In honor of the Jewish holiday of love (Tu B'Av), here are some interesting questions we are often asked about the concept of a partner, specifically in Hebrew.
We are frequently asked whether to say 'בת זוגו', 'זוגתו', or 'בת זוגתו'. The first two forms have roots in Hebrew sources, while the third has developed in more recent generations.
The word זוּג, and in some traditions זוֹג, was borrowed into our language during the Talmudic period from Greek (zygon). Its original meaning refers to the yoke carried by two oxen while plowing. From here, the meaning evolved to denote two oxen and, more generally, any two entities connected to each other. Similarly, the word צמד refers to both the yoke pulled by cattle and the two oxen themselves.
In Rabbinic Hebrew, the word זוג also refers to each member of the pair, such as "יקח זוג לשני" (Mishnah Yoma 6:1). זוג in this sense can also refer to a female, for example: "When Adam saw Eve, he said: 'This is my partner'" (Avot of Rabbi Nathan 52, Chapter 8); "So I informed all inhabitants of the world that she is my partner, and I am hers" (Shir HaShirim Zuta 1:1).
The term בן־זוג itself is also used in Rabbinic Hebrew, and it too can refer to both a male and a female: "For this is how they mark the planks of the Tabernacle, to know which is its partner" (Mishnah Shabbat 12:3); "The Sabbath said before the Holy One, blessed be He: 'Master of the Universe, everything has a partner, but I have no partner.' The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: 'The congregation of Israel is your partner'" (Bereishit Rabbah 11:8).
The term בת־זוג, to denote the female partner in a pair, first appears in the Middle Ages, for example, in Rashi's commentary on Genesis 22:20: "The Holy One, blessed be He, informed [Abraham] that Rebecca, the בת זוגו [of Isaac], was born" (in the midrashic source on which Rashi bases his commentary, it says: "... he was informed that his son's match was born").
In medieval texts, the word זוגה appears with the same meaning (perhaps influenced by the Arabic زَوجَة). For example, in a medieval midrashic source on the aforementioned verse from Genesis, it says: "The news arrived that his son's זוגה was born" (Midrash Aggadah, Buber edition). The word זוגה in inflection (זוגתי, זוגתו) to denote a wife is used in rabbinic language and has even made its way into Yiddish, as in the phrase "זוגתי שתחיה". The word continues to be used in modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, such as "To my dear, modest, wise זוגתי, Mrs. Sheina Sheindel, may she live" at the beginning of each letter written by the protagonist of the book Menachem Mendel (an epistolary novel by Sholem Aleichem, 1918).
We found evidence of the phrase בת זוגתו in Hebrew literature at the beginning of the 20th century and in Hebrew newspapers from the 1960s, and it has become increasingly common in recent generations. It seems that the phrase was created by the influence of the feminine gender from the first component 'בת' to the second 'זוג'. A similar phenomenon can be found among some speakers in the phrase 'בן דוד', which "leans" in gender and number according to the first component: בן דוד, בת דודה, בני דודים, בנות דודות (without necessarily matching the gender and number of the uncles/aunts). A similar phenomenon exists in the plural form of construct phrases in Rabbinic Hebrew, where the plural of the construct affects the plural of the construct state, such as "ערבי פסחים" and "בתי כנסיות". Therefore, those who say 'בת זוגתו' or 'בת זוגתי' have something to rely on. However, many refrain from using this phrase due to its literal implication of referring to the daughter of the זוגה, the daughter of the partner. Therefore, it is preferable to use the other options: 'בת זוגו' or 'זוגתו'.
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