אַפְלָיָה (aplaya) — discrimination
Etymology
The concept of discrimination as a social and legal wrong is a modern one, emerging in the wake of the American Revolution and the spread of equality as a political ideal. The English word "discrimination" derives from Latin discriminatio (separation, distinction, contrast) and entered English in the early 17th century meaning simply "distinction." Only in the early 19th century did it acquire its modern sense of treating groups of people unequally on the basis of race, religion, or other identity. The first recorded use of this meaning in the Oxford English Dictionary dates to 1819.
The word spread from American English into European languages, each adapting it with local suffixes. It entered Yiddish as דיסקרימינאַציע (diskriminatsye), from which it entered Hebrew as דִּיסְקְרִימִינָצִיָּה. However, Hebrew writers sought a native equivalent.
The Hebrew verb הִפְלָה (hiflah) already existed in the Bible with the meaning "to distinguish" or "to set apart" — as in Exodus 9:4: "And the Lord will distinguish [veheifla] between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt." The verb continued to be used throughout the generations, though less frequently than the synonyms הִבְדִּיל (hivdil) and הִבְחִין (hivhin). In the late 19th century, writers were already using this verb to describe distinctions between groups of people, including in Ha-Melitz in March 1883.
The verbal noun הַפְלָיָה (haflaya) begins appearing in the 1920s, already carrying its modern restricted meaning of unequal treatment. An early example appears in the weekly Ha-Olam, official organ of the World Zionist Organization, in January 1924, in an article about German Chancellor Wilhelm Marx's statements about Jews in Germany. The alternate form אַפְלָיָה (with a short "a" at the beginning instead of "ha-") appeared in the early 1930s and gradually displaced the original form.
The column also traces the related word קִפּוּחַ (kipuah), which entered Hebrew from Aramaic with the original meaning of "striking/beating" (still present in the expression "the blazing sun," השמש הקופחת, from the Jerusalem Talmud). The root then shifted to mean "deprivation" or "robbery" in Talmudic literature, and by the early 20th century it was being used specifically for the deprivation of rights. By the 1920s, קיפוח became specifically associated with the discrimination experienced by Mizrahi Jews at the hands of Ashkenazi settlers in Mandate Palestine.
Key Quotes
"אין לך חכמה בעולם כחכמת כלכלת המדינה המלמדת דעת שבדבר חק ומשפט אין להפלות בין עם לעם ובין דת לדת" — ״המליץ״, מרץ 1883
"אין שום הפליה נעשית בנוגע ליהודים וגם לא תניח לעשות כן להבא" — ״העולם״, ינואר 1924 (ציטוט דברי קנצלר גרמניה וילהלם מרקס)
"אנו מקופחים" — מנהיגי העדות הספרדיות, כפי שצוטט על ידי משה אטיאש, 1924
Timeline
- Biblical: הִפְלָה used in the sense of "to distinguish" (Exodus 9:4, and elsewhere)
- 1819: First English use of "discrimination" to mean racial/social inequality (Analectic Magazine)
- Early 19th century: Word spreads across European languages
- Late 19th century: דִיסְקְרִימִינָצִיָּה enters Yiddish; Hebrew writers also use הִפְלָה for group distinctions
- March 1883: Ha-Melitz uses הִפְלָה in the context of equality between peoples and religions
- January 1924: Ha-Olam uses הַפְלָיָה as Hebrew equivalent of "discrimination"
- December 1924: Meeting between JNF chairman Ussishkin and Mizrahi leaders; קיפוח used to describe their situation
- Early 1930s: Form אַפְלָיָה appears and gradually displaces הַפְלָיָה
Related Words
- קִפּוּחַ — deprivation of rights (specifically connoting discrimination against Mizrahi Jews)
- הַבְחָנָה — distinction (without discriminatory connotation)
- הַבְדָּלָה — separation/distinction (biblical root)
- דִיסְקְרִימִינָצִיָּה — discrimination (the international loanword, less common in Hebrew)