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Feb 27, 2012

how to say "nutrition" in Hebrew


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תְּזוּנָה



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תזונתי?
photo by MartíApunts
The Hebrew word for contribution or donation is תְּרוּמָה (teh-roo-MAH). The original root of this word, contrary to one's first intuition, is ר.ו.מ (r.w.m) meaning height. The ת (t) at the beginning takes the concept of height and creates a word meaning, that which is raised up towards a greater cause. Using the Biblical noun תרומה, Mishnaic Hebrew generated a verb meaning to raise up towards a greater cause... or to donate - לִתְרוֹם (leet-ROHM); thus another root - a super-root - was born, ת.ר.מ (t.r.m).


The makers of Modern Hebrew applied this process of using a root whose middle letter is ו (w) to create a word for the relatively new scientific concept of nutrition - תְּזוּנָה (teh-zoo-NAH). The original root of this word is ז.ו.נ (z.w.n), meaning sustenance, as in the name of the Jewish Grace after Meals - literally, the blessing of the food - בִּרְכַּת הַמָּזוֹן (beer-KAHT hah-mah-ZOHN).


It could also be said that תזונה takes the more everyday concept of food - מָזוֹן (mah-ZOHN) - and makes it more abstract and scientific with the word תזונה, nutrition.


Nutritious is תְּזוּנָתִי (teh-zoo-nah-TEE).