מֵידָע (meyda) — information

Etymology

Look at the 20-shekel note: the man pictured is Moshe Sharett, Israel's first Foreign Minister and second Prime Minister. He was also a gifted linguist and coiner of many common Hebrew words. On the eve of Shavuot 1964, journalist Raphael Bashan interviewed Sharett in Maariv. When asked about his linguistic contributions, Sharett proudly listed thirty to forty coinages: פִּיחוּת (devaluation), לַוְיָן (satellite), יִיצּוּג (representation), תַּוָּאי (topography), נוֹהָל (procedure), נָזִיל (liquid), and the verb לְבַטֵּחַ (to insure). Then Bashan asked if he had a new word to debut. Sharett answered cheerfully: "Here is a new word: מֵידָע (with a tzere under the mem) — instead of the ugly foreign word 'information.'"

But Sharett had not coined it. Two weeks after the interview, he wrote to Maariv acknowledging that a colleague had alerted him: the Academy for the Hebrew Language had included "מֵידָע" as a translation of "information" in its 1958 dictionary of social psychology terms. Yet even the Academy had not coined it first. Two more weeks passed, and linguist Yitzhak Avinery published a letter asserting: "I coined מֵידָע for 'information' twenty years ago. I have no doubt that both the Academy and Sharett drew from my books. I hope they will acknowledge this." Avinery had first proposed the simpler form "ידע" in the summer 1927 issue of "Sefatenu," the Language Committee journal — but it was not adopted. In winter 1946 he switched to "מֵידָע" in his regular language column "Pinat HaLashon" in the newspaper "Al HaMishmar" — yet this, too, went unnoticed.

Sharett replied in Maariv, denying he had borrowed the word from Avinery: "Can't the same idea occur independently to two different people?" He graciously added: "But I trust Avinery's testimony and am willing to relinquish any claim of ownership." This public exchange on Maariv's pages brought the word to the editors' attention, and they began using it — as Sharett noted in his final response: "I was glad to see 'מֵידָע' appearing in one of the headlines on your front page, and hope you will continue this practice." The timing was perfect: Israel was beginning its "information revolution," adopting computers and computing. "מֵידָע" gained traction rapidly, first in Maariv and soon in other papers and among the general public, eventually displacing the foreign "אִינְפּוֹרְמַצְיָה" — though that term still survives as a synonym.

Key Quotes

"בבקשה, בבקשה. הנה מלה חדשה: מידע (מ״ם צרויה) במקום אינפורמציה. איזו מלה ארוכה ומכוערת" — משה שרת, ראיון ב״מעריב״, ערב שבועות 1964

"את מידע לענין אינפורמציה — חידשתי לפני 20 שנה. אין ספק בעיני שגם האקדמיה וגם שרת שאבו מתוך ספרי" — יצחק אבינרי, מכתב ל״מעריב״, 1964

Timeline

• Summer 1927: Avinery proposes "ידע" (without mem) in "Sefatenu" — not adopted
• Winter 1946: Avinery introduces "מֵידָע" in "Pinat HaLashon," Al HaMishmar — unnoticed
• 1958: Academy for the Hebrew Language includes "מֵידָע" in social psychology term dictionary — also unnoticed
• Eve of Shavuot 1964: Sharett publicly proposes "מֵידָע" in Maariv interview
• 1964: Public exchange between Sharett and Avinery in Maariv pages raises the word's profile
• 1964–1970s: "מֵידָע" steadily displaces "אִינְפּוֹרְמַצְיָה" in press and public usage
• Present: dominant term for "information" in Hebrew

Related Words

• יָדַע — to know (root verb)
• דַּעַת — knowledge (from same root)
• יְדִיעָה — news item, piece of knowledge (from same root)
• מֵידָעָן — informant, information officer (derived from מֵידָע)
• אִינְפּוֹרְמַצְיָה — information (foreign loanword, still used as synonym)