Terms and phrases borrowed by Hebrew speakers such as capitalism, activism, legitimacy and asymptomatic were given official Hebrew translations.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language approved the addition of over 500 new words to the Hebrew dictionary.
The list of new words and phrases, compiled by several academy committees, was brought up to a vote and approved at the Central Terminology Committee meeting on May 30.
Some of the new additions are completely new while some were updated or were tweaked either by a spelling or punctuation change.
And, apt to a state seemingly eternally embroiled in political controversy and crises, over 250 of the new words and phrases come from the world of political science.
New political science terms
Coined by the Hebrew academy’s political science committee, phrases and terms borrowed in their international form by Hebrew speakers such as capitalism, activism, liberalism, pacificism, theocracy, demagogism, patriotism, legitimacy, nepotism, mandate, embargo and many more.
Disinformation, a word that is carrying more and more weight in recent times, has also been given a Hebrew translation.
Inspired by COVID-19: New public health terms
In addition, the academy also approved a host of new terms and phrases used in the public health field following the COVID-19 pandemic, coined by its public health committee.
Words and phrases often used by Israeli health officials, politicians and professionals during Israel’s two-year battle against the coronavirus were given an official Hebrew translation.
These words and phrases include symptomatic and asymptomatic, clinical disease, health outcome and more.
In addition, terms and phrases such as solitude, humanitarianism, indoctrination, grassroots organization, paradigm, realism and victimization were translated and added to the Hebrew dictionary.