Hebraism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A Hebrew word or expression that appears in another language ; a distinctive feature or quality characteristic of Hebrew or Jewish culture
2. An idiom or turn of phrase borrowed from Hebrew into a different tongue ; a trait or element that reflects Hebrew linguistic or cultural identity
3. A term or construction taken from Hebrew and used elsewhere ; a quality, custom, or linguistic pattern that is distinctively Hebrew or Jewish in nature

Etymology: "Hebraism" is a compound built from "Hebra-", the combining form of "Hebrew," and the suffix "-ism," which in this case forms a noun for a distinctive practice, idiom, or characteristic. It reached English by way of Middle French "hebraisme" or directly from the Latin "Hebraismus," so the word's route is largely a matter of two parallel borrowings meeting in one form. The term names a turn of phrase or grammatical feature peculiar to the Hebrew language that shows up in another tongue, most famously in the Greek of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible. Scholars use it to point out where a writer has carried a Hebrew construction into a language that does not naturally allow it. The suffix does the same job it does in words like "Gallicism" or "Latinism," marking the idiom of one language as it appears in another.

Synonyms: Hebraist, Hebrew idiom, Semitism