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When they couldn't point at an object, they used to explain what
it is with a long definition. They would say "House of City
Clerks", because there wasn't the word "City Hall", "Shelter
from Rain", instead of "Umbrella", and instead of
"Watchmaker" they said: "The Guy who Fixes the Time Teller".
At that time many essential words were missing. For many
objects, there were no Hebrew words. Ben Yehuda invented
words: "Bicycle", "Ice cream", "Sausage", "Shower", "Train"
and many others.
Renewing words in Hebrew, meaning: making up new words,
was Ben Yehuda's most important operation. He published his
new (work) in the news paper so that others could learn it, use it
and have them rooted in the Hebrew language.
Ben Yehuda is considered the greatest Hebrew language
expansionist, but there were others who created important
creations and contributed to the expanding Hebrew language.
Among them were: his son – Itamar Ben EVI, his second wife –
Hemda Ben Yehuda, the poet Chaim Nachman Bialik, the
researcher and educator David Yalin, the writer and researcher
Yosef Clousner, the writer Yechiel M' Pinnes and others.
Ben Yehuda's Word
Ben Yehuda did not only invent new words, he also revived
Hebrew words from earlier times. One of his most important
projects was collecting all the Hebrew words known until his
time ; including words from the bible, form Chazal of the
Middle Ages. He collected the words for years and gathered
them up in a huge 16 volume, 8,000 pages, dictionary. He had
so much work, he worked for hours and hours during the day
and even did it while standing, incase he falls asleep while
working.
When the Turks threw him in jail, following a libel, which was
made up by those who hated him, he found himself comfort: in
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