English words derived from Hebrew
Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, Dr. Joel Berman
Updated 12/16
The world was created with Lashon Kodesh. It was the language used until the Tower of Babel (the English word babble, perhaps). It was a major influence on both Greek and Latin. The Gemora ( Avoda Zara 10a) tells us that Latin was a language that was made up. As a result many English words stem from a Hebrew base particularly when we recognize that until WWI a gentleman’s education included Greek, Latin as well as Hebrew. Hebrew actually came close to becoming the official language of the United States.
This ongoing compilation is just a beginning with over 1,750 Hebrew entries and over 3,080 English entries.