10 words that exist in Hebrew, not in other languages

10 words that exist in Hebrew, but not in (most) other languages

Often we hear that Hebrew is limited, has a small vocabulary, has many borrowed words from English, Russian, Arabic or Yiddish and other such snooty, disparaging comments. Yes there is טלביזיה television, היפופטם hippopotamus, פרלמנט parliament etc. And I say "so what?!"

Listen to this real story. Someone expressed hilarity that the Hebrew word for sandal is סנדל sandal. "Why," she sniggered in a superior way "is there no Hebrew word for this piece of Middle Eastern footwear"? Her implication being that we have stolen a word from English (again). This is of course nonsense; there are no pure languages, least of all English. I always assumed that Sandal is a Greek word, but according to the great lexicographer, Marcus Jastrow, it might have Persian origins. Either way it is a loanword in both Hebrew and in English. Just as Hebrew has borrowed from many other languages, so others have borrowed from us (but that would be an entirely different post in this blog).

English is of course a great and varied language that has innumerable words in its vocabulary. But even English has limitations. I came across these delightful web sites that have lists of words in languages from all over the world, words that do not exist in English.

http://www.babbel.com/magazine/untranslatable-01

http://mentalfloss.com/article/50698/38-wonderful-foreign-words-we-could-use-english

http://sobadsogood.com/2012/04/28/25-words-that-simply-dont-exist-in-english

My favourites from that list are:
gigil a Filipino word for the urge to pinch or squeeze something that is irresistibly cute;  

luftmensch one of several Yiddish words to describe social misfits, this one is for an impractical dreamer with no business sense; 

the reflection of the moonlight on water is mangata in Swedish and yakamoz in Turkish. 

What I have here to today are words that only exist in Hebrew and have no clear, direct translation into English. Hurray for Hebrew!

שפצור

Israeli army slang for customizing equipment, root is both שפצ renovate and שפר improve.

Here are two particular words for harvesting:

גדיד

Harvest the dates

מסיק

Harvest the olives

These are many special words for different types of branches in Hebrew:

רַגְלִית

A vine that has spread over the ground, as opposed to being trained to grow up a frame. (A word more commonly used for the part of a device which is like a leg eg the stand of a bicycle).

זַלְזַל and שָׂרִיג

Thin branches. Not sure what the difference is between זלזל and שריג.

גְּרוֹפִית

Shoot, but seems to be only for the shoots of the olive or sycamore trees

אָמִיר

Tree top

חזיר

No, not a pig. The stalks that return every year at the bottom of the tree, Root is חזר  return.

Two of the many words for precipitation.

יורה

First rain of the season.

מלקוש

Last rain of the season. 

עלול

עלול  means could or might, but strictly should only be used in a negative context. עלול להכיל גלוטן might contain gluten. 

מחותן 
The parents of your child's spouse (use liberally with derogatory adjectives). Doubt if a word exists for that in any other language. 

חותן חותנת חם חמות

Even Shushan חותן חותנת

Both these sets of words mean father-in-law and mother-in-law but according to Even Shushan חותן  and חותנת  are the parents-in-law who are the parents of the wife  and חם and חמות  the parents of the husband. Remember in the Book of Ruth: "ותשק ערפה לחמתה" Orpah kissed her חמות, Naomi, who was her husband's mother. חם is an interesting word in itself, the singular feminine looks like the plural feminine just like אחות, the plural feminines of these words are חמיות  and  אחיות but I have really digressed now.

Even Shushan חם

Even Shushan חמות

יולדת
A woman, a mother, who has recently given birth.

  I would love to hear from you if you have a Hebrew word that does not exist in English. It just has to be a single Hebrew word that cannot be expressed in English in a single word. 


100 Hebrew Words 
saul davis