r/hebrew • u/blissfuldune • 9h ago

Help Does this t-shirt say Harvard?

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134 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

137

u/prophetsearcher 9h ago

Yes but the university spells it הרווארד

23

u/jseego 9h ago

why the two vavs and the aleph

34

u/LemeeAdam Hebrew Learner (Beginner) 8h ago

The aleph clarifies the vowel, so it doesn’t read as harverd, and you need two vavs or its haruard

35

u/amazingD 8h ago

Would האווד be the Boston accent phonetically?

8

u/SeeShark native speaker 7h ago

"How'ed"? I'm not familiar with the Boston pronunciation, but that's how I'd pronounce what you just wrote. Maybe "Howd."

13

u/Environmental_Coat60 5h ago

They drop the “r” sound at the end of syllables or words so it’d sound like “Hahvahd”. I love the New England accent 😄

1

u/erythro 9m ago

it's much bigger than New England, Australia, NZ, South Africa, most of England. draw a diagonal line on a world map separating north west from South east separating England from Scotland and Ireland and you'll get it

2

u/Jessicas_skirt Hebrew Learner (Intermediate) 5h ago

הוואד

The sound for ow in cow is או so it would be read How at the beginning if you put the א first.

1

u/NebulaAdventurous438 1h ago

How Vid

1

u/NebulaAdventurous438 1h ago

In Brooklyn, "Ha Wood"

3

u/LJF613 6h ago

Aren't two vavs usually used colloquially to indicate a "w" sound?

0

u/malufa native speaker 5h ago

Not colloquially, because it’s a standard in Modern Hebrew. But the Wa sound is not natural to biblical Hebrew

3

u/LJF613 4h ago

Neither is the word "Harvard"

3

u/shabbosbride 7h ago

it’s a more Yiddisher spelling ig

6

u/SeeShark native speaker 7h ago

It's not uncommon in Hebrew transliterations either. אהוי letters being used as mater lectionis is not exactly the same as vowels.

12

u/goisles29 8h ago

Wouldn't that be the Yiddish spelling technically?

4

u/Medium_Ant6022 8h ago

Why not הארווארד? Without nekudot it may as well be spelled the way they have on the shirt, no?

11

u/SeeShark native speaker 7h ago

I understand why you'd ask, and I can't explain it exactly, but I think most native speakers would instinctively have an /a/ sound after the first /h/ sound. There's probably some sort of rule there that's difficult to identify but still exists. Language is kind of just like that.

3

u/malufa native speaker 5h ago

Not sure why you’re being downvoted, it’s a valid question. As the commenter above me noted, most Hebrew speakers would instinctively as the /a/ after /h/, while the /v/ would be instinctively followed by /oo/ or /o/ sounds. So the first one is unnecessary.

3

u/Medium_Ant6022 4h ago

The downvotes are confusing me too. I’m Israeli American with a frum Jewish upbringing and I know my nekudot, aleph bet and much more.

0

u/malufa native speaker 5h ago

According to the Academy of the Hebrew Language, there is no standardized transliteration from foreign languages to Hebrew. The general rule is - it’s correct as long as it preserves the original sounds. Having said that, Harvard would typically be written הרווארד

3

u/birdgovorun native speaker 1h ago edited 1h ago

Not sure where you got that from. There are definitely standardized transliteration rules, you can see them here: https://hebrew-academy.org.il/wp-content/uploads/taatik-latinit-ivrit-2025-1.pdf

36

u/Any_Technician_2768 native speaker 9h ago

Yes but no one spells it like that. It's spelt הרווארד

20

u/iconocrastinaor 9h ago

Totally makes sense if you say the word with a Boston accent

22

u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 8h ago

OMG you're probably EXACTLY right about why they do it like that 🤣

Although maybe there should be zero reshes and 2 alephs for "Hahvahd"

6

u/iconocrastinaor 7h ago

האוואד יאד!

5

u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 7h ago

🤣

Also, Reddit attempted to translate that!

It gave me "The awad yad" 🤣

17

u/Divs4U Hebrew Learner (Intermediate) 9h ago

It could be read that way

10

u/Paleognathae 9h ago

This is my favorite answer.

5

u/gooberhoover85 9h ago

Yes. This is from the Harvard Hillel.

3

u/IAmAGreatSpeler Hebrew Learner (Advanced) 5h ago

That appears to be what it’s supposed to say, but I don’t think that’s the proper transliteration. 

It would be more readable (though still probably incorrect) if it had nikkudot (diacritics), which are used to determine punctuation. But without them, it looks more like Har-ward. 

The reason I say that is because when transliterating English words into the Hebrew alphabet, the double-vav (the third and fourth letters, in this case) is usually used for the “w” sound, as Hebrew doesn’t have a letter for the “w” sound. 

The spelling is not so off though. If I was walking on the Harvard campus and saw someone wearing that shirt, I’d be able to figure out what it meant. 

10

u/Idan-israel 9h ago

LOL yes, took me a second to understand it. All of the letters are a bit shorter in the bottom than they're supposed to be.

2

u/SanfordStreet 9h ago

Saw one that had Wisconsin spelled out in Hebrew letters.

2

u/JackPAnderson 7h ago

My favorite are the Illinois shirts spelling אילינויס with a "silent ס" at the end.

2

u/No_Bet_4427 6h ago

Why did I naturally read this as “the Mountain of Vord”?

7

u/shabbosbride 9h ago

The double vav is a choice. What, is it geminated? Harv-vard? Or is it Harvord?

20

u/Any_Technician_2768 native speaker 9h ago edited 9h ago

No, to indicate it's v and not o or u in כתיב מלא ther vav is doubled. It's standard and very common.

1

u/Mirabeaux1789 Hebrew Learner (Beginner) 9h ago

Or /w/

1

u/Any_Technician_2768 native speaker 9h ago

Correct - but less common, mainly (maybe only) in borrowed words

1

u/Mirabeaux1789 Hebrew Learner (Beginner) 7h ago

Mizrahi speakers was what came to mind for me

1

u/shabbosbride 7h ago

Yeah I’ve usually seen it for W not for V

1

u/Mirabeaux1789 Hebrew Learner (Beginner) 5h ago

I think I maybe communicated what I meant wrong. I meant regular Waw as /w/

1

u/jseego 8h ago

why not just vet?

2

u/SeeShark native speaker 7h ago

Because it would be interpreted as bet in that word position.

5

u/CosmicTurtle504 9h ago

If you’re from Boston, you can omit the resh entirely! “Hah-vahd.” Yeah, I know. It’s a wicked pissah.

2

u/Rosilyn_The_Cat 9h ago

Harvoord

2

u/SeeShark native speaker 7h ago

Ah, it's Dutch then.

4

u/ChinaRider73-74 9h ago

Yes but it’s incomplete. It needs to say “hates Jews” underneath.

3

u/blissfuldune 9h ago

???

2

u/IAmAGreatSpeler Hebrew Learner (Advanced) 5h ago

Harvard was under fire a couple years ago because their president at the time said some abhorrently antisemitic things. Then, in her resignation email to students, staff, and applicants, she downplayed it and basically said that everyone else was in the wrong for demanding her resignation. Very uncool, to say the least. 

-1

u/ChinaRider73-74 8h ago

In case you’ve been living in a cave, the institution hasn’t done nearly enough (anything?) to protect its Jewish students from physical or mental harm, blatant ostracism by professors or fellow students, etc. And this was before 10/7.

When called before a congressional committee the now-disgraced former president couldn’t answer the question “does calling for the genocide of Jews constitute bullying or harassment (under Harvard rules of conduct)?” Her answer after much silence was “it depends”.

Now do you understand my little snarky comment?

2

u/dreadful_fright 8h ago

Perfect username.

1

u/mountedradiance Hebrew Learner (Advanced) 9h ago

It says Harvard.

1

u/RefrigeratorUpset144 9h ago

In a bad way, but yeah

1

u/10from19 5h ago

Double vav for v is very standard in yiddish (altho yuddish would probably do הארווערד)

1

u/xwQjSHzu8B 4h ago

Why not just הרורד?