Electrifying Language: Thus, the cork, stream and fuse beat the foreign words

Photo: Official website, IEC Archives

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Alongside the development of the power stations, the vision of the old man included an ambition to instill the Hebrew language in the electricity world as well. Thus, with the help of the Hebrew Language Committee and Bialik, the words "battery", "cable" and "insulation" became part of everyday language - and power plant workers had to adapt quickly

Eli Ashkenazi

In the winter of 1929, Trud Pinchas Rotenberg must have been on pace with the progress of the construction work for the Nahari Electricity Plant. Hundreds of workers worked in the ambitious power generation project, the Yarmouk and Jordan rivers, and the huge venture involved very large economic, engineering, political and logistical efforts. But at the same time, Rotenberg had another goal - the introduction of the Hebrew language and the publication of a glossary for electricity.

By that winter, workers at the site were already beginning to see in their minds how the water floods would drive the turbines and generate electricity to flow into the developing country. Heavy rainfall this winter resulted in strong water flow in Yarmouk, and the built-up water reservoir quickly filled. "Canned night was for Nahari people," the newspaper said, "a night that caused them great concern but also joy." Workers were called to work all night and reinforce the dirt batteries and it was said that "the engineers were constantly vigilant". The paper states that "at midnight the water will drop" and that "the Naharians see Rutenberg's vision come true overnight."

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The installation of the first electric pole by Tiberias power plant workers

First pillar position by Tiberias power plant workers (Photo: official website)

Alongside the power generation projects, Rotenberg was very involved in the affairs of the Jewish community in Israel, and at the end of that year was also elected chairman of the National Committee. Another preoccupation with the Old Man tunnel in those days indicates that his vision was broader and did not focus solely on the development of the electricity company he founded.

When he was a Russian revolutionary in his youth and later captured the Zionist dream, the introduction of the Hebrew language was of great importance as part of realizing the vision of the return of the people to his country. In the emerging and renewed language, there were still no proper words for the electric world. The word "electricity" itself was already used after it was taken from biblical sources and acquired a new and modern meaning. But suddenly Rotenberg began to build power plants in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Tiberias. Naharayim station was under construction, and Rotenberg saw the importance of using Hebrew terms.

"Canned night was for Nahari people." Power Plant (Photo: Zoltan Kluger, Government Press Bureau)

Naharay power plant on the banks of the Jordan River (Photo: Zoltan Kluger, Government Press Office)

In early 1929, he approached Haim Nachman Bialik, the national poet who served as president of the Hebrew Language Committee, requesting that the committee publish a glossary for electricity. Rotenberg even announced that he would fund the expenses needed to do so.

Most of the terms used in electricity then came from Russian and German, the languages ​​of the professionals who dealt with it. Keep a letter from Yechiel Baharav, Rotenberg's secretary, to Bialik's archive. In the letter, Rotenberg's concern is that the work on the dictionary will continue for several years, and in the meantime "some of the possible and incompatible terms will be rooted among the workers in this profession, which will make it difficult for them to come up with the dictionary and put the correct terms in their place."

Given his concern, Rotenberg asked Bialik that, until the dictionary was completed, "the committee will deal first and foremost with the same terms for electricity and telephone needed for daily work." He requested that the same word lists be published in pamphlets distributed for internal use by the electric company employees. The letter also detailed the payment arrangement for the electricity dictionary: 10 Israeli pounds (ILS) will be paid immediately, 15 ILI will be paid for printing the brochures and 25 ILI will be paid before printing the complete dictionary.

Work on exporting a dictionary in Hebrew for terms from the electric world. Pinhas Rotenberg

Pinchas Rotenberg (Photo: Wikipedia, official website)

For the purpose of formulating the list of terms, a committee was established for the terms of electricity, telephone and the Telegraph in Haifa. The committee was made up of professionals from the Electricity, Technion, Post and Telegraph and Nesher companies. The list was then transferred to the Tel Aviv Electric Terms Committee. This committee went over the new words and after speaking it, a meeting of all members of the Language Committee decided on words on which there was disagreement between the two committees.

The list contains many words that have become part of the Hebrew language, including: accumulator, battery, cable, conductor, conduction, conductivity, current, interrupt, grounding, earpiece, soldering iron, fuse, tube, insulation, depreciation, receiver polarization, spark plug and more.

The letter from Rotenberg's secretary to Haim Nachman Bialik (from the Electric Company Archives)

Eitam Eli Ashkenazi on terms of electricity company (Photo: Electric Company Archives, official website)

Other words on the list found no grip on the language. The manual workers still call a Ratchet developer called Ratchet, though the committee has translated its name into "Ratchet." Plug was translated to "Pica", an unspecified term, and later got another translation that became a habit - "Plug."

There are words that eighty years ago found it difficult to translate, and the tongue committee was transcribed into Hebrew. Among the words: "generator" and "indicator". The generator is also used today, although the term "generator" is well known to many and an indicator has been called "indicator" in Hebrew. Relay, which the tongue board eighty years ago left as "Relay," has over the years earned the translation that is frequently used today - "relay."

The Trombowka that became a stapler

Oz Azrieli, a member of an electrical company and a member of the technical committee of the Hebrew Language Academy, explains that at the beginning of the work the workers came from a number of immigration waves. "There were workers coming from Russia, Germany, Romania and more," he said. "It created a linguistic Babel tower at work. Sometimes the same device had three different names. There were occasions when the same instrument had different terms in the north and south and when workers were called to work together, during a major storm, for example, Everyone used different terms. It was necessary to create a uniform language. "

In addition, Azrieli points to terms in foreign languages ​​that were clearly given a Hebrew name. For example, the machine that clamped the ground around a power pole was called "Trombowka." It was clear that the name had to change. And the machine, no longer in use today, has become a "stapler."

Booklet "What is electricity?" For Schools (from the Electric Company Archives)

Eitam Eli Ashkenazi on terms of electricity company (Photo: Electric Company Archives, official website)

The determination of the Hebrew words is an impressive success, but apparently what seems so clear today was accompanied by severe struggles, and the documents in the Electric Company archive illustrate this. In 1938, for example, an "order" was issued at the power station in Tel Aviv, where workers were required to "use themselves while working only in Hebrew." This directive came out "in the face of excessive use of foreign languages ​​between office walls and other workplaces."

It is evident that the Tel Aviv power station was very strict about the inheritance of the Hebrew language. In another memorandum that came out at the station, it was stated that "You cannot employ jobs that by nature require written reports, employees who do not know Hebrew." In light of this, department managers have been instructed to inform their employees "who lack the necessary knowledge of the Hebrew language" - that they must purchase them for a period of six months. For those who questioned the seriousness of the guidance, it was made clear at the end of the letter that exams will be conducted at the end of the six months, "and the employees who fail these exams will be unable to continue in their current role."

"Workers are only required to use Hebrew" (from the Electric Company Archives)

Eitam Eli Ashkenazi on terms of electricity company (Photo: Electric Company Archives, official website)

Efforts have borne fruit, and today you can see that many concepts have become useful and everyday. In light of the development of technology, the Hebrew Language Academy continues to translate new terms over the years. "Fibers", for example, which were used in the cotton and textile industries, are also used today as "optical fibers". But despite the victory of Hebrew, always on the eve of a major strike in the economy, the media and Knesset members will attack the large committees that "put their hands on the switch again".

"You can't hire employees who don't know Hebrew." The Memorandum (from the Electric Company Archives)

Eitam Eli Ashkenazi on terms of electricity company (Photo: Electric Company Archives, official website)