Eliezer Ben-Yehuda

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֶּן־יְהוּדָה
Born
Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman

(1858-01-07)7 January 1858
Luzhki, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
Died16 December 1922(1922-12-16) (aged 64)
Jerusalem, British Mandate for Palestine
Resting placeMount of Olives, Jerusalem
31°46′42″N 35°14′38″E / 31.77833°N 35.24389°E / 31.77833; 35.24389
Alma materSorbonne University
Occupations
  • Linguist
  • journalist
OrganizationHaZvi
Known forReviving the Hebrew language
MovementZionism
Spouses
  • Devora Jonas
    (m. 1881; died 1891)
  • (m. 1891)
Children
Relatives
  • Drora Ben Avi (granddaughter)
  • Gil Hovav (great-grandson)

Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda (born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman; 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Russian–Jewish linguist, lexicographer, and journalist who immigrated to Jerusalem in 1881, when the Ottoman Empire ruled it. He is renowned as the lexicographer of the first Hebrew dictionary and also as the editor of Jerusalem-based HaZvi, one of the first Hebrew newspapers published in the Land of Israel. Ben-Yehuda was the primary driving force behind the revival of the Hebrew language.