尽管本-耶胡达相信阿拉伯语和阿拉姆语保留了原始闪语的古老特征,因而主张在巴勒斯坦创造现代希伯来语时大量依赖阿拉伯语和阿拉姆语,但实际上,现代希伯来语成为一种新的闪-欧混合语言,从意第绪语、阿拉伯语、阿拉姆语、拉迪诺语、拉丁语、希腊语、波兰语、俄语、英语及其他欧洲语言中借用了大量词汇。然而,本-耶胡达所采取的借用阿拉伯语并以其为范式的做法,建立在此前希伯来语大量借用阿拉伯语词汇、并在构词形态上模仿阿拉伯语的基础之上,而这些早前的借用与模仿发生于阿拉伯伊斯兰文明的黄金时代。尽管阿拉伯语对现代希伯来语的影响不能完全归因于本-耶胡达或其希伯来语委员会,但本-耶胡达在阿拉伯语影响下所创造的许多新词,后来成为了今天标准希伯来语的一部分。本-耶胡达以阿拉伯语词为基础创造的希伯来语词的例子包括:qattar(“火车头”),他借自阿拉伯语的qitar;taarikh(“日期”),源自阿拉伯语的taarikh(“历史”“纪年”);以及adiv(“有礼貌的”),来自阿拉伯语的adib(“有教养的”)。仿照阿拉伯语的构词模式也见于现代希伯来语的问候语boqer tov(“早上好”)及其套语boqer or(“光明的早晨”),二者分别仿照阿拉伯语的sabah al-khair(“早上好”)和sabaḥ an-nur(“光明的早晨”)(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).

需要注意的是，这里所指的不仅是直接从阿拉伯语借用的词语模式，也包括意译借词（仿译）。

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:

这些词语紧密仿照阿拉伯语构造，借用了阿拉伯语的语言材料。正如我们在下文将看到的，这种对阿拉伯语的仿照和意译借用，后来对以色列命名委员会将巴勒斯坦阿拉伯地名转换为以色列希伯来语地名产生了重大影响。

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.

本-耶胡达出生于立陶宛的卢日基村，原名拉扎尔·佩雷尔曼，后在俄罗斯帝国境内的白俄罗斯就读于塔木德学校。

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

一位语言乌托邦主义者和世俗的语言犹太复国主义者，这位犹太复国主义白话最有影响力的词典编纂者，还从文学语和口语阿拉伯语、希腊语、阿拉姆语以及其他语言中借用了大量词汇。作为一名报纸编辑，本-耶胡达于1881年移居巴勒斯坦，并成为这场犹太复国主义白话革命的主要推动者（Stavans 2008；Rabkin, 2006: 54–57；2010: 132）。当时，耶路撒冷的犹太人讲阿拉伯语、意第绪语和法语。本-耶胡达着手复兴并发展一种新语言，以取代意第绪语，尤其是取代欧洲犹太复国主义殖民者在巴勒斯坦所使用的其他语言。他曾在巴黎索邦大学学习中东历史与政治，并学习了巴勒斯坦口语阿拉伯语。他在索邦大学的四年间修习了希伯来语课程。正是这段巴黎经历，以及他对19世纪末法国语言民族主义兴起的接触，激发了本-耶胡达（佩雷尔曼）将希伯来语“复兴”为一项实用的、具有犹太复国主义民族主义色彩的文化事业。

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.

1881年抵达巴勒斯坦后，拉扎尔·佩雷尔曼改名为埃利泽尔·本-耶胡达（“犹大之子”），并成为第一个将“现代希伯来语”用作日常口语的人，使其从《圣经》语言和礼拜用语（lashon hakodesh）转变为一种“世俗民族主义”的现代语言。本-耶胡达的第二任妻子保拉·贝拉取希伯来名为赫姆达，而他抚养的儿子本-齐翁（“锡安之子”）只说现代希伯来语，他将其完全隔绝，在童年时期不让他接触其他语言。

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.

本-耶胡达曾担任多份希伯来语报纸的编辑,其中包括《Ha-Tzvi》(意为"鹿")。该报因耶路撒冷正统犹太社群的强烈反对而被奥斯曼当局停刊一年,这些人认为他的工作是亵渎神圣的。

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.

耶路撒冷主要是讲阿拉伯语的城市，当地犹太居民既说阿拉伯语，也说意第绪语，并反对将“圣语”（lashon hakodesh）希伯来语用于日常交谈。其他本地犹太人则嘲笑这种新希伯来语是“人造的”、混杂而成的语言。

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.

在耶路撒冷,本-耶胡达成为希伯来语委员会(Va’ad Ha-lashon ha-ʿIvrit)设立过程中的核心人物。该委员会最初成立于1890年,运作一年后解散,于1904年重新恢复;本-耶胡达担任其首任主席。1922年,英国殖民当局在巴勒斯坦任命的犹太复国主义者犹太高级专员赫伯特·塞缪尔的主持下,决定承认现代希伯来语为英国托管巴勒斯坦的三种官方语言之一,与阿拉伯语和英语并列,本-耶胡达的语言努力由此取得成功。

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.

本-耶胡达的委员会后来由以色列希伯来语学院取代。该学院是根据以色列议会于1953年8月27日通过的一项法案设立的,名为"希伯来语最高学院",设在耶路撒冷希伯来大学内。随着现代希伯来语在巴勒斯坦东欧籍犹太复国主义移民中日益广泛使用,希伯来语委员会开始出版简报和词典,并创造了数千个今天在以色列日常使用的词汇。委员会主席本-耶胡达还编纂了第一部现代希伯来语词典。本-耶胡达主张,现代希伯来语的词汇空缺应当借助阿拉伯语来填补,而不是借助欧洲语言。阿拉伯语是一种仍在使用的闪米特语族语言,他认为它是希伯来语缺失词根和新词的主要来源(Shehadeh 1998: 61‒62)。本-耶胡达的这一观点见于他1914年发表的一篇题为《填补我们语言空缺的来源》的文章,与19世纪爱德华·罗宾逊、维克多·盖兰等西方圣经考古学家和经文地理学家的类似主张相呼应。他写道:"阿拉伯语词汇中发现的大多数词根原本是希伯来语词汇的一部分,这些词根都不是外来的,阿拉伯语也不是外来的,而是我们的,是我们曾经丢失、如今又重新找回的"(Ben-Yehuda 1914: 9;另见 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).

本-耶胡达（Ben-Yehuda）当时担任总部位于耶路撒冷的希伯来语委员会主席，他坚持认为阿拉伯语对于复兴希伯来这门已死的语言、重新创造现代（阿什肯纳兹）希伯来语具有重要意义。

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.

约书亚·布劳教授是耶路撒冷希伯来大学阿拉伯语言与文学荣誉教授，并曾任以色列希伯来语学院院长（1981—1993年）。他写道，本·耶胡达坚持认为活的阿拉伯语是有用的："为了弥补希伯来语的不足，委员会依据语法规则与语言类比，从闪米特语词根中造词：阿拉姆语的词根，尤其是阿拉伯语的词根"（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).