I always thought ‘im’ meant ‘of’ - eg. Turelim = ‘of Turel’.
However, ‘im’ appears to be ‘plural’ (. So… can anyone give me the Hebrew word meaning ‘of’?
Thanks. Hope I haven’t been too confusing.
Nope, I only know tall ones. Sorry.
Damn you Ginger. You beat me to it.
:smack: Shoulda looked that over a little more thoroughly. 
[Top Secret]
He’s right over there
[/Top Secret]
I was gonna ask zev how tall he was.
Happy
Damn you all! Damn you all for being cleverer and fasterer than I am!
:: shakes tiny fist ::
The word for ‘of’ is ‘shel’.
-im at the end of a (masculine) Hebrew noun is the pluralization of it.
For instance, cherubim and seraphim.
-oth pluralizes female nouns. E.g. behemoth.
At least, that’s what I remember from my intro to Biblical Hebrew class, an age or two ago.
Which Biblical Hebrew was I introduced to? I dunno, he was old, didn’t have any teeth, and couldn’t pronounce his name clearly. 
“-im” as a suffix is a plural. “Im” as a freestanding word means “with.” (There’s a prefix, “b-,” that also means “with”). “Shel” is “of”:
l’hadlik ner shel Channukah=to light the light[s] of Channukah
There is also a way of changing the end of a word to indicate possession. This is called “the construct state” IIRC.
I am a little Hebrew.
Actually, Hebrew doesn’t have a ‘th’ sound. The feminine plural is ‘-ot.’ I don’t know why it’s transliterated as a ‘th.’ Probably for the same wacky reason that the ‘y’ sound is often transliterated as a ‘j’ - just 'cause. (Hebrew also doesn’t have a ‘j’ sound.)
I don’t know why it is the way it is but… in Hebrew, the word “bet” means “house”. And the names of many synagogues is Beth Israel or Beth Torah, etc. Well, “bet yisrael” would mean (IIRC) “house of Israel”. So, for some reason, the pronunciation of “bet” became “beth”. But this is just my hypothosis.
It’s a transliteration/anglicization dealie. If you’re actually speaking Hebrew, you would not say “beth”, you’d say “beit”. I have no idea why the word was transliterated with a “th.” But I don’t like it.
Yes, that was the first thing I thought of, too. (Well, except it was German. But you knew that.)
How about Ashkenazic v. Sephardic pronunciations of words like “bat” v. “bas” (or is it “bas” v. “bat”)?
The “t” vs. “th” sound is the letter taf, using the Ashkenazic hard and soft pronounciations; the Sephardic pronounciation treats both forms as a “t” sound.
What about the “s” sound that the letter tav makes in Ashkenazic pronunciation? Huh? Yeah? What about that?
Cause I don’t know. I studies Hebrew with Israelis, so I am unclear on the Ashkenazi pronunciations, except with really common words, like “Shabbas.” However, I’ve been to a few Shabbas dinners hosted by Yiddish-speakers and heard them do the brachot, and I don’t recall anyone making a “th” sound. I’ve heard tav pronounced as “s”, but “th”? Never.
Is there a ‘th’ sound in German? Because I could see the ‘t’ sound in the letter tav being corrupted to ‘th’ by way of Yiddish/German speakers.
If not, then I have no idea either. I have an Israeli friend I’ll see tonight; I can ask him then.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying I’ve never heard of such a thing. I studied Hebrew for three years, including one year when I lived in Israel. I’ve never studied Yiddish, but I have heard Hebrew spoken with an Ashkenazi accent (Yiddish =! Ashkenazi-accented Hebrew, btw).
P.S. Don’t be surprised if your friend doesn’t know. Most Israelis know about as much Yiddish as you or I, and find Hebrew pronounced with an Ashkenazi accent weird and amusing.
I know lots of little Hebrews. My family is short. :j
Robin