Hebrew word of the week: Citizen

The English word “citizen” is derived from Latin civitas “city” (compare to Spanish ciudad). However, the Hebrew ezraH does not have any connection to ‘ir “city” or medinah “city-state,” but rather to the root z-r-H “shine, scatter rays,”* closely related to z-r-‘ “sow, scatter grains”; z-r-y “scatter, winnow (grains); z-r-q “throw, scatter.” In the Bible, they may alternate: or zarua‘ la-tsadiq light is “sown/shone for the righteous.” (Psalms 97:11).

So, ezraH is a native, home-born plant (as in ezraH ra‘anan “robust native-tree,” Psalms 37:35) or person (ha-ezrah ve-hagger) “the citizen and the alien” (Leviticus 16:29).

*Aleph is just a prefix, as (e)zroa‘ “arm”; efroaH “chick.” However, in modern Hebrew, aleph becomes a part of a new root: ’-z-r-H “naturalize, make citizen”; ezraHut “citizenship.”

Yona Sabar is a professor of Hebrew and Aramaic in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA.