ADULT EDUCATION SEMINARS These seminars are available for LIVE presentations, or ON LINE at a location of your choice. For additional information and schedules, please email us at ShalomOasis@comcast.net, or call us at 312-560-8760. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's In a Word? a. Background To better understand the influence of Hebrew on English, one needs to consider a number of key factors: 1. Without ‘nikud’ (the Hebrew vowel system), the Hebrew letter ‘ב’(Bet) can sound as either ‘b’ or ‘v’; the letter ‘כ’(Kaf) can be pronounced as ‘k’ or as the guttural throat clearing sound ‘ch’; the letter ‘פ’(Pey) can sound like a ‘p’ or an ‘f’; the letter ‘ש’(Shin) can be pronounced ‘sh’ or ‘s’.
2. Grimm’s Law - established in 1863 by Jakob Grimm, the oldest of the Brothers Grimm of fairyland fame. One of the rules that this law establishes is the categorizing of certain letters by the similar position of the tongue in vocalizing them. It names ‘d’ and ‘t’ and ‘th’ as “dentals” due to the touching of the teeth by the tongue, and therefore considers them to be the same letter philologically. Likewise, Grimm’s Law groups ‘m’ and ‘n’ in a category named “nasals”, which makes them the same letter philologically. Grimm’s law helps us understand the relationships of languages and their influences on one another. It enables us to identify original language sources, in spite of differences in actual spelling between them and the influenced newer languages.
3. Transposition and substitution of letters within a word occur in many languages. For example: ‘aks’ is often used for ‘ask’ in modern (American) English; ‘Nebuchandrezzar’ is occasionally referred to as ‘Nebuchadrezzar’ in the Tanach; The Hebrew word for sheep (‘keves’) is often transposed to read ‘kesev’ in the Torah.
b. Excerpts and miscellaneous information We are all familiar with a handful or so of Hebrew words that have migrated into English. In addition to ‘Amen’ and ‘Hallelujah’, there are a few other words that most of us recognize as coming from Hebrew, such as ‘Maven’ and ‘Hutzpa’. But did you know that there are literally dozens of significant English words that came from Hebrew, leaving an almost undetectable trail? (A few examples are: boss; love; direction; eye; antique). This seminar will demonstrate and explain this incredible influence of Hebrew on the English language. Attending the ‘What’s in a word’ seminar may make you gain some hutzpa to become a bit of a maven in the Hebrew - English relationship. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We offer two versions of What's In a Word?: 'brief'' (approximately 30 minutes) and 'expanded' (approximately 1 hour). Questions and answers follow all presentations. For additional information and schedules, please email us at ShalomOasis@comcast.net, or call us at 708-287-0735.