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Hebrew Much of English is made up of words from other languages, and Hebrew is an important contributor in this respect. To begin with, quite a few English first names, for example, Elizabeth, Emanuel, Gabriel, Jonathan, Joan, and Josephine, have internal elements derived from Hebrew. Jehovah and some other Judeo-Christian terms for "God" go back to Hebrew. Passover, first recorded in the 16th century, is a translation of Hebrew pesaḥ "to pass without affecting," an allusion to Exodus 12:11-27, in which it is said that God passes over the Israelites, while the first-born of other families are killed.
A good many Hebrew émigrés into English are, of course, integral to Judaism and Jewish life and culture, in the manner of Passover. Bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, huppah, menorah, Seder, Torah, tref, yeshiva, and Yom Kippur are but a few. Some of these have become generalized into the secular cultures of the English-speaking world: kosher, megillah, and shekel are representative. Still others, for example, amen, hallelujah, manna, and Sabbath, which are associated with both Judaism and Christianity, came into English via Latin and Greek but are ultimately of Hebrew origin.
Two English words of Hebrew origin that migrated into English in the 13th and 14th centuries, respectively are cider and jubilee. Cider came into English via French, Latin, and Greek, but goes back to Hebrew šēḵār "alcoholic drink." Jubilee also entered English via French from Latin and Greek, and goes back to Hebrew yōbēl "ram," from the ram's horn with which the year of restoration and restitution was proclaimed every 50 years. And some Hebrew émigrés into English entered Hebrew from other languages: cherub is probably of Akkadian origin, and hora is of Romanian origin. See also Yiddish.
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