Hebraism
/ˈhiːbreɪɪz(ə)m
/noun
1A Hebrew idiom or expression.His idea was to make Moses seem more German by eliminating his Hebraisms to such an extent that no one would think of calling him a Hebrew....
- Soon he is sprinkling his conversation with Hebraisms.
2 [mass noun] The Jewish religion, culture, or character.Matthew Arnold, writing in his celebrated work Culture and Anarchy, suggests that Hebraism and Hellenism are the two essential philosophies of life between which civilized man must choose....
- The essence of Hebraism is the Bible, which has greatly influenced every field of western culture.
- One cannot revert back to Hebraism.
Derivatives
Hebraistic
- The Jewish belief in a special preference of the Jews before all nations doubtless suggested this, and it forms a leading feature in the strong Hebraistic form of the writer's Christianity.
- The result therefore, was exactly and inerrantly what God wanted it to be, grammatical blunders and Hebraistic Greek sentences and weird vocabulary and all.
- It has become fashionable to divide the rival tendencies of modern thought into the two classes of Hellenistic and Hebraistic.
Hebraize
/ (also Hebraise) verb ...- The Israeli government encouraged the Hebraizing of surnames.
- When Israel was declared an independent state, he Hebraized his name from Shertok to Sharett, and became its first foreign minister.
- Eventually, he was circumcised and he Hebraized his name.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French hébraïsme or modern Latin Hebraismus, from late Greek Hebraïsmos, from Hebraios (see Hebrew).