frank herbert - Which names and terms in the Dune series come from Hebrew-inspired phrases?

Kwisatz Haderach is one example of a name that is inspired by a Hebrew phrase. What is a complete list of terms that are used in Dune and share this property?

Answer

Most of the Semitic-language-derived terms in Dune are proximately from Arabic rather than Hebrew. Looking over a glossary of Dune terminology, I see these that look relevant to your question:

Aba has been Islamified, but the term (and/or "abaya") apparently shows up in Tanach as the garb of Hebrew prophets.

Arafel is Hebrew (ערפל).

Baraka is probably Arabic-derived, but has such closely related meanings in Arabic and Hebrew as to make little difference.

The "Bene" in Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilax is, if pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, Hebrew for "children of" (more popularly transliterated b'nei or b'nai ). It's remotely possible that "Bene Gesserit" is meant to allude to a distorted Hebrew for "children of the narrow path", but as others have noted, it's more likely straight from Latin. "Tleilaxu" is not Hebrew (neither it nor Arabic have an X), but the "Bene" in "Bene Tleilax" is more likely to be from the Semitic "children of" rather than the Latin "good", the Tleilaxu being Zensufis and all.

Fedaykin is probably from Arabic "fedayeen", but Hebrew has pretty much the same word, פַדַאיוּן

Sayyadina I suspect of being derived from an Arabic term with Hebrew roots, but I can't prove it.

Comments

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