Hebraization of Palestinian place names

[1][2] A 1992 study counted c. 2,780 historical locations whose names were Hebraized, including 340 villages and towns, 1,000 Khirbat (ruins), 560 wadis and rivers, 380 springs, 198 mountains and hills, 50 caves, 28 castles and palaces, and 14 pools and lakes.

[5][6] During classical and late antiquity, the ancient place-names metamorphosed into Aramaic and Greek,[7][8] the two major languages spoken in the region before the advent of Islam.

The Hebraization of place-names was encouraged by the Israeli government, aiming to strengthen the connection of Jews, most of whom had immigrated in recent decades, with the land.

[10] As part of this process, some ancient Biblical or Talmudic place-names were restored,[11] although enthusiasm since cooled after mistakes were identified by archeologists.

[17][18] C. R. Conder (1848–1910) of the Palestine Exploration Fund was among the first to analyze present-day Arabic place-names in order to assess what a more ancient Hebrew name may have been.

Conder's contribution did not eradicate the Arabic place-names in his Survey of Western Palestine maps, but preserved their names intact, rather than attribute a site to a dubious identification.

[23] In the early 1920s, the HeHalutz youth movement began a Hebraization program for newly established settlements in Mandatory Palestine.

carried names in both Hebrew and Arabic writing (e.g. Jerusalem / Al Quds / Yerushalayim and Hebron / Al Khalil / Ḥevron),[27] but lesser-known classical Jewish sites of antiquity (e.g. Jish / Gush Halav; Beisan /Beit She'an; Shefar-amr / Shefarʻam; Kafr 'Inan / Kefar Hananiah; Bayt Jibrin / Beit Gubrin, etc.)

At other times, the history of assigning the "restored Hebrew name" to a site has been fraught with errors and confusion, as in the case of the ruin ʻIrâq el-Menshiyeh, situated where Kiryat Gat now stands.

[42] By 1931, the destinational listings at post offices, signs at train stations and place-names listed in the telephone directory, had removed any mention in Hebrew of "Shechem" (Nablus), "Nazareth," and "Naḥal Sorek" (Wadi es-Sarar), which aroused the concern of the Jewish National Council that the British Government of Palestine was being prejudicial towards its Jewish citizens.

[47] The work was ongoing as of 1960; in February 1960 the director of the Survey of Israel, Yosef Elster, wrote that "We have ascertained that the replacement of Arabic names with Hebrew ones is not yet complete.

[50] Vilnay has noted that, since the 19th century, biblical words, expressions and phrases have provided names for many urban and rural settlements and neighborhoods in Modern Israel.