Hebraism#Systematic Hebraisms

{{Short description|Term often applied to Jews or the Jewish faith, national ideology or culture}}

Hebraism is a lexical item, usage or trait characteristic of the Hebrew language. By successive extension it is often applied to the Jewish people, their faith, national ideology or culture.

Similarly, in paleolinguistics, a Semitism is a grammatical or syntactical behaviour in a language which reveals that the influence of a Semitic language is present. The most common example is the influence of Aramaic on some texts written in Jewish Koine Greek.Jonathan T. Pennington Heaven and Earth in the Gospel of Matthew - Page 105 - 2007 "This nuanced difference between a “Semitic enhancement” and a “Semitism” enables us to reconsider whether an apparent linguistic anomaly in Greek (such as plural) is truly a "Semitism" and not merely an "enhancement".

Idiomatic Hebrew

Hebrew has many idiomatic terms that are not easily translatable to other languages, for example בארבע עיניים be'arba enayim, literally 'with four eyes,' means face to face without the presence of a third person, as in, 'The two men met with four eyes.' The expression לא דובים ולא יער lo dubim ve lo ya'ar is literally "neither bears nor forest" but means that something is completely false. The saying טמן את ידו בצלחת taman et yado batsalakhat "buried his hand in the dish" means that someone idles away his time."[http://jerusalemperspective.com/Default.aspx?tabid=27&ArticleID=1551 Bivin, David. "Hebrew Idioms in the Gospels," Jerusalem Perspective Online.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526023358/http://www.jerusalemperspective.com/Default.aspx?tabid=27&ArticleID=1551 |date=2007-05-26 }}

Lexical items deriving from Hebrew

"Hebraism" may also refer to a lexical item with Hebrew etymology, i.e. that (ultimately) derives from Hebrew.[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hebraism "Hebraism," Merriam-Webster online.] For example, the English word stiff-necked, meaning "stubborn", is a calque of Greek σκληροτράχηλος, which is a calque of Hebrew קשה עורף qeshēh ʿōref "hard of neck; stubborn". Similar calques are the way of women (דרך נשים) "menstruation" and flowing with milk and honey (זבת חלב ודבש) "abundance".

Sometimes Hebraisms can be coined using non-Hebrew structure. For example, the Yiddish lexical item ישיבה בחור yeshive bokher, meaning "Yeshivah student", uses a Germanic structure but two Hebrew lexical items.Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|9781403917232}} / {{ISBN|9781403938695}} [http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781403917232]{{rp|117}}

Distinctive language

Beyond simple etymology, both spoken and written Hebrew is marked by peculiar linguistic elements that distinguish its semitic roots. This hebraism includes word order, chiasmus, compound prepositions, and numerous other distinctive features.

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Finally, the word "hebraism" describes a quality, character, nature, or method of thought, or system of religion attributed to the Hebrew people. It is in this sense that Matthew Arnold (1869) contrasted Hebraism with Hellenism,[http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/arnold/writings/4.html Arnold, Matthew. "Hebraism and Hellenism". From Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism.] identifying Thomas Carlyle as his age's embodiment of the former.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Nvdx-4-CzoC |title=The Carlyle Encyclopedia |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780838637920 |editor-last=Cumming |editor-first=Mark |location=Madison and Teaneck, NJ |pages=17 |chapter=Arnold, Matthew |url-access=limited}} Feldman's response to Arnold expands on this usage.Feldman, Louis H., "Hebraism and Hellenism reconsidered," Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought, March 1994. Leo Strauss is also well-known for his metaphorical juxtaposition of Jerusalem and Athens in a similar light.{{Cite web |last=Strauss |first=Leo |date=December 26, 2011 |title=Jerusalem and Athens. |url=https://www.jewishideasdaily.com/1032/features/jerusalem-and-athens/ |access-date=19 February 2024}}{{Cite web |last=Gordon |first=David |date=October 31, 2022 |title=DOES LEO STRAUSS CHOOSE JERUSALEM OR ATHENS? |url=https://isi.org/modern-age/does-leo-strauss-choose-jerusalem-or-athens/ |access-date=17 February 2024 |website=Intercollegiate Studies Institute}}{{Cite web |last=Reinsch II. |first=Richard M. |date=April 7, 2019 |title=Between Rome and 'Jerusalem and Athens' |url=https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/between-rome-and-jerusalem-and-athens/ |access-date=20 February 2024 |website=Russell Kirk Center}} Furthermore, Friedrich Nietzsche and Otto Weiniger thought in terms of similar dualities as well.

Hebraism#Systematic Hebraisms

Idiomatic Hebrew

Lexical items deriving from Hebrew

Distinctive language

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See also

Notes

Further reading