נַחְלִיאֵלִי (nakhlieli) — white wagtail

Etymology

The word נַחְלִיאֵלִי is one of a cluster of bird names coined by Shalom Yaakov Abramowitz — better known by his pen name Mendele Moykher Sforim ("Mendele the Book Peddler") — while translating Harald Lenz's natural history encyclopedia from German into Hebrew. Volume two, covering birds, was published in Zhytomyr, Ukraine in 1867, following the commercial success of volume one.

Abramowitz's method was systematic and self-aware. First he searched classical sources for existing Hebrew names; if a Talmudic or biblical name could be identified with a species, he used it. When he could find no suitable classical name, he sometimes adopted coinages by his predecessors Baruch Linda and Yosef Sheinhoq, though he complained in his introduction that their names were generally poor. When neither option satisfied him, he coined new names himself — and did so proudly: "I have given all the birds of the sky a name and a good place in Hebrew literature. I have made new names, created and fashioned them in the spirit of the Hebrew language and according to the pattern of its naming conventions."

For the bird the Germans called Bachstelze (literally "stream-stalker," the wagtail), Abramowitz found no existing Hebrew name and coined נַחְלִיאֵלִי. He based it on the biblical place name נַחֲלִיאֵל (Numbers 21:19), a stopping-place during the Israelites' desert wanderings whose name means "brook/stream of God." His reasoning, stated in the text, was descriptive: "This bird's name, like the names of others of its kind, is because its habit is to dwell by streams." The -י ending creates a relational adjective meaning "of/pertaining to Nachaliel" — roughly "stream-of-God bird."

The name is part of a series of successful bird names Abramowitz coined and which remain standard in Israeli Hebrew today: עֶפְרוֹנִי (skylark, from עָפָר "earth/dust," named for its earth-brown camouflage), טַבְלָן (diver, a translation of German Taucher from the verb tauchen "to dive"), and יַרְגָּזִי (tit, from רֶגֶז "irritability/agitation," reflecting the bird's quarrelsome nature). Other coinages from that session were forgotten, but these four have survived 150 years to become the standard Hebrew names for these birds.

Key Quotes

"שם העוף הזה, כשם יתר בעלי מינו, הוא מפני שדרכו לשכון אצל נחלי מים" — שלום יעקב אברמוביץ, תולדות הטבע כרך ב׳, ז'יטומיר, 1867

"שאו עיניכם וראו בספרי זו, אני המוציא במספר צבא העופות ולכֻלם בשם אקרא... אני עשיתי שמות חדשים, יצרתים אף עשיתם ברוח השפה העבריה" — מנדלי מוכר ספרים, הקדמה לתולדות הטבע כרך ב׳, 1867

Timeline

• 1867: Abramowitz publishes vol. 2 of Toldot HaTeva (natural history of birds) in Zhytomyr; coins נַחְלִיאֵלִי for the wagtail (Bachstelze / Motacilla)
• 1867: Also coins עֶפְרוֹנִי (skylark), טַבְלָן (diver), יַרְגָּזִי (tit) in the same volume
• 1867 onward: Many of Abramowitz's bird name coinages forgotten; these four survive
• Modern: נַחְלִיאֵלִי remains the standard Israeli Hebrew name for the white wagtail

Related Words

• נַחַל — stream, brook (the root noun underlying the name)
• נַחֲלִיאֵל — the biblical place name (Numbers 21:19) that served as model
• עֶפְרוֹנִי — skylark; also coined by Abramowitz in 1867 (from עָפָר, "earth")
• טַבְלָן — diver bird; also coined by Abramowitz in 1867 (from טָבַל, "to dip/dive")
• יַרְגָּזִי — a species of tit; also coined by Abramowitz in 1867 (from רֶגֶז, "agitation")
• קִיכְלִי — thrush; name recovered by Abramowitz from a single Talmudic occurrence (Yoma 75b)
• זָמִיר — nightingale; coined by Abramowitz's predecessor Sheinhoq; adopted by Abramowitz