Re: Hebrew, etc. [was: Multi-lingos

On 23 Aug, Steg Wrote:


>How do you write "Maghreb" in Hebrew?
    I've seen it written mem-gimmel-resh-bet.
It's obviously a borrowing from Arabic,
(as are many of the more colorful words one hears here
out of the mouths of Hebrew speakers
on the road from one's fellow drivers! ;-)  )
and as such isn't listed in my dictionary, so I can't give you
_the_  authoritative spelling (such as the presence of an
aleph after the mem or special diacritic on the gimmel.)
Like I said, FWIW,  I've seen it written without aleph or diacrictics.)


>Hmm...i always was under the impression that it was _mizrahh ha-tikhon_,
>with Tikhon being short for ha-Yam ha-Tikhon, so Mizrahh ha-Tikhon would
>mean "the Eastern Mediterranean".
    Nice theory, but I doubt it. If that were true, then Europe,
especially its southern part, would be called "tsafon hatikhon"
(North of the Med.) and the countries of north Africa would
be called "darom hatikhon" (South of the Med) and Iberia,
or at least Spain, would be called "maarav hatikhon"
(West of the Med). In fact, none of these occur. Why should
only the _East_ coast of the Med be given a directional name
in Hebrew. Especially since, in the eyes of someone living here,
the Med is distinctly _west_ of us and everything we do daily.
(Gotta go _west_, young man, if you want to get stung
by jellyfish!  [but, depending upon the season, not too
far west--- a few meters from the shore should do it!  :-(   ]  )
    IMHO, it's more likely a holdover from the days of the
British empire, when this area was a middling distance
in the eastern direction, as seen from an Anglo-centric
point of view.
    And anyhow, the word "tikhon" is a perfectly good Hebrew
word, meaning "middle" or "central". Thus, the Med. Sea is
called the "central" sea (again, translation of "mediterranian").
High school, here, is called "bet sefer tikhon", or "central school"
(called that,I think, because one central high school
 takes pupils from many elementary schools in a given area.)


Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.