David C. posted an article on Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective - Oct 15, 2009, 4:24 pm
Today I heard on the news a word I wasn't too familiar with: kalgas קלגס. The dictionary definition is "soldier", but the connotation seems to always be a brutal, thuggish soldier. It certainl...
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David C. posted an article on Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective - Oct 12, 2009, 4:22 pm
Sukkot was last week, and we just put away the last part of our sukkah. So it seems like a good time to finish one last sukkot related word. During the holiday, we took a tour of the Herodion fortres...
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David C. posted an article on Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective - Oct 9, 2009, 7:37 am
On Hoshana Rabbah there is a custom to greet people with the Aramaic expression פתקא טבא pitka tava - for which the Hebrew equivalent is פתק טוב petek tov. In Modern Hebrew petek means no...
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David C. posted an article on Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective - Sep 27, 2009, 8:11 am
The Hebrew word cherem חרם is familiar to most of us as a ban, an excommunication. This type of censure developed in Talmudic and Medieval times. However, the Biblical word also means "to ban". Kle...
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David C. posted an article on Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective - Sep 14, 2009, 2:26 pm
In a previous post, I said I would discuss the difference between solet סולת and kemach קמח. There's a lot of confusion about this issue. Both are ground wheat; and while kemach is consiste...
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