I love when Hebrew teaches me more about English.
For instance:
That Cancer (the crab) and cancer (the disease) are not just homonyms. Apparently the disease received its name from the crab-claw like shapes that blood vessels make due to their inability to protrude through cancerous tissue. In Hebrew, both are סרטן.
That "float" and "flood" are related (obvious when you see it). In Hebrew, צף / מוצף.
And for the grand finale, relevant to current events:
That "influence" and "influenza" are related (did I say some of these were obvious)? In Hebrew, השפעה / שפעת.
That's all for now.
Labels: Language, Startling moments of clarity
Eifo eifo eifo ... ha-shufan?
Inspiration for the below courtesy of the good folks at Zabaj.Have you noticed how Israelis take English words, turn them into Hebrew, and then back into English again, but differently?
I was at the cinema just now, and there was a preview for a pretty good-looking movie called "Beaufort". It became בופור in Hebrew, which is perfectly legitimate, but then for the website, it got turned back into English as "Bufor". But it doesn't end there.
Super-Sal, the supermarket chain, clearly got its name from "super" and סל ("basket"). But for its website, it is "shufersal". Like it came from "shofar" or something. But it doesn't even end there.
I got into a taxi in Jerusalem and asked the driver to take me to Chopin St. (רחוב שופן). He had no idea what I was talking about. After a few minutes, and a few attempts to explain where I wanted to go: "Oh ...... you mean Rechov Shufan". Yes, silly me. My favourite Polish composer's name really came from the word for "bunny".
Labels: Language
Like Kissing Your Cousin
Following on from an old post at
Vunex, a thought on the overworked subject of kissing:
I have heard in the past young male Israelis use the slang term "bussa" to describe a masculine, aggressive, slap-you-on-the-back type of kiss (given to a friendly male on the cheek, or a startled female on the lips).
I had assumed that this term came (possibly through one of the Romance languages) from the Latin "basium".
However, yesterday I read in a language column in the newspaper that it in fact comes from the Arabic. Apparently in Arabic, "bussa" is also one of a few variants for "kiss" (another of which is "qubla").
Does anyone know if there is some connection between the Arabic and the Latin, or if the similarity is pure coincidence?
Labels: Language
