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Hebrew word of the week: Citizen

The English word “citizen” is derived from Latin civitas “city” (compare to Spanish ciudad)
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December 30, 2015

The English word “citizen” is derived from Latin civitas “city” (compare to Spanish ciudad). However, the Hebrew ezraH does not have any connection to ‘ir “city” or medinah “city-state,” but rather to the root z-r-H “shine, scatter rays,”* closely related to z-r-‘ “sow, scatter grains”; z-r-y “scatter, winnow (grains); z-r-q “throw, scatter.” In the Bible, they may alternate: or zarua‘ la-tsadiq light is “sown/shone for the righteous.” (Psalms 97:11).

So, ezraH is a native, home-born plant (as in ezraH ra‘anan “robust native-tree,” Psalms 37:35) or person (ha-ezrah ve-hagger) “the citizen and the alien” (Leviticus 16:29).

*Aleph is just a prefix, as (e)zroa‘ “arm”; efroaH “chick.” However, in modern Hebrew, aleph becomes a part of a new root: ’-z-r-H “naturalize, make citizen”; ezraHut “citizenship.”

Yona Sabar is a professor of Hebrew and Aramaic in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA.

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