אַשְׁכָּרָה (ashkara) — literally, really, for real
Etymology
The word אַשְׁכָּרָה has one of the most remarkable geographic journeys of any word in Israeli slang, traveling from ancient Persia along the Silk Road before arriving in modern Israeli Hebrew. Its root lies in an Old Avestan word avish, meaning "visible" or "manifest," appearing in the ancient Zoroastrian scriptures (the Avesta, 33:7). In Middle Persian, this became ashkarak, and in modern Persian, אָשְׁכַּרָה (ashkara) functions both as an adverb meaning "publicly, openly" and as an adjective meaning "clear, obvious."
The word spread westward through the Ottoman Empire. In Turkish, it appears at least since the 12th century — the blind Turkish poet Adib Ahmad Yuknaki (12th century) used the word in his "Atabat al-Haqa'iq" — and is still used today as ashikare ("openly, clearly") and ashikar ("clear, obvious"). The word also spread eastward, appearing in Georgian as ashkara ("obvious, visible, clear") and even in Uyghur (a Turkic language spoken in western China and Kazakhstan by ~10 million people) with the same meaning.
Throughout the Ottoman Empire, the word entered various languages. It appears in Albanian (as ashçare, slang meaning "openly, honestly, straight-talking"). More significantly for Hebrew, it entered the colloquial Arabic dialects of the region: in Kuwait, it is used at the beginning of sentences like "obviously..." or as a one-word agreement with an implication of "isn't that self-evident?"; in Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian, and Lebanese Arabic, it means "clear, obvious."
Hebrew borrowed אַשְׁכָּרָה from Arabic vernacular. The word does not appear in the 1972 Israeli slang dictionary by Dan Ben-Amotz and Nativa Ben-Yehuda, suggesting it was not yet established in Israeli slang. The earliest documented use in Hebrew appears in a humorous column by Mirit Shem-Or in Maariv in March 1977, representing the speech of a stereotypically "Mizrahi" Israeli. Other early appearances include columnist Menachem Talmi (Maariv, August 1977) and a reader's letter to Ha-Olam Hazeh (January 1978). In these early appearances, the word's meaning is somewhat fluid and context-dependent.
By the early 1980s, the word was much more widespread and its meaning had stabilized. The September 1980 issue of Ha-Olam Hazeh uses it to mean "clearly, right before one's eyes." The journalist Amos Levav, writing about the exotic slang of reserve soldiers in August 1980, defines it as "really" (be'emet). The 1982 updated edition of the Ben-Amotz/Ben-Yehuda slang dictionary includes it, defined as "really, genuine, actual."
The word's semantic evolution in Hebrew is unique among all the languages it passed through. While in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and other languages it retained its core meaning of "openly, clearly, obviously," in Hebrew it evolved into a modal intensifier — expressing not just emphasis but the speaker's emotional relationship to what is said. When someone says "ze ashkara ta'im" (this is literally delicious), they convey not just that it is very delicious but also their surprise at the intensity of the flavor. As a standalone response ("ashkara!"), it expresses emphatic agreement tinged with emotional reaction. Syntactically, it appears at the start of a sentence, before a verb or adjective, or between subject and predicate — but never at the end of a sentence.
Key Quotes
"בקיצור: מה יש להגיד, האתי הזאתי, היתה שאפה לא-נוּרמאלית. אשכרה בעיניים. אתם שומעים?" — מירית שם-אור, ״מעריב״, מרץ 1977
"אשכרה של עיר לונדון. תסתכל על האוקספורד הזה, משגע את השכל לבנאדם" — מנחם תלמי, ״מעריב״, אוגוסט 1977
Timeline
- ~1000 BCE: Avestan root avish ("visible, manifest") in Zoroastrian scriptures
- Middle Persian period: form ashkarak develops
- Modern Persian: ashkara means "openly/clearly"
- 12th century: Turkish/Ottoman form ashkare documented (Yuknaki's poetry)
- Ottoman period: spreads to Albanian, and to various Arabic dialects
- By 1972: Not yet in Israeli slang (absent from Ben-Amotz/Ben-Yehuda dictionary)
- March 1977: First documented Hebrew use (Mirit Shem-Or, Maariv)
- August 1977: Menachem Talmi uses it in Maariv
- January 1978: Reader's letter in Ha-Olam Hazeh
- August–September 1980: Word well-established; journalists define it as "really"
- 1982: Appears in updated Ben-Amotz/Ben-Yehuda slang dictionary: "really, genuine, actual"
- Today: Core intensifier in colloquial Israeli Hebrew, unique emotional/modal nuance
Related Words
- מַמָּשׁ — really, literally (similar intensifier, but more neutral/standard)
- בְּאֶמֶת — really, truly (similar meaning but more formal)
- דּוּגְרִי — straight-talking, honestly (another Arabic-origin word in Israeli slang)
- אֵיכְשֶׁהוּ — somehow (different meaning but similar colloquial register)