Arabic Influence on Modern Hebrew!!

This video is all about how the Arabic language has influenced Modern Hebrew!

(Full disclosure: if you sign up for a premium account, Langfocus receives a small referral fee. But the free account is great too!)

Special thanks to Daniel Shakarov for his Hebrew audio samples, and Ahmed Souhad for his Arabic audio samples!

Andres Resendez Borgia, Andrew Heckenberg, Anjo Barnes, Auguste Fields, Behnam Esfahbod, Bennett Seacrist, Brandon Gonzalez, Can Cetinyilmaz, Clark Roth, Fiona de Visser, Guillermo Jimenez, Jacob Madsen, John Moffat, Marcelo Loureiro, Matthew Etter, Michael Arbagi, Michael Cuomo, Nobbi Lampe-Strang, Patrick W., Rosalind Resnick, Ruben Sanchez Jr, Sebastian Langshaw, ShadowCrossZero, Victoria Goh, Vincent David, Yuko Sunda, Adam Powell, Adam Vanderpluym, Alberto del Angel, Alen, Alex Hanselka, Ali Muhammed Alshehri, Alvin Quiñones, Andrew Woods, Angeline Biot, Aous Mansouri, Ashley Dierolf, Atsushi Yoshida, Avital Levant, Bartosz Czarnotta, Brent Warner, Brian Begnoche, Brian Morton, Bruce Stark, Carl saloga, Charis T'Rukh, Chelsea Boudreau, Christian Langreiter, Christopher Lowell, David LeCount, Debbie Levitt, Diane Young, DickyBoa, divad, Divadrax, Don Ross, Donald Tilley, Edward Wilson, Eric Loewenthal, Erin Robinson Swink, Fabio Martini, fatimahl, Grace Wagner, Gus Polly, Hannes Egli, Harry Kek, Henri Saussure, Herr K, Ina Mwanda, Jack Jackson, James and Amanda Soderling, James Lillis, Jay Bernard, Jens Aksel Takle, JESUS FERNANDO MIRANDA BARBOSA, JK Nair, JL Bumgarner, Justin Faist, Kevin J. Baron, Klaw117, Konrad, Kristian Erickson, Krzysztof Dobrzanski, Laura Morland, Lee Dedmon, Leo Coyne, Leo Barudi, Lincoln Hutton, Lorraine Inez Lil, Luke Jensen, M.Aqeel Afzal, Mahmoud Hashemi, Margaret Langendorf, Maria Comninou, Mariana Bentancor, Mark, Mark Grigoleit, Mark Kemp, Markzipan, Maurice Chou, Merrick Bobb, Michael Regal, Mike Frysinger, mimichi, Mohammed A. Abahussain, Nicholas Gentry, Nicole Tovar, Oleksandr Ivanov, Oto Kohulák, Panot, Papp Roland, Patrick smith, Patriot Nurse, Paul Shutler, Pauline Pavon, Paulla Fetzek, Peter Andersson, Peter Nikitin, Peter Scollar, Pomax, Raymond Thomas, Renato Paroni de Castro, Robert Sheehan, Robert Williams, Roland Seuhs, Ronald Brady, Ryan Lanham, Saffo Papantonopoulou, Samuel Croes, Scott Irons, Scott Russell, Sergio Pascalin, Shoji AKAO, ShrrgDas, Sierra Rooney, Simon Blanchet, Simon G, Spartak Kagramanyan, Steeven Lapointe, Stefan Reichenberger, Steven Severance, Suzanne Jacobs, Theophagous, Thomas Chapel, Tomáš Pauliček, Tryggurhavn, veleum, William MacKenzie, William O Beeman, William Shields, yasmine jaafar, Yeshar Hadi, Éric Martin.

Sources include:

The Renaissance of Modern Hebrew and Modern Standard Arabic: Parallels and Differences in the Revival of Two Semitic Languages. Joshua Blau. 40-42.

“Arabic Loanwords in Modern Hebrew". Haseeb Shehadeh. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HEBREW LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS Volume 1 (A-F). 149-152.

Moroccan Arabic's Influence on Modern Hebrew. "Foreigncy" podcast, Oct. 14 2018. Guest: Dr. Jonas Sibony, professor of Modern Hebrew, University of Strasbourg.

Music: "Time Illusionist" by Asher Fulero.

The following images were used under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0 license:

Still images which include the above images are available for use under the same Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0 license.

[Langfocus]

Hi, guys! Some people have been questioning the Arabic connection with some of the words in the video. One word is פשוט pashut (simple), which they have told me appears in the Talmud. I got this word from a book by Joshua Blau who was a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Book title: The Renaissance of Modern Hebrew and Modern Standard Arabic: Parallels and Differences in the Revival of Two Semitic Languages). The book states that the word was a medieval loan translation of Arabic بسيط basiiT. I don't know the exact time frame, so I can't personally confirm that it was earlier than the appearance of פשוט pashut in the Talmud. I just used what was written in that source.

Another one is חרש kharash (to plough). My source for that one was an article by an Arabi Israeli academic Seraj Assi in Ha'aretz newspaper (the source is in the description). He states that Ben Yehuda introduced that word into Modern Hebrew based on Arabic حرث Harath(a). חרש kharash does appear in Biblical Hebrew with the meaning of "to plough", so based on what I read about Ben Yehuda, it seems that he probably looked at the Modern Standard Arabic word, then went back to earlier forms of Hebrew and found an equivalent word to introduce into Modern Hebrew with the same usage. I have read lots about him doing this: he went back and found Hebrew roots that matched Arabic roots, and used them to create new words. But in this case it seems he just used the word itself. So, if that’s the case, a new word was not coined, but the revived usage of the word was inspired by Arabic.

I think those are the main two that are worth pointing out. The others simply have cognates in Hebrew, but the Arabic loan word is separate from it.

The rabbit hole just keeps going deeper!

[HarunaMaurer]

It's crazy reading the comments and seeing how much Arabic has influenced so many languages. I speak Spanish and Catalan, and there are so many words from Arabic!

[rodalmo]

Arabic is a powerful language and has influenced so many languages because of many factors: History, Islam empire and the middle east as an old civilization. Most of old civilizations, prophets and religions as well as the trade knowing that the location of the middle east is centred the old world before the American and the Chinese predominance.

[eckoboy]

Your accuracy and attention to detail are absolutely phenomenal 👏

[ramizureikat]

Most importantly, modern Hebrew has borrowed many swear words!

[cheyennekurd]

Arabic is my fourth language I can speak with, it's really a powerful language that influenced on many languages

[mmmabo]

Hebrew sounds like french guy speaks arabic

[not_today_satan-wuib]

When he pronounced the Arabic letters flawlessly
I felt that

[halilunes]

As a Turkish, we use many of the Arabic words in the video. And I didn't know that much Arabic influenced Hebrew. Both are beautiful languages.

[Brigister]

13:08 you should also mention that "ya3ni", at least in arabic, is an EXTREMELY common filler word. it's used just as much as english speakers use "like" as a filler word.

[gottod]

العربية و العبرية لغتان تنتميان لنفس الاصل. لكن يجب ذكر أن العبرية لغة أعيد احياؤها مع لفظ أوروبي و مفردات مستعارة من اللغات الاوربية هذا ما شكل التغير الكبير في الأحرف الصامتة و جعل العبرية القياسية الحديثة مختلفة عن عبرية التوترات وجعلها تبدو لهجة أوروبية.

[SisterRay]

Arabic words I tend to use in Hebrew from time to time:
ma'afan (lousy {thing})
ya'ani (meaning that...)
hafif (carelessly done)
tembel/tambal (stupid person)
asli (authentic, real)
basta (a stall {in a market})
fashla (a flop, an embarrassing failure)

[nimrodlevy]

As a hebrew native, you nailed it. Thanks for make it clear for everyone its very hard to explain to non hebrew/arabic speaker

[Yulo]

Native Hebrew speaker here. Love your educational videos even on my own native language. I suspected many of those were Arabic but never actually went to look them up lol like "Mastul". Others were very easy to tell without ever having to look them up like "Yalla", "Ala kefak", "Walla" etc. Your research and commitment are impressive.
כל הכבוד!

[antonmarek]

Amazing. I am a native speaker of Arab and I was surprised with the similarities. This episode is good enough as thesis to get a Master's degree. Thank you for sharing it.👍

[AAmed]

We use so many Arabic words in Urdu as well. "Ya'ni" is used very often to clarify a statement. Also Sababa struck me as there is a famous song in Urdu with the line
"Dil Darrkna ka Sabab" meaning the the hearts longing.

[DimiDzi]

I just clicked on the video and somehow I learned something the russian word kayf and the bulgarian one kef actually come from Arabic

[sunsun]

very informative and I agree with you. Arabic influence every Semitic language like Amharic as well

[danielandmariewalter]

Another word in Hebrew from Arabic is finjan. In Arabic it is the small coffee cup. But in Hebrew it means the small pot you boil the Arabic coffee in.

[mazen.o]

As an arabic speaker, I thought these Hebrew words weren’t borrowed from arabic immediately but instead came from the same root. Interesting video though. Love from egypt 🇪🇬