רִבָּה (riba) — jam, fruit preserve
Etymology
The word רִבָּה is a successful neologism coined by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in March 1888, based on what turned out to be a misreading of the Jerusalem Talmud. Ben-Yehuda introduced it in his newspaper Ha-Tzvi under the headline "A New Word That Is Old" (מִלָּה חֲדָשָׁה שֶׁהִיא יְשָׁנָה), explaining that he had found the word in the Jerusalem Talmud (Shekalim 7:7), where it appeared as "Rabbi said: tofini ribah" (apparently meaning some kind of baked or cooked sweet). He noted that while the manuscripts of the Talmud read "rakha" (soft), he was confident the printed edition's "ribah" was correct, and he connected the form to Arabic مُرَبَّى (murabba, "jam"), deriving both from the Semitic root ר-ב-ב.
The Talmudic scholar Shraga Abramson later examined the manuscripts and printed editions in a 1968 article and determined that Ben-Yehuda had been mistaken: "Ben-Yehuda erred... the old reading is rakha, and some interpreters changed it to ribah." S.Y. Agnon had already made the same point satirically in the opening pages of his novella "Shvuat Emunim" (Schocken, 1943), where a character mockingly describes a learned man who "erred in the interpretation of words and called fruit preserves ribah." "The dictionary man" is unmistakably Ben-Yehuda.
Despite its origins in lexicographic error, the word took hold and is universally used in modern Hebrew. In technical usage, as defined by Israeli Standard SI 34, רִבָּה refers specifically to a preserve made from fruit pulp, distinct from קְרִישׁ (jelly, made from clarified juice), קוֹנְפִיטוּרָה (confiture, containing pieces of fruit in syrup), מַרְמֶלָדָה (marmalade, from Portuguese marmelada via Italian and German, originally referring to quince jam and now used for orange marmalade in English), מִרְקַחַת (confiture with whole fruit pieces), פּוֹבִידָל (plum jam, from Czech povidla), and מַעֲדַן פְּרִי (fruit spread without added sugar). In everyday Hebrew, however, רִבָּה is used as a general term for any jam or fruit spread.
Key Quotes
"יש שם תלמיד חכם, מתלוצץ הוא על בעל המלון שטעה בפירוש המלות וקרא למרקחת של פירות ריבּה" — S.Y. Agnon, Shvuat Emunim (A Simple Story), Schocken, 1943
"נמצא כי זכינו למילה חדשה שהיא ישנה למיני המתיקה, למיני פרי מבושלים בצוקר, והיא רִבּה" — Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Ha-Tzvi, March 1888
"טעה בן-יהודה... שסבור היה ש'מפרשי הירושלמי משבשים הספרים וקוראים רכה' — אלא הנוסח הישן הוא רכה" — Shraga Abramson, 1968
Timeline
- March 1888: Ben-Yehuda coins רִבָּה in Ha-Tzvi based on his reading of Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 7:7
- 1888 onward: Word enters use in modern Hebrew
- 1913: Va'ad HaLashon establishes קָרִישׁ as the Hebrew term for jelly/gelée
- 1938: Va'ad HaLashon distinguishes רִבָּה from מִרְקַחַת; neither distinction fully prevails in everyday speech
- 1943: Agnon satirizes the word's origin in "Shvuat Emunim"
- 1968: Talmudic scholar Abramson confirms that Ben-Yehuda's source text was a later scribal alteration
- 2005: Academy of the Hebrew Language standardizes קְרִישׁ (variant spelling of קָרִישׁ)
Related Words
- מַרְמֶלָדָה — marmalade (in Hebrew used both for orange marmalade as in English and as a general term for jam as in German)
- קוֹנְפִיטוּרָה — confiture (fruit preserve with whole fruit pieces; from Latin confectus via French and German)
- קְרִישׁ — jelly (from clarified fruit juice; from root meaning to congeal)
- מִרְקַחַת — confiture with pieces (established biblical/Talmudic word; root ר-ק-ח relates to spices and compounding)
- פּוֹבִידָל — plum jam (from Czech povidla)