Thread by @elongilad

🧵 THREAD: Buy flowers in Israel today, and you'll get a zer - a bouquet. But for most of Hebrew history, zer had nothing to do with flowers. 🌸 1/13

In the Torah, zer is the golden rim around sacred objects: "You shall make a golden zer around it." 2/13

It meant a border, a crown-like edge—something holy. And after the Bible? The word nearly vanished. 3/13

For centuries, zer appeared only in poetry or rare dictionaries—never in everyday Hebrew. 4/13

Then in 1853, everything changed. Abraham Mapu published Ahavat Tzion, the first Hebrew novel. 5/13

He needed a poetic way to describe a crown of flowers—so he revived zer and coined: zer prachim. 6/13

Originally, it meant a floral wreath. Circular. Regal. And that's still how it's used on Shavuot or at funerals to this day. 7/13

But as it was used in the press, readers misunderstood. They started using zer prachim for any bunch of flowers—no matter the shape. 8/13

Zer began replacing the older term tzror prachim—a simple bundle. 9/13

Even in 1886, a glass "zer prachim" was gifted to Queen Natalia of Serbia. But the foreign translation? Bouquet. 10/13

In 1938, a Hebrew teacher named Yishai Adler tried to set the record straight: "Zer is a circular wreath. Tzror is a bunch. Don't mix them up!" 11/13

Too late. Zer had already won. 12/13

A word that once meant the golden rim of the Ark now means a bouquet on your anniversary. That's Hebrew. Confusing. Evolving. Beautiful. 13/13