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10 - Hebrew

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 December 2025

Ilan Stavans
Affiliation:
Amherst College, Massachusetts
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Summary

This broad conversation between Ilan Stavans and Ruvik Rosenthal deals with 1,300 years of the Hebrew lexicography. The first dictionaries were the creation of medieval scholars. The approach changed when the lexicographic models were shaped by German linguists in the nineteenth century. The rise of nationalism and the emergence of Zionism as a response to millennia in the diaspora resulted in the revival of Hebrew as a modern language. It was fostered by a new approach orchestrated by Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who produced a dictionary made of seventeen volumes. Since then, the lexicographic work is rich, including various genres and answering to the needs of the fast expansion of the Hebrew vocabulary. The conversation also focuses on the experience of lexicographers as people and the nature of their work.

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Type
Chapter
Information
Conversations on Dictionaries
The Universe in a Book
, pp. 119 - 131
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Suggested Readings

Al-Fasi, David ben Abraham. Kitāb Jāmiʿ al-Alfāz [The book of Abraham al-Fasi]. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1936. Arabic; Hebrew; English.Google Scholar
Avneon, Eitan. Milon Sapir [Sapir dictionary]. Tel Aviv: It’av, 2002. Hebrew.Google Scholar
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Ben Amotz, Dan, and Ben Yehuda, Netiva. Milon Olami Le-Ivrit Meduberet [An awesome dictionary of spoken Hebrew]. Tel Aviv: Zemora, Bitan, 1972. Hebrew.Google Scholar
Ben Yehuda, Eliezer. Hamilon Ha-Gadol [The big dictionary]. 17 vols. Tel Aviv: La‘am, 1948. Hebrew.Google Scholar
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Elichay, Yochanan. The Olive Tree Dictionary: A Transliterated Dictionary of Conversational Eastern Arabic. Jerusalem: Minerva, 2004. Arabic; English.Google Scholar
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Gur, Yehuda. Millon Ivri [Hebrew dictionary]. Tel Aviv: Devir, 1938. Hebrew.Google Scholar
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Ibn Saruk, Menachem. Machberet Menachem [Menachem’s notebooks]. London: Hevrat Me‘orerey Yeshenim, 1854. Hebrew.Google Scholar
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Rosenthal, Ruvik. Medabrim Bisefat Ha-Tanach [Speaking the biblical language; English title: Old Language, New Language]. Ben Shemen: Keter, 2018. Hebrew.Google Scholar
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  • Hebrew
  • Edited by Ilan Stavans, Amherst College, Massachusetts
  • Book: Conversations on Dictionaries
  • Online publication: 25 December 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009392433.011
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Hebrew
  • Edited by Ilan Stavans, Amherst College, Massachusetts
  • Book: Conversations on Dictionaries
  • Online publication: 25 December 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009392433.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Hebrew
  • Edited by Ilan Stavans, Amherst College, Massachusetts
  • Book: Conversations on Dictionaries
  • Online publication: 25 December 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009392433.011
Available formats
×