Kwa kuamini kwamba Kiarabu na Kiaramu vimehifadhi tabia ya kale ya lugha ya Kisemiti asilia, Ben-Yehuda alipendelea kutegemea sana Kiarabu na Kiaramu katika kuunda Kiebrania cha kisasa huko Palestina, ingawa kwa kweli Kiebrania cha kisasa kilikuwa lugha mpya ya mseto wa Kisemiti na Kiulaya, ikikopa maneno mengi kutoka Kiyidi, Kiarabu, Kiaramu, Kiladino, Kilatini, Kigiriki, Kipolandi, Kirusi, Kiingereza na lugha nyingine za Ulaya. Hata hivyo, mwelekeo uliofuatwa na Ben-Yehuda, wa kukopa kutoka Kiarabu na kuiga mfano wake, ulijengwa juu ya ukopaji mpana wa Kiebrania uliotangulia na uigaji wa kimofolojia wa Kiarabu uliofanyika wakati wa enzi ya dhahabu ya ustaarabu wa Kiislamu wa Waarabu. Ingawa ushawishi wa Kiarabu juu ya Kiebrania cha kisasa hauwezi kuhusishwa kwa ukamilifu na Ben-Yehuda au Kamati yake ya Lugha ya Kiebrania, maneno mengi mapya yaliyobuniwa na Ben-Yehuda chini ya ushawishi wa Kiarabu yalikuwa sehemu ya lugha ya kawaida ya Kiebrania ya leo. Mifano ya maneno ya Kiebrania yaliyobuniwa na Ben-Yehuda kwa msingi wa maneno ya Kiarabu ni pamoja na qattar ('treni ya injini'), ambalo alilikopa kutoka Kiarabu qitar; taarikh ('tarehe'), kutoka Kiarabu taarikh ('historia', 'kuweka tarehe'); na adiv ('mstaarabu'), linalotokana na Kiarabu adib ('mwenye adabu'). Mifumo ya kimofolojia iliyoigwa kutoka Kiarabu inapatikana katika salamu ya Kiebrania ya kisasa boqer tov ('habari za asubuhi') na kiitikio chake boqer or ('asubuhi ya nuru'), zilizoigwa kwa mfano wa Kiarabu sabah al-khair ('habari za asubuhi') na sabaḥ an-nur ('asubuhi ya nuru') (Shehadeh 1998: 60).

Believing that Arabic and Aramaic have preserved the ancient character of proto-Semitic language, Ben-Yehuda favoured a strong reliance upon Arabic and Aramaic in the creation of modern Hebrew in Palestine, although in reality modern Hebrew became a new Semito-European hybrid language borrowing many words from Yiddish, Arabic, Aramaic, Ladino, Latin, Greek, Polish, Russian, English and other European languages. However, the patterns pursued by Ben-Yehuda, of borrowing from and modelling on Arabic, built upon previous extensive Hebrew borrowings and morphological modelling on Arabic that took place during the golden age of Arab Islamic civilisation. Although the influence of Arabic on modern Hebrew cannot be attributed entirely to Ben-Yehuda or his Hebrew Language Committee,22 many of the new words coined by Ben-Yehuda under the influence of Arabic became part of the standard Hebrew language of today.23 Examples of the Hebrew words coined by Ben- Yehuda on the basis of Arabic words included qattar (‘locomotive’), which he borrowed from the Arabic qitar; taarikh (‘date’), from the Arabic taarikh (‘history’, ‘dating’); and adiv (‘polite’), which comes from the Arabic adib (‘cultured’).24 Morphological patterns modelled on Arabic are found in the modern Hebrew greeting boqer tov (‘good morning’) and its refrain boqer or (‘morning of light’), modelled after the Arabic sabah al-khair (‘good morning’) and sabaḥ an-nur (‘morning of light’) (Shehadeh 1998: 60).

Inapaswa kukumbukwa kwamba rejeo hapa si tu kwa mifumo ya mikopo ya moja kwa moja kutoka Kiarabu, bali pia kwa tafsiri ya mkopo.

It should be borne in mind that the reference here is not only to patterns of direct borrowings from Arabic, but also to loan translation:

maneno yaliyoundwa kwa karibu kwa mfano wa Kiarabu, yakiwa na nyenzo za usemi za Kiarabu. Kama tutakavyoona hapa chini, uundaji huu na tafsiri ya kifani kutoka Kiarabu baadaye ungekuwa na athari kubwa katika mabadiliko ya majina ya mahali ya Kiarabu ya Palestina kuwa majina ya mahali ya Kiebrania ya Israeli yaliyotolewa na Kamati ya Majina ya Israeli.

words modelled closely after Arabic, consisting of the speech material of Arabic. As we will see below, this modelling on and loan translation from Arabic would subsequently have a major impact on the transformation of Palestinian Arab toponyms into Israeli Hebrew toponyms by the Israeli Names Committee.

Ben-Yehuda alizaliwa kama Lazar Perelman, katika kijiji cha Lithuania cha Luzhky, na alisoma katika shule ya Talmud huko Belarus katika Dola ya Urusi.

Ben-Yehuda was born Lazar Perelman, in the Lithuanian village of Luzhky, and attended a Talmudic school in Belarus in the Russian Empire.

Ben-Yehuda, mwanaisimu mwenye ndoto ya kuboresha lugha na mwanasiasa wa Uzayuni wa kidunia, alikuwa mtunzi wa kamusi mwenye ushawishi mkubwa zaidi wa lugha ya kienyeji ya Uzayuni. Pia alikopa maneno mengi kutoka Kiarabu cha kifasihi na cha mazungumzo ya kila siku, Kigiriki, Kiaramu na lugha nyingine. Akiwa mhariri wa gazeti, Ben-Yehuda alihamia Palestina mwaka 1881 na akawa nguvu iliyoendesha mapinduzi haya ya lugha ya kienyeji ya Uzayuni (Stavans 2008; Rabkin, 2006: 54–57; 2010: 132). Wakati huo Wayahudi waliokuwa Yerusalemu waliongea Kiarabu, Kiyidi na Kifaransa. Ben-Yehuda alijiwekea lengo la kufufua na kuendeleza lugha mpya ambayo ingeweza kuchukua nafasi ya Kiyidi hasa, na lugha nyingine zilizozungumzwa na wakoloni wa Kizayuni wa Ulaya huko Palestina. Alikuwa amesoma historia na siasa za Mashariki ya Kati katika Chuo Kikuu cha Sorbonne mjini Paris, na alijifunza Kiarabu cha mazungumzo cha Palestina. Katika miaka minne aliyotumia Sorbonne alichukua masomo ya Kiebrania. Ilikuwa uzoefu huu wa Paris, pamoja na kukutana kwake na kuibuka kwa uzalendo wa lugha ya Kifaransa mwishoni mwa karne ya 19, ulimchochea Ben-Yehuda (Perelman) kujaribu "kufufua" Kiebrania kama mradi wa kitamaduni wa kivitendo na wa kizalendo wa Kizayuni.

A linguistic utopian and a secular linguistic Zionist, the most influential lexicographer of the Zionist vernacular also borrowed many words from literary and colloquial Arabic, Greek, Aramaic and other languages. A newspaper editor, Ben-Yehuda immigrated to Palestine in 1881 and became the driving spirit behind this Zionist vernacular revolution (Stavans 2008; Rabkin, 2006: 54–57; 2010: 132). At that time the Jews in Jerusalem spoke Arabic, Yiddish and French. Ben-Yehuda set out to resurrect and develop a new language that could replace Yiddish, in particular, and other languages spoken by the European Zionist colonists in Palestine. He had studied history and politics of the Middle East at the Sorbonne University in Paris and learned Palestinian colloquial Arabic. In the four years he spent at the Sorbonne he took Hebrew classes. It was this experience in Paris, and his exposure to the rise of French linguistic nationalism at the end of the 19th century, that inspired Ben-Yehuda (Perelman) to attempt the ‘resurrection’ of Hebrew as a practical and Zionist nationalist cultural project.

Baada ya kuwasili Palestina mwaka 1881, Lazar Perelman alibadilisha jina lake kuwa Eliezer Ben-Yehuda ('Mwana wa Yuda') na akawa wa kwanza kutumia 'Kiebrania cha kisasa' kama lugha ya kila siku, na kukibadilisha kutoka lugha ya Biblia na lugha ya ibada (lashon hakodesh) kuwa lugha ya kisasa ya 'kidunia-kitaifa'. Mke wa pili wa Ben-Yehuda, Paula Beila, alichukua jina la Kiebrania Hemda, na yeye alimlea mwanawe, Ben-Tzion ('mwana wa Sayuni'), akizungumza Kiebrania cha kisasa peke yake, kwa kumtenga kabisa na kukataa kumruhusu kuwasiliana na lugha nyingine wakati wa utoto wake.

After arriving in Palestine in 1881, Lazar Perelman changed his name to Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (‘Son of Judah’) and became the first to use ‘modern Hebrew’ as a vernacular and transform it from a biblical language and a language of liturgy (lashon hakodesh) into a ‘secular-nationalist’ modern language. Ben-Yehuda’s second wife Paula Beila took the Hebrew name Hemda, and he raised his son, Ben-Tzion (‘son of Zion’), speaking only modern Hebrew by totally isolating him and refusing to let him be exposed to other languages during childhood.

Ben-Yehuda alihudumu kama mhariri wa magazeti kadhaa ya lugha ya Kiebrania, yakiwemo Ha-Tzvi (Kulungu). Gazeti hilo lilifungwa kwa mwaka mmoja na mamlaka za Dola ya Ottoman baada ya upinzani mkali kutoka kwa jumuiya ya Wayahudi wa Kiorthodoksi wa Yerusalemu, ambao waliona kazi yake kuwa ya kufuru.

Ben-Yehuda served as editor of a number of Hebrew-language newspapers, including Ha-Tzvi (the Deer). The latter was closed down for a year by the Ottoman authorities following fierce opposition from the Orthodox Jewish community of Jerusalem, which viewed his work as sacrilegious.

Jerusalem ilikuwa jiji lililozungumza zaidi Kiarabu, ambapo wakazi wake Wayahudi walizungumza Kiarabu na Kiyidi, na walipinga matumizi ya 'lugha takatifu' (lashon hakodesh), Kiebrania, katika mazungumzo ya kila siku. Wayahudi wengine wa eneo hilo walidharau Kiebrania kipya kama lugha 'iliyobuniwa', mchanganyiko wa lugha nyingine.

Jerusalem was a predominantly Arabic-speaking city, whose Jewish residents spoke both Arabic and Yiddish and objected to the use of the ‘holy tongue’ (lashon hakodesh), Hebrew, for everyday conversation. Other local Jews ridiculed the new Hebrew as a ‘fabricated’, hybrid language.

Huko Jerusalem, Ben-Yehuda alikuwa mtu muhimu katika kuanzishwa kwa Kamati ya Lugha ya Kiebrania (Va’ad Ha-lashon ha-ʿIvrit). Kamati hiyo ilianzishwa awali mwaka 1890, ikafanya kazi kwa mwaka mmoja, ikavunjwa, kisha ikafufuliwa mwaka 1904; Ben-Yehuda alikuwa rais wake wa kwanza. Juhudi za Ben-Yehuda za kiisimu zilifanikiwa pale mamlaka ya kikoloni ya Uingereza huko Palestina ilipoamua mwaka 1922, chini ya Kamishna Mkuu Myahudi wa Kizayuni, Herbert Samuel, kutambua Kiebrania cha kisasa kuwa mojawapo ya lugha tatu rasmi za Palestina ya Mamlaka ya Uingereza, pamoja na Kiarabu na Kiingereza.

In Jerusalem Ben-Yehuda became a central figure in the establishment of the Hebrew Language Committee (Va’ad Ha-lashon ha-ʿIvrit). It was initially set up in 1890, operated for one year, disbanded and then revived in 1904; Ben-Yehuda was its first president. Ben-Yeduda’s linguistic efforts were crowned with success when the British colonial authorities in Palestine decided in 1922, under a Zionist Jewish High Commissioner, Herbert Samuels, to recognise modern Hebrew as one of the three official languages of British Mandatory Palestine, alongside Arabic and English.

Kamati ya Ben-Yehuda ilibadilishwa na Chuo cha Lugha ya Kiebrania cha Israeli, ambacho kilianzishwa baada ya Sheria ya Bunge la Israeli (Knesset), iliyopitishwa tarehe 27 Agosti 1953, kikiitwa 'Taasisi Kuu ya Lugha ya Kiebrania' na kikawekwa katika Chuo Kikuu cha Kiebrania cha Jerusalem. Kadiri Kiebrania cha kisasa kilivyozidi kuzungumzwa miongoni mwa walowezi wa Kizayuni kutoka Ulaya Mashariki huko Palestina, Kamati ya Lugha ya Kiebrania ilianza kuchapisha vijarida na kamusi, na ikabuni maelfu ya maneno ambayo leo yanatumika kila siku nchini Israeli. Rais wa Kamati, Ben-Yehuda, pia aliandaa kamusi ya kwanza ya Kiebrania cha kisasa. Ben-Yehuda alisema kwamba Kiarabu, lugha hai ya Kisemiti ndugu, badala ya lugha za Ulaya, ndicho kinachopaswa kujaza mapengo ya Kiebrania cha kisasa, akiiona Kiarabu kama chanzo kikuu cha mizizi na maneno mapya yaliyokosekana katika Kiebrania (Shehadeh 1998: 61‒62). Madai ya Ben-Yehuda, yaliyotolewa katika makala ya mwaka 1914 yenye kichwa 'Vyanzo vya Kujaza Mapengo katika Lugha Yetu', yalirejea madai kama hayo yaliyotolewa na wanaakiolojia wa Kimagharibi wa Biblia na wanajiografia wa Maandiko katika karne ya 19, kama vile Edward Robinson na Victor Guérin. Aliandika: 'Wengi wa mizizi inayopatikana katika msamiati wa Kiarabu zamani ilikuwa sehemu ya leksimu ya Kiebrania, na mizizi hii yote si ya kigeni, wala si ya Kiarabu, bali ni yetu, tuliyoipoteza na sasa tumeipata tena' (Ben-Yehuda 1914: 9; ona pia Blau 1981: 32).

Ben-Yehuda’s committee was replaced by the Israeli Academy of the Hebrew Language, which was established following an Act of the Israeli Knesset, passed on 27 August 1953, as ‘The Supreme Institute of the Hebrew Language’ and located in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As modern Hebrew became more widely spoken among East European Zionist settlers in Palestine, the Hebrew Language Committee began to publish bulletins and dictionaries and coined thousands of words that are in everyday use today in Israel. The Committee’s President, Ben-Yehuda, also compiled the first modern Hebrew dictionary. Ben-Yehuda argued that Arabic, a living fellow Semitic language, rather than European languages, should fill modern Hebrew lacunae, seeing Arabic as a major source for missing roots and new words in Hebrew (Shehadeh 1998: 61‒62). Ben-Yehuda’s claims, made in a 1914 article entitled ‘Sources to Fill the Lacunae in our Language’, echoed similar claims put forward by Western biblical archaeologists and scriptural geographers in the 19th century such as Edward Robinson and Victor Guérin. He wrote: ‘the majority of the roots found in the Arabic vocabulary were once part of the Hebrew lexicon, and all of these roots are not foreign, nor are Arabic, but are ours, which we lost and have now found again’ (Ben-Yehuda 1914: 9; see also Blau 1981: 32).

Ben-Yehuda, aliyekuwa wakati huo mkuu wa Kamati ya Lugha ya Kiebrania yenye makao yake Yerusalemu, alisisitiza umuhimu wa Kiarabu katika kufufua lugha ya Kiebrania iliyokuwa imekufa na katika kubuni upya Kiebrania cha kisasa (cha Ashkenazi).

Ben-Yehuda, then head of the Jerusalem-based Committee of the Hebrew Language, insisted on the relevance of Arabic for reviving the dead language of Hebrew and reinventing modern (Ashkenazi) Hebrew.

Joshua Blau, Profesa Mstaafu wa Lugha na Fasihi ya Kiarabu katika Chuo Kikuu cha Kiebrania cha Yerusalemu na Rais wa Chuo cha Lugha ya Kiebrania cha Israeli (1981‒1993), anaandika kwamba Ben-Yehuda alisisitiza umuhimu wa Kiarabu hai: 'Ili kujaza mapungufu ya lugha ya Kiebrania, Kamati hutunga maneno kulingana na kanuni za sarufi na mlinganisho wa kiisimu kutoka mizizi ya Kisemiti: Kiaramu na hasa kutoka mizizi ya Kiarabu' (Blau 1981: 33).

Joshua Blau, Professor Emeritus of Arabic Languages and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and President of the Israeli Academy of the Hebrew Language (1981‒1993), writes that Ben-Yehuda insisted on the usefulness of living Arabic: ‘In order to supplement the deficiencies of the Hebrew language, the Committee coins words according to the rules of grammar and linguistic analogy from Semitic roots: Aramaic and especially from Arabic roots’ (Blau 1981: 33).