מַסּוֹק (masok) — helicopter
Etymology
The word מַסּוֹק has an unusual biography: it was coined in 1951, officially ratified in 1959, formally adopted by the IDF in 1963, and only became widely used by the Israeli public in 1965 — more than a decade after coinage, thanks to a single Independence Day military parade.
The word for helicopter in most languages derives from the term coined by French inventor Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt in 1861: "helicopter," a compound of the Greek ἕλιξ (helix, spiral) and πτερόν (pteron, wing). The word entered Hebrew as הֶלִיקוֹפְּטֶר. When the Israeli Air Force began operating helicopters in 1951, IDF's Standing Terminology Committee convened and considered several candidates: נֶסֶק, מַסּוֹק, בֻּרְגָּף, and בָּרְגָּף. The last two are blends of בּוֹרֶג (screw/rotor) and עָף (flew). The first two come from the root נס"ק.
That root is itself a modern creation based on a creative misreading of Psalms 139:8: "אִם אֶסַּק שָׁמַיִם שָׁם אָתָּה" ("if I ascend to heaven, you are there"). Scholars recognized that the underlying root was סל"ק (Aramaic for "ascend"), but mistakenly identified the missing consonant as nun rather than lamed, inventing the root נס"ק meaning "to shoot upward." Chaim Nachman Bialik had already used this root in an 1893 poem. The committee chose מַסּוֹק, following the pattern of tool names like מָשׁוֹר (saw), מָקוֹשׁ (trap), and מָכוֹשׁ (pickax).
Despite being the committee's choice, מַסּוֹק sat dormant. Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi wrote to the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 1959 and again in 1962 demanding action. The Academy reaffirmed מַסּוֹק in a special session in 1959. The IDF officially adopted it in February 1963 — but pilots reportedly laughed it off: "A helicopter stays a helicopter even if documents call it a masok." Ben-Zvi died in April 1963 without seeing the word take hold. The breakthrough came at the 1965 Independence Day parade, the first year the aerial display was called a מַטָּס. The helicopters were formally introduced to the public as מַסּוֹקִים, and from then the word gradually displaced הֶלִיקוֹפְּטֶר in Israeli usage.
Key Quotes
"אִם אֶסַּק שָׁמַיִם שָׁם אָתָּה" — תהלים קל״ט, ח׳
"הועדה אינה גורסת הכרח במונח עברי דוקא, אולם — למקרה הצורך — היא מציעה: ׳מסוק׳" — ועדת הקבע למונחי-צבא, אוקטובר 1951
"הליקופטר נשאר הליקופטר גם אם יקראו לו מסוק במסמכים" — טייסי הליקופטרים בצה״ל, פברואר 1963
"בעוד חודו של הטור הממונע מתקרב... הופיעו מעל שלושה מסוקים (הליקופטרים), אשר נשאו את דגלי הלאום" — דבר, יום העצמאות 1965
Timeline
- 1861: Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt coins "helicopter" in French
- 1927: הֶלִיקוֹפְּטֶר appears in Hebrew translation of Thomas Edison article (Ha-Tzfirah)
- August 1943: Al HaMishmar reports on Sikorsky production in the US
- June 1951: First helicopter seen in Israel (Tel Aviv beachfront)
- July 1951: First IDF helicopter deployment reported
- September 1951: IDF terminology committee proposes מַסּוֹק
- 1959: President Ben-Zvi writes to the Academy; Academy reconfirms מַסּוֹק
- February 1963: IDF officially adopts מַסּוֹק
- April 1963: Ben-Zvi dies
- Independence Day 1965: Public hears מַסּוֹק for the first time in a military parade broadcast
- Subsequent years: מַסּוֹק gradually displaces הֶלִיקוֹפְּטֶר
Related Words
- הֶלִיקוֹפְּטֶר — helicopter; the foreign loanword מַסּוֹק displaced
- נְסִיקָה — takeoff (aviation); from the same root נס"ק
- מַטָּס — air show, military air display; coined the same year מַסּוֹק was popularized