{"id":2942,"date":"2021-07-26T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hebrew\/?p=2942"},"modified":"2021-07-17T20:47:25","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T00:47:25","slug":"about-the-hebrew-word-for-sock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hebrew\/about-the-hebrew-word-for-sock\/","title":{"rendered":"About the Hebrew Word for Sock"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by 7089643 from Pixabay, CCO<\/p><\/div>\n

Last month the Academy of the Hebrew Language – an institution with legislated authority to study, guard, and guide the development of the Hebrew language – announced:<\/p>\n

\u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05dc \u05d4\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d8\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea \u05d4\u05b6\u05d7\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e7\u05b8\u05d3\u05b6\u05de\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1\u05bc\u05b5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05c1\u05b4\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05bc\u05b7\u05de\u05b4\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4\u00a0\u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1\u00a0\u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05de\u05c5\u05d9\u05df \u05e0\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e6\u05b7\u05d3 \u05de\u05c5\u05d9\u05df \u05d6\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05e8.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After years of deliberation, the Academy decided to approve the use of the word sock as a female, in addition to its use as a male.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not all the Academy decisions receive so many headlines. This decision (\u05d4\u05b7\u05d7\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d8\u05b8\u05d4<\/strong>), though, made after years of prolonged controversy (\u05de\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05dc\u05b9\u05e7\u05b6\u05ea<\/strong>), was published in every media.<\/p>\n

For more than a century, the Hebrew word for sock (\u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong>, pronounced as ge-rev) was defined in dictionaries as masculine (\u05d6\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9<\/strong>). Yet, it was usually referred to as feminine (\u05e0\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9<\/strong>) in spoken language (\u05e9\u05c2\u05b8\u05e4\u05b8\u05d4 \u05de\u05b0\u05d3\u05bb\u05d1\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05ea<\/strong>). Although \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong> ends with a consonant, as most masculine Hebrew nouns end, most Hebrew speakers treat the word as feminine. They decline all the attributed adjectives, verbs, and numeral words as feminine, too, when talking about \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Hebrew online dictionary Milog.co.il conducted several online surveys, checking the Hebrew knowledge of its users. In one of these surveys<\/a>, more than 3000 participants were asked about the grammatically gender (\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05df<\/strong>) of several Hebrew daily words. 35% of them proclaimed \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong> to be a female (\u05e0\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

In 2016, a political article was published in a daily newspaper with the headline: \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05de\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05ea<\/strong> (A used sock<\/em>). Even though the Israeli media strictly maintains a proper Hebrew policy, the adjective used<\/em> in the headline above was in declension in its feminine form. The language editor explained<\/a> later that she, of course, tried to correct this mistake before publishing, but the editor insisted that readers believe \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong> is a feminine word and the newspaper must ease the reading for its readers.<\/p>\n

The prevalent usage of \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong> and its plural form \u05d2\u05bc\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd<\/strong> (pronounced as gar-ba-im) as feminine is usually explained by the grammatical gender of two adjacent objects: the feet and the shoe, are both female in Hebrew. Another explanation to this confusion (\u05d1\u05bc\u05b4\u05dc\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc<\/strong>) is the dual plural form of \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong>. In Hebrew, in which most body parts that come in pairs are female; Ears, eyes, cheeks, shoulders, hands, knees, hips, etc. The resemblance in the dual plural form of these body parts and socks caused people to mistake \u05d2\u05bc\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd<\/strong> as female, too. But, no matter what the reason is, the fact is that the spoken language doesn\u2019t obey a decision made in the 19th<\/sup> century, even though it\u2019s been widely supported since then by the Academy.<\/p>\n

A petition<\/a> calling to change the Academy decision was published in the Hebrew website of petitions. It was titled \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1 \u05d4\u05c5\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d2\u05bc\u05b7\u05dd \u05e0\u05b0\u05e7\u05b5\u05d1\u05b8\u05d4<\/strong>. The people that conducted the petition argued that \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong> as female became so common, as appears in Hebrew publications, digital or not digital. They mentioned a bunch of famous Hebrew authors that attributed a feminine adjective to the word \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong> in their publications.<\/p>\n

In June 2021, probably in a delay of 40 years, as a linguistic member in the Academy remarked, the decision was finally made. \u05d4\u05b7\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05ba\u05e3 \u05dc\u05b7\u05d4\u05b4\u05ea\u05b0\u05dc\u05b7\u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05d8\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea<\/strong> (no more doubts<\/em>), announced<\/a> one writer, when the Academy approved the dual grammatical gender of \u05d2\u05bc\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05d1<\/strong>. Thus, approving that the Academy is considerate to the colloquial changes of spoken language.<\/p>\n

Listen to the interview of the linguistic member about the new decision and more:<\/p>\n