What's the Hebrew word

[crossfire]

What's the Hebrew word used to refer to Christians? Is there a specific one? Thanks.

 

[Levite]

What's the Hebrew word used to refer to Christians? Is there a specific one? Thanks.

Notzrim means "Christians."

 

[crossfire]

Notzrim means "Christians."

Thank you!

 

[Caladan]

Thank you!

Although it should be noted the word doesn't carry the same meaning as the English word.
The literal Hebrew word for Christians technically should be Meshichim (or Messianic, in relation to Christ-ians). Notzrim is usually interpreted to mean someone who comes from Nazareth, or a general relation to the city Nazareth.

 

[crossfire]

Although it should be noted the word doesn't carry the same meaning as the English word.
The literal Hebrew word for Christians technically should be Meshichim (or Messianic, in relation to Christ-ians). Notzrim is usually interpreted to mean someone who comes from Nazareth, or a general relation to the city Nazareth.

Yeah, that's what I suspected. Notzrim could also apply to pre-Christian ideologies from the region of Nazareth too, then?

 

[Caladan]

Yeah, that's what I suspected. Notzrim could also apply to pre-Christian ideologies from the region of Nazareth too, then?

Not that I'm aware of, the idea is to reflect the city where Jesus hailed from (or rather lived most of his life).
In addition there are other views about the source of the Hebrew root for the word for Christians, such as that it means people who 'guard' the ways of God (Notzrim also literally means people who guard in the sense of preserving something, usually an ideology).

 

[crossfire]

Not that I'm aware of, the idea is to reflect the city where Jesus hailed from (or rather lived most of his life).
In addition there are other views about the source of the Hebrew root for the word for Christians, such as that it means people who 'guard' the ways of God (Notzrim also literally means people who guard in the sense of preserving something, usually an ideology).

Ahh, interesting! Thanks again.

 

[Assad91]

Just wondering, what is the hebrew word for Muslim and Islam?

 

[Levite]

Not that I'm aware of, the idea is to reflect the city where Jesus hailed from (or rather lived most of his life).
In addition there are other views about the source of the Hebrew root for the word for Christians, such as that it means people who 'guard' the ways of God (Notzrim also literally means people who guard in the sense of preserving something, usually an ideology).

To be fair, I think it's also a matter of common usage. Notzrim as a reference to Christians, rather than merely any random citizens of Nazeret, seems to go back at least to early Amoraic times, if not to late Tannaitic times. And since Jesus is usually referred to as Yeshu ha-Notzri, it makes sense that, by extension, his followers would be Notzrim, as a reference not to the town but to the specific son of that town.

 

[Levite]

Just wondering, what is the hebrew word for Muslim and Islam?

Muslimim. And Islam. I guess Arabic and Hebrew are close enough that the words are not considered too cumbrous for Hebrew pronunciation.

Classically, though, Muslims are often referred to en masse as Yishma'elim or B'nai Yishma'el (which is to say, Ishmaelites), though technically that refers to Arabs, rather than all Muslims. But in pre-modern rabbinic writing, and often in other literature also, the terms are used freely in reference to Muslims, regardless of whether they are technically Arabs or not.

 

[Caladan]

To be fair, I think it's also a matter of common usage. Notzrim as a reference to Christians, rather than merely any random citizens of Nazeret, seems to go back at least to early Amoraic times, if not to late Tannaitic times. And since Jesus is usually referred to as Yeshu ha-Notzri, it makes sense that, by extension, his followers would be Notzrim, as a reference not to the town but to the specific son of that town.

Thanks for elaborating on my answer, however yes... it wasn't any man of Nazareth we are talking about, but Jesus... the Christian savior.
That is if I understood your post correctly.

Muslimim. And Islam. I guess Arabic and Hebrew are close enough that the words are not considered too cumbrous for Hebrew pronunciation.

Technically it is pronounced Muslemim. But yes the relations between Hebrew and Arabic reflect similarities also in these terms, for example to my knowledge the Qur'anic (and in some parts of the Muslims world) term for Christians is close to the Hebrew one and is 'Nasara'.

Classically, though, Muslims are often referred to en masse as Yishma'elim or B'nai Yishma'el (which is to say, Ishmaelites), though technically that refers to Arabs, rather than all Muslims. But in pre-modern rabbinic writing, and often in other literature also, the terms are used freely in reference to Muslims, regardless of whether they are technically Arabs or not.

Just to stress about the above, that we are discussing about classic literature (as Levite said). In modern Hebrew the common usage is 'Muslemim' (plural), Muslemi (singular), and Islam for the religion, although spelled as in the Arabic with Aleph (Aliph) at the beginning instead of the Latin 'I'.

 

[Assad91]

Thank you Levite.

 

[Levite]

Technically it is pronounced Muslemim.

Yes, that was my typing error. You are quite correct, of course.

Just to stress about the above, that we are discussing about classic literature (as Levite said). In modern Hebrew the common usage is 'Muslemim' (plural), Muslemi (singular), and Islam for the religion, although spelled as in the Arabic with Aleph (Aliph) at the beginning instead of the Latin 'I'.

Yeah, nobody uses Yishma'elim or B'nai Yishma'el in reference to Muslims in common parlance today-- it isn't done. Even in rabbinic writing, I haven't seen it done in the last fifty or seventy years or so, outside of one or two very Charedi responsa.

 

[Assad91]

Just to stress about the above, that we are discussing about classic literature (as Levite said). In modern Hebrew the common usage is 'Muslemim' (plural), Muslemi (singular), and Islam for the religion, although spelled as in the Arabic with Aleph (Aliph) at the beginning instead of the Latin 'I'.

I have noticed the two languages are pretty similar in someways. I guess due to being semitic?

 

[Caladan]

I have noticed the two languages are pretty similar in someways. I guess due to being semitic?

Yeah, they are from the Semitic family of languages. When we explored dead Near Eastern languages in the Tel Aviv archaeology department we could see similarities even between our modern Hebrew and ancient languages such as Akkadian. However Arabic is a living language, and the similarities are of course obvious to the Jews and Arabs who live here, beyond the fact that many Jews are native speakers of Arabic dialects, some Arabs and Jews are native speakers of Aramaic, and many Arabs are bilingual when it comes to Hebrew, with Arabic being their mother tongue, but Hebrew widely spoken as a second language.
In addition, Jews incorporated plenty of Arabic words into modern Hebrew (probably many passed from their originally Arabic speaking families), and Arabs incorporated many words from Hebrew into their Arabic vocabulary.

Interestingly, I read the Qur'an both in English and in Hebrew, and the advantage of a Hebrew translation to the Qur'an is that it preserves linguistic qualities that cannot be transmitted via non Semitic translations and which give the Hebrew reader a linguistic and cultural intuitive understanding of the material in proper context.

 

[Assad91]

That is pretty cool. So would you say a native Hebrew speaker would probably gain a bit deeper understanding of Quran in Hebrew compared to an English?

 

[Assad91]

Also want to ask, due to such closeness to Arab society, does Israeli culture reflect it in anyway? Food, music, dress?

 

[Caladan]

That is pretty cool. So would you say a native Hebrew speaker would probably gain a bit deeper understanding of Quran in Hebrew compared to an English?

From my personal experience, absolutely. For example many religious terms have equivalent or related meaning in Hebrew and Arabic and Judaism and Islam. All these terms lose meaning in an English translation. Even if we take the word Qur'an itself we already see this evident. The word Qur'an is most likely coming from the Semitic root K.R.A in relation to 'reading', in Hebrew our own scriptures (the Bible) are collectively called in Hebrew 'Mikra', from the same Semitic root.

 

[Caladan]

Also want to ask, due to such closeness to Arab society, does Israeli culture reflect it in anyway? Food, music, dress?

In all of the above. While Mid Eastern Jews of the older generations might have had stronger elements of dressing and fashion which are oriental in essence, it is still possible to see. For example when Moroccan Jews celebrate the pre-wedding Mimuna celebration, the family is dressed in traditional Moroccan clothes for festivity. Much of the music in Israel is oriental, or caries an oriental twist. Much of our food is oriental. etc.
You have to understand that half of the Israeli Jewish population descents from ancient Jewish communities from North Africa, Egypt or Mesopotamia. These people arrived to Israel speaking Arabic, Persian, or Aramaic dialects. Today the two ends of Israeli society (the European and the Middle Eastern) are well mixed, and Hebrew is dominating where once Germanic and Slavic and (non Hebrew) Middle Eastern dialects were widely used.

 

[Assad91]

Israel sounds like an interesting place to visit.


And you're an archaeologist, right?