicine SPM C f
(L cavema)
78. Intl ectomy noopx aktamd §4.2 medicine SPM C f
79. Intl gonorrhoea rroniu ganu reiyd §4.2 medicine SPM Co f
80. Intl gonococcus JVOyDiaprn khayddk §5.1.2.4 medicine PM Co(com) f
ganu kaakut
81. Intl Eureka !np-Qn havrakd §3.2.4 g PSM Sh f
82. Intl illusion ilu ze haya §3.2.4 g PSM Co f
83. Intl carnival *?yn ^ i p karney bdal §5.3.4 g PM Co f
84. Intl carnival Vm*1 ^mp korneyyuvdl §5.3.4 g PM Co f
85. Intl carnival oy1? as pip koren ba §5.3.4 g PM Co f
ladm
86. Intl club kluv §5.3.4 g SPM Sh f
87. * Intl aquifer mps akvd §8.1 geog. PSM C f
88. * Intl America xpn say amd rekd §1.4.3.3 g SPM Co f
89. • Intl American 'jpn oy am reykani §1.4.3.3 g SPM Co f
90. * Intl oracle ^DH "I1K or hakol §3.2.5 g SPM Co f
(MasH
orhak(o)t)
91. * Intl Buddha nyi in boded §3.2.5 g SPM Co f
(MuHbodiyo)
92. Intl (with puppet bubd §6.3 object SPM C S
Arabic (G Puppe, F
nativiztng poupee) + DialAr.
material) M ['bu?bu?] 'doll'
TL Section Termino- Sem- Lexico- Cur

SOURCE SL (of this logical anticpoictic rcn
LANGUAGE lexical item lexical item book)^ Area Type Type ncy
93. Intl (with It farfalla, F 1919 parpar §2.3 animal SPM Sh S
Arabic papillon + DialAr. (tri-
nativizing jjiji [tur'fiiT] sourced)
material) 'butterfly, moth'
94. bltl (with alcohol* Ax. dj*£ kohel §6.3 chera PSM C s
Arabic [ku'hu:l] 'pure spirit (cogSem)
nativizing of wine, alcohol'
material)
95. bltl (with syrup + Ar. v' J» 3TTW shirov §5.3 2 food PSM C f
Arabic Lfa'rarb] 'drink, (cogSem)
nativizing beverage'
material)
96. (French) chef (rooa) HWK ashdf §3.1.3 person/ PSM Sh S
Intl (mitbdkh) food
97. (French) icran ppx ekrdn §3.2.1 tech. PSM C S
Intl
98. (French) petitfour "IN9J19 pat peer §3.2.4 food SPM CoCo f
Intl
99. (French) petit beurre -Q719 pitey bar §4.4 food SPM CoCo f
Intl
100 (French) cotelette kotlit §4.4 food PSM C f
Intl
101 (French) baguette ma bagit §4.4 food PSM C f
Intl
102 (French) massage mashash §5.3.2 g SPM C f
Intl
103 (French) eau de Cologne pVp TK ed kalon §3 2.5 object SPM CoCo f
Intl (MasHerf
kolon)
104 (French) feuilleton liny tts pilpel iton §3.2.4 document SPM Co f
Intl
105 (French) silhouette tsilait §5.3.5 g PSM C f
Intl
106 (French) cotelette inn 'VriD kotley khazir §5.4 4 food PSM Sh(com) s
Intl (with
Aramaic
nativizing
material)
107 (It.) Intl oboe am abuv §3.1.1 mus. PSM Sp S
108 (It.) Intl 'horn' (It. corno) V? kiren §4.3 mus. PSM Sh S
(cogNos)
109 (It.) Intl falsetto salfit §4.3 mus. PSM C
(s)
11C (It.) Intl glissando glish §4.3 mus. PSM C f
111 (It.) Intl clarinet JllTI ^ 3 kli rindt §4.3 mus. SPM Co f
112 British dummy deme §3.2.1 military/g PSM C s
113 British corner IT kiren §3.1.4.3 sport PSM Sh
(cogNos)
s
114 British shake (in fear) shikshek §6.2.3 COlloq(verb) PSM Sh
s
115 •British Yes! \w yesh §5 1.4 colloq SPM Sh
s
116 British pin rs pin §3.1.2 tech./object PSM Sh s
117 British tag an tag §3.1.2 object PSM Sh s
118 British swivel Viaô svivol §5.3 5 tech. SPM C f
119 British marrow N*1O mire §4-2 medicine PM C f
12C American message "10B miser §2.1.3 g PSM C S
SL TL Section Tcnrnno- Sem- Lexico- Cur

SOURCE (of this logical antic poietic rcn
121 American hit lahit §5.1.4 mus./g PSM C
s
122 American dubbing dibuv §6.4 tech./g PSM Sh
s
123 American tackle Vipn tikul §3.2.1 sport PSM C
s
124 American terrific matrif §5.1.4 colloq (adj.) PSM Sh
s
125 American baby, babe Tan buba §6.3 colloq PSM Sh
s
126
127
* American Never a dull moment
American masking •poa
en rega dal
misukh
§3.1.2
§3.1.4.2
g
tech.
PSM
PSM
Sh
Sh(C)
ss
(-cogSem)
128 American dock pnao mivdok §2.1.3 tech./g PSM C s
129 American gay ge/gee §6.4 person PSM Sh s
130 American gender migddr §6.4 academic PSM C(Sh) s
131 American
132 American
byte
video-Clip o^p
bait
klit
§45
§3.2.1
computers
tech./g
SPM
PSM
Sh
C
W
f
133 American bit nô sibit §4.5 computers PSM C f
134 American muffin VDia mufin §4.4 food PSM C f
135 American C language sfatsi §4.5 computers SPM Sh(com) f
136 Yiddish ypm tsdtsko 'toy' VWJH tsaatsua §6.2.1 object SENSE
SPM
Sh
s
137 Yiddish
terkhho veyts
OTJI tiros §6.2.1 food PM Sh
s
'maize, com'
138 Yiddish )T1M PY nidyon,
LithY nudyon/
nidned §6.2 3
§12.5
colloq
(verb)
SPM Sh
s
nudzh&i 'bother*
139 Yiddish Oinp kundos,
WPkunts 'trick'
OlJip (ntopo) (maase)
kundds
§6.2.5 g SPM C(Sh)
s
140 Yiddish ptHW shrdybt)
'write', Vviyrw
shirbet §6.2.5 g(verb) SPM C(Sh)
s
shrdybarl 'scribble'
141 Yiddish ysr\K§fartsi) 'fart' hiflits §6.2.5 colloq (verb) PSM C(Sh)
s
142 *|ttm rdysht} rishresh §6.2.4 g(verb) PSM C s
Yiddish 'rustle, swish, make
noise', lîD rasht)
'make noise'
143 Yiddish nâ "ino sdkhar §6.2.7 g PSM CoCo s
shdkhor mdkhor mekher (cogSem)
'wheeling-dealing'
144 Yiddish mn lWb# altar mn terakh §6.2.1 colloq SPM Sh s
terakh 'fool', (person)
lyODnsm terikhtor
'fool', OX/TID turos
•fooleries', iytf?8
PIVU dltor terk
145 Yiddish ytP&pbkg 'piss' pishpesh §6.2.3 colloq (verb) SPM Sh (s)
146 Yiddish W*?\$Bp6lash palush §6.2.5 g/transp. PSM C f
'corridor'
147 •Yiddish Y 0X2 pas 'stripe, 09 pas §6.2.2 g PSM Sh S
+ Polish \ine\? pas 'strip,
(broad) belt, stripe'
148 German + GSchild, shelet §3.1.5 object PSM Sh S
Yiddish frWshild
(PYjA///)'sign'
SOURCE
SL TL Section
(of this
Termino-
logical
Sem-
antic
Lexico-
poictic
Cur
ren
149 German + G Stecker,
Yiddish Y IVpVUW shtekor
ypn §2.1.3 tech. PSM C
s
•plug'
150 German + G Schildkrite, tsavhashilti §4.1 animal PSM C(com) f
Yiddish Y BinpTTW
shildkrot 'tortoise'
151 German Pfeifer 1W9 pifyon §4.1 animal SPM C (s)
*(sand)piper'
152 German g&nnen 'not to pin khonen §5.3.5 g(verb) PSM Sh f
begrudge'
153 German Schalter 'switch mashlet §5.3.5 tech. PSM C f
(connector)'
154 German Hamster 'hamster' Tnoan hamastir §4.1 animal PSM C(A+) f
155 German Aim 'pasture (fish)' T)tf?y almon §4.1 animal PM Sh f
156 German Ackermanschen -DKH haikdr §4.1 animal SPM C(*+) f
'wagtail'
157 German Alk'zvk' Dip 1 ?^ alkum §4.1 animal PM Sh f
158 German Zickzack 'zigzag' -|0D0 sikhsdkh §5.3.5 g PSM C f
159 ""German Kanarienvogel tsipdrkinori §4.1 animal SPM Co f
'canary'
160 •German Kdnigseider(gans) "TCK m avdz eder §4.1 animal SPM Co f
•King Eider'
161 •German Eidergans, Eiderente Tm m avdz heder §4.1 animal SPM Co f
'Anas mollissima*
162 French guidon kidon §3 1.2 transp. SPM Sh
s
163 French avion lTVlK aviron §3.2.1 transp. PSM C s
164 French Tour Eiffel turofel §3.2.5 place SPM CoCo f
(MtsH turoyfef)
165 French Tour Eiffel VDyVioa migdaldfel §3.2.5 place SPM Sh(com) f
166 French comme ci TO "»D3 kakhikakha §5.1.4 colloq PSM Co(C) f
comme ca
167 •French avion PT3K aviron §3.2.1 transp. PSM C f
168 French crapaud 7\10ip karpadd §3.1.1 animal PSM Sp(C) s
(with
Aramaic
nativizing
material)
169 French tilleul Melon §5.3.5 plant SPM C f
(with
Aramaic
nativizing
material)
17C Italian gelato ?rrto glida §5.1.2 food PSM c S
171 Italian timpano loan tunpdn §4.3 mus. PSM c (s)
172 Italian grissini grisim §4 4 food SPM Sh f
173 Arabic <sO* [mu'rabba] ribd §6.3 food SPM C S
'jam'
174 Arabic J > [*ha:wada] 'felt ahdd §6.3 g(verb) SPM C S
sympathy towards
(m, sg)'
175 • Arabic *•>! j * [ha'wa:da] HTHK ahadd §6.3 g SPM C S
'complaisance,
clemency,
sympathy'
SOURCE SL TL Section
(of this
Termino-
logical
Sem-
antic
Lexico- Cur
poictic rcn
d*Mlhacl3al]
176 Arabic
'partridge'
tf?an khogld §4.1 animal PM Sh
s
177 Arabic U^foafjafl kashdsh §41 animal PSM C (s)
'gatherer (of
straw)'
178 Arabic Sj^fur'fiirartop parpard §6 3 object SPM C f
(toy), dreidl'
179 Latin Daemia cordata dimua §311 plant PSM Sp f
18C Latin Arnebia rvnnx arnavit §1.2.3 plant PM C f
181 Latin Mergus 'diver (a trua migron §4.1 animal PM Sh f
kind of water-fowl)'
182 Latin ports (cf. ports XTIJD pantd §4 2 medicine PM Sh f
cerebrilcerebelli)
183 Latin fyngiasmus 'hiccup' lignay §5.1.2.4 medicine PM Co f
ulemum
184 Judaeo-
Spanish
pita
'pitta bread'
nns) pita §5.4.3 food PSM Sh
s
(with
Aramaic
nativiztng
material)
185 Turkish pa§a 'pasha* nns pekha §3 1.2 g PSM Sh s
186 Ancient
Greek
CTKO7T£G> skoped
'I look at'
tropvm mishkafdim Intro
-duction
object PSM C
s
(»spectacles)
+ dozens of Israeli toponyms, anthroponyms and brand names

* An asterisk between the number and the source language indicates that the MSN does not
participate in the statistics/tables (19 MSNs in total). However, a quick glance at the
distribution of these MSNs demonstrates that this absence has a negligible impact on the
statistics.
7.2 Graphs
7.2A General analysis (Graphs 1-6)
Internationalisms play a major role in Israeli neologization.

Approximately 60 per cent of the lexical items matched were of
international descent. English is a major superstratum (13 per cent)
(Graph 1). An internationalism which enters Israeli via MSN is likely to
come from Yiddish, Russian and Polish (Graph 2). American is the form
of English that has influenced Israeli the most: some two thirds of MSNs
whose SL is English are based on Americanisms, the rest deriving from
British. Most MSNs are PSMs (62 per cent), followed by SPMs (30 per
cent) and PMs (8 per cent) (Graph 3). As regards lexicopoietic
classification, 41 per cent of MSNs introduce a new sememe to a pre-
existent lexical item, 40 per cent introduce a new lexical item, and 19 per
cent introduce a new compound (using pre-existent lexical items) (Graph
4). Among MSNs, there is a high proportion of technical, medical and
gastronomic terms (Graph 5). There is a strong correlation between
computer terms and American English, between gastronomic terms and
French internationalisms, and between musical terms and Italian
internationalisms (Graph 6). An additional observation, from the table in
§7.1, is that MSN almost always occurs with nouns, not with verbs.
Graph 1: Classification by Source Language (percentage)
INTERNATIONAL —
ENGLISH
^H
H B H H I 13.17
••1••• ••• 160.48
YIDDISH
GERMAN •§4.79
FRENCH •§4.19
ARABIC • 2.99
LATIN • 2.99
GERMAN + YIDDISH 11.8
ITALIAN
JUDAEO-SPANISH [0.6
TURKISH (0.6
ANCIENT GREEK [0.6
70
Percentage out of the total number of Israeli MSNs
Graph 2: Classification by Source Language: Subdivision of INTERNATIONAL (percentage)
Intl via Arabic

3.96%
Intl Italian Intl Yiddish/Russian/Polish
4.95% 80.20%
Intl French
10.89%
Graph 3: Semantic Classification (percentage)
Phonetic Matching
Semanticized Phonetic Matching

29.94"
62.28%
Phono-Semantic Matching
Graph 4: Lexicopoietic Classification (percentage)
Semantic Shifting
Specificizing
Creational
Creational (h+) m . .,
Creational ('Old Teitament') I| i:
Compound
Compound (+SL compound)
Compound ('Old Testament') out of fh^p ICIIB! iiiimlitr #f Isnieli
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Graph 5: Classification by Terminological Area (percentage)
person
geography
military
SIMM 2,40
plant 2.411
chemistry
computers m
document WBBBi *.
m
place %&
sport 8ft
academic
astronomy
linguistics 3 ^-^^
mathematics out
10 20
Graph 6: Classification by Source Language ofMSNsfrom Selected Terminological Area (percentage)
9.09 5.88 Y 13J 3

9.09 L 50.00 5.88JadSp. 5.88 Am. YIDDISH 333 Am.
Intl (via Ar.)
11.76 ITALIAN 5.88 AT. 3J3TU.
F(Intl)
5.88 Intl 6.67 G
(vfcAr.)
29.41 29.41
FRENCH 6333 Intl (Y,R,P)
100.00 AMERICAN Intl (Y, R, P)
(Intl)
COLLOQUIALISMS COMPUTERS GENERAL TERMS
11.11 10.00
LATIN 50.00 AMERICAN FRENCH
£Br. (ITALIAN^
Intl
— -«*— BRITISH
100.00 Intl (Y,R,P) 8333 Intl (Y,R,P) 7Jo7lntl(Y,R,P) 5.56 G ^ 7 536 F<tad) 71^3 Ilitf (Y, R, P)
GEOGRAPHY MEDICINE TECHNICAL TERMS TRANSPORTATION
\ American • French B German*Yiddish • Italian H Latin

Arabic • (French) Intl - Intl (Yiddish, Russian, Polish) B (Italian) Intl • Turkish
British • German D Intl (via Arabic) • Judaeo-Spanish D Yiddish
7.2.2 Successful MSNs (Graphs 7-16)
So far, there has been no serious research into the percentage of

neologisms in Israeli that have been successful. With regard to failed
MSNs, the situation is even worse - Oman's Dictionary of Forgotten
Words (1996) - otherwise useful - does not include the unsuccessful
MSNs presented here. Also, Israeli-speakers tend to be ignorant of
neologisms imposed by AHL. Taking all these into account, a 50 per cent
success rate of MSN (Graph 7) is high. An analysis of successful MSNs
according to SL shows that internationalisms (Yiddish/Russian/Polish)
play a major role (42 per cent), followed by American English (13 per
cent) and Yiddish (11 per cent) (Graph 8). More generally, 52 per cent of
successful MSNs are of international descent (Graph 9). Furthermore, 78
MSNs of internationalisms were successful out of 101 considered, whilst
13 MSNs of English lexical items gained currency out of 22 considered
(Graph 10).
Most successful MSNs are PSMs (80 per cent), whereas SPMs
constitute only 18 per cent of successful MSNs and PMs only 2 per cent
(Graph 11). Treating each semantic category separately, 64.43 per cent of
PSMs introduced caught on, compared to only 30 per cent of SPMs and
15.38 per cent of PMs (Graph 12). In other words, a PSM is the semantic
category most likely to gain acceptance. Obviously, the semantic link is
made in the TL, not in the SL(s), and is sometimes far-fetched.
Nevertheless, in order to camouflage the borrowing more effectively,
purists prefer to find TL material semantically related to the meaning of
the nativized SL lexical item. Thus, even the perspicacious among future
generations might be deceived into thinking that the modern sememe is
the result of an internal semantic change rather than MSN.
With regard to lexicopoietic categories, 54.76 per cent of successful
MSNs are ones that introduce a new sememe to a pre-existent lexical
item, whereas 41.67 per cent are creational MSNs and 3.57 per cent are
compound/phrase MSNs (Graph 13). Considering each semantic category
independently, two thirds of MSNs introducing a new sememe were
successful, compared with 53 per cent of MSNs introducing a new word
(creational MSNs) and only 9 per cent of MSNs introducing a new
compound (Graph 14).
Graph 15 analyses the success of (i) PM introducing a new sememe,
PM introducing a new word and PM introducing a new compound, (ii)
SPM introducing a new sememe, SPM introducing a new word and SPM
introducing a new compound, and (iii) PSM introducing a new sememe,
PSM introducing a new word and PSM introducing a new compound.
Note that the percentages given in each column refer to the percentage of
instances from the whole of each specific semantico-lexicographic
category which are fully or partially successful. Therefore, the remaining
percentage (unshown) represents those which failed. The graph
demonstrates that PSM introducing a new sememe (mostly PSM by
semantic shifting) is the most successful method of neologization. This
conclusion is one of the useful by-products of this book: surprisingly, it
can teach the purist something about the fruits of neologization since it
indicates that PSM is the best semantic category for coinage (better than
SPM and much better than PM), and that MSN by semantic shifting is the
best lexicopoietic category for coinage (better than creational MSN and
much better than compound/phrase MSN). The fact that purists might
draw on the conclusions of this book is an intriguing example of the use
which prescriptive linguists can make of descriptive publications.
Compare this with the opposite situation, in which I used the prescriptive
lists of Sivan, a purist (cf. §3.1.2).
Graph 7: Classification by General Currency (percentage)
L ®M -L—mi
Successful
i • Partly Successful
2S.74 I I Secceisful
1 • HigMy SucesssfisI
Failed
"r
L
10 20 30 40 50 60
Percentage out of the total number of Israeli MSNs
Graph 8: Classification by Source Language of SUCCESSFUL MSNs (percentage)
ITALIAN GEMMAM
1.19%
GERMAN 4- YIDDISH JUBAEO-SFANISII
1.19%
TUMKISB
INTL (vis Arabic) 1.19%
3.57%
ptjslkn) INTL
3.S7%
(Frescfe) INTL
3.57%
ARABIC
4,7i%
British ENGLISH
S.95%
YIDDISH
10.71%
Ammiam ENGLISH
13.10%
23 8 Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew
Graph 9: Classification by SL (Ml versus non-Mi) of SUCCESSFUL MSNs (percentage)
NON-INTERNATIONAL
47.62%
INTERNATIONAL
52.38%
Graph JO: Classification by General Currency according to Source Language (count)
INTERNATIONAL
Intl Yiddish/Ruuitn/Polish
Intl French
Intl Italian
Intl via Arabic
ENGLISH
British
American
YIDDISH D Highly Successful

GERMAN • Successful
• Partly Successful
FRENCH
• Failed
ARABIC
LATIN
GERMAN + YIDDISH
ITALIAN
JUDAEO-SPANISH
TURKISH
ANCIENT GREEK No. of successful Israeli MSNs
20 40 80 100
Graph 11: Semantic Classification of SUCCESSFUL MSNs (count, percentage)
79.76%
Phono-Semantic
Matching (67)
17.86%
Semanticized
Phonetic
Matching (15)
2,38%
Phonetic Matching (2)
Graph 12: Classification by General Currency ofPSMs, SPMs andPMs (percentage)
Highly Successful
Successful
Partly Successful
Successful Failed Successful Failed Successful Failed
Phonetic Matching Semanticized Phonetic

Matchinghono-Semantic Matching
Graph 13: Lexicopoietic Classification of SUCCESSFUL MSNs (percentage)
laatic Shifting
51.19
SpeciflcizUg
• I l l 3.57
CreatioaaJ
Creauo»al(h+)
Creadonal ('Old TesUme«t') I I 2o3§
! 1.19
Compound ('Old Testament')
10 20 30 40 50 60
Percentage out of SUCCESSFUL MSNs
Graph 14: Classification by General Currency of the Various Lexicopoietic Classes (percentage)
p 100
r nn f"1 Highly Successful
• 80 • Prfy MzmmM
* 70
60 wm
r
•ii i —^H
39.13
An
H
31.82'
I— MM
H
30
lIHHHi
•m
,• , , ,
20
10
Successful Failed Successful Failed Successful Failed

New Sememe New Word New Compound
Sh,Sp Co, CoCo, CoCOT')
Graph 15: Classification by General Currency ofPSMs, SPMs and PMs

lexicopoietically categorized (percentage)
• Highly Successful
a Successful
• Partly Successful
W.§1—
11.11
33.33 iili
nnm ••
0.00 , Cif~ HU
New New New New New New New New New
Sememe Word Compound Sememe Word Compound Sememe Word Compound
Phonetic Matching Semanticized Phonetic Matching Phono-Semantic Matching
Graph 16: Classification by Terminological Area of SUCCESSFUL MSNs (percentage)

(presented in the same order as in Graph 6)
Percentage cut of SUCCESSFUL MSPfe

7.2.3 Maskilic Hebrew FENs (Graphs 17-19)
Almost all Maskilic Hebrew FENs are based on internationalisms (Graph

17). All maskilic FENs are compound/phrase FENs (Graph 18), and 92
per cent of them are not used in Israeli (Graph 19).
Graph 17: Classification by Source Language of Maskilic Hebrew FENs (percentage)
INTERNATIONAL
(FRENCH)
INTERNATIONAL
60 80 100
Percentage out of Maskilic Hebrew FENs
Graph 18: Lexicopoietic Classification ofMaskilic Hebrew FENs (percentage)
Semantic Shifting 0.00

Specifying 0.00
Creational 0.00
Creational (h+) 0.00
Creational ('Old Testament') 0.00
Compound

• • • Ifl^HHiiHHflHHiflHI 76.92
Compound ('Old Testament') 0.00 Percentage out of Maskilic Hebrew FENs
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Statystical Analysis 243
Graph 19: Classification by General Currency ofMasfdlic Hebrew FENs (percentage)
| m Partly SiiecessfQl j
Successful j H Mighty Sneeessfisi j

7.69
Failed \ ^
10 20 30 50 60 70 80 90 100
Percentage out of Maskilic Hebrew FENs
7.2.4 Incestuous MSNs (Graphs 20-23)
Etymologically, incestuous MSNs constitute an important class of

neologisms (cf. §3.1.4 and §3.2.2). 12 per cent of Israeli MSNs are
incestuous. I distinguish between three categories of incestuous Israeli
MSNs: (i) Semitic ur-source incestuous MSN (cogSem): MSN in which
the TL/SL2 nativizing material is a surface-cognate of the SLi nativized
item, both being traceable to the same Semitic origin (65 per cent of
incestuous MSNs are with Semitic ur-source); (ii) Indo-European ur-
source incestuous MSN (coglE): MSN in which the TL/SL2 nativizing
material is a surface-cognate of the SLi nativized item, both being
traceable to the same Indo-European origin (25 per cent of incestuous
MSNs are with Indo-European ur-source); (iii) Nostratic ur-source
incestuous MSN (cogNos): MSN in which the TL/SL2 nativizing material
is a surface-cognate of the SLi nativized item, both being traceable to the
same Proto-Semitic-Proto-Indo-European or Nostratic origin (10 per cent
of incestuous MSNs are with Nostratic ur-source) (cf. Graph 20). Almost
all incestuous MSNs are based on internationalisms (Graph 21). 55 per
cent of incestuous MSNs introduce a new sememe to a pre-existent
Hebrew lexical item, 35 per cent are creational MSNs and 10 per cent are
compound/phrase MSNs (Graph 22). As many as 80 per cent of
incestuous MSNs are successful (Graph 23).
Graph 20: Etymological Classification of Incestuous MSNs (percentage)
INDO-EUROPEAN
10 20 40 50 60 70
Percentage out of all Incestuous MSNs
Graph 21: Classification by Source Language of Incestuous MSNs (percentage)
British ENGLISH
5%
American ENGLISH
5%
YIDDISH
5%
CVTL(vU Arabic)
10%
CMTL (Ytddish/Russiin/PoUsh)
70%
Statystical Analysis 245
Graph 22: Lexicopoietic Classification of Incestuous MSNs (percentage)
Semantic Shifting
Specifldzing
Creation*!
Creational (h+) '• 9
Creational ('Old Testament')
Compound ;||||||||1 §
Compoand (+SL compound) B B §
Compoand ('Old Testament')

=| 0 Percentage out ©f all Imcestm&ms MSNs
10 20 30 40 50 60
Graph 23: Classification by General Currency ofIncestuous MSNs (percentage)
15 \ i
ll^Blii
j |
\ ' \
Successful
\ ' 1
Ok—__
j 1
|_• Partly Successful HI Suecesyfui - ] Highly Successful
| i
Failed 2$
— — —
20 40 60 80 100
Percentage out of all Incestuous MSNs
8
Conclusions and Theoretical Implications
MSN, a source of lexical enrichment distinct from guestwords,

foreignisms, loanwords (§1.2.1) and calquing (1.3) has had a vast impact
across many languages. MSN, which usually goes unnoticed by speakers
(especially those of generations following the original coinage), has
introduced a substantial number of new sememes and lexemes in Israeli,
Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, pidgins and Creoles, and other languages. In
the case of Israeli, MSN reinforces the view that Israeli lexis has been
covertly influenced by Germanic and Slavonic languages such as Yiddish,
Russian, Polish, German and English. The hundreds of (polychronically
analysed) examples presented in this book prove that PSM is significantly
widespread, the extent being remarkable both in absolute terms (200
PSMs out of several thousand neologisms in Israeli) and in relative terms,
i.e. taking into account the fact that the majority of SL words do not have
a parallel TL (in the case of FEN) or co-SL (in the case of LC) element
which may coincide on phonetic and on semantic levels. Such a constraint
does not usually apply to calquing, morpho-phonemic adaptation and
mere neologization. Therefore, 200 PSMs in Israeli (not allowing for
their dozens of secondary derivatives, as well as for toponyms and
anthroponyms) is a significant number.
Discussing Turkish examples of PSM, Deny (1935: 246) claims that
such neologisms are 'without precedent in the annals of linguistics'. This
book corrects that statement. Furthermore, Heyd (1954: 92) says that
'Modern Hebrew, too, tried, for a short period and without much success,
to follow the same road, forming words like kholird [yVnn, lit. 'bad
disease'] for cholera, pratey-kol p7D ^"1D, lit. 'details of everything'] for
protocol, etc' (italics mine). As the cases collected and analysed here
indicate, Heyd underestimates the power of PSM. In addition to the
dozens of successful PSMs and SPMs presented, a recent creational PSM
was officially introduced on 22 May 2000 in Session 254 of AHL: I mpN
akvd 'aquifer, reservoir of underground water' is based simultaneously on
(i)Intl aquifer and (ii)(B)H mp Aqwh 'collect/gather (water)' - cf.
(BH»)I (DVD) mpo mikve maim 'watering hole, reservoir, collection (of
water), mikveh' and BH mp& [miq'wi] 'water reservoir'. It is difficult to
provide a detailed chronology of the specific periods in which Israeli
246
Conclusions 247
PSMs were favoured. However, it seems that throughout the Hebrew

'revival', for example during the lifetime of Abramowitsch (1835-1917)
and Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922), PSM was a very common method of
neologization. Opposition to it arose later (see §5.1.2) but as
demonstrated, PSM is still widely used by AHL.
8.1 Congruence Principle
This book has numerous theoretical implications. For example, the

Congruence Principle: If a feature (or a 'similar item') exists in more than
one contributor - whether primary or secondary (including the TL) - it is
more likely to persist in the TL. Since this book deals with lexis, the
'similar items' discussed were lexical items. However, this general
principle is applicable to morphology/syntax/phonetics/phonology etc.
too. More specifically, this book focuses on phono-semantic similarity
(although this principle also applies to semantic similarity alone). Thus,
'it is more likely to persist in the TL' refers to two main processes: FEN
and LC. The following sections present further theoretical implications.
8.2 Popular etymology and purism
Despite significant recent developments in the study of popular

etymology, for example, within cognitive and cultural linguistics (e.g.
Holland and Quinn 1987, Sweetser 1990), some linguists still regard any
study related to folk-etymology as 'boudoiresque' or apocryphal. It is
time to overcome this prejudice and to realize that PE's capacity to shape
speakers' perceptions and words' connotations influences people's lives.
Consider, for example, the tradition in some western Ashkenazic Jewish
communities of eating cabbage soup on Hoshana Raba (the seventh day
of the Sukkoth holiday, when each person's fate for the coming year is
irrevocably sealed in Heaven). The reason for this is that the name of the
Jewish prayer recited at this occasion, H "ltZDD *?lp, lit. 'a voice
announcing', pronounced in Ashkenazic Hebrew kol mevdser, was
playfully reinterpreted as Western Y "W0N11 ira *7Np koul mit vasor (cf. *7Np
"W0K11 fB kol m' vasor) 'cabbage with water', cf. G Kohl mit Wasser (cf.
Weinreich 1973: i:7, 192). Consider also Swedish Varfru dagen, lit. 'Our
Lady's Day', which used to be the signifier for Lady Day (25 March), the
Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is allegedly the
day on which the Virgin Mary was told that she was going to give birth to
Jesus - exactly nine months before Christmas. Throughout time Swedish
Vdrfrudagen has been reinterpreted as V&ffeldagen, lit. 'Waffle Day'.

Consequently, on that day Swedes traditionally eat waffles with jam or
cream. The waffles are sometimes heart-shaped, and those who still know
about the connection with the Virgin Mary might rationalize the form in
terms of the Virgin Mary's heart. Similarly, mutatis mutandis, Jimi
Hendrix would sometimes kiss a man on stage after singing 'sense me
while I kiss the sky (from the song Purple Haze, 1967) because he was
familiar with the mondegreen 'scuse me while I kiss this guy.1 Such shifts
in reality alone render PE a worthy subject for research.
Naphtali Herz Torczyner, who acted as the last president of HLC
(1942-9) and the first president of AHL (1953-73), wrote (1938: 8):
rr>an nx na isxai n^nvh JQ-JIS rftnn m ip>n /runiww ana1 iiniwn ana w n "mioip
uy V7DTO mtznin iaa mrcfran iron p in mpirn Vw mum .narrai /an1?1 ns mayn
mxon DW1? xrrn&nD ymn pn to \n ow ntwawTO,n-nnatr/ D"O"isn D^DIDH mawa
i mrta ^pnfca x*?x V?x rx .no-noon 'mn i«no' *
1
Mondegreens are phrases resulting from mishearing (especially lyrics of popular songs).
The term mondegreen originated from Sylvia Wright's misinterpretation of one stanza in
the Scottish ballad The Bonny Earl of Murray (cf. Wright 1954). Instead of the original
[Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands; Oh where hae you been?] They hae slay the Earl of
Murray, And lain him on the green, she thought it was They ha[v]e slain the Earl of
Murray, And Lady Mondegreen. Wright was moved by this tragic female death.
Mondegreen does not appear in OED but is to be included in the third edition (Edmund
Weiner pc). Mondegreens can be considered intra-lingual PMs, albeit usually
subconscious. The following are four more examples out of dozens in my lists: Gladly, the
cross-eyed bear instead of Gladly the cross I'd bear (an old hymn); You and me and Leslie
instead of You and me endlessly (from Groovin', an early popular song); Living is easy
with nice clothes instead of Living is easy with eyes closed (from the Beatles' Strawberry
Fields); There's a bathroom on the right instead of There's a bad moon on the rise (from
Bad Moon Rising, a song by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)). Naturally,
mondegreens are a universal phenomenon. They often occur with songs taught to groups
of children by nannies or teachers. An Israeli example is naw rvrcfr nTnaia mukhrakhim
liyot sameakh *We must be happy1 instead of (the high-register) naw a*?a D^nx my uru
akhim belev sameakh 'Wake up, brothers, with a happy heart*, from the well-known song
nV»X] nan Hdva Nagila (Let's be Happy). Thus, a foreigner interested in learning the
original song had better not ask an Israeli for its lyrics. Consider also the 'non-phonetic
mondegreen* (employing 'mondegreen* more broadly) with the Israeli children's song
nxim ^yaa ,n;ny ,nny ,nny uga, uga, uga, bdmagal nakhuga. The original meaning is
'Round, round, round, let us move in a circle* but it is interpreted by most Israeli children
as the homophonous 'cake, cake, cake, let us move in a circle*, cf. I nny uga 'cake* (note
that nny uga 'round, roll, draw a circle! (m, sg)* is outdated). This song might have made
many Israeli children perceive the default, unmarked cake as round - like Y bx\p kug]
'kugel, kind of pudding* (popularly etymologized as Vuya 'like a circle*) and Y V
shtrud] 'strudel, type offruitcake*.
Conclusions 249
Our ancestors interpreted ktav hanishtevan as 'script that has been changed*
[mislinking nishtevan with nishtana 'changed'], divided the word pat-bag into two
and found within it the Hebrew word pat 'bread1, and so on. These homiletic
interpretations are far from the linguistic truth, in the same way as the
interpretations of the Persian proper names in the Old Testament, so that even the
name of the son of Hainan the Wicked, Parshandata, became a name of glory, the
famous parshdn hadat ['interpreter of religion*], for Rashi. These are nothing but
rhetorical games [cf. melitzah, an intertextual citational style] and not part of the
living and true language.
Whilst I agree that such 'homiletic interpretations are far from the
linguistic truth', such 'games of rhetoric' are, in fact, an integral part of
the 'living and true language'. In an article punningly entitled n w t o
niftmi bahhanut uvatlanut (i.e. 'Linguistics and Idleness'), Torczyner -
after phonetically matching his surname to Tur-Sinai (lit. 'Mount Sinai) -
scorns laymen who think that G privat is derived from H ''DID (Iprati)
'private' (see Tur-Sinai 1950: 5). While Tur-Sinai's criticism is correct,
he does not think to ask whether such coincidental similarity can actually
affect language itself, and not only meta-language. Thus, Intl private
increased the use of (H>)I nriD/?rari 'private'. Torczyner, like many other
good linguists, is blinded by an indoctrinated desire to reprimand laymen
for ignorance. The result is insensitivity, neglecting that the subject of the
matter, language, is, after all, spoken and shaped by these very laymen.
The linguistic analysis of PE should not restrict itself to DOPE, i.e.
cases of mistaken derivation, because - as we have also seen with some
PSMs analysed throughout this book - PE often results in a new sememe/
lexeme, which leads me to define it as GPE. The distinction between
DOPE and GPE is an important one, even though DOPE is often the first
stage of GPE (cf. §1.2.2). Most importantly, GPE is often employed by
very august, scholarly, puristic language planners, especially within the
highly prescriptive Hebrew Language Council and AHL - both headed at
different stages by Torczyner/Tur-Sinai himself, as well as by puristic
Turkish language revolutionizers. The distinction between creation
savante and creation populaire is not so categorical since many creations
savantes are in fact 'populaires9 and - as we have seen in the case of
some colloquial PSMs - many creationspopulaires are indeed 'savantes'.
A leitmotiv throughout this book is that JOCULAR CREATIONS can teach
us a lot about non-jocular linguistic processes. Wordplay should not be
casually dismissed as it can be an indication of a general linguistic
tendency. This book also shows the power of SERENDIPITY: coincidental
phonetic similarity induces MSN, which might result in the revival of an
obsolete morpheme (e.g. root, noun-pattern) or lexeme.
8.3 Camouflage linguistics
Foreign languages affect not only the lexis of a language but also - often
through the back door (e.g. via the lexis itself) - the morphology, the
heart of the language. This book, which focuses on camouflaged
interactions between languages, offers a new avenue of linguistic
research.2 The influence of multisourced borrowing does not end with the
MSN itself since the latter often produces dozens of secondary (and
tertiary) derivatives. Such collateral influence is manifested in the case of
I naiaa mekhond 'machine', a PSM by semantic shifting of Intl machine,
based on BH nroo [mako'ni] 'base' (see §5.4.1). This PSM has resulted
in a secondary root, 3DB Îmkn '(to) machine, add machines, mechanize',
and in many nouns, e.g. jniDB mekhonit 'car' (coined by Itamar, Ben-
Yehuda's son, in 1911, cf. Sivan 1981b: 16, Ben-Avi 1951; most
probably a nominalization of the adjective in JVJ'DBrfOTagald mekhonit
'automobile', lit. 'mechanical wagon', as opposed to n^BWn n t o agald
khashmalit 'tram', lit. 'electric wagon', cf. Sivan 1978: 213), JilKJDD
mekhonaut 'mechanics', W D B mekhondy 'mechanic'. Although these
nouns are widespread, most Israelis are unaware of their non-Hebrew
(ultimate) co-etymon. By their nature, secondary and tertiary derivatives
involve etyma fading into oblivion. Consider I O^DH ^7V al hapanim
(usually pronounced dl hapanim), lit. 'on the face', with the metaphorical
meaning '(feeling) very bad, terrible, demoralized'. For example, I ^X
D^DH *7S?flpnaani margish dl hapanim means 'I feel awful'.3 This internal
Israeli creation adopted the pseudo-English form 0"9 m TIN on de feys
'(feeling) very bad', cf. the otherwise non-existent E *on the face. Some
Israelis even use the latter expression while speaking English.
Some linguists who deal with Hebrew and Israeli regard morphology
as the study of noun-patterns, verb-patterns and affixes, while the study of
roots is part of etymology. The beauty of PSM is that European languages
not only dictate the choice of root but also the choice of noun-pattern.
Thus, the DeDeD noun-pattern was chosen for vpn teka 'plug' (cf. §2.1.3)
2
In Israeli one might call camouflage linguistics ntmon rrafta balshanut hasvad (nwion
hasvad meaning 'camouflage'), which could be juxtaposed with HKiivn nwhi balshanut
hashvaa 'comparative linguistics', lit. 'comparison linguistics', cf. the more common term
miWD rruvfra balshanut mashvd 'comparative linguistics', lit. 'comparing linguistics'.
Compare this with a shibboleth-like Israeli jocular definition of blender: "vnritf? nyunn
rwyn hatnud lesikhrur haisd, lit. 'the movement to beat dough', modelled upon nyunn
HUPKn "mmtf? hatnud leshikhrur haishd 'Women's Liberation Movement*.
3
1 al hapanim might have originally been an ellipsis of OTWI *W *?M nafdl al hapanim, lit.
'(he) fell on the face' (i.e. 'he fell on his face').
Conclusions 251
and 10& meser 'message' in order to imitate the sound of G Stecker I Y

"lypwow shtekor 'plug' and E message respectively. Itrtf? lahit 'hit,
popular song' is fitted into the OadO (cf. DOiO or DeEAO) noun-pattern
because of E hit (cf. §5.1.4). Furthermore, pnnD mivdok 'dock', which
was obviously motivated by the wish to maintain the sound dok (cf. E
dock), might have improved the productivity of the miOOoO noun-
pattern. Thus, PSM can act as a filter dictating which linguistic element
will endure. Such a process has great theoretical importance since it
implies that the survival of some morphemes (in this case noun/verb/
adjective patterns) is determined by parameters outside the language
itself. Bolozky (1999: 97) corroborates this observation when he mentions
the productive use of the Israeli maDOuO adjective-pattern, imitating
Arabic (as distinct from the pre-existent Hebrew maOOuO noun-pattern)
- see, for example, the colloquialisms 3ma tnagnuv, Kftna maxlua and
p^DB mafluts. Consider also the preference for a particular verb-pattern or
noun-pattern in order to preserve the SL cluster. It becomes clear that the
Hebrew OiOeD verb-pattern is the most productive verb-pattern in Israeli
because it makes it possible to preserve foreign clusters (cf. §2.1.3).
8.4 Gender
Trudgill (1998), inter alios, compares linguistic gender to male nipples,

implying that it has neither purpose nor function. Although his analogy is
flawed (since for many men the nipple is an erogenous zone), most
linguists might agree with his general intent. However, camouflage
linguistics proves that - at least in language contact - linguistic gender
makes a difference. Consider IIWTDD mivreshet 'brush' and ImrtflD
mis'eret '(originally) brush, (later) soft brush with long bristles', which
are feminine. The choice of the feminine noun-pattern miDDeOet might
have been induced by the gender of the following words for 'brush':
Table 4
Israeli Arabic English Yiddish Russian Polish German French
brush szczotka Burste brosse
mivreshet [Wbraja] barsht shchitka (t); (feminine) (feminine) (feminine)
KHCTb to'
(feminine) (feminine) (feminine) (f) 'painting
'grater' brush'
Note that although the miOOeDet noun-pattern is indeed used for

instruments, there were other possible suitable noun-patterns, consider
*mavresh and mn& *mivrdsh - both masculine. One might say that
the choice of miOOeOet (resulting in flttnao mivreshet) was induced by

the [t] (the sound of 0) of Y W\$2 barsht 'brush'. However, this does not
weaken the hypothesis that the gender played a crucial role since Ben-
Yehuda's original form of this coinage was I nunna mivrashd, fitted into
the miDOaOd noun-pattern, the latter lacking [t] but still feminine.
I nunnn mivreshet came later.
Similarly, I ms>0 sifrid 'library' was preferred to DnDO ira bet sfarim,
lit. 'house of books'. Some intra-Israeli reasons might have been the wish
to (a) rid Israeli of maskilic compounds, (b) streamline the word for
convenience (cf. §3.2.4), or (c) prevent a possible confusion with "1D0 rrn
bet sefery lit. 'house of book', referring to 'school'.4 However, there was
also a camouflaged external reason: m£>0 sifrid is feminine, thus
maintaining the gender of the parallel European lexical items, cf. Y
p y o ^ M bibliotek (f), R 6H&riHOTeKa biblioteka (f), P biblioteka (f), G
Bibliothek (f) and F bibliotheque (f). Perhaps the feminine gender of Ar.
*4&* [Wktaba] 'library' played a role as well. One might say that this
camouflaged foreign influence is only lexical. However, one of the results
of this mere neologism might have been, more generally, the
strengthening of Israeli rr- -id as a productive feminine locative suffix
(consider also the combined influence of Polish -ja and Russian -HH -iya)
and - most importantly - the weakening of the productivity of the
construct state (smikhiit), which is also reinforced by the general
transition from a synthetic to an analytic structure, e.g. aba sheli, is
currently more common that avi9 both meaning 'my father'. Future
research should be conducted on 'Camouflaged Grammatical Borrowing:
Language Contact and Linguistic Gender'. One direction could be the
analysis of the linguistic gender of borrowings in immigrant societies. For
example, morphemic adaptations of English words into American Italian
or British Italian often carry the gender of the parallel word in Italian
itself, e.g. Britlt. bagga 'bag' (f), induced by It. borsa 'id.' (f). The
reverse phenomenon often occurs, for example when an Italian-speaker
subconsciously 'changes' the gender of pre-existing words in Israeli
according to the Italian parallels.
8.5 Language typology
I have not discussed at length here MSN in languages other than Israeli
4
On multiple (usually, dual) motivations for neologisms, see Kronfeld (1996), Chapter 4
('Beyond Language Pangs'), particularly the section on Shlonsky (pp. 103-9).
Conclusions 253
and Turkish, which could be defined as 'reinvented languages'. However,

there are many references to the other categories of language in which
MSN is widespread, especially languages using what I call 'phono-
logographic script'. I identify five categories of languages prone to MSN:
'reinvented languages', languages using phono-logographic script, secret
argots, minority languages, and pidgins and Creoles:
(i) 'Reinvented languages', in which language planners attempt to
replace undesirable foreignisms and loanwords - often camouflaging
their foreignness towards the (future) speakers of the 'reinvented
language'. Examples are Israeli and Revolutionized Turkish. Future
research should examine MSN in the languages of nations which
have seceded from the Soviet Union, for example Ukrainian, Tajik,
Kirgiz, Kazakh, Mongolian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian (cf.
§5.1.1, §3.2.4 and §6.3) and Belorussian (on the latter, see Wexler
1974). [FEN and LC]
(ii) Languages using phono-logographic script, where the phono-
semantic nature of the orthography makes the language a fertile
ground for MSN. Examples are Chinese (e.g. Mandarin, Cantonese)
and Japanese to the extent that kanji are used - see § 1.4.3 [FEN]
(iii) Pidgins and Creoles, where owing to the high number of languages
involved in the hybridization, LC - rather than FEN - occurs
naturally, often resulting in grammatical MSNs. Examples are Tok
Pisin and Jamaican Creole - see §1.4.2. [LC]
(iv) Secret argots, where speakers camouflage lexical items to make
them unrecognizable to outsiders. Examples are Judaeo-German,
Jewish secret languages and thief argots. [FEN of the type PM]
(v) Minority languages, where attempts are made to create pure identity
and sometimes to prevent outsiders from understanding key
utterances. Examples are Romany languages.
8.6 Writing systems
MSN sharpens our understanding of orthography. In the case of Israeli,

the morphemic (or popularly 'consonantal') script facilitates MSN
because the same spelling allows for several vocalizations (see §2.1.3).
This is also the reason for 'orthographic FENs' - see §5.4.2. More
substantially, however, the widespread PSM in Chinese suggests that the
Chinese writing system should not be regarded as logographic (or
morphemic) or phonographic - a fortiori pictographic and ideographic

(cf. §1.4.3.1) - but rather as phono-logographic (or cenemo-pleremic).
Importantly, the categorization of characters into logographic (cf.
pleremic) and phonographic (cf. cenemic) is misleading because often, as
PSM/SPM demonstrates, functionally, the characters are simultaneously
both logographic and phonographic. Thus, as supported by Hansell's
statistical survey (ms), the correct analysis should not be structural but
rather motivational (or as Hansell puts it, functional). If one is still
obliged to use the traditional terminology, then Chinese characters should
be defined as phono-logographic. This categorizational deficiency in the
traditional view is similar to the categorizational flaw of the traditional
classifications of borrowing (see §1.1). The motivational analysis argued
for here brings to mind the motivational analysis suggested for the general
etymological analysis of FEN - in contradistinction to the structural
analysis, which takes into account only morphology (see Introduction).
More generally, and especially referring to languages with phono-
logographic script, these observations might lead to a change in the
perception of the relationship between writing systems and language.
Bloomfield (1933: 21) wrote:
Writing is not language, but merely a way of recording language by means of visible
marks [...] A language is the same no matter what system of writing may be used to
record it, just as a person is the same no matter how you take his picture [...] In order
to study writing, we must know something about language, but the reverse is not true.
Bloomfield (1933) might echo Saussure (1916: 46). Saussure, who was
somewhat more cautious, said:5
Langue et Venture sont deux systemes de signes distincts; l'unique raison d'etre du
second est de representer le premier; 1'objet linguisn'que n'est pas deTini par la
combinaison du mot ecrit et du mot parle"; ce dernier constitue a lui seul cet objet. Mais
le mot ecrit se mele si intimement au mot parl6 dont il est l'image, qu'il finit par
usurper le role principal; on en vient a donner autant et plus d'importance a la
representation du signe vocal qu'a ce signe lui-meme. C'est comme si Ton croyait que,
pour connaitre quelqu'un, il vaut mieux regarder sa photographie que son visage.
5
* Language and writing are two distinct systems of signs; the second exists for the sole
purpose of representing the first. The linguistic object is not both the written and the
spoken forms of words; the spoken forms alone constitute the object. But the spoken word
is so intimately bound to its written image that the latter manages to usurp the main role.
People attach even more importance to the written image of a vocal sign than to the sign
itself. A similar mistake would be in thinking that more can be learned about someone by
looking at his photograph than by viewing him directly.' (cf. Saussure 1959:23-4)
Conclusions 255
Most linguists, including experts in Chinese and Japanese, still adhere to

this point of view. As Miller (1986: 5) points out, 'all writing systems
[...] are by the very nature of their inherent relationship to language
always secondary phenomena'. On the other hand, Derrida (1967, cf.
1976) regards writing as primary. For him, there is a trace of writing
inherent in speech. Although this book - due to constraints of space -
could not devote as much attention as might have been desired to
languages using what I call 'phono-logographic script', it has provided
enough examples (of FENs, as well as graphic loans - out of hundreds in
my lists) to support the idea that orthography - in particular in the case of
Chinese - does indeed shape language, and is part of language. Therefore,
its role in language should not be underestimated or overlooked. Although
- as a linguist, and as opposed to Derrida - I might agree that 'strictly
speaking, language is - strictly - speaking' (cf. Unger 1996: 9),
Bloomfield's assertion that 'a language is the same no matter what system
of writing may be used' is not accurate, since Chinese PSM depends
entirely on the nature of the specific writing system used by Chinese. If
Chinese had been written using roman letters, thousands of Chinese
words would not have been coined, or would have been coined with
completely different forms. Thus, orthography is not only used for
recording language but also for determining which new elements enter the
language. To modify Saussure's metaphor, writing is not always the
photograph of a person; it can well be the person her/himself (and
sometimes speech itself acts as the photograph). If lexis is a part of
language, orthography is directly related to the development of language
and should be regarded as part of language too.
&7 Historical contact linguistics
MSN does not (only) involve induction but rather borrowing. However, it
does not fall discretely into either of the traditional categories of
borrowing, which are substitution and importation (cf. §1.1). Therefore, a
serious change in such classifications of borrowing is needed. Not only
should MSN be added to the traditional classifications but, in this era of
globalization and widespread communication in general and of
internationalisms and 'reinvented languages' in particular, the categories
of borrowing also need to be refined and redefined. The first steps
towards such a refinement were introduced in § 1.
PSM is a biparental creation, which operates outside the conventional
laws of sound change. Thus, it should be taken into consideration
alongside these laws. This book develops a polychrome (i.e. both

diachronic and synchronic) method of lexical analysis, combining
philological work with a sociolinguistic approach. One might argue that
my use of polychrome is similar to that of the already-existent diachronic
in its broad sense since the latter ipso facto includes synchronic analysis.
However, note that traditional philology is often not interested in the
culturally motivated intermediate stages of the modern lexical items it
analyses. The study of PSM identifies a serious need to record not only
the earliest documentations but also the socio-cultural background and
inter-cultural context. I believe that polychronicity should also be the
model for linguists dealing with any other aspect of language change.
When one encounters a lexical item which is similar in both meaning
and sound to a word in another language, the following possible analyses
have traditionally been available: (i) the two words are real cognates;
(ii) one word was borrowed from the other (as guestword, foreignism or
loanword); (iii) they are both independently a result of onomatopoeia;
(iv) the phonetic similarity is mere coincidence. But another possibility
should be added: (v) one word is a PSM of the other. Whilst foreign
influence in syntax and morphology is concealed, in the case of lexis, it is
commonly considered to be transparent. Vocabulary itself can conceal
foreign impact effectively.
With regard to Israeli historical linguistics, MSN supports the idea
that the Haskalah period, the enlightenment period of the 1770s-1880s,
with such writers as Abramowitsch, was the beginning of the so-called
'Hebrew revival'. Hence - like Atatiirk in the case of Turkish - the
famous 'revivalist' Eliezer Ben-Yehuda only put into action what was
already under the surface. Consequently, the term Revived Hebrew should
include not only Israeli but also Maskilic Hebrew. Finally, this book
challenges the conventional view regarding onomastics, and suggests that
toponyms and anthroponyms possess similar characteristics to traditional
lexical items (those appearing in the common dictionaries) (cf. §4.6).
8.8 Sociolinguistics
MSN is an ideal means of lexical enrichment in LANGUAGE PLANNING, for

example in Israeli and Republican Turkish. The reasons are that it
camouflages foreign influence, recycles obsolete terms and facilitates
initial learning. FEN significantly diminishes the Hebrew purist's
discomfort at being dependent on imports from European languages.
Thus, a pet name for this phenomenon could be EuroFEN (cf. the
Conclusions 257
analgesic Nurofen), It is one of the most effective methods of preserving

the 'traditional continuity' from Biblical Hebrew to Israeli. In addition,
the statistical analysis (§7) provides new insights with regard to which
neologisms might gain currency. Inter alia, it demonstrates that the
success rate of MSNs is 50 per cent, which is higher than the general
success rate of Israeli nelogisms.
MSN reflects cultural and social interactions and often manifests the
attempt of a culture to preserve its identity when confronted with an
overpowering alien environment, without segregating itself from potential
influences. The result can be contempt (cf. Zuckermann 2004) or 'cultural
flirting' (being strongly influenced by the environment, as is the case of
Israeli, which is currently greatly influenced by English). PSM
strengthens the idea that language is a major tool for cultures to maintain
or form their identity. Israeli society in particular is fascinating
linguistically since its components have come from all over the globe,
from dozens of different languages and linguistic traditions. I certainly
acknowledge that, throughout the twentieth century, this vibrant society
has produced hundreds of internal developments within Israeli. A little bit
of this can be seen with the dozens of secondary and tertiary derivations
(cf. §8.3) but also in cases which do not initally involve foreign languages
(cf. §2.1.2). I have dozens more expressions and constructions which are
intra-Israeli, but this may be a topic for another book. English is the
universal language and it seems that in the future it will dominate the
world still more. This book demonstrates the concealed lexical influence
of Modern (often American) English on the world's languages, especially
Israeli and MSC.
In this study, I have emphasized the importance of the linguistic
concept of 'International'. Although this notion has been identified long
ago, in the case of Israeli very little attention has been paid to it. Israeli
etymologists usually prefer to attribute the origin of a borrowed word to a
specific European language, often reflecting an ideological bias. It is
important to acknowledge that Yiddish, the main language of Jewish
immigrants to Eretz Yisrael, and a primary contributor of Israeli, had
never been a state language (with the exception of the first two decades of
the Soviet Union). Hence, it had serious lacunae in certain terminological
areas. At the same time, many of its speakers were bilingual or
polylingual, familiar with other European languages, for example
Russian, Polish or German. This was fertile ground for the borrowing of
internationalisms. Thus, as the statistical analysis of this book indicates,
more than 100 Israeli MSNs were based on international lexical items (cf.
§6.1 and §7.1).
8.9 Lexicography
Conventional lexicography should incorporate the findings of the PSM

analysis. The terms multisourced neologization (MSN) and folk-
etymological nativization (FEN) in general, and phono-semantic matching
(PSM) in particular, should be used in addition to calquing and so on. In
providing etymologies for a lexical item, lexicographers should not
(over)use the terms corruption and distortion, these often being employed
by OED. The terms PSM, FEN, MSN and hybridization, as well as (and
not to be confused with) expostfacto rationalization, or DOPE, should be
used instead - for the sake of more accurate lexicographic analysis (also
these proposed terms are not as value-judgemental as the old ones).
As for Israeli, one of the constructive by-products of this book is an
etymological analysis of some 200 Israeli PSMs. A large number of these
word biographies are introduced in this book for the first time (note that
an etymology is original to this book if it is not given a particular source).
This is a step towards the production of a modern, comprehensive, non-
puristic Israeli etymological dictionary.
Furthermore, this book records and analyses inter alia obsolete terms,
almost none of which appear in Oman's 1996 milon hamilim haovdot
(The Words Not Taken: A Dictionary of Forgotten Words). These items
constitute an important supplement to that invaluable dictionary, as well
as - in the case of slangisms/colloquialisms - to Sappan (1971; 1972).
8.10 Future research
Future research should further analyse the outdatedness of the traditional

classifications of sources of lexical enrichment up to modern times,
obviously finding a balance between (i) creation of better 'resolution', i.e.
thorough investigation of the various types and nuances found in the
different sources of lexical enrichment, and (ii) maintenance of Occam's
Razor, i.e. avoidance of an analysis which includes too many factors.
Other avenues of enquiry might include an attempt to further
understand subconscious MSN and to link it to lexical selection, code-
switching motivated by phonetic similarity, and connectionism (neural
networks).6 Furthermore, Saussure (1916: 101) said:7
6
On code switching ('language switch') see, for example, Gumperz (1982: 59), Bechert and
Wildgen (1991: 59-68), Romaine (1995:120-80) and Hudson (1996: 51-3).
7
'The linguistic sign is [...] a two-sided psychological entity [...] These two elements
Conclusions 259
Le signe linguistique est [...] une entity psychique a deux faces [...] Ces deux
elements [concept + image acoustique] sont intimement unis et s'appellent Tun Pautre.
In another place (ibid.: 161) he says:8

Psychologiquement, abstraction faite de son expression par les mots, notre pens6e
n'est qu'une masse amorphe et indistincte.
Compare this to the ideas of Whorf (1927-41, cf. 1956). On the other
hand, some neurobiologists attempt to prove that concepts and forms are
each stored in a different part of the brain. Exploring PE in general, and
subconscious PSM in particular, might cast light on whether it is really
the case that form does not influence concept. Such research might further
strengthen the idea that lexical items are stored in the "mental lexicon'
phono-semantically rather than only semantically. This idea corresponds
with Coates (1987).
In the case of Israeli, a statistical analysis of all Israeli neologisms
should be conducted, enabling an important comparison with the
statistical analysis of Israeli MSNs introduced in this book (§7). Such an
analysis might bring us closer to establishing quantitative techniques for
predicting which neologisms might gain currency.
Further research should also identify quantitatively how far
phonetically a PSM/SPM/PM can be from the SL lexical item. In other
words, it remains to be determined what the phonetic constraints of MSN
are. For example, in the case of Israeli - perhaps owing to its Semitic
apophony - consonants seem to be more important than vowels. In the
case of Chinese, tones do not seem to play a role in the matching. But
what about the sounds of consonants? For example, with regard to MSC
fttyi shengnd 'sonar' (cf. §1.4.3.1) - undoubtedly, the selected ^ sheng
'sound' is a phonetically imperfect rendering of the English initial
syllable. SONG would have been much better. However, it seems that
PENG, for instance, is phonetically too distant a match (cf. § 1.2).
At the beginning of the third millennium, our world is characterized
by globalization, worldwide communication and vast distribution of
technological and talknological devices. The mobility of the word
respects no borders and the extent of that mobility may not be paralleled
even in future (less heterogeneous) generations. The study of the modes
and dynamics of language contact could hardly be more timely.
[concept + sound pattern] are intimately linked and each triggers the other.' (cf. Saussure
1983:66).
8
'Psychologically, setting aside its expression in words, our thought is simply a vague,
shapeless mass.' (cf. Saussure 1983:110).
Appendix:
Transcription, Transliteration and Translation
I. GENERAL
x = phonetic transcription (sometimes transliteration, see below)
a major stress
a secondary stress
[X] transcription according to the International Phonetic Alphabet
Ixl phonemic transcription
a = syllable
*x x is an undocumented form
{X} x is a morpheme
ylabc - abc is a root
Dealing with Hebrew or Israeli noun/verb/adjective patterns, I use ODD for the radicals
rather than 123, V?// or Vfa/. Thus, miODaOstands for the Hebrew noun-pattern miqfil,
currently pronounced miktdl. The Hebrew term for noun-pattern (and adjective-pattern)
is *?pWB, I mishkal, whilst the Hebrew term for verb-pattern is 1^3,1 binydn. However,
I use noun-pattern and verb-pattern respectively.
In this book lexeme = lexical item = the unit conventionally listed in dictionaries as a
separate entry, i.e. as a headword (cf. Lyons 1977: Chapter 1, Matthews 1974: Chapter
2, Crystal 1997). I sometimes prefer 'lexeme' to the more modern 'lexical item' because
it emphasizes the dichotomy between lexeme and sememe.
In this book sememe = the unit conventionally listed in dictionaries as a separate
definition of an entry, a (sub)sense. It is sometimes called semanteme. One lexeme
(entry) might have several sememes. This use is similar to the one in European versions
of 'componential analysis', and should be distinguished from Bloomfield's use, since
for him a sememe is the meaning of a morpheme, cf. Bloomfield (1935: 162) and
Matthews (1997: 335-6).
II. PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION
Unless stated otherwise, I use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
II.1 Israeli
As this book may be of interest to linguists who are not familiar with Oriental
Transcription, it uses - along with the Hebrew orthography - the most user-friendly
Anglicized form of transcription: sh rather than [f] or s; kh and not [x] or ch/x/h/h/b/k\ ts
and not [5] or tz/c\ zh and not [3] or i, ch and not [tj] or 6/tsh. To prevent confusion
with other transcription forms I use dzh rather thany (for IPA [%]). For the convenience
260
Appendix 261
of the reader, stress is indicated although it is not represented in Israeli orthography.

I use the acute stress system: /, 4, a, 6, u. Importantly, the transcription adopted here
matches the one used for Yiddish (see §11.3).
My transcription is very descriptive: I transcribe the Israeli word as it is pronounced by
the majority of (young) native Israeli-speakers today. For example, y (I) and K (/) are
generally not represented because they are not usually pronounced. They are only
represented (both as ') when in a post-consonantal position within uncommon words9 in
which case they are pronounced. Compare the frequently used IrHOJ nira [ni'ifa]
'seemed (m, sg)' (where the glottal stop is not pronounced) to the rare *?Kwn tish 'el
[tij'?el] 'interrogated, questioned (m, sg)' (where the glottal stop is pronounced). The
consonant' (y) is usually not represented unless it is pronounced, cf. khaim rather than
khayim (D"n). That said, n (h) is represented in every location although in reality it is
hardly pronounced (it is pronounced only in the case of uncommon words, and by some
speakers at the beginning of phrases).
In special cases, when the exact pronunciation is needed, IP A is used. Using IPA, the
Israeli unique uvular approximant - transcribed in this book as r - is transcribed as [K]
although it is pronounced by most native Israeli-speakers born in Israel [K], which is
much 'softer' than Ar. fc [K] (as in Ar. * > |>azza] 'Gaza') and different from the
French uvular trill [R]. However, some native Israeli-speakers pronounce r as the voiced
alveolar trill [r].
In the case of Israeli names, titles, sentences, and meta-language expressions:
1. If their English parallel is given in the book source or if they have a common
transcription, I usually adopt it. This is also the reason for the apparent
inconsistency in the transcriptions of the Israeli publisher name HDO nnp: Kiryath
Sepher (Kutscher 1965), Kiryat-Sefer (Even-Shoshan's 1997 hamilon hekhaddsh -
hamahadura hameshulivet). I simply employ the transcription which appears in
each book. Similarly, I do not Britishize American forms.
2. Otherwise, I use a user-friendly Anglicized form of transcription (see above).
11.2 Hebrew
In addition to providing the Hebrew orthography, I use the IPA modified according to
the following traditional Hebrew transcriptions: [b], [k], and [p] represent spirantized
[b], [k] and [p], i.e. IPA [b h], [kh] and [pb]; cf. [fl], [xfand [$], and Israeli [v], [x] and
[f] respectively. The signs [?] and [fl transcribe the pharyngealized Semitic sounds that
correspond to IPA [sv] and [t9]. Using IPA for Hebrew - as opposed to the user-friendly
Anglicized transcription used for Israeli - helps the reader differentiate easily between
Hebrew, the ancient language, no longer spoken, and Israeli, a modern, spoken tongue.
My transcription of Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew, and the medieval versions of
Hebrew represents in detail the Hebrew vocalization ('vowel marking', cf. OEHD's
'pointing', a caique of 17ip3 nihid, see OEHD: ix, xxiii) even though this traditional
Tiberian vocalization (as well as the other forms of Hebrew vocalization such as the
superscribed Babylonian and Palestinian) is post-rabbinic, having been introduced
between AD 600-850. The following are the signs used (with their names in Israeli):
262 Appendix
shvd (Schwa)
i khirik
T khirikmale
e tseri (some prefer 5), long/tense
6 segol (some prefer e)
g khatdf segol
a patdkh
& -i
khatdfpatdkh
a T
kamats (some prefer a, others o)
£ Tl
khatdf kamdts
o kamats katan
0 kholam
0 1 kholdm mate
u kubuts
a shuruk
By and large, these forms are endorsed by Khan's description of Hebrew vowels (1997:
91-9), which may not fully adhere to the classical conventions.
In Ashkenazic and Maskilic Hebrew, the stress is different from earlier forms; note also
that H [0] and [e] become MasH/AshH oy and ey respectively. For a detailed analysis of
the phonology of Ashkenazic Hebrew, see Katz (1993b).
11.3 Yiddish
Besides the Hebrew orthography of Yiddish lexical items, I provide a phonetic

transcription for them. I use 9 (though not in the bibliographical references, where eli is
used instead), as well as syllabic n (as n) and syllabic / (as /). However, I use o for [o],
and e for [e]. As in the case of Israeli, the most user-friendly Anglicized form of
transcription is employed: sh rather than [f] or S; kh and not [x] or ch/x/h/M& ts and not
[S] or tz/c\ zh and not [3] or i, ch and not [tj] or 6/tsh. To prevent confusion with other
transcription forms I use dzh rather than j (for IPA [a^]). For the convenience of the
non-Yiddish-speaking reader I indicate stress although it is not represented in the
Yiddish orthography; I use the acute stress system: 1, e, d, 6, u. Note that the prevalent
pronunciation of Y 1 (r) is [K] (examples of exceptions are Vilna and the Moscow State
Theatre), and this influenced, I believe, the widespread pronunciation of I "1 (which
I transcribe here as r): [K].
11.4 Arabic
I use the broad International Phonetic Alphabet for both Standard Arabic (phonemic
transcription) and Vernacular Arabic (phonetic transcription). However, with regard to
the emphatic (pharyngealized) consonants, I follow (i) The Encyclopaedia of Islam 1960
(cf. vol. i, p. xiii); (ii) Library of Congress (cf. Cataloging Service, Bulletin 118,
Summer 1976); (iii) International Journal of Middle East Studies (cf. vol. xxxi, 1999:
724); and (iv) Wehr's Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (e.g. 1994). Thus, I use s
for a - (cf. IPA [s*]), 4 for u * (cf. IPA [d*]), {for J- (cf. IPA [t9]), and z for ± (cf. IPA
[6 s ]). Final hamza (following ?alif) is represented by ?. Long vowels are represented by
IPA [:] following the vowel, rather than by a bar over the vowel. The letter C is
represented as IPA [d3] although in most Arabic dialects in Israel it is pronounced [3].
Appendix 263
II.5 Chinese
I bring examples from Modern Standard Chinese [MSC], which is based on Mandarin,
as well as from Taiwan Mandarin, and from Cantonese.
In the case of Mandarin, in addition to the Chinese characters, I use the (Hanyu) PXnyin
transcription, the official spelling system of mainland China - as opposed to Wade-
Giles system of romanization and Taiwan's Tongydng Plnyin. Note that although Plnyin
uses consonants such as b, d and g, MSC has no distinctively voiced consonants and
those usually stand for unaspirated voicelss consonants.
I also indicate tones. MSC has 5 tones (or 4, excluding the neutral):
1. (level tone) e.g. MSC ma 'mother'

2. ' (rising tone) eg- m MSC ma 'hemp, flax (a plant)'
3. v
(dipping tone) eg.
m MSC m& 'horse'
4. (falling tone) eg. MSC mi 'to curse, swear, speak badly of
5. 0 (neutral) eg. MSC ma (an interrogative particle)
I use the 'solid' method (see Ramsey 1989: 61), i.e. within the boundaries of a word
I do not leave spaces between the (usually) monosyllabic morphemes; this method is
currently preferred by most linguists and government agencies although it follows
neither the traditional writing system (e.g. in Vietnamese, ibid.: 60) nor the native
Chinese-speaker's tendency to conceive of a word as a combination of monosyllabic
morphemes (unlike native English-speakers who would not write establish ment or Fin
land). The advantage of using the 'solid' method is that it enables an easy distinction
between words in a compound. However, one must be careful not to extend this method
'hypercorrectly' beyond the word boundaries since this can result in a Polynesian-
or German-like sesquipedalian polysyllable such as fctfflllifll&Î^^JR
Shinydngshlfanxueyuanxuebao 'The Journal of Shenyang Teachers College' (ibid.: 61).
If a word existed in Chinese prior to MSC, 'MSC is mentioned after the Chinese
characters and before the Plnyin transcription since the original Chinese pronunciation
might have been different from MSC and since the same characters are used by other
Chinese languages such as Cantonese, where the phonetic realization is different. If a
word were introduced in MSC itself, 'MSC is mentioned before the Chinese characters
since this combination of characters is new. That said, when a distinction is made
between an earlier form of a Chinese character (Ch.) and the simplified form used by
MSC, *MSC precedes the simplified character.
II.6 Japanese
I use the Hepburn system of romanization, as opposed to 'Modified Hepburn'. The

latter uses double vowels to indicate long vowels (e.g. Hepburn 5 -> Modified Hepburn
oo), which might be unhelpful to a linguist unfamiliar with Japanese. For my purposes,
Hepburn is more appropriate than the Nihonshiki and Kunreishiki romanization systems
because, from a phonetic point of view, it is more user-friendly to the English reader.
Compare Hepburn shi, tsu.fu with Kunreishiki si, tu, hu for IPA [fi], [Su], [fu].
I have decided not to indicate Japanese accentuation as it is light (compared to English,
for instance) and in the case of borrowings, stress does not normally play a role.
264 Appendix
Note that in the case of kanji, I use the important distinction between on-yomi and kun-
yomi: unlike in Chinese, kanji in Japanese usually have two distinct readings: (i) on-
yomi, the 'o/i-reading' [SJ], is the phonetic reading, the Japanese approximations of the
original Chinese sound, the Sino-Japanese reading; (ii) kun-yomi, the 'A^n-reading' [J],
is the semantic reading, the reading based on an indigenous Japanese word which is the
translation of the original Chinese word associated with the Chinese character. While
the former somewhat resembles the sound of MSC, the latter is completely different. An
example is SJ ko (on-yomi) versus J kuchi (kun-yomi), both being phonetic realizations
of the kanji P 'mouth' (pronounced in MSC as kdu).
III. TRANSLITERATION AND NATIVE ORTHOGRAPHY
III.1 Hebrew/Israeli
Some linguistic works that mention Hebrew and Israeli words only provide a phonetic
transcription. This practice is flawed for two main reasons: (i) There are many instances
of Israeli homophonous words sharing the same phonetic transcription, but spelled
differently; (ii) Almost all Hebrew/Israeli dictionaries are organized according to
spelling, not sound, so that people unfamiliar with the spelling of a word would have
trouble finding it without transliteration or native orthography. To avoid this difficulty,
I could use transliteration, but providing the original orthography is more elegant.
I am aware of the fact that the prevalent spelling among Israelis and Israeli newspapers
is ktiv male, 'scriptio plena*, full spelling - as opposed to ktiv khaser, the Hebrew
biblical, 'defective' spelling, which lacks the vowel letters. However, the three reasons
for which I chose ktiv khaser are: (i) I use phonetic transcription in addition to Hebrew
orthography; (ii) I would like to make it easy for the interested reader to check the
Hebrew nativizing material (e.g. in the Old Testament); (in) ktiv khaser is still the
spelling used in most Israeli/Hebrew dictionaries, e.g. MES. That said, whenever a
colloquialism or a slangism is quoted, the full spelling is used as it is highly unlikely
that one would ever find it written using ktiv khaser. For example, bubd 'doll' is spelled
r m , whereas buba 'babe, "baby", "chick"' is spelled r u n (see §6.3). Thus, employing
the two different spelling systems allows for the creation of an elegant minimal pair.
For readers unfamiliar with Hebrew/Israeli, the Hebrew letters - with their current
names (* indicates a non-standard name) and transliterating signs (the latter used in this
book only when transcribing roots, abbreviations or individual letters) - are as follows:
dlef X ?
bet 2 b
gimel/gimal a g
*dzhimel/dzhimal 'a id
ddled/ddlet
hey n h
vav i w
zdin T z
*zhdin z
khet n h
tet to t
yud/yod •»
j
Appendix 265
kaf D A:
lamed /
mem »
nun n
sdmekh/sdmakh 0 s
din y P
pey 9 P
tsadi(k) 2t
*chddi(k) •s
kuf/kof P q
resh "1 r
shin
sin to si
taf/tav n 1
III.2 Russian
Although I often use the Cyrillic alphabet, I have chosen transliteration rather than
phonetic transcription. I use the 'British System' of transliteration as given in British
Standard 2979:1958, for which see Hart's Rules (1993: 119-20). The choice of the
British System - as opposed to the International System - was motivated by the fact that
the former is more similar to the Israeli and Yiddish transcription that I use here in that
IPA [j] is transcribed as y, not j . Note that in the 'British System', the soft sign b (R
Mflncifft 3Hax mydgkil znak) is indicated by an apostrophe; the automatic palatalizations
before the letters e [je] and e [jo] and H [i] are not marked (cf. the vowels 3 [e] and o [o],
before which there is never palatalization); and the pronunciation [a] of an unstressed
/o/ is not shown.
IV. TRANSLATION
All translations from non-English sources used in this book are my own unless
otherwise indicated. However, whenever an English translation of a title is provided in a
non-English book or article, I have used it even if it does not correspond precisely to the
original title. Whenever I have not found such an English version, I have used my own
translation. As Al-Harizi noted many centuries ago, translation, like many other things
in life, is either beautiful or faithful. How can one elegantly translate the following story
into Israeli? 'The Frenchman says: "I am tired and thirsty, I must have wine!". The
German says: "I am tired and thirsty, I must have beer!". The Jew says: "I am tired and
thirsty, I must have diabetes!".' I hope, however, that I do not resemble that individual
who translated the sentence When his wife died, he went to pieces as Kin mow vwKttD
niDTO1? i?n ksheishtd nifterd hu haldkh lekhatikhot 'When his wife died, he went to
[pick up some] chicks (good-looking girls)'.1
1
See also Bahat (1987: 512), and consider the Hebrew caconym nyin nxyn in (currently har
haetsd harad), lit. 'Mount of Evil Counsel' for E Mount of Evil Council instead of "in
nyin nxyion (currently har hamoatsd harad), referring to the council which decided to
crucify Jesus (cf. Ziv 1996:74). For a relevant discussion, see Jakobson (1966).
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Index
An Index of Israeli words analysed in this book can be found in Table 3 (pp. 224-30).
Aavik, Johannes, Aavikism, 115,149-50 Aramaic, 13,17,20,38,49,50,62,65,

abbreviations, 23,90,172 67f, 78, 80f, 88,92,94-5,97,111-13,
Ablaut, 68 120,128-9,132,142,170,172,178-
Academy of the Hebrew Language 9,186-7,203f, 215,219
(AHL), 13,24,65-6,68,72,84-5,89, Argov,Z6har, 110
101,107,109-10,112-13,118,124, army, see military
128,133-6,149,152-3,155,156f, article, 34,103f
170,185,210,219,235,246-9 definite, 90
acronym, 4f, 19f, 57-8,76f, 80,107f, Artikel, 103f
135,141,156,181,182,186f,206 Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, 26,
active folk-etymology, see generative 31,120,121,131,262
popular etymology Ashkenazim, 80,110,144,178,247
addition of sememe, 87-105 Asian languages, see Cantonese,
adjective-pattern, 71,251,260 Chinese, Japanese, Mandarin,
adoptive PSM, 219 Vietnamese
advertising, 77f, 133,135,145f, 178 aspiration, 71,263
attracting customers, 62,183f assimilated borrowing, 8,10,28
see also brand names assimilation {see also rendaku)
Agnon, Shmuel Yosef, 210 cultural, 115
Akkadian, 15,18,67,89,91f, 97, 111, phonetic, 68,129,212,219
113,120,141 Assyrian, 89,120
American attitudes towards MSN, 148-86
-English, 10,20f, 47,61,83,124, authenticity, 171,178
135,136,182,188,217-20,222, auto-opposite, see enantiosemy
231,235,257,261 Auty, Robert, 189
-Italian, 13,89,138f,252f Aztec (Nahuatl), 25,141
soldiers, 36,141
-Yiddish, 42,44 back-formation, 113,114,186
analogy, 108,160,181,184f, 185f, back-slangism, 130
186f, 190 Bahat, Shoshanna, 10, 86,109,149,
Anglicization, 28,145,147,177f, 220, 156f,265f
260-2 Baldinger, Kurt, 35f
animals, 15,22,25,35,38,49,84,88, Bar-Asher, Moshe, 75,150f
123-6,133,223 Bat-El, Outi, 69f
anthroponyms, anthroponymic FEN, 27- Beer,Haim,140f
9,77,83,138,142,143-7,175,181, Belorussian, Belarusian, 96,253
230,246,256, see also names Ben-Avi, Itamar, 78,84,108,116,250
antonomasia, 58,132,147,183 Ben-Gurion, David, 139,144
Anttila, Raimo, 30,34f, 35,36,141 Ben-Yehuda, Eliezer, 3,11,43,65f, 74-
Apollo, Apollonian tendency, 14-16,24, 6,78,84-5,93,103,108-9,115-16,
64 132,143,149,168,186,205,214-16,
apophony, 67-72,176,259 247,250,256
Arabic, 11,14-15,20,23,29,34,50,54, Ben-Yehuda, Hemda, 43,168
66,74,78,83,89,91,93-5,97,100, Bialik, Chaim Nachman, 66,69,84,92,
108f, 109,139-41,143,157-60,164- 93,107f, 108,115,116,131,135,
5,177-80,182,207,213-17,222,251 149,154,170,185,203,206,208
apophony, 70-2 Bible, see Old Testament
transcription, 262 bilingual dictionaries, 133
see also standard, vernacular bilingual homophonous creations, 30-3
287
288 Index
bilingual speakers, 42,82-3,102,166, of MSN, 82-5,224-30
257 clipping, 109,155f, 183
binydn, see verb-pattern Clyne, Michael, 6f
bi-radical root, If Cockney, 110, see also Mockney
birds, 35,70f, 78,105,123-5,215 Rhyming Slang, 29-30
blend, 6f,8f, 54,66-7,88 colloquialism, colloquial speech, 20,21,
Blau, Joshua, 71,74 48,93,204,216,223,251,258,264
Bloomfield, Leonard, 9,15,42,114f, colloquial speech vs slang, 21
254-5,260 compound, If, 39,40,56,66,78,83,
Bokmal, 189 108,109f, 114f, 126f, 130,138f, 146,
Bolinger, Dwight, 14 164,166,168,171,174,185-6,223,
Bolozky, Shmuel,251 231,235,236,242,243,252,263
borrowing, see calquing, camouflaged, compound MSN, 114-19
Chinese, classification, cultural, in the Haskalah, 119-22
double, false, foreignism, with Yiddish, 212-14
grammatical, graphic, guestword, compromise, see semantic, structural
intimate, loanword, source languages computers, 135-8
Bortone, Pietro, 102f concealed borrowing, see camouflaged
brand names, 58,59-60,62,67,92f, borrowing
118,177,230 congruence, Congruence Principle, 43,
Branson, Richard, 110 46,49-51,53,125,147f, 166,171,
British 188,190,208,247
-English, 83,217-20,222,231,261 consonantal gemination, 129f
Israelites, 82f consonantal root, 67
-Italian 252f consonantal script, 70,174-8
Mandate, 10,140-1,187,217 constraints, 9,33,61,116,246,259
politicians, 30,79 construct state, 18,97,114,116,117,
soldiers/officers, 10,140f 125,136,142,175,252
System of Russian transliteration, 265 contact linguistics, 255-6
tourists, 36 convergence, 53-4, see also congruence
Coulmas, Florian, 56f
cabbala, 62f creational MSN, 105-10
caique phonetique, 4 allegedly in the Old Testament, 112-
calquing, 37-49
introducing a new compound, 44-5 incestuous, 111-12
introducing a new sememe (semantic with Yiddish, 209-10
loan), 40-3 creation ex nihilo, 148-52
introducing a new phrase, 45-7 creation populaire, 21,23,249
introducing a new word, 43-4 creation savante, 21,23,65f, 249
vs rephonologization vs graphic Creoles, see pidgins and Creoles
borrowing, 47-9 Crystal, David, 14,217,260
camouflage linguistics, 250-2 cultural borrowing, 42
camouflaged borrowing, 2,7,37-49 Czech, 189
Cantonese, 7,51,57,62,106f, 118,253,
263 dageshy see geminate
Catalan, 100,167f Danish, 167f, 189
cenemic script, 56-7,253 Dasgupta, Probal, 114f
Chinese, Modern Standard Chinese definite article, see article
(MSC), 3,4,9,19,28, 32f, 37,45, DeFrancis, John, 56,57
48, 56-62,69,72,118,136-8,140, deHebraization, 18,178-84
175,246,253-5,259,263-4 derivational-only popular etymology
brand names, 59-60 (DOPE), 8,14-24,25f, 36,40,78f,
general terms, 60-1 93,102f, 103,110,121,126,129,
graphic borrowing, 48-9 131,134f, 154,160,164,172f, 180,
FEN, 58-62 220,249,258
Chinese FEN vs Israeli FEN, 61-2 difficulty of distinguishing between
technological terms, 58-9 DOPE and MSN, 18-21
transcription, 263 derivative, see secondary derivative
Christianity, 75,81,98,117 Deroy, Louis, 6,11,100,102f, 121f,
classifications 160,214f
of borrowing, 6-49 (deficiencies, 6-7) Derrida, Jacques, 254-5
Index 289
descriptivism, 163,190f, 236,261 FEN not introduced by language

diachronicity, 255 authorities, 155-7
dialect, 89,154,157-8,160,162 folk-etymology, 14,15,17,23,49-50,
Diaspora, 63,141 83,120,133,141,163,169,257,see
dictionaries, 27,39,40,65,77,83,85-6, also derivational-only popular
108, 111, 115-16,133,138,149,150, etymology, popular etymology
165,178-9,221,235,256,258 food, 131-5,247-8
diminutive, 26,41,47,74,77f, 119, foreignism, 9-12
120f, 133,135,170,186 foreignness
disguising foreign influence, 72-4, see desirable, 183
camouflaged borrowing undesirable, 64,252
double borrowing, 49-51 Frege, Gottlob, 37
Dutch, 18,19,25f, 35f, 98,167f, 210, Frellesvig, Bjarke, 56f, 57
220 Fremdwort, see foreignism
French, 25,34,35f, 52,89,104,109-10,
Einstein, Arik, 33 117f, 118,122,124,132,140f, 150,
ellipsis, 30,34,66,101,204,250f 158,160,162,167f, 179f, 187,188f,
email, 79,136 203f, 214f, 217,220, 222,231,251
emphatic, see pharyngeal
emprunt-calembour, 4 gastronomic terms, see food
enantiosemy, 11,77 Gastwort, see guestword
engineering Gelehrtenbildungen, 65
language, 24,163 gematria, 62f, 131
lexical, 117 geminate, gemination, 121,129,167,
English (as the world's language), 57- 169
62,217-20, see also American, gender, 103f, 175,183,191,218,219,
British 251-2
Enlightenment, see Haskalah generative popular etymology (GPE),
Esperanto, 116 14,21-4
Estonian, 115,148-50,215,253 genetics, 63
euphemisms, 29-30,126f, 139,181f German, 9,10,22,27f, 28,44,54, 81f,
Europeanism, 188 103-4,114-16,120,123,124f, 132,
Even-Odem, Joseph, 112f, 126-7,148, 150,171,179f, 184f, 185f, 187,188f,
151,168,170,174f 190,203f, 212-13,215,220,222,
ex nihilo creation, 148-52 246,251,257
ex postfacto rationalization, 14,19,110, Giv'atron, 33
113,258, see also derivational-only glottal, 261
popular etymology gradation, see vowel
grammatical borrowing, 252
failed MSNs, explanations, 165-72 grammatical LC, 55-6
FEN inaccessible to the mass of graphic borrowing/loan, 48-9,254
native speakers, 169-71 Greek, 1-4,14f, 15,17,38,79,95,98,
FENridiculousor obscure, 168-9 119,128,149,150,178,222
FEN too close phonetically to the SL Modern, 15,33,178-9
word, 166-7 guestword, 8,9,37,61,64,246,256
internationalism being matched Gusmani, Roberto, 6f, 38
widespread in the TL, 167-8
referent alien by nature, 171-2 Hagege, Claude, 4,11,35
semantically shifted TL lexeme Hancock, Ian, 19
highly diffused in its original Hansell, Mark Donald, 14,57-8,253
sememe, 168 harmony, see vowel
fallacies, 14,179f Harshav, Benjamin, 84
false borrowing,ybf« emprunts, 11,62, Haskalah, Enlightenment, 114,119-22,
102f, 106f, 250 221,242-3,256,262
false friends, jfatt* amis, 102 Haugen, Einar, 6,7,15,40
films, 26,32f, 37,144f, 184f Hazan, Chaim Leib, 1-3, 84,114
Finnish, 36,149,150,215 Heath, Jeffrey, 6f
Fischler, Brakha, 125 Hebraisms, 47,27f, 117f
flexibility, 61,72 Hebraization, 16,17,18,24,28,139,
folk compositions, 30-1 143-5,147,175,177,204
folk-etymological nativization (FEN), 50
290 Index
Hebrew Language Council (HLC), 24, Katz, Michael, 156

70,85,111,119,126,132-3,149, Kaufman, Terrence, 53,166
153-4,170,185,206,215,217,248 Kazakh, 162,253
Hebroid, 105-7,130 Kennedy, Nigel, 110
Heyd, Uriel, 4,120,158-60,162-3,246 Kerler, Dov-Ber, 131
Hierosolyma caput mundi, 16-18,99, Khan, Geoffrey, 262
134f, 153-4,164 Khovav, Moshe, 85,155
Hindi, 164 Kihm, Alain, 53,208
historical linguistics, 255-6 King, Robert, 9
Hobson-Jobson, lOf Klausner, Joseph, 17,75,116,117,120,
Hock, Hans Henrich, 6f, 35 121,122f, 142,148,174f
Holland, Dorothy, 247 Korean, 48,56
homophonous poems, 31-2 Kronfeld, Chana, 252f
Hungarian, 16,26,27,144f kun-yomi, 146,264
hybridization, 53,66,74, 82, 83,133, Kutscher, Edward Yechezkel, 4,67f,
155,156,161,162,167,178,183f, 74f, 77f, 84,92,95, 99,113,185f
186,190,206,213, 218f, 253,257
hypercorrection, 176,183-4,215,263 lacunae, see lexical voids
language change, 255
iconicity, 33,62 language typology, 252-3
ideograph, 56-7,253 Latin, 26,30f, 31,33,52,65,67,79,95,
ideology, anti-Arabic, 157 96,98,99,126,128,129f, 150,172f,
illuminati, \\4 177,187,189,214f, 222
immigrants, 12,25,94f, 102,103,127, lay creations, 247-9, see also popular
144,182f, 190f,203,257 etymology
importation, 7,39,41,91,160,207,255 lay GPE versus puristic GPE, 23-4
incestuous PSM Lazarson, M., 77,85
by semantic shifting, 94-5 Lehiste, Ilse, 11
creational, 111-12 Lehnwort, see loanword
implications, 102-3 Le Page, Robert Brock, 53-4
Indo-European ur-source, 95-6 Lewis, Geoffrey, 82f, 141f, 116-17,
Nostratic ur-source, 101 154f, 159-65
Semitic ur-source, 96-101 lexeme, introduction of, 105-22
statistics, 243-5 lexical conflation (LC), 49-56
internal enrichment, see lexical lexical engineering, see engineering
enrichment, roots lexical enrichment, internal vs external,
International, internationalism, 187-202 148-52, see also ex nihilo
Internet, 81,136,138 lexical voids, 4,58,64,93,123,148,
intimate borrowing, 41-2 155,163,188,257
intra-linguality, 51-3,64-7,146 lexicography, lexicology, 257-8, see
intra-lingual DOPE, 18 also dictionaries, lexicopoiesis
introduction of lexeme, 105-22 lexicopoiesis, lexicopoietic
Irmay, Shraga, 152,154 classification, 8, 87-122
Israel Defence Force, see army lingua franca, 54,63
Italian, 10,12,13,15f, 22,29,31-2,37- literary compositions, 30-3
8,52, 89,102f, 103,129,130,138f, Lithuanian, 26,96,253
179-80,183-4,187,189,213f,214, -Yiddish, 4,121,206,211
222,231,252f loan-translation, see calquing
Ivrit, viii, 105 loanword, 12-13
Loewe, Raphael, 30f, 45f, 81f, 91f
Jamaican Creole, 7, 51,54 logograph, 56, see also phono-
Japanese, 3,37,48-9,56-8,61,69,146, logographic script
147f, 169,178,246,253,254 logology, 32f
transcription, 263-4 loop, 99,212-3
Jespersen, Otto, 114f
jocosity, 116,119 macaronic creation, 30
Judaeo-Spanish, Judezmo, 178,222 Mandarin, 7,45,51,118,253,263, see
Judaization, 139,144f, 149 also Chinese, Taiwan Mandarin
manipulation, 116,117,119,133,150,
kanjU 48,49,56,146,147,253,264 152,154,166
Katz,Dovid,27f,121,262 Manor, Dori, 32f
Index 291
marketing, see advertisement Myers-Scotton, Carol, 6f
Maskilic Hebrew, see Haskalah
maskilim, see Haskalah Nahuatl,25,141
Matisoff, James, 208f names (see also first names)
Matthews, Peter, 260 brands, 58,59-60,62,67, 92f, 118,
Mazia, Aaron Meyer, 76,135,148 177,230
media, 85,110 people, anthroponyms, 77,83,138,
medicine, 126-8,223 142,176,181,230,246,256
Medina, Ayihu, 146f first names, 27-9
memorization, see mnemonics surnames, 20,28,140f, 143-7,161,
Mendele, M6ykher-Sf6rim, 84,96,116, 175,177,183,249
123,173,211 places, toponyms, 28,37,62,77, 83,
metaphor, 10,16,37,98-9,104-5,155, 88,122,124,126,138-43,145,
209,250 147f, 162,176,177,186,215,230,
metathesis, 19,130,145 246,256
metonymy, 98-9,104,106 rivers, potamonyms, 31,77,78,139f
Michaeli, Rivka, 85,91,155 nationalism, 84
Middle Ages, 30,54,71,104,126,205 native lexical lacunae, see lexical voids
military, 30f, 89,107f, 114f, 147f, 186f, naturalization, 11,12,52,69f, 179f, 183
207,223 Neogrammarians, 9
American soldiers, 36,141 neologizers, 148-57
British soldiers/officers, 10,140f Netanyahu, Benjamin, 66f, 85,181f
Israel Defence Forces (IDF), 21,205 New York, 124
Israeli soldiers, 90,139,144,157 Nietzsche, Friedrich, 14f, 179f
minority language, 252-3 nikudy see vocalization
mishkdl, see noun-pattern, adjective- Nimtza-bi, Mordecai, 144
pattern Nissan, Ephraim, 62f
Mishnah, 17,65,76,90,95,96,112, nomen rectum, see construct state
122f, 124,126,135,173,209 nomen regens, see construct state
mizrahi, see Sephardim nominalization, 250
mnemonics, 79-82,173 normativism, see prescriptivism
mocking, 110,122f Norwegian, 11,102,188-9
Mockney, 110 Nostratic, 80f, 101,102,223,243
Mohar, Ali, 33 noun-pattern, 2,4,12,13,24,39,43,
mondegreen, 248 51,70,73,106,107,109,110,116,
mongrel word, 106 127,130,132,152,155f, 167,186f,
morphemic adaptation, 4f, 8,10,12,13, 210,216,249,250,251,252,260
19,24,36,37,39,40,68,71, 86, 93, Nynorsk, 188
124,130,136,252f,$ee 0/50 morpho-
phonemic adaptation obsolete lexemes, 165,235,258, see
morphemic script recycling
Hebrew, 56 Occitan, 100
Chinese, 70 Old Testament, 65, 80,103,112-14,
morphological hybrid, 51-3,107 126-7,130,139,172,174, 204,222-
morphological reanalysis, see reanalysis 3,249,264
morphology, 2,3,52,69f, 247,250, one-to-one correlation between
254,256 signifiers and referents, 88,92-4,102,
morpho-phonemic adaptation, 61,132, 108,151,162,176
150,159,161,173,190f, 216,246, onomastics, see names
see also morphemic adaptation onomatopoeia, 15,68,78,125,171 f,
MUhlhausler, Peter, 19,53,55 208,256
multilingual compositions, 30-3 on-yomi, 48,264
multisourced neologization (MSN) Optimality Theory, 9f
advantages, 63-82 Oriental
classification, 82-6 Jews, see Sephardim
difficulty of distinguishing between Transcription, 260
MSN and DOPE, 18-21 Oman, Uzzi, 165,235,258
music, 33,75,83, 88,102f, 104,110, orthoepy, 185,190f
123,128-30,155,167,184f, 185f, orthography, 20,44,72,109f, 133f,
222,223,231, see also songs 184f, (see also writing system)
mutuatio non grata, 64
292 Index
orthographic FEN, 71,78,132,154, polychronicity, 86,97,102,255
167,169,185,217,222,253 popular etymology, 14,247-9
Ottoman Turkish, 157-63 Portuguese, 6,34,61,100,102,167f,
213
Palestinians, 181 potamonyms, see names
palindrome, 130,131,212 prefix, 56,73,74,129f, 130
Panini, 15f, 52 prescriptivism, 23-4,33,148,163, l90f,
paretimologia, 14 236,247-9
partialPM,28,29-30,138,140 prestiti camuffatu 38
particle primary contributor, 50,53,203,247,
grammatical, 55 257
interrogative, 263 Proto-Indo-European, If, 3,16,80f,
passive folk-etymology, see 101,154,170,174,223,243
derivational-only popular etymology Proto-Semitic, 80f, 98,101,223,243
Patterson, David, 84 Provencal, see Occitan
penultimate stress, 12f, 78,101,178, pseudo-Anglicism, 11,102f, 106f,250
179,181,182,205,207 pseudo-Aramaic, 62
Peres, Shimon, 181 psycho-ostensive expressions, 208f
Persian, 22,67,89,90f, 134,157-8, pun, 21-3,24,64,132,145f, 218f, 24f
164-5,249 purism, 23-4,247-9, see also
pharyngeal, pharyngealization, 70,72f, prescriptivism
philology, 16,255 quadriradical root, 186f
phonetic adaptation, 8,10,11,12,13, Quinn, Naomi, 247
28,45f, 56,60,102,108,110,136, quinqueradical root, 68
138f, 147f, 159,166,187
phonetic calquing, 37-49 Raag, Raimo, 35f, 149,150f
phonetic matching (PM), 8,11,24-34 Rabbinic (Hebrew), 64,65,76,79,
PM vs PSM, 36-7 94,95,101,109,148,151,261
phonetics, 126,247 Rabin, Chaim, 4,64f, 65,153
phonological change, see sound change Rabin, Yitzhak, 181
phono-logographic script, 51, 52-62,72, radical
136,252-4 Hebrew/Israeli, If, 2,37,66,67
phonology, 9,121,247,262 70,167,186f
phono-semantic matching (PSM), 34-7 Turkish, 164
PSM vs PM, 36-7 reabbreviational reanalysis, 23,2(
phrase MSN, 114-22 reanalysis, 11,14,17,23,39,67,
pictograph, 56,253 114f, 146,164,172,183,190
pidgins and Creoles, 51,53-6,105,208, recycling obsolete lexemes, 74-9
246,252-3 redivision of lexical boundaries,
pilpul, 64 reduplication, 12,37,66,136f,;
Pines, Rabbi Yechiel Michal, 3,13,75, referent, 36-7,92-4
109,115,148 referent-SPM, 36-7
pleremic script, 56-7,253 reinvented language, 148-86
plosive, 2 rejective concoction, 62,117,1
plural religious terms, 62,75
derogatory, 181-2,210 rendaku, 146-7
double, 11 rephonologization, 47-8,146,
hypercorrect, 184 189-90,219
Swahili, 11 reverse metonymy, see meton;
with foreign/autochthonous stress, 12, revival, revivalists, If, 24,63
19,205 66f,83,84,115,116,148.
Yiddish, 181-2,210 188,247,249,256
Podolsky, Baruch, 15f Revolutionized Turkish, see
poetic licence, 117-18 Romaine, Suzanne, 258f
Polish, 16,42,43,46,83,133f, 155, romanization, 177-8,263
156,166,177f, 187-91,203,205, Romany, 210-12,253
216,222,231,235,246,251,257 roots (see bi-radical, quadrii
-Yiddish, 26,206 quinqueradical, secondar
political correctness, 62,142,218,219 tri-radical)
politics, 181f internal sources of enricli
Index 293
Ros6i,Haiim,212f socio-historical circumstances making
Russian, 26,27,32,33,38,42,43,46, Israeli liable to MSN, 63-4
21-2,83,84,104,122,128,150,166, sociolinguistics, 148-86,256-7
174f, 187,189,190,210-12,215, soldiers, see military
219,222,231,235,246,251,257 songs, 30-1,33,85,91,102f, 108,109-
immigrants to Israel, 127,182f 10,146f, 155,248
Jews, 29 sound laws, 9
transliteration, 265 source languages, 187-220
borrowings preserving SL sound, 7-37
Sachlehnwdrter, 38 Soviet Union, Sovietization, 38,164,
Saddan, Dov, 17,35f, 42f, 43f, 74,90, 166,253,257
96f, 123f, 124,134f, 141f, 155,168f, Spanish, 10,11,15,20,25,34,38,74,
169,185f, 188,203,204,208,210 77,79,97-100,103, 111, 113,124,
Safd Brurd, 85 136f, 147,167f, 178,182,184f, 185,
Sanskrit, 15f, 59,62 213,214
Sarfatti, Gad Ben-Ami, 77f, 125,176, see also Judaeo-Spanish
188,205,21 If specificizing MSN, 87-8
Saussure, Ferdinand de, 9f, 254-5,258 spirantization, 2
Schwarzwald, Ora, 65 Sprachbund, 188f
script, see writing system standard, standardization, 11,260
secondary derivative, 3,10,38,39,40, Arabic, 15,93f, lOOf
45,76,85,91,93f, 206,218f, 246, Basque, 34
250,257 French, 25
secondary root, 51,65-6,73,101,107, German, 102f
154,250 Italian, 35,102
secret argots, 26-7,252-3 Yiddish, 1
secularization, 75 standard average European, 188f
semantic compromise, 116,118-19 Starosta, Stanley, 114f
semantic loan, 6,7,39,40-3,85,93f, statistics, 221-45
101,103-5,155 structural compromise, 116-18
semantic shifting (PSM by), 6,39,50, substitution, 7,41, 89,145,219,255
76f, 77,82,88-91,92,93f, 105,113, substratum, 53,55,56,217,222
119,137,151,156,166,168,171, successful MSNs, explanations
186,215,218,219,222,236,250 FEN not phonetically close to SL
incestuous, 94-103 lexical item, 173-4
that includes semantic loan, 103-5 MSN deHebraized and regarded as
with Yiddish, 203-5 alien, 178-84
semanticized loan, 4 neologism spelled as FEN but
semanticized phonetic matching (SPM), pronounced as SLword, 174-8
36-7 perception en bloc of compound
semanticized transcription, 4 containing FEN, 185-6
sememe, addition of, 87-105 statistics, 235-41
Semitic languages, see Akkadian, suffixes, 2,11,19,35,47,52,67,71,
Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian, Proto- 74,86,105,106,108, 111, 116,119,
Semitic, Syriac 128,130,133,150,154,158-63,170,
sense-SPM,36-7,45,203 181,184,187,189,190,210,212,
Sephardim, 109-10,144,147,177f 220,224,252
serendipity, 64,122f, 249 Sun Language Theory, 164-5
Shapira, Amnon, 84,134,189 superstratum, 55,56,83,217,220,222,
signifier, 92-4 231
Singh, Rajendra, 52-3,114f, 164f survival, 53,149,251
Singlish, 52,53,102f, 106f Swahili, 11,52
Sino-Japanese, see on-yomi swear words, see euphemisms
slang, slangism, 2,20,21-3,29-30,42, Swedish, 28,150,167f,247
68,76f, 78f, 81,90f, 106f, 107f, 114f, Sweetser, Eve, 247
130,134f, 156,175,206-7,212,220, symmetry, 212
247,258,264 synchronic intra-linguality of
vs colloquial speech, 21 morphological hybrids and MSNs,
smikhut, see construct state 51-3,106,145,161
snobbative, 184f, 190f synchronicity, 14,24, 51-3,187,255
294 Index
Syriac, 117,134 vaad halashon, see Hebrew Language
Systemzwang, 181 Council
verbalization, 36-7,39
Taiwan Mandarin, 4,57,138,168f, 263 verb-pattern, If, 18,40,68,69,73,130,
Talmud, 62,73,78, 88,112,117,127, 209,219,250,251,260
142,155,156,178,183,186,219, vernacular
135f Arabic, 15,70-1,74,93,97,140,178-
Tamil, 140 9,213,215-16,262
tautological expression, 112,138,206 Latin, 30f
technology, 58-9 Verschik, Anna, 150f
Teharlev, Yoram, 33 Vietnamese, 48,263
terminology, 58-61,123-47 vocalization, 32f,41f, 131,145,175-6,
terrorists, 162,181-2 178,182,185,216,253,261
tertiary root, 73 Volksetymologie, 14f, see folk-
Thomason, Sarah (Sally), 53,166 etymology
Tkhiya, see revival vowel
Tok Pisin, 7,51,54-5,208,253 assimilation, 68
toponyms, see names gradation, 68
Torczyner, Naphtali Herz, 10,11,38, harmony, 212
67,68,84,89,97,108,134f, 155, marking, see vocalization
165,171,176,215,248-9, see also
Tur-Sinai Wanderlehnwdrter, 38
Toury, Gideon, 4,104,107f, 108,121, Weiner, Edmund, 248f
130f,218 Weinreich, Max, 81,131,209,247
transcription, 61,177,260-4 Weinreich, Uriel, 6f, 10,28f, 42f, 52,
Arabic, 262 68,96,102,120-1,126,133f, 134f,
Chinese, 263 138f, 142,147,167,185f, 191,209,
Hebrew, 261-2 210
Israeli, 260-1 Wexler, Paul, 30f, 63,68,69f, 74f, 147,
Japanese, 263-4 173,188,203f, 210,212,253
Yiddish, 262 whole-for-part metonymy, see
translation, 28,32,33,37,61,90,104, metonymy
114,117,139,151,175,180,203, word formation, 12
265 strategies, 52
transliteration writing system, 56-7,70,157,174-8,
Hebrew/Israeli, 264-5 253-5
Russian, 265
tri-radical root, If Yavin, Haim, 85
tri-sourced neologism, 78f, 133,134f Yellin, David, 85,116,148f
Turkish, Revolutionized Turkish, 153-4 Yiddish
FEN, 158-63 and Polish, 205
language revolution (1928-36), 157-8 and Ukrainian/Russian, 210-12
Language Society, 157,165 calquing/rephonologization, 47-8
Sun Language Theory, 164-5 compound PSM, 212-14
Turkish FEN vs Israeli FEN, 163-4 creational MSNs, 209-10
Tur-Sinai, Naphtali Herz, 17,18,63,84, International, 187-90
155,249, see also Torczyner Lithuanian-Yiddish, 4,206,211
typology, 6,252-3 MSN cum onomatopoeia, 208
Polish-Yiddish, 26,206
Ukrainian, 31,210-12,253 PSMs by semantic shifting, 203-5
Umlaut, 68 transcription, 262
unassimilated borrowing, see guestword verbal MSN involving reduplication,
unborrowability of morphemes, 51-3, 206-7
106,145,161 Yudilovich, David, 85,97
unspecific suffix, 116
Urschopfung, 149 Zionism, 84,144
Ursprache zoology, 83,88,123-6,223 see also
Hebrew, 16 animals
Turkish, 164 Zukofsky, Celia Thaew and Louis, 33
use-intensification, 42f, 91,130,176,
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Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew

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i

Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli

Series Editor: Professor Charles Jones

Palgrave Studies in Language History and Language Change

1 New Perspectives on Lexical Enrichment 6

2 The Case of Israeli: Multisourced Neologization (MSN) as an Ideal

Technique for Lexical Enrichment 63

3 Addition of Sememe versus Introduction of Lexeme 87

4 MSN in Various Terminological Areas 123

5 Sociolinguistic Analysis: Attitudes Towards MSN in 'Reinvented Languages' 148

6 The Source Languages 187

7 Statistical Analysis 221

8 Conclusions and Theoretical Implications 246

Appendix: Transcription, Transliteration and Translation 260

GhiPad Zuckermann, 2003

Language Names and Terms

I Israeli Hebrew = * Israeli' = *Ivrit* = the twentieth-century 'Revived Hebrew'

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Other Sources

On 27 April 1890 the Hebrew newspaper HaZefira, published in Warsaw,

.D^a naio ova nnx n1?^ p rw aw *o ,IB

Hazan goes on to explain that he chose the (Biblical) Hebrew root

At this stage, there are two possible etymological analyses:

advocate a broader-based, motivational approach, one that considers the

I SL! x 'a' •>->->-> TL(+MSN) y' 'a" f f f f TL/SL2 y 'b' [

Throughout this book, neologization and neologism are used in their

Ancient Greek (Biblical) Hebrew

Although this source of lexical enrichment is widespread, it has not been

Chapter 4 examines whether there are particular terminological areas in

1.1 Deficiencies of the traditional classifications of borrowing

I use 'borrowing' in its wider sense - in contrast to 'loanword' (§1.2.1).1

1.2 Borrowings preserving the sound of the SL lexical item

Generally, the process of borrowing can be analysed into three stages:

technical terminological system, which will often include new

A guestword is an unassimilated lexical item, that has kept its

derivatives. Such assimilated borrowings are usually conceived of as

The last three examples demonstrate 'naturalization by morphological

1.2.2 Derivational-only popular etymology (DOPE) versus generative

Popular etymology (henceforth, PE) is also known as the somewhat

1.2.2.1 DOPE and the 'Apollonian tendency'

DOPE consists of etymological reanalysis of a pre-existent lexical item,

1.2.2.2 'Hierosolyma caput mundi' DOPE

Similarly, Zaj^czkowski (1953: 16-17) mentions several Polish-Hebrew

the analyses of Herbinius (1675) and MuchlMski (1856). Yetles (1838:

An example in the opposite direction, i.e. one of 'deHebraizing DOPE'

1.2.2.3 Intra-Iingual DOPE

DOPE can be applied within a single language, as in the case of RabH

1.2.2.4 The difficulty of distinguishing between MSN and DOPE

In some cases it is hard to determine whether a word is an MSN or just a

business (as corrupted by Chinese; OED), H 1VTD pidyon 'barter', and

Such cases are very common in slang and in colloquial speech.

Thus, I khamsin 'khamsin' has acquired the additional sememe 'terrible

1.2.2.5 Generative popular etymology: punning coinages in Israeli slang

a. Introducing a new sememe to a foreign name, thus usually being an

• SlangI Bitten hilmut '(rookie) in a state of shock' <

• SlangI train Mbit 'willy, dick' <

b. Introducing a new sememe to an Israeli word:

c. Introducing a new word:

• SlangI nroip kusina 'babe, sexually attractive' <

d. Introducing a new word (intra-Israeli):

On (re)abbreviating reanalysis, see Zuckermann (2000: 317-21).

1.2.2.6 Lay GPE versus puristic GPE

need foreignisms or loanwords. It is a widespread source of lexical

1.2.3 Phonetic matching (PM)

Unlike morphemic adaptation, which only uses TL grammatical

I Israeli Hebrew = * Israeli' = Ivrit = the twentieth-century 'Revived Hebrew'