גִּבּוּי (gibbui) — backing, support; backup

Etymology

The story of גִּבּוּי is a case study in the tension between popular usage and prescriptive language authority in modern Hebrew — and of popular usage winning.

The word was coined within the IDF around 1950, when Haim Laskov took command of the IDF Terminology Committee. It is a calque of the English military term "backing" — a commander's obligation to accept responsibility for subordinates' failures when they acted on his orders, while not claiming credit for their successes. The Hebrew term גִּבּוּי derived the concept from גַּב (back/spine), mirroring the English metaphor.

In May 1952, journalist Ze'ev Altager published an article in Yedioth Ahronoth crediting Chief of Staff Yigael Yadin with coining the word. That same evening, Yadin wrote an unpublished letter of correction: the word had been coined by Laskov, not him — a letter that is itself a small demonstration of the very concept גִּבּוּי describes.

The Academy of the Hebrew Language was established shortly after and took up the word in 1960. Its committee rejected it on two grounds: (1) it was a calque driven by the English structural metaphor (back → גַּב), which the Academy considered linguistically servile; and (2) it was morphologically irregular. The word looks like a noun-of-action on the pattern of נִסּוּי, גִּנּוּי, שִׁנּוּי (from ל״י roots), but גַּב has the root גב״ב (a doubled-middle-root, ע״ע), which should produce גִּיבוּב, not גִּבּוּי. The Academy voted 19-0 to replace it with תִּימוּכִין, proposed by Academy president Professor Tur-Sinai.

The public ignored this. Similar formations מִסּוּי (taxation) and עִתּוּי (timing) — equally morphologically irregular — also spread and were equally rejected. A 1972 letter to the newspaper Davar from a Haifa resident captured the public mood: "all broadcasters, commentators, ministers, officials, and laypeople have conspired to say, as if in defiance: gibui, missui, ittui." The writer predicted the Academy's objections would eventually be dropped — and he was right. The Academy accepted גִּבּוּי as the Hebrew equivalent of "backup" (computing) in 1992, then approved מִסּוּי and עִתּוּי in 2000, and finally accepted גִּבּוּי in its original military sense alongside תִּימוּכִין in 2003.

Key Quotes

"המונח החדש - ׳גיבוי׳ הוא פרי אמצאתו של הרמט״כל. מושג זה פירושו באנגלית - Backing" — זאב אלתגר, ידיעות אחרונות, 30.5.1952

"ה׳גבוי׳ חודש על-ידי אלוף חיים לסקוב ולא על-ידי" — יגאל ידין, במכתב לא פורסם, 30.5.1952

"כל השדרנים והפרשנים, שרים ופקידים והדיוטות, קשרו קשר לומר ולכתוב, להכעיס: גיבוי, מיסוי, עיתוי" — חיים אהרונוביץ, מכתב ל״דבר״, 1972

Timeline

• 1950: Haim Laskov's IDF Terminology Committee uses גִּבּוּי for "backing"
• 30 May 1952: First press appearance (Yedioth Ahronoth); Yadin's correction letter written
• 1953: Academy of the Hebrew Language established
• July 1960: Academy votes 19-0 to replace גִּבּוּי with תִּימוּכִין
• 1972: Public letter documents widespread rejection of Academy ruling
• 1992: Academy accepts גִּבּוּי as Hebrew for "backup" (computing)
• 2000: Academy accepts מִסּוּי and עִתּוּי
• 2003: Academy accepts גִּבּוּי in its original military/support sense

Related Words

• תִּימוּכִין — Academy's 1960 alternative (Tur-Sinai's proposal); still in use in formal contexts
• גַּב — back, spine (the source word)
• מִסּוּי — taxation (similarly irregular formation, same battle)
• עִתּוּי — timing (same category)