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Language, Culture, Computation. Computational Linguistics and Linguistics pp 537–561Cite as

One Zoonym, Two Parents: Mendele’s Phono-Semantic Matching of Animal Terms, and Later Developments of Lexical Confluence in Modern Hebrew Zoonymy

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 8003))

Abstract

In this study, we sift through the Hebrew animal names neologised by Abramowitsch (1866) in his natural history of birds. We identify and discuss a few such coinages of his which exhibit folk-etymological nativisation, by phono-semantic matching. Moreover, we trace occurrences of application of devices of lexical conflation by covert borrowing also in Hebrew zoonyms coined more recently than in Abramowitsch’s Natural History. Studying the latter’s neologised animal names is important because it illustrates a phenomenon (lexical conflation as a way to nativise loanwords) which has occurred in several modernised languages, and because Abramowitsch’s work was at a time when there arose modernisers also for other languages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computing, Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, 25–27 St. James, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW, England, U.K.

    Ephraim Nissan

  2. Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester, Manchester, England

    Ephraim Nissan

  3. Linguistics and Endangered Languages, School of Humanities, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, SA 5005, Australia

    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann

  4. Distinguished Visiting Professor and Oriental Scholar at the Institute of Linguistic Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, China

    Ghil‘ad Zuckermann

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  1. Ephraim Nissan
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  1. School of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Nachum Dershowitz

  2. Goldsmiths College, Department of Computing, University of London, 25–27 St. James, New Cross, SE14 6NW, London, UK

    Ephraim Nissan

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Nissan, E., Zuckermann, G. (2014). One Zoonym, Two Parents: Mendele’s Phono-Semantic Matching of Animal Terms, and Later Developments of Lexical Confluence in Modern Hebrew Zoonymy. In: Dershowitz, N., Nissan, E. (eds) Language, Culture, Computation. Computational Linguistics and Linguistics. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8003. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45327-4_14

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