Table Of Contenti
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
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 2003 978-1-4039-1723-2
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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-third centuries 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
