The art of creating a verb out of nouns is common to all languages but when it comes to Semitic languages it is a carnival. When a regular stem of three letters is involved anything can be whatever it wants – salt - מלח to put salt on something – להמליח.
But how do we approach foreign loan words, square stems, compound words and others?
Let me give you three examples- all animals:
To do like a lizard [le-hitcharden]להתחרדן
Imagine what the first hot day of spring feels like, that day when there is no longer a hint of coolness in the air and you know that soon it will be too hot to sit outside. Soon will be a full summer broil and the need will arise to hide from the sun, but at the moment it is such a lovely heat, gentle and refreshing.
In that kind of heat, you want to absorb as many rays as possible, so you sit on a comfortable chair in the garden and tilt your head towards the sun – like a lizard. You do like a lizard – le-hitcharden.
To do like a snail [le-hishtablel] להשתבלל
Sometimes reality becomes too much. Maybe there’s a pandemic out there, or political unrest, and you have so little control over life’s circumstances that you feel like you have nothing to look for outside your four walls. You just want to stay home and avoid it all, perhaps with a good book and a cup of tea with some soothing music in the background. Just tuck yourself away from the world, like a snail – le-hishtablel.
To do like a rhino [Le-hitkarnef] להתקרנף
Politics can be such a dirty business, and when times are harsh, it is not always the best of us that comes to light. When there is political unrest the book of Amos says: Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. it is time for blunt speech. Like a rhino stump, Such times show us how people blindly follow leaders and adopt rhetoric that lacks any nuance; thinking for oneself becomes far less compelling than blindly mimicking the popular chants.
We use the phrase ‘herd mentality’ to describe this state, but in this context the question is – a herd of which animal?
To behave like a rhino has no foundation in zoology, it is not based on the way rhinos behave in nature. It was a word coined by an art critic in the sixties named Asher Nahor, when talking about Eugène Ionesco’s play “The rhinos.” It is really that easy to create a verb from a noun in Hebrew.
These three examples are all very modern, very Israeli words, but to create a verb out of a noun is something that is all Semitic languages do (please comment if you think I am wrong). It is a lovely way to play with language within its own rules.
And a personal note – if you are enjoying this very short read would you please tell your friends?
Thank you
איזה פוסט מעולה :)