בּוֹ-זְמַנִּית (bo-zmanit) — simultaneously
Etymology
Hebrew has accumulated a rich vocabulary for expressing simultaneity, drawing on every stratum of the language. The biblical contribution is בְּעֵת ("at the time of," I Samuel 18:19). From the Mishnah come בִּזְמַן ("at the time when," Berakhot 7:5) and בְּבַת אַחַת ("at one stroke/all at once," Shabbat 10:2) — though the etymology of בַּת in that last phrase is genuinely obscure: the medieval lexicographer Elijah Bachur suggested it is an abbreviation of "בבת עין" ("in the blink of an eye"), while others connect it to the unit of volume called בַּת (Isaiah 5:10), and yet others derive it from the Greek ἀθρόος ("together, at once") with a prefixed Hebrew bet.
The biblical phrase בַּד בְּבַד ("measure for measure," Exodus 30:34) was repurposed in the early 20th century to mean "side by side" or "simultaneously." A 1921 open letter by the Keren Hayesod board uses it this way. The European loanword סִימוּלְטָנִי (from Medieval Latin simultaneus, from Latin simul "together") entered Hebrew from at least 1911. The phrase בְּמַקְבִּיל ("in parallel"), drawn from the biblical concept of facing/matching (Exodus 26:5), developed its temporal meaning by the 1940s.
The phrase בָּהּ בָּעֵת ("at the same time," a literary variant of בְּעֵת) was probably invented by the editor of the Hebrew newspaper Halevavon, Yehiel Brill, who used it repeatedly in the 1860s–1870s until it spread. From it developed בּוֹ בַּזְּמַן (the masculine parallel), documented in Shimon Bernfeld's "Korei HaDorot" (1887). From בּוֹ בַּזְּמַן, the adverb בּוֹ-זְמַנִּית emerged naturally and is first documented in a Haaretz article of October 1958 describing electric typewriters that print "simultaneously on forms of different sizes."
Key Quotes
"בד בבד עם עבודת אלו עלינו לקבע תקנות מתאימות לשלום הצבור" — הנהלת קרן היסוד, דאר היום, ינואר 1921
"בו בזמן מעת שב עם ישראל מגלות בבל... בזמן ההוא עלה כוכב חדש באירופא" — שמעון ברנפלד, קורא הדורות, 1887
"המאפשרות הדפסה בו-זמנית על מספר טפסים בעלי גודל וצורה שונה" — הארץ, אוקטובר 1958
Timeline
- Biblical: בְּעֵת (I Samuel 18:19)
- Mishnaic: בִּזְמַן, בְּבַת אַחַת
- ~3rd–4th century BCE: Greek ἀθρόος possibly source of בְּבַת-רֹאשׁ → בְּבַת אַחַת
- Biblical: בַּד בְּבַד (Exodus 30:34); debated original meaning
- 1860s–1870s: בָּהּ בָּעֵת coined/popularized by Yehiel Brill in Halevavon
- 1887: בּוֹ בַּזְּמַן documented in Bernfeld's Korei HaDorot
- 1911: סִימוּלְטָנִי (simultaneous) in Hatzfirah
- 1921: בַּד בְּבַד used with "simultaneously" meaning
- 1940s: בְּמַקְבִּיל develops temporal meaning
- October 1958: בּוֹ-זְמַנִּית first documented in Haaretz
Related Words
- סִימוּלְטָנִי — simultaneous; Latin loanword (in Hebrew from 1911)
- בְּמַקְבִּיל — in parallel; biblical root, temporal meaning developed 1940s
- בַּד בְּבַד — side by side; biblical phrase repurposed