cohen.izzy
Member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2005
- Member Type
- Academic
- Native Language
- English
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- United States
- Current Location
- Israel
Prof Ghil'ad Zuckermann defines this concept as: "a multi-sourced neologism that preserves both the meaning and the approximate sound of the parallel expression in the source-language, using pre-existent target-language words or roots".
Zuckermann explores hundreds of phono-semantic matches in his book,
"Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew" (Palgrave Macmillan 2003)
http://zuckermann.org/enrichment.html
This is the same concept as my "idiom formation via transliteration" mentioned in this forum at
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/56653-Idiom-formation-via-transliteration
I'll take this opportunity to correct one item in that posting. "Count sheep !" to go to sleep is probably the translation of a Hebrew pun S'PoR QeVeS on the Latin phrase sopor (as in soporific) quies (as in quiescent/quiet). This idiom has been retranslated back into Israeli Hebrew as LiSPoR K'VaSiM = to count sheep (plural). If you are counting them, there must be more than one.
Most of Zuckermann's examples involve the attribution of modern meanings to ancient Hebrew words based on the meaning of similar sounds in other languages.
Most of my examples involve the attribution of the meaning of ancient Hebrew or Aramaic words to pre-existing English words or phrases that had a similar sound.
For an ancient example, OE docga (a 4-legged dog) acquired the meaning "descends" from Hebrew shin-kuf-aiyin at a time when the shin had a dental D/T-sound and the aiyin had a velar G/K-sound (as in 3aZa = Gaza). "Dog" has this meaning in idioms such as "raining cats and dogs", "(his life) went to the dogs", "he's in the dog-house now".
For a modern example, the "music" in "face the music" acquired the meaning "consequences" from Yiddish MaSKoNeh (Hebrew MaSKaNah.
It seems that Zuckermann and I formulated this concept independently. The PSM name for this concept is his. I called it "idiom formation via transliteration".
Zuckermann explores hundreds of phono-semantic matches in his book,
"Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew" (Palgrave Macmillan 2003)
http://zuckermann.org/enrichment.html
This is the same concept as my "idiom formation via transliteration" mentioned in this forum at
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/56653-Idiom-formation-via-transliteration
I'll take this opportunity to correct one item in that posting. "Count sheep !" to go to sleep is probably the translation of a Hebrew pun S'PoR QeVeS on the Latin phrase sopor (as in soporific) quies (as in quiescent/quiet). This idiom has been retranslated back into Israeli Hebrew as LiSPoR K'VaSiM = to count sheep (plural). If you are counting them, there must be more than one.
Most of Zuckermann's examples involve the attribution of modern meanings to ancient Hebrew words based on the meaning of similar sounds in other languages.
Most of my examples involve the attribution of the meaning of ancient Hebrew or Aramaic words to pre-existing English words or phrases that had a similar sound.
For an ancient example, OE docga (a 4-legged dog) acquired the meaning "descends" from Hebrew shin-kuf-aiyin at a time when the shin had a dental D/T-sound and the aiyin had a velar G/K-sound (as in 3aZa = Gaza). "Dog" has this meaning in idioms such as "raining cats and dogs", "(his life) went to the dogs", "he's in the dog-house now".
For a modern example, the "music" in "face the music" acquired the meaning "consequences" from Yiddish MaSKoNeh (Hebrew MaSKaNah.
It seems that Zuckermann and I formulated this concept independently. The PSM name for this concept is his. I called it "idiom formation via transliteration".