Israel's Place-Names as Reflection of Continuity and Change in Nation-Building

Abstract

SYMBOLIC PLACE-NAMES This sub-group of names has a specific commendatory meaning. Examples are Orim (Lights), Haruzim (the Industrious Ones), and' Alumim (Youth). Attributes of this group are names that suggest positive properties, high quality, happiness and stability. Altogether, 65 settlements are included in this sub-group. ARABIC ORIGIN PLACE-NAMES A total of 59 settlements or 6.6% of the settlements have an Arabic origin. Some settlements were located on former Arab villages sites or in a close proximity to Arab villages from which they borrowed their name. Arab names were transformed to the Hebrew by translating the name as in the case of Bania which is the translation of the Arab word Shajara. It means A place 14Cohen, Erik, The City in Zionist Ideology (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University [Institute of Urban and Regional Studies,] No. 12, 1970). Israel's Place-Names 237 where there are trees in both languages. But more often the Hebrew name was chosen just because its sound was similar to the Arab one. Lavi (Lion) in Hebrew was Lubia (Beans) in Arabic and the two names do not have a common meaning. Nor is Neviot (Fountain Heads) a translation of the Arabic Nuweiba. Arabic names in Israel, as well as the Roman, Persian, Assyrian and Greek assist the researcher in understanding the cultural history of the country by tracing the impact of different cultures on the Israeli landscape. In a similar way, the British landscape manifests in its place-names the various people who invaded the British Islands such as the Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons or Norsemen. MILITARY-HEROISM PLACE-NAMES This category is very similar in proportion to the Arabic-origin one. Eighty-five settlements in Israel carry names which symbolize important events in the establishment of the State, such as the Holocaust, the illegal immigration to Israel during the British Mandate period, the War of Independence and other wars. Thus, Yad Mordechai (Mordechai's Memorial) commemorates Mordechai Anielewicz, the last commander of the Warsaw Ghetto. 'En Sarid (Spring of the Survivors) was established by survivors of the concentration camps. Ben 'Ammi is a village named after a young commander who was killed in the War of Independence, and Givat Yo' av (Yoav' sHill) is a moshav in the Golan named after a commander who was killed in the 1967 campaign. These settlements and others are expressions of a national ideology which cherishes the people who sacrificed their lives for the country. Specific memorial, monuments, cultural and social halls and libraries (dedicated to those who were killed) are frequent in the Israeli landscape, and their significance is strengthened by special ceremonies in which the dead are memorialized. The post-statehood period, especially, when security and etatism became overriding ideological pillars, is one in which there has been considerable emphasis upon the military-heroism category. INTERNATIONAL PLACE-NAMES Many societies adopt place-names that originate in foreign countries. Immigrants as conquerors bring with them their cultural heritage to their new countries. The United States and Canada reflect their immigrant cultural diversity through French, German, Russian, Italian and Scandinavian placenames. In Israel, the village Bazra is named after Basra, Iraq, from where its settlers came. Also, Hodiyya is an adaptation of Hodu the Hebrew word for India, which has the settlers' place of origin.