Hebrew Grammar and Language
Just in time for my renewed interest in Hebrew grammar (a.k.a. learning all of the things which I never learned properly), Lion of Zion points us to a great blog on Biblical Hebrew grammar, Dikdukian. For those interested in learning about the subject a bit more, Codex has some great information and recommendations here about teaching Biblical Hebrew.
While we are talking about Hebrew, here is something of interest from an article in the recent issue of the New Yorker on hangovers,
And, in keeping with the Jews-don’t-drink rule, Hebrew didn’t even have one word until recently. Then the experts at the Academy of the Hebrew Language, in Tel Aviv, decided that such a term was needed, so they made one up: hamarmoret, derived from the word for fermentation. (Hamarmoret echoes a usage of Jeremiah’s, in Lamentations 1:20, which the King James Bible translates as “My bowels are troubled.”) There is a biochemical basis for Jewish abstinence. Many Jews—fifty per cent, in one estimate—carry a variant gene for alcohol dehydrogenase. Therefore, they, like the East Asians, have a low tolerance for alcohol.
Regarding חמרמורת see here. Also, the Academy of the Hebrew Language seems to be preparing their Historical Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for online access at a relatively reasonable price.
Enjoy Lag B’omer, and if you have a chance read this post at Seforim.