abecedarian

abecedarian

   \ ey-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn \  , noun;  

 

1.

a person who is learning the letters of the alphabet.

2.

a beginner in any field of learning.

adjective:

1.

of or pertaining to the alphabet.

2.

arranged in alphabetical order.

3.

rudimentary; elementary; primary.

Instead, Hirsch breathes new life into the abecedarian by pointing out its relationship to prayer and howpoets as varied as Gertrude Stein and HarryetteMullen have stretched — and been stretched by —the form.

-- Elizabeth Lund, "'A Poet's Glossary,' by EdwardHirsch," The Washington Post , 2014

Henry Barnard, commenting on the work of theabecedarian , in the early nineteenth century, says:"If a child be bright, the time which passes during thislesson is the only part of the day when he does notthink. Not a single faculty of the mind is occupiedexcept that of imitating sounds; and even the numberof these imitations amounts to only twenty-six."

-- Edited by Paul Monroe, A Cyclopedia of Education ,1911

Origin:

Abecedarian  entered English in the early 1600s. It can be traced to the Latin abecedarium  meaning"alphabet" or "primer."

Poetic Forms: Abecedarian and Acrostic

Year 2004

The abecedarian is an ancient poetic form guided by alphabetical order. Generally each line or stanza begins with the first letter of the alphabet and is followed by the successive letter, until the final letter is reached. The earliest examples are Semitic and often found in religious Hebrew poetry. The form was frequently used in ancient cultures for sacred compositions, such as prayers, hymns, and psalms. There are numerous examples of abecedarians in the Hebrew Bible; one of the most highly regarded is Psalm 118 (or 119 by King James numbering). It consists of twenty-two eight-line stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.Chaucer‘s "An ABC" is an excellent medieval example of the form. He crafted his translation of a French prayer into twenty-three eight-line stanzas that follow the alphabet (minus J, U, V, and W).

Abecedarian poems are now most commonly used as mnemonic devices and word games for children, such as those written by Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey. However, there are fine contemporary examples by Carolyn Forché in Blue Hour, and Harryette Mullen in Sleeping with the Dictionary. In Forché’s forty-seven page poem, “On Earth," she adheres to a rigorous form in which alphabetical order guides not only the stanzas, but also the words themselves. For example, she writes:

“languid at the edge of the sea
lays itself open to immensity
leaf-cutter ants bearing yellow trumpet flowers along the road
left everything left all usual worlds behind
library, lilac, linens, litany."

A form derived from the abecedarian is the acrostic, which spells out names or words through the first letter of each line. The intent of the acrostic is to reveal while attempting to conceal within the poem. William Blake addresses the despairs of the plague in the poem "London," telling the reader how he listens to everyone’s pain while wandering along the Thames River. Blake uses an acrostic in the third stanza to emphasize the horrifying sounds:

“How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every blackning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.”

A recent example is Anna Rabinowitz’s Darkling. This book-length acrostic sequence investigates her family’s Holocaust experiences and uses "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy for its structure.

---

Examples of the Abecedarian form:

A Primer of the Daily Round
by Howard Nemerov

alphabet [excerpt]
by Inger Christensen
translated by Susanna Nied

Alphabet Poem
by Edward Lear

An ABC (The Prayer of Our Lady)
by Geoffrey Chaucer

Nonsense Alphabet
by Edward Lear

Examples of the Acrostic form:

A Boat, Beneath a Sunny Sky
by Lewis Carroll

An Acrostic
by Edgar Allan Poe

London
by William Blake

Alphabet Poem

by Edward Lear

A was once an apple pie,
Pidy
Widy
Tidy
Pidy
Nice insidy
Apple Pie!

B was once a little bear,
Beary!
Wary!
Hairy!
Beary!
Taky cary!
Little Bear!

C was once a little cake,
Caky
Baky
Maky
Caky
Taky Caky,
Little Cake!

D was once a little doll,
Dolly
Molly
Polly
Nolly
Nursy Dolly
Little Doll!

E was once a little eel,
Eely,
Weely
Peely
Eely
Twirly, Tweedy
Little Eel!

F was once a little fish,
Fishy
Wishy
Squishy
Fishy
In a Dishy
Little Fish!

G was once a little goose,
Goosy
Moosy
Boosy
Goosey
Waddly-woosy
Little Goose!

H was once a little hen,
Henny
Chenny
Tenny
Henny
Eggsy-any
Little Hen?

I was once a bottle of ink,
Inky
Dinky
Thinky
Inky
Black Minky
Bottle of Ink!

J was once a jar of jam,
Jammy
Mammy
Clammy
Jammy
Sweety-Swammy
Jar of Jam!

K was once a little kite,
Kity
Whity
Flighty
Kity
Out of sighty-
Little Kite!

L was once a little lark,
Larky!
Marky!
Harky!
Larky!
In the Parky,
Little Lark!

M was once a little mouse,
Mousey
Bousey
Sousy
Mousy
In the Housy
Little Mouse!

N was once a little needle,
Needly
Tweedly
Threedly
Needly
Wisky-wheedly
Little Needle!

O was once a little owl,
Owly
Prowly
Howly
Owly
Browny fowly
Little Owl!

P was once a little pump,
Pumpy
Slumpy
Flumpy
Pumpy
Dumpy, Thumpy
Little Pump!

Q was once a little quail,
Quaily
Faily
Daily
Quaily
Stumpy-taily
Little Quail!

R was once a little rose,
Rosy
Posy
Nosy
Rosy
Bows-y - grows-y
Little Rose!

S was once a little shrimp,
Shrimpy
Nimpy
Flimpy
Shrimpy
Jumpy-jimpy
Little Shrimp!

T was once a little thrush,
Thrushy!
Hushy!
Bushy!
Thrushy!
Flitty-Flushy
Little Thrush!

U was once a little urn,
Urny
Burny
Turny
Urny
Bubbly-burny
Little Urn!

V was once a little vine,
Viny
Winy
Twiny
Viny
Twisty-twiny
Little Vine!

W was once a whale,
Whaly
Scaly
Shaly
Whaly
Tumbly-taily
Mighty Whale!

X was once a great king Xerxes,
Xerxy
Perxy
Turxy
Xerxy
Linxy Lurxy
Great King Xerxes!

Y was once a little yew,
Yewdy
Fewdy
Crudy
Yewdy
Growdy, grewdy,
Little Yew!

Z was once a piece of zinc,
Tinky
Winky
Blinky
Tinky
Tinkly Minky
Piece of Zinc!
 

Milon : Dictionary and Eliezer Ben Yehuda

One of the most important figures in the revival of Hebrew into a modern language was Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Based on biblical Hebrew and other languages, he contributed dozens of words to the language. Some never did catch on but many did enter the language and are in use to this very day including: Varod (“pink”),  meanyen (“interesting”), mesha’amem(“boring”), ofanayim (“bicycle”), and rakevet (“train”).

It is perhaps fitting that a man so engulfed in the world of words, a man whose crowning achievement was the writing of a massive dictionary, would start his long string of neologisms with a Hebrew word for dictionary – mi-LON.

On New Year’s Day 1880, the Magid – a Hebrew newspaper published in Prussia – published an article by Ben Yehuda (then a medical student in Paris) titled “Two New Words.”

In the article, Ben Yehuda bemoaned the use of borrowed translations from German in Hebrew, specifically citing the example of sefer milim (“word book”), a translation of the German word for dictionary – Wörterbuch.

Hebrew shouldn’t use translations of this kind, Ben Yehuda argued: New words should be created based on Hebrew’s arsenal of roots and binyanim (derived stems).

As a case study, he suggested: “According to this rule … based on the word mila (“word”), we can form a new word, milon, which will denote the ‘thing’ or a book which holds within it the words of a language.”

Ben Yehuda and his new word were roundly attacked by critics such as Moshe Leib Lilienblum, who derided Ben Yehuda for artificially “fabricating” words.

Specifically, in the case of the word milon, Lilienblum abhorred using the suffix -on for an object, as it would normally be used as a diminutive.

Ben-Yehuda rebutted that the suffix -on was also used to denote a place – such as in the case of the city Sidon, Lebanon, which would have meant "place of fishing." He eventually prevailed and milon entered the Hebrew vocabulary.

However, the second word he proposed in the same article did not fare as well.

It is true that his invented word mikla did eventually did make it into Hebrew – but not in the sense it was coined by Ben Yehuda. He meant for it to mean cannon. But times advance, and so does the technology of causing death. So, instead of meaning cannon – now called totach – it came to mean, and still does, machine gun.

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda

Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda (Hebrew: אליעזר בן־יהודה‎‎ pronounced [ɛli'ʕɛzeʁ bɛn jɛhu'da]; 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Litvak lexicographer and newspaper editor. He was the driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language in the modern era.

Contents

  

• 1 Biography
• 2 Journalistic career
• 3 Lexicography
• 4 Death and commemoration
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 Sources
• 8 External links

Biography

Ben-Yehuda and wife Hemda, 1912

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman (Yiddish אליעזר יצחק פערלמאן), in Luzhki (Belarusian Лужкі (Lužki), Polish Łużki), Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Vitebsk Oblast, Belarus). He attended cheder where he studied Yiddish and the Bible from the age of three, as was customary among the Jews of Eastern Europe. By the age of twelve, he had read large portions of the Torah, Mishna, and Talmud. His parents hoped he would become a rabbi, and sent him to a yeshiva. There, he continued to study ancient Greek and was also exposed to the Yiddish of the enlightenment, including secular writings.^[1] Later, he learned French, German, and Russian, and was sent to Dünaburg for more education. Reading the Yiddish language newspaper HaShahar, he became acquainted with Zionism and concluded that the revival of Hebrew language in the Land of Israel could unite all Jews worldwide.

Upon graduation he went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne University. Among the subjects he studied there were history and politics of the Middle East. It was this use of Yiddish in a spoken form that convinced him fully that the revival of Hebrew as the language of a nation was feasible. Ben-Yehuda spent four years in Paris.^[2]

In 1881 Ben-Yehuda immigrated to Palestine, then ruled by the Ottoman Empire, and settled in Jerusalem. He found a job teaching at the Alliance Israelite Universelle school.^[3] Motivated by the surrounding ideals of renovation and rejection of thediaspora lifestyle, Ben‑Yehuda set out to develop a new language that could replace Yiddish and other regional dialects as a means of everyday communication between Jews who made aliyah from various regions of the world. Ben-Yehuda regarded Hebrew and Zionism as symbiotic: "The Hebrew language can live only if we revive the nation and return it to the fatherland," he wrote.^[3]

To accomplish the task, Ben-Yehuda insisted with the Committee of the Hebrew Language that, to quote the Committee records, "In order to supplement the deficiencies of the Hebrew language, the Committee coins words according to the rules of grammar and linguistic analogy from Semitic roots: Aramaic and especially from Arabic roots" (Joshua Blau, page 33).

Ben Yehuda was married twice, to two sisters. His first wife, Devora (née Jonas), died in 1891 of tuberculosis, leaving him with five small children. Her final wish was that Eliezer marry her younger sister, Paula Beila. Soon after his wife Devora's death, three of his children died of diphtheria within a period of 10 days. Six months later, he married Paula,^[2] who took the Hebrew name "Hemda".^[4]

Ben‑Yehuda raised his son, Ben-Zion Ben-Yehuda (the first name meaning "son of Zion"), entirely through Hebrew. He refused to let his son be exposed to other languages during childhood. He even once yelled at his wife, after he caught her singing a Russian lullaby to the child. His son Ben-Zion was the first native speaker of modern Hebrew.

Journalistic career

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda while working on his dictionary.

Ben-Yehuda was the editor of several Hebrew-language newspapers: "HaZvi," "Hashkafa" and "HaOr." "HaZvi" was closed down for a year in the wake of opposition from Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community, which fiercely objected to the use of Hebrew, their holy tongue, for everyday conversation.^[2]

Lexicography

Ben-Yehuda was a major figure in the establishment of the Committee of the Hebrew Language (Va'ad HaLashon), later the Academy of the Hebrew Language, an organization that still exists today. He was the author of the first modern Hebrew dictionary and became known as the "reviver" of the Hebrew language, despite opposition to some of the words he coined.^[2]Many of these words have become part of the language but others — some 2,000 words — never caught on. His word for "tomato," for instance, was badura, but Hebrew speakers today use the word agvania.^[3]

Ancient languages and modern Standard Arabic were major sources for Ben-Yehuda and the Committee. According to Joshua Blau, quoting the criteria insisted on by Ben-Yehuda: "In order to supplement the deficiencies of the Hebrew language, the Committee coins words according to the rules of grammar and linguistic analogy from Semitic roots: Aramaic, Canaanite, Egyptian [sic] ones and especially from Arabic roots." Concerning Arabic, Ben-Yehuda maintained, inaccurately according to Blau and historical evidence, that Arabic roots are "ours": "the roots of Arabic were once a part of the Hebrew language . . . lost, and now we have found them again"! (Blau, page 32).

Death and commemoration[edit]

Ben-Yehuda home on Ethiopia St., Jerusalem

In December 1922, Ben Yehuda, 64, died of tuberculosis, from which he suffered most of his life. He was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.^[5] His funeral was attended by 30,000 people.^[3]

Ben Yehuda built a house for his family in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem, but died three months before it was completed. His wife Hemda lived there for close to thirty years. Ten years after her death, her son Ehud transferred the title of the house to the Jerusalem municipality for the purpose of creating a museum and study center. Eventually it was leased to a church group from Germany who established a center there for young German volunteers.^[6] The house is now a conference center and guesthouse run by the German organization Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ARSP), which organizes workshops, seminars and Hebrew language ulpan programs.^[7]

In his book Was Hebrew Ever a Dead Language, Cecil Roth summed up Ben-Yehuda's contribution to the Hebrew language: "Before Ben‑Yehuda, Jews could speak Hebrew; after him, they did."

References

1. Jump up
   ^ Young Ben Yehuda
2. ^ 
   Jump up to:
   ^a b c d Naor, Mordechai. "Flesh-and-Blood Prophet". Haaretz. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
3. ^ 
   Jump up to:
   ^a b c d Balint, Benjamin. "Confessions of a polyglot". Haaretz.
4. Jump up
   ^ Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922)
5. Jump up
   ^ Mount of Olives - Jerusalem
6. Jump up
   ^ Beit Ben-Yehuda
7. Jump up
   ^ Beit Ben Yehuda, International Meeting Center in Jerusalem

Sources

• Blau, Joshua (1981). "The Renaissance of Modern Hebrew and Modern Standard Arabic". Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
• Fellman, Jack (1973). The revival of a classical tongue: Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the modern Hebrew language. The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton ISBN 90-279-2495-3
• Robert William St. John. Tongue of the Prophets, Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York, 1952. ISBN 0-8371-2631-2
• Yosef Lang. The Life of Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2 volumes, (Hebrew)
• Ilan Stavans, Resurrecting Hebrew (2008)

Ruah Gabit:"tailwind for terrorism."

Ruah gabit: The tailwind, terrorism's little helper

Once upon a time the innocent term referred to sailing or flying conditions. It has expanded.

When tailwinds blow into newspeak, whether in English or Hebrew, the association isn't limited to sailing or flying conditions. Meaning "boost" or "support," the Israeli tailwind – ruah gabit, with ROO-akh meaning “wind” or “spirit” and ga-BEET coming from gav, meaning “back” – has turned into a helpmeet of terrorism.

In response to a European Union statement hailing the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal, Habayit Hayehudi MK Shuli Moalem was one of the latest in a long line of Israeli public figures to classify something as a ruah gabit lateror, literally "tailwind for terrorism."

"Somebody needs to remind the European Union's foreign policy chief that there are still some who do not recognize the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jews," Moalem said last week, in response to an EU statement hailing the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal. "The European Union is giving aruah gabit to the agreement of the terrorists from Gaza and Ramallah and their dream of returning the Jewish people of the State of Israel to the European diaspora."

The cliche tends to be used by public figures on the right side of the political spectrum, as can be seen by some of the other actions that have been designated as tailwinds for terrorism, including Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners, its 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the United Nation’s Goldstone report on the Israel-Gaza conflict of 2009.

But sometimes it comes up in expected contexts. An article on the Israeli website Go Gay headlined “Ruah gabit for homophobic terror” uses the term to refer to gay-bashing comments like that of a rabbi who said the ramifications of holding a gay pride parade in Jerusalem “are liable to be worse than those of a third intifada.”

The term became popular in Israel around 1960, although it was used more literally at the outset, as in a 1962 article about the ruah gabit that assisted a Kenyan runner and a 1970 Maariv article about running speeds headlined "The records shifted with the winds."

The tailwinds may be stronger in these parts, especially when terrorism of any sort comes into the picture, but one can find politicians in any country who are constantly checking which way the wind is blowing. In Israel, they are well advised to look behind them.

Covering Letters

Slacking on your cover letter? I wouldn’t hire you.

I recently looked for a new manager-level hire. I got over 100 résumés indicating a great deal of interests but I was shocked to see that over 90% did not have a cover letter, and some cover letters were addressed to a wrong person. People often complain that they never hear back from the companies they apply to, and this may be one of the reasons why.

A cover letter is like a sales proposal; it’s an opportunity for you to pitch your services and to connect your “unique value proposition” to the needs of a company. It’s also a piece of personal marketing – you never know who will read it, and where that person will work next – your paths may converge in the future and it’s worth an investment to make a good impression now. Even if your résumé is not an exact match for the job, it’s a chance to convince someone you’re worth looking at regardless.

Like any well-constructed, well thought-out sales proposal, it has to have certain elements to be effective. I have read many poor cover letters over the years – letters that were vague, generic, and full of clichés, or that failed to connect the dots in a way that is convincing or at least intriguing. Like clients feel with ineffective sales proposals, when reading a poorly written cover letter it’s hard not to think “Why should I care? How are you going to help the company get where we need to go?” Cover letters are about you, but it’s about you only in relation to the needs of the company that is hiring, and it’s up to you to build that positioning framework.

Demonstrate passion or interest in what the company is all about

Share what attracts you to the company and why you would love to join the team – show that this is not just “another job application” for you and that you relate, or care, for the mission and vision, or services or products the company is delivering.

Demonstrate specific knowledge of the company

It’s easy to do the research today on the company, leadership, employees, strategy, success or challenges, and the competition. Demonstrate that you have done some research and try to connect your background, attitude, or skill-set with where the company needs to go or the challenges it needs to address. You need to position yourself as a person who will add value to the future success of the team – this should be in the opening paragraph. “With the increasing competition company X is facing, my track record in operating in a fiercely competitive environment while at Y will strengthen the team’s ability to compete successfully. “My collaborative leadership style as demonstrated through X will help you build a culture of collaboration which is one of your stated goals for the upcoming year”. Make that connection!

Make specific links between role requirements and your experience.

After the broader positioning, it is so very important to go a bit deeper and connect your background, skills, knowledge, and attitude with specific requirements of the role that would have been stated in a job posting. If there are too many, choose a couple and focus on them. If your résumé is not perfect for the job, draw from academic, personal or extra-curricular and volunteering experiences. The key here is to assert that you are a match for what’s required.

Finish with confidence.

It’s good to summarize your unique value proposition at the end – to reinforce a key point of what you bring to the table.

It is essential to finish with confident and specific “next step” statement. You should express certainty and confidence with your last sentence – “I look forward to discussing how my skill set is relevant in an interview…”

Naturally, make sure there are no grammar mistakes – one thing that I see so often is confusion between “its” and “it’s” - it’s worth having someone look at your letter and copyedit it.

Keep it brief.

Finally – a cover letter shouldn’t be longer than a page. It’s hard to write succinctly and articulate your key points in a few paragraphs, but it’s worth taking the time to do it.