Have you ever heard the term onomatopoeia? Despite its intimidating sound, it’s actually quite fun. Onomatopoeia refers to words מילים (mee-leem) that resemble or imitate the sound of the object or phenomenon they describe. Some great English examples include the words “sizzle” and “bubble” — you can almost hear the sound of a sizzling pan or a popping bubble as you say these words. Animal sounds are also common examples, with words like “meow,” “roar,” and “quack.” Comic strips and comic books make extensive use of onomatopoeia, incorporating these words into the images themselves. Words like “bang,” “pow,” and “crack” add an extra layer of energy and sound צליל (tseh-leel) to the action, making the scene feel more alive.

There are examples of onomatopoeia in every language, and it’s intriguing to explore the differences between them. In Hebrew, some of the most well known examples that you may already know are cork פקק (pkahk) and bottle בקבוק (bahk-book). Next time you’re at a dinner party, listen to the wine bottle as it pours in Hebrew: bahk-bahk-bahk. The word פקק (pkahk) has a second meaning—traffic jam, which makes sense because a traffic jam stops the flow of traffic, just like a cork prevents the flow of liquid.

Surprisingly, some onomatopoeias are equivalent in both English and Hebrew. They use specific letters, sounds, and tones that resemble the physical action they describe, often by repeating similar sounds twice. Some examples are: ticking תקתוק (teek-took), rustling רשרוש (reesh-roosh), humming זמזום (zeem-zoom), dripping טפטוף (teef-toof), and stuttering גמגום (geem-goom). What’s interesting about these pairs is that, although they use different sounds, they can both describe the same process accurately, whether it’s dripping or stuttering. For children (or adults learning Hebrew as their second or third language), these onomatopoeias are helpful, creating anchors of logic היגיון (hee-gah-yohn) within the language itself.

Lastly, here is an example of an onomatopoeia that not even many Israelis are familiar with—the word for plenty or many: המון (hah-mohn). In the Bible, “המון” refers to a sound of uproar, a continuous murmur, or a kind of humming:
“the sound of a heavy rain,” 1 Kings 18:41. (“קוֹל הֲמוֹן הַגָּשֶׁם”)

In several instances, “המון” describes the noise produced by large crowds of people: “a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms”, Isaiah 13:4.
(“קוֹל הָמוֹן בֶּהָרִים, דְּמוּת עַם־רָב, קוֹל שְׁאוֹן מַמְלְכוֹת גּוֹיִם נֶאֱסָפִים”)

From there, it was just a small step to its meaning as a multitude of people:
“for all the multitudes of Israel”, 2 Samuel 6:19. (“לְכָל הֲמוֹן יִשְׂרָאֵל”)
Over time, the word came to signify a coarse and unrefined crowd and eventually became synonymous with the word “many” or “plenty”—המון.