אַזְעָקָה (az'aka) — siren, alarm
Etymology
The word אַזְעָקָה is built on the ancient biblical root ז-ע-ק, which means "to cry out urgently" or "to summon people to assemble." The verb הִזְעִיק (hiz'ik) appears already in the Bible: "And Barak summoned [vayaz'ek] Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh" (Judges 4:10). From the verb's gerund form הַזְעָקָה, the modern noun אַזְעָקָה was derived using the productive akatala pattern — a morphological device heavily used in early 20th century Hebrew revival to create new nouns distinct from the standard verbal noun. Just as אַבְחָנָה (diagnosis) differs from הַבְחָנָה (the act of distinguishing), so אַזְעָקָה (alarm device/signal) differs from הַזְעָקָה (the act of summoning).
The physical device that אַזְעָקָה names was invented much earlier and in a very different cultural context. The siren — named by French engineer Baron Charles Cagniard de la Tour in 1819 after the mythological Greek creatures whose song lured sailors to destruction — had been in use in ships and factories through the 19th century. When electric sirens appeared, their use expanded dramatically. The word entered Hebrew in the early 20th century first in the Yiddish-influenced spelling "siren" and later as סִירֵנָה.
However, Hebrew speakers were also calling the siren's sound a צְפִירָה (tzfira), a term promoted by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda from 1888 onward. צפירה is a puzzling biblical word that appears in Isaiah (28:5) meaning "crown" and in Ezekiel (7:10) with an unclear meaning; Ben-Yehuda apparently connected it to roots suggesting "sound-making" or "early rising." The word took hold for the siren's sound even as the device itself was called סִירֵנָה.
Around 1931, in what was still called Eretz Israel under British Mandate, fire stations in Tel Aviv and other cities installed sirens to call volunteer firefighters to emergencies. Magen David Adom ambulances were equipped with sirens in 1934. At the time, the standard word for such alerts was the Yiddish-derived אַלאַרם (from Italian all'arme, "to arms," via French, German, and Polish). Several Hebrew alternatives were tried, including צפירה and "ot bahala" (panic signal). Around 1931, אַזְעָקָה was coined — likely by firefighters or MDA personnel — and gradually displaced the competing terms. The word was proposed as the name for the alarm device itself, while צפירה remained the word for the sound it makes.
The poet Avraham Shlonsky noted in July 1940 that despite the successful establishment of אזעקה, the foreign word "sirana" had still not been fully displaced from popular speech, and he proposed the name צוֹפָר (shofar-like instrument) for the device itself — a proposal that was not adopted.
Key Quotes
"וַיַּזְעֵק בָּרָק אֶת זְבוּלֻן וְאֶת נַפְתָּלִי קֶדְשָׁה" — שופטים ד׳, י׳
"המלים השונות שהשתמשו בהן לכינוי-שמו של כלי האזעקה (צפירה, מצפרה וכו׳) לא נתקבלו על דעת הקהל, ולפיכך גם לא עקרו משפת-העם והדיבור את המלה הלועזית סיראנה" — אברהם שלונסקי, ״הארץ״, יולי 1940
Timeline
- Antiquity: Root ז-ע-ק used in Bible (Judges 4:10, etc.) meaning to urgently summon
- 1819: Baron Cagniard de la Tour names the siren device "sirène" after Greek mythological creatures
- 1888: Ben-Yehuda introduces צְפִירָה for the siren's sound in his newspaper "Ha-Tzvi"
- 1903: Hebrew press first uses the word "siren" (in Yiddish spelling)
- Late 1920s: Fire stations in Tel Aviv install sirens to call volunteer firefighters
- 1931: אַזְעָקָה coined (c.) among firefighters or MDA; begins displacing "alarm"
- November 11, 1931: First Remembrance Day siren sounds in Mandate Palestine (British tradition)
- 1934: Magen David Adom ambulances equipped with sirens
- 1938: British install air defense siren network across Mandate Palestine
- July 1940: Shlonsky notes that "sirana" still competes with אזעקה in popular speech
Related Words
- צְפִירָה — siren sound / the act of sounding the siren (biblical word reassigned by Ben-Yehuda)
- סִירֵנָה — the siren device (from French sirène, from Greek mythology)
- אַלאַרם — alarm (from Italian all'arme, via Yiddish; the word אזעקה replaced)
- הַזְעָקָה — the act of summoning/alerting (verbal noun of the same root)