Dr. Irving N. Rothman, an English literature professor at the University of Houston, recently published an article called, “The ‘Hnea Yahoo’ of Gulliver’s Travels and Jonathan Swift’s Hebrew Neologisms,’ in the annual Swift Studies publication. In it, Rothman, who also teaches Jewish Studies courses, outlines his theory that Swift used Hebrew words throughout the four-part novel, reported The Guardian’s Alison Flood on Monday.

. . . “[Rothman],” writes Flood, “said he first realised that Swift might be using Hebrew when he observed that the alphabet in the land of the giants, the Brobdingnags, has 22 letters:

“No law in that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only of two and twenty,” writes Swift. The Hebrew alphabet also has 22 letters, Rothman points out, and Swift had studied Hebrew at Trinity College, as an Anglican minister.

Read the article “Is Nonsensical Language in Gulliver’s Travels Derived from Hebrew?” on tabletmag.com.