קוֹלְנוֹעַ (kolnoa) — cinema; movie theater
Etymology
The word קוֹלְנוֹעַ is a portmanteau of the Hebrew words קוֹל (voice/sound) and נוֹעַ (movement), coined in 1930 to name the talking picture. It succeeded two earlier, ultimately unsuccessful, Hebrew coinages for cinema technology.
The technology that would become cinema began to take shape in the 1880s. Hebrew readers first encountered it in 1897 through reportage on Thomas Edison's kinetograph in the newspapers HaHashkafa and HaTzvi. Edison's device was nicknamed כַּתְבָנוֹעַ (recording-movement) in that article — apparently coined by editor Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, blending כָּתַב (to write/record) and נוֹעַ. The Lumière brothers' superior technology, which projected images onto a screen for an audience, displaced the kinetograph quickly.
In 1900, when Hemda Ben-Yehuda reported on the first film screening in Palestine — footage of the Dreyfus retrial — her husband had coined a new word for the occasion: רַאִינוֹעַ (seeing-movement), from רָאָה (to see) and נוֹעַ. "Wonderful is the impression made by this marvelous machine, the ra'inoah," she wrote. The first dedicated cinema house in Jerusalem opened in 1908. רַאִינוֹעַ remained the standard Hebrew term for silent film theaters through the late 1920s.
The arrival of talking pictures created the need for a new name. In April 1930 the Eden cinema in Tel Aviv announced it was installing sound equipment, calling it שְׁמַעְנוֹעַ (sound-movement), apparently coined by theater owner Moshe Avarbanel. This word attracted immediate opposition from Hebrew-language purists. The following day, poet Yehuda Karni wrote in HaAretz proposing the alternative קוֹלְנוֹעַ as more pleasant to the ear. Within two days Avarbanel announced he was adopting the new term, and it has remained standard ever since.
Key Quotes
"נפלא הוא הרֹשם שעושה המכונה הנפלאה הזאת, הראינֹע. וזה הדבר היפה והנפלא עתה הנהו בירושלם. לכו, לכו, ראו, תתפלאו ותתענגו!" — Hemda Ben-Yehuda, 1900
"קולנוע, קולנוע, קולנוע" — Yehuda Karni, HaAretz, May 1930
"ה' מ. אברבנאל מודיע לנו... כי המון-פילם יקרא מעתה לא 'שמענוע' אלא 'קולנוע'" — HaAretz, May 1930
Timeline
- 1880s: Cinema technology begins developing in Europe and America
- 1897: Hebrew press first covers cinema; Ben-Yehuda coins כַּתְבָנוֹעַ
- 1900: Ben-Yehuda coins רַאִינוֹעַ for the Lumière-style projector
- 1908: First dedicated cinema house opens in Jerusalem
- Late 1920s: Talking pictures displace silent film; need arises for new Hebrew term
- April 7, 1930: Eden cinema announces שְׁמַעְנוֹעַ; Karni proposes קוֹלְנוֹעַ in HaAretz
- May 1930: Avarbanel adopts קוֹלְנוֹעַ; term enters universal use
Related Words
- רַאִינוֹעַ — early Hebrew word for cinema (seeing + movement; coined by Ben-Yehuda, 1900)
- כַּתְבָנוֹעַ — earliest Hebrew word for cinema (recording + movement; coined ~1897)
- שְׁמַעְנוֹעַ — short-lived term for talking pictures (sound + movement; coined 1930)
- סֶרֶט — film (movie)