Acronyms-
recent in English ; ancient in Hebrew
by
Howard Richler
On a recent trip to Israel I was struck by the great use of
acronyms (called rashey teivot
in Hebrew) both in print and in vernacular usage. This is done by using the
initials and between the last two letters adding inverted commas (two
apostrophes) to show that it’s an acronym rather than an ordinary word. Often (and especially when they describe
a noun), Hebrew acronyms are pronounced by the insertion of a vowel sound, usually (a), between the letters. As one would expect there are many
government related acronyms such as Tzahal which is shorthand for Tzavah
Hahaganah Le Yisrael (Israel Defense Force) and Shabak which truncates Sherut HaBitahon HaKlali (Israel Security Agency), responsible for internal
security.
Surprisingly, the word “acronym” is of relatively young
vintage. It marries the prefix acr-, “outer end, tip” (from the Greek akros) with the -onym suffix found in
words such as homonym and synonym. The first Oxford English Dictionary citation of the word in 1940 informs us
the word comes from the German akronym.
This German provenance is demonstrated by the term Gestapo, an acronym of Geheme Staatspolizei
(Secret State Police) that was first used in1933 and the terms Schupo short for
Schutzpolizei (uniformed police) and
Kripo, a shortening of Kriminapolizei
(criminal investigation department) both used by Nazis in the 1930s. Russian
also had some administrative acronyms that were first employed in the 1920s and
1930s including Komsomol, an acronym of Kommunisticheski
Soyuz Molodahi (organization of Communist youth) and Narkomprod which
shortened Narody Commisariat Prodovolsviya (People’s Commisariat of the Soviet
Union) that was responsible for food distribution and industrial goods.
One of the earliest English acronyms,
snafu (1941) was popularized by profane WW2 American soldiers. It refers to a
chaotic situation and stands for situation normal, all fouled up. This type of word shortening existed before
the coining of the word acronym, but only to a limited extent. Examples here
are the military term AWOL,(1894) absence without leave
that constituted a punishable offence and Anzac, (1915) a term used to refer to
the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
There, however, is little evidence that English words were often created in
this fashion before the 20th century. John Ayto, in 20th Century Words, speculates that “the proliferation
of polynomial governmental agencies, international organizations, and military
units as the century has progressed (the last particularly during World War II)
has contributed significantly to its growth.”
Also, many words from technological fields are actually acronyms such as
radar (radio detection and ranging), sonar (sound
navigation and ranging) scuba (self-contained
underwater breathing apparatus and laser (light amplified
stimulated electronic radiation).
The difference between an acronym and an initialism is that
the latter isn’t pronounced as a word, rather you say the individual letters
such as USA (United States of America) whereas an acronym such as POTUS (President of the
United States)is pronounced as a word.
While in Israel I noticed countless
acronyms that shorten many mundane everyday expressions. Here’s a sampling:
Acronym
Full Hebrew Expression Translation
Chavlaz Chaval al Hazman wow, stunning or awful
(This can be a term of approval or
disapproval and the speaker conveys the desired sense with intonation and
facial expression)
Chul Chutz La’aretz outside the country
(abroad)
(This term highlights the centrality of
Israel in Jewish life and refers to anywhere outside of Israel).
Chuch Chas Ve Chalilah heaven forbid
Dash (Dush) Drishat
shalom greetings and regards
(When addressing a man one says timsor lo dash mimeni, “send him my
regards”, and a woman with timsor la dash
mimeni, “send her my regards.” Warm regards can also be expressed as dash cham.)
Gavnatz Gvinah Tzehuba yellow cheese
Kalab Karov Lebayit close to home
Lelat Leilah Tov
good
night
Luz Luach Zmanim time schedule
Sakash Sak Sheinah sleeping bag
Shnatz
Sheinat Tzohoraym afternoon sleep
Sofash Sof Shavua end of the week
Zabshechem Zu
B’aya Shelachem that’s your problem
Hebrew has also provided us with a number of acronymic
surnames. To wit, we have Baron, bar
aron
(son of Aaron), Beck, bene kedoshim (descendants of martyrs), Getz, gabbai tsedek (righteous synagogue official), Katz, kohen tsedek (righteous priest), Metz, moreh tsedek (teacher of
righteousness), Sachs, zera kodesh shemo (his name descends from martyrs), and Segal, se gan levia (second-rank Levite).
In fact, acronyms have been
widely used in Hebrew since at least the Middle Ages. We read every year in the
Hagaddah at Pesach after the enumeration of the ten plagues the following
notation: “Rabbi Judah used to refer to the ten plagues by their Hebrew
initials – d’tzach, adash, b’achav.” In addition, certain iconic rabbis are
referred to with acronyms of their names. For example, Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak is known as Rashi (1040-1105), Rav Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides- 1135-1204) is
commonly known as Rambam, Rabbi Moshe
ben Nahman (Nachmanides-1194-1270) is
likewise known as the Ramban,
and Baal Shem Tov is called Besht
(1698-1760). Also the
word Tanakh refers to the Hebrew Bible and
is an acronym for Torah
(Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im (Book of Prophets), and Ketuvim
(Hagiographa). So the question remains, why does
Hebrew both present and past have such a proclivity towards acronyms? I believe this facility is due to the Hebrew
alphabet being comprised only of consonants so that readers are used to
inserting the vowels and can do so at will within any string of initials to
form a pronounceable word.
Howard Richler’s latest book
is Wordplay: Arranged and Deranged Wit
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