Completely OT: Where can I find Hebrew etymology?

[Stan Goodman]

On Saturday 26 February 2011 at 22:07:16, Stan Goodman Stan Goodman 
<stan.goodman at hashkedim.com> wrote:
> Hi Stan!
> 
> On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 09:52, Stan Goodman 
<stan.goodman at hashkedim.com> wrote:
> > Dotan...
> > 
> > Can you be more specific about the problem; can you give a concrete
> > example of a problem you would have to solve, and what you would
> > expect from "the book"? Is it to trace words from foreign-language
> > origins (like Nanas from Greek, for example)? Or something else?
> 
> There are some Hebrew words that I'd like to know where they come
> from. Such as Petria - is this related to the Petri dish and the
> biologist for whom it was named? Is this just a coincidence that the
> words sound so similar? There are tens of other examples of curious
> words.

You mean Pitriya, mushroom, fungus? I would be enormously surprised if 
this was a word so modern that it had to be invented by, or named for, a 
19 - 20th century biologist. Pitriyot have surely been eaten here for 
millenia. I don't think Ben-Yehuda had to invent it. It's a proper 
Hebrew word.

> > I'm sure you have googled and found the lots of hits from <hebrew
> > etymology> to be inadequate for your purpose.
> 
> I have googled "Hebrew etymology" but of all the hits I find the
> etymology of words that have Hebrew as their root language. No
> dictionaries for Hebrew words' etymologies.

Etymology isn't necessaily associated with borrowing words from other 
languages, so I suppose at least some of those hits include examples of 
borrows. Hebrew is like most other languages, in that it borrows words 
when it hasn't got native ones -- and sometimes even if it does. For 
example, salmon is almost always called "salmon" now in the supermarket 
(and everybody pronounces the "L", which is not done at all in English); 
I'm sure lots of people don't know what "Iltit" means or  what sort of 
animal it is. The Talmud has borrows from Greek, because that was what 
people were exposed to; for example, "Baskilos" (slightly distorted from 
Greek "Basilikos") is sometimes used for "king", although "Melekh" was 
certainly available.



> > If that's the case, my own
> > reaction would be to write to the Hebrew Language Academy and ask
> > for a list of books. Or perhaps to walk into the University in
> > Be'er-Sheva and find which professor can point you to the right
> > place. Or maybe to go into their library and talk to the
> > librarian.
> 
> I should in fact probably head into the university. Thanks.

What, after all, are universities for? =;-/8  On the other hand, it may 
be a mistake not to inqure also at the Academy.

-- 
Stan Goodman
Qiryat Tiv'on
Israel