הַסְלָמָה (haslama) — escalation
Etymology
The word הַסְלָמָה is a loan translation (calque) of the English "escalation," coined by the poet and publicist Yonatan Ratosh in 1966. To understand the coinage one must trace the English word back to Latin, and then connect it independently to biblical Hebrew.
The word "escalator" was trademarked in 1900 by inventor Charles Seeberger, who built the first commercial escalator with the Otis Elevator Company and displayed it at the Paris World Exposition, winning first prize. He combined the Latin prefix e- (from), the noun scala (staircase; plural scalae), and the agentive suffix -tor, intending the meaning "means of ascending from." The word "escalate" was back-formed from "escalator" in the 1920s. In 1938, the Kansas City Star coined "escalation" to describe naval arms buildup. The term gained prominence in Cold War discourse about the gradual slide toward nuclear conflict, and exploded in use in the late 1960s as America deepened its involvement in Vietnam — a process universally called "escalation." The trademark was ruled generic in a 1950 court case, Haughton Elevator Co. v. Seeberger.
The English loanword "אסקלציה" entered Hebrew journalism in 1965 in coverage of the Vietnam War. In 1966, Ratosh proposed a Hebrew equivalent in his Haaretz column "Tamlil": the hif'il verb הֶסְלֵם and action noun הַסְלָמָה, derived from the biblical word סולם (ladder). The derivation was a calque: "escalator" comes from Latin scala (ladder/staircase), and Hebrew has סולם (ladder) — so why not build the Hebrew verb from that root? Ratosh noted that escalation could go up or down, and offered both possibilities.
The word met resistance. In 1969 a Haifa reader wrote to Maariv that the coinage was "not successful because it does not precisely express the foreign meaning and diverts the reader's thinking in the wrong direction." That same year a Davar column mourned the displacement of "hidrardut" (deterioration) by "haslama." But public usage consolidated around הסלמה, completing the displacement of "אסקלציה" by 1971. Five years later the Academy's General Terminology Committee gave a grudging endorsement: "The majority of committee members believe that the word haslama is not invalid, since it has been accepted as a brief form."
The biblical word סולם, which appears only in Jacob's dream (Genesis 28:12), is itself likely derived from Akkadian simmiltu (a flight of stairs), with letter transposition, and may refer to a ziggurat — the stepped pyramid temples of the ancient Near East.
Key Quotes
"כמו למשל מלחמת וייטנם בשנים האחרונות... זהו כמובן הסלם עולה; ייתכן גם הסלם יורד. שם הפעולה הסלמה, הפועל (יוצא ועומד): להסלים." — Yonatan Ratosh, Haaretz, "Tamlil" column, 1966
"חידוש זה אינו מוצלח, משום שאינו מבטא בדויק את המשמע שבמקור הלועזי" — Haim Ahronowitz, reader letter to Maariv, 1969
"רוב חברי הוועדה סבורים שאין מלת הסלמה פסולה מאחר שנתקבלה כלשון קצרה" — Academy for the Hebrew Language, General Terminology Committee, 1976
Timeline
- Genesis 28:12: סולם first appears in the Bible (Jacob's dream)
- 1900: Charles Seeberger trademarks "Escalator" at the Paris World Exposition
- 1920s: "Escalate" back-formed from "Escalator"
- 1938: "Escalation" coined by the Kansas City Star for arms buildup
- 1950: Haughton v. Seeberger court ruling makes "escalator" a generic word
- 1950s: Term enters Cold War nuclear-brinkmanship discourse
- 1958: First escalators (מדרגות נעות) installed in Israel at the Haifa Cinematheque
- 1965: "אסקלציה" enters Hebrew journalism covering Vietnam War
- 1966: Ratosh coins הסלמה / הסלים in Haaretz "Tamlil" column
- 1969: Opposition letters in Maariv and Davar
- 1970: דרגנוע (escalator) appears in Davar (first attestation)
- 1971: הסלמה completes its displacement of "אסקלציה"
- 1976: Academy approves הסלמה with lukewarm endorsement
- 2012: Academy approves דרגנוע for "escalator"
Related Words
- סולם — ladder, staircase (biblical, Genesis 28:12)
- מדרגות — stairs (modern sense; in Bible denoted a terrace)
- דרגנוע — escalator (abbreviated from מדרגות נעות, approved 2012)
- הדרדרות — deterioration (the word הסלמה displaced in journalism)