Menachem Mendel

Some Hebrew Words for Shavuot

The following is part of an advertisement from the Academy of the Hebrew Language that was published in this past Shabbat’s Ha’aretz. בתיאבון.

Posted on June 6th, 2011 under Hebrew, Shavuot • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed

1
DF:
June 6th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
How is “Muffinim” better than “Muffins”? On that note, if you know, why did the Vaad Halashon ever change its name ( a long time ago, I know) to the “Academy” of Hebrew? Why would the very entity charged with promulgating hebrew, use a foreign word as its own name?
2
Ami:
June 6th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
DF:
When the name was changed from the Va’ad to the Academy of Hebrew, there was much discussion of this point. There were many loud advocates who felt just like you. The reason that the change was made in the end however was because the Hebrew academy based itself on the prestigious French language academy, L’Académie française. It wanted to see itself as the Hebrew language version of this academy and gain recognition on the national stage. Many felt that a Hebrew name would not be as prestigious or recognizable to the rest of the world. At that point, and since then, they have been criticized many times for this decision.

Ami Hersh
3
DF:
June 6th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Thank you Ami, it always struck me as strange. I guess I would still be part of the critical group, but at least now I know the background.
4
Joe in Australia:
June 7th, 2011 at 1:09 am
What’s the last one? Fai? Fayi? What *is* it?
5
Menachem Mendel:
June 7th, 2011 at 5:37 am
Joe in Australia,

The last one is “pie.”