2170: The Productivity of בן (Ben) Nov 23, 2020

The Hebrew בן (ben) or Aramaic בר (bar) both are used to mean 'son', but unlike in English it has other constructive uses, especially historically. For instance, it is still used to indicate age, with הוא בן שש (hu ben sheish) translating effectively as "he is 6 years old" but meaning literally "he is a son of six". Likewise, though it is no longer productive in Modern Hebrew, it was used to describe possession or ability, like ‏בן דעת‎ (ben da'at) literally "son of knowledge" to refer to someone who is logically competent.