יֻקְרָה

The word "יֻקְרָה" (yukra) was accepted as a Hebrew alternative to the foreign word "prestige" following a discussion at the Academy of the Hebrew Language in January 1961. In a meeting of the Public Administration Terminology Committee in 1957, the word "עֶרְכָּה" (erkha) was initially proposed as a Hebrew alternative, while the Education Terminology Committee suggested the phrase "שֵׁם טוֹב" (shem tov, "good name"). In the Academy's plenary discussion, additional suggestions were raised: "הֲדָרָה" (hadara, by Yosef Yoel Rivlin), "כְּבוֹדָה" (kvoda, by Yechiel Ben-Nun), "אַחְשָׁבָה" (achshava, by Shimshon Meltzer), "עֶרֶךְ" (erekh, by Irena Garbel), and "חִין עֶרֶךְ" (chen erekh, by Chaim Schirmann). Meir Medan suggested using the root y-k-r that appears in the rabbinic concept "yekirei Yerushalayim" (the esteemed ones of Jerusalem), and Shimshon Meltzer suggested creating an Aramaic pattern from this root - "יוּקְרָה" (yukra). Meltzer's suggestion was accepted by vote. Interestingly, none of the Academy members knew that as early as 1949, the physician Yosef Even-Odem had already coined the word and proposed it in his book "Al Sfat Lashon." The use of yukra spread during the 1960s, and the foreign word "prestige" was pushed to the margins of the language. Later, despite the original word being intended to be pronounced as yukra (יֻקְרָה with kubutz vowel), a tendency developed to pronounce it as yokra (יָקְרָה with kamatz katan). A similar process happened to similar words in this pattern, such as yumra and yuhara, while words like chultza and chufsha maintained their original pronunciation.