"זה נשר?"
Translation:Is it an eagle?
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There is some confusion in Hebrew between eagle and vulture. In the past they were eagle = נשר and vulture = עיט, but it was decided that they should be named the other way around. So eagle = עיט and vulture = נשר.
Ezekiel 39:4
עַל־הָרֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל תִּפּ֗וֹל אַתָּה֙ וְכָל־אֲגַפֶּ֔יךָ וְעַמִּ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר אִתָּ֑ךְ לְעֵ֨יט צִפּ֧וֹר כָּל־כָּנָ֛ף וְחַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה נְתַתִּ֥יךָ לְאָכְלָֽה׃
"Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured."
2 Samuel 1:23
שָׁא֣וּל וִיהוֹנָתָ֗ן הַנֶּאֱהָבִ֤ים וְהַנְּעִימִם֙ בְּחַיֵּיהֶ֔ם וּבְמוֹתָ֖ם לֹ֣א נִפְרָ֑דוּ מִנְּשָׁרִ֣ים קַ֔לּוּ מֵאֲרָי֖וֹת גָּבֵֽרוּ׃
"Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions."
See this article: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium-1.589507
In 1923, zoologist Israel Aharoni suggested that נשר should go back to meaning vulture. The article then goes on:
"Aharoni had to come up with a name for the eagle, so he named it a’it, a word that in the Bible means a group of birds of prey. Students of Aharoni, who were the first generation of Israeli zoologists and science teachers followed his decision."
In 1973, the Academy of the Hebrew Language voted to accept עיט as eagle and נשר as vulture.
Following these parameters, Duolingo should then accept ayit as 'eagle' and nesher as 'vulture', so that confusion can already be avoided.
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ובמותם לא נפרדו מנשרים is translated to And in their death there were no vows By google translate.. which is more accurate an interpretation please??
These are actually two different sentences. "ובמותם לא נפרדו" = "and in their death they were not separated"; מנשרים קלו ומאריות גברו - they were quicker than eagles and stronger than lions.
Sounds like a parable from God about Israel.
Exchanged their glory for what does not prosper.
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Not convinced that it was so in the past, more that they were used interchangeably for both
"I thought I saw an eagle but it might have been a vulture. I never could decide.", Leonard Cohen sings in his "Story of Isaac". Not even the scientists could decide! :)
Ha! So glad you mention it. I learnt this poem, translated to Hebrew, in a literature lesson in ninth grade. The translator wrote מעלי ראיתי נשר, אך אולי היה זה עיט. The teacher explained the symbols to us: that נשר is the proud symbol of the USA, while עיט is a despicable carcass eater. And I, already being an amateur ornithologist, cried "What?? No!! It's the other way around!".
See how vividly I remember it, 33 years later... (Mind you, I don't blame the poor translator, they had no good way out of this mess.)
There is too much new vocabulary in this lesson. There were almost no new words in the first lessons, but now there are too many to remember at the aame time. It should be more balanced. And you cannot know how the new words sound if there is no audio.
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I generally think that in a basic course the focus should be on a generic animals names (bird, cat, horse...) and not the actual species name.. it is more advanced and didn't see it in other courses around here :)
See this article: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium-1.589507
In 1923, zoologist Israel Aharoni suggested that נשר should go back to meaning vulture. The article then goes on:
"Aharoni had to come up with a name for the eagle, so he named it a’it, a word that in the Bible means a group of birds of prey. Students of Aharoni, who were the first generation of Israeli zoologists and science teachers followed his decision."
In 1973, the Academy of the Hebrew Language voted to accept עיט as eagle and נשר as vulture.
- 620
A few weeks ago I’d never think there could be any confusion between an eagle and a vulture, but then I found out it’s the same word in Romanian – “vultur” and now also in Hebrew. Whoa!
So ten minutes ago I chose 'eagle' for נשר. It was marked wrong, and vulture given as correct. Now it says the translation is eagle! Make up your mind!!
- 332
Eagle - עיט
Vulture - נשר
Very common confusion. I can hardly remember myself.
See links above.
I'm so happy that I guessed right since the Hebrew letters section taught me the sounds!
- 646
in your definitions you have it both as vulture and eagle,, there is a need to be accurate!!!!
These are two different letters, ר (as in נשר) is the letter Reish and it sounds like the English R. The letter ך only looks like a Reish with a long "leg", but it is actually the letter כ (Kaf) as it looks at the end of a word (called Kaf sofit) and it sounds roughly like a KH sound.
ok lets agree that both words can be right for both animals. but it is confusing when you want to talk about one of the birds in specific.
