ישראל אהרוני (Yisrael Aharoni) — zoologist, namer of animals

Etymology

Israel Aharoni (1882–1946) arrived in Palestine in 1901 to find a complete vacuum in local zoological research. "When I came to the Land of Israel there was not even one Jew here who was interested in studying the animal kingdom," he wrote. He became the zoologist of Eretz Yisrael for the first half of the twentieth century, supplying rare butterflies to the Ottoman sultan in exchange for freedom of movement across the region, collecting and selling specimens to European collections, and discovering several species unknown to science — including a bird and a land snail still named after him (Alaudala heinei aharonii and Sphincterochila aharonii).

Aharoni's most lasting contribution to Hebrew was naming animals — far more than any other single individual. He worked through three strategies. First, he matched existing biblical and Mishnaic names to specific species: he standardized which birds would bear the biblical names אוֹחַ, דַּיָּה, נֵץ, נֶשֶׁר, סִיס, עָזְנִיָּה, פֶּרֶס, and תִּנְשֶׁמֶת, and which snakes would carry the names צֶפַע, צִפְעוֹנִי, אֶפְעֶה, שְׁפִיפוֹן, and פֶּתֶן. Second, he borrowed from Arabic, giving Hebrew שַׁחְרוּר, בַּז, בַּזְבּוּז, חָגְלָה, שְׁרַקְרַק, and many others. Third, he coined descriptive names: the swordfish-billed שַׂיְפָן (from סַיִף, sword), the sickle-billed מַגְלָן (from מַגָּל), the long-billed חַרְטוֹמָן (from חַרְטוֹם), the pelican שַׂקְנַאי (from שַׂק, the enormous pouch hanging from its bill), the pinkish וַרְדִּית (from וֶרֶד, rose), and the nut-cracker פַּצְחָן (from פָּצַח, to crack).

Aharoni's most globally consequential act was unintentional. In 1930 the parasitologist Shaul Adler needed a rodent for leishmaniasis research and asked Aharoni to capture specimens near Aleppo, Syria. Aharoni procured a litter of ten pups, brought them to Jerusalem, hand-reared them with his wife, and passed them to Hebrew University. By 1946 descendants of those animals had traveled to labs in Britain and America; that year an unemployed Alabama engineer received one in payment of a gambling debt, recognized its commercial potential, and launched the global pet hamster trade. Aharoni had named the creature אוֹגֵר — "hoarder" — for its extraordinary ability to pack food into its cheek pouches, from the root א-ג-ר (to store). Every domestic hamster alive today descends from Aharoni's Aleppo litter.

Among his many rodent names, Aharoni also coined חַדַּף (for the shrew's elongated nose), נַמְנְמָן (for the dormouse's long winter sleep, from נָם, to doze), נַבְרָן (for the gnawing damage voles cause farmers), and revived יַרְבּוּעַ from Arabic for the jerboa. He re-assigned the ancient names חוּלְדָה and חֹלֶד — once applied to a broad group of small predators — specifically to rats and moles, and gave those predators the names נְמִיָּה (from the Mishnah), סַמוּר (from Arabic), and גֶּחַן (because it moves on its belly, גָּחוֹן). He also named the striped animal גִּירִית under influence from the Arabic גַרִיר, possibly choosing a form that echoed גִּיר (chalk) for its white stripes, or that recalled the stinking fluid it secretes (לְהָגִיר).

Key Quotes

"בבואי לארץ ישראל לא היה כאן אפילו יהודי אחד שהתעניין בחקר החי למינו. איש לא חקר את חית הארץ ואת חית הארצות השכנות לה. גם חקירת החי הנזכר בתנ״ך הייתה עזובה לגמרי" — Israel Aharoni, on his arrival in Palestine, 1901

"וַיִּקְרָא הָאָדָם שֵׁמוֹת לְכָל הַבְּהֵמָה וּלְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְכֹל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה" — Genesis 2:20 (applied to Aharoni by Elon Gilad as an apt description of his life's work)

Timeline

• 1882: Israel Aharoni born
• 1901: Arrives in Palestine; begins systematic zoological research in a field with no prior Hebrew-language work
• Early 1900s: Begins coining and standardizing Hebrew animal names for mammals, birds, reptiles
• 1930: Captures a litter of Syrian golden hamsters near Aleppo at the request of parasitologist Shaul Adler; names the animal אוֹגֵר
• 1930s: Hamster descendants from Aharoni's litter shipped to labs in Britain and the United States
• 1946: Albert Marsh of Mobile, Alabama receives a descendant animal in lieu of a gambling debt; begins breeding and selling them as pets worldwide
• 1946: Aharoni dies
• Present: Every domestic hamster alive is descended from Aharoni's Aleppo litter; his dozens of Hebrew animal names remain standard

Related Words

• אוֹגֵר — hamster; Aharoni's most famous coinage, from the root א-ג-ר (to hoard)
• חַדַּף — shrew; coined by Aharoni for its long nose
• נַמְנְמָן — dormouse; coined by Aharoni for its long hibernation (from נָם, to doze)
• נַבְרָן — vole; coined by Aharoni for its gnawing habit (from כָּרַס/נִבֵּר)
• יַרְבּוּעַ — jerboa; borrowed by Aharoni from Arabic
• גִּירִית — polecat/skunk; coined by Aharoni under Arabic influence
• זַעֲמָן — snake (Zamenis species); a calque preserving the sound of the scientific name, from Greek "very angry"
• כְּלֶיְזְמֵרִים — klezmer musicians (from כְּלֵי זֶמֶר, music instruments) — tangentially related to Aharoni's era