עִתּוֹן (iton) — newspaper

Etymology

The world's first newspaper appeared in Strasbourg (then a German city in the Holy Roman Empire, today in France) in 1605. The medium spread rapidly across Europe; in the German-speaking world it was called Zeitung, a word we might translate as "tidings" — connecting it to Zeit (time, period).

Hebrew-language journalism emerged much later. The first Hebrew weekly, Ha-Maggid, appeared on June 3, 1856 in Łyk (then Prussian Lyck, today Polish Ełk), edited and published by Eliezer Lipman Silbermann. In his inaugural issue he tested several terms for this new medium: "צייטונג" (the German word), "מכתב קורות הימים" (chronicle letter), and "מכתב מגיד חדשות" (news-telling letter). Two months later, drawing on the German model (Zeitung from Zeit, time), Silbermann performed a calque: since the German word for newspaper is built on the word for time, he would build a Hebrew word on a Hebrew word for time. Hebrew had two synonyms for time: זמן (zman, borrowed from Aramaic, appearing only in late biblical books) and עת (et, the ancient native word, common throughout the Bible). Since זְמַנִּי already meant "temporary" (lasting for a time, as opposed to permanent), Silbermann could not use it for "of/pertaining to time." He used עִתִּי instead, creating the compound מִכְתַּב עִתִּי ("periodic letter / time-letter"), which appeared already in the third issue of Ha-Maggid on August 15, 1856. This became the standard term used by Ha-Maggid and was adopted by its competitors: Ha-Melitz (Odessa, 1860), Ha-Tzfira (Warsaw, 1862), and Ha-Yom (St. Petersburg, 1886, the first daily Hebrew newspaper).

In December 1880, Ben-Yehuda — then still in Europe — published a letter in Ha-Maggid proposing several new Hebrew words, including מִלּוֹן (dictionary, then called "sefer milim"). In the same letter he proposed the coinage אֶבְשַׂר (from בשר, "news") as a replacement for "miktav iti." Nobody paid attention. When Ben-Yehuda himself founded a newspaper (Ha-Tzvi, 1884), he used "miktav iti" like everyone else.

Eleven years after his first attempt, in January 1891, Ben-Yehuda introduced עִתּוֹן in his regular column "Bat Kol mi-Mikh'vei ha-Ittim" ("Echo from the Periodic Letters"). He built the word on the mishqal (morphological pattern) of words like אִגְּרוֹן (letter-collection), זִכָּרוֹן (memory/memorial). He used the word first with quotation marks or bracketed glosses, then in June 1891 renamed his column "Bat Kol me-Itonim" and the new word permanently replaced "miktav iti" in his paper. Despite resistance from Hebrew language purists including the writer Moshe Leib Lilienblum, the word spread to rival newspapers and was standard by the early 20th century.

The article also covers the word מוּסָף (newspaper supplement), coined by Ha-Davar editor Berl Katzenelson in November 1925 when he launched a literary supplement for Shabbat and holidays, borrowing the name from the liturgical Musaf prayer — the "additional" prayer offered on Shabbat and festivals corresponding to the additional sacrifice (korban musaf) once brought in the Temple.

Key Quotes

"יגיד ליעקב מהנעשה בכל חלקי תבל בין כל יושבי חלד" — Eliezer Lipman Silbermann, Ha-Maggid, June 3, 1856 (inaugural statement of purpose)

"נוכל לגזור ממלת בשר שם על משקל אֶפְעַל לאמור אֶבְשַׂר" — Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Ha-Maggid, December 1880 (rejected proposal)

Timeline

• 1605: First newspaper published in Strasbourg; German calls it Zeitung
• June 3, 1856: Ha-Maggid, the first Hebrew weekly, founded in Łyk by Eliezer Lipman Silbermann
• August 15, 1856: מִכְתַּב עִתִּי first appears in the third issue of Ha-Maggid
• 1860: Ha-Melitz (Odessa) founded; adopts "miktav iti"
• 1862: Ha-Tzfira (Warsaw) founded
• 1863: Hebrew press comes to Jerusalem; Ha-Levanon, then Ha-Havazelet
• 1881: Ben-Yehuda immigrates to Palestine; works at Ha-Havazelet
• December 1880: Ben-Yehuda proposes אֶבְשַׂר as newspaper term — rejected
• 1884: Ben-Yehuda founds Ha-Tzvi; uses "miktav iti"
• 1886: Ha-Yom (St. Petersburg) — first daily Hebrew newspaper
• January 1891: Ben-Yehuda first uses עִתּוֹן in Ha-Tzvi
• June 1891: Ben-Yehuda renames his column using עִתּוֹן, cementing the word
• Early 20th century: עִתּוֹן becomes standard
• November 17, 1925: Berl Katzenelson coins מוּסָף for the Ha-Davar literary supplement

Related Words

• עת — time; the ancient biblical word from which עִתּוֹן is built
• מוסף — newspaper supplement; coined by Katzenelson from the liturgical musaf prayer
• מכתב עתי — the earlier phrase for "periodic letter / newspaper" that עִתּוֹן replaced
• מִלּוֹן — dictionary; coined by Ben-Yehuda in the same 1880 letter as his earlier newspaper proposal