# מרשם/מתכון recipe/prescription



## 2PieRad

Hi

So, one native speaker used מירשם to refer to cooking recipes. I then used מירשם with another native speaker, again referring to cooking recipes, and he told me that I should use מתכון instead, and that מירשם means prescription, as in prescriptions for medicine or prescription eyeglasses. The dictionary definitions aren't really helping either...

What say you?

Thanks


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## shalom00

The second speaker is correct.


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## 2PieRad

Thanks.

The first speaker left Israel over 20 years ago, while the second one lives there. Perhaps the language has evolved slightly.


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## shalom00

More than slightly.


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## Egmont

Erebos12345 said:


> Thanks.
> 
> The first speaker left Israel over 20 years ago, while the second one lives there. Perhaps the language has evolved slightly.



Has it ever! I was a native-level speaker in the 1950s. (Not born there, but lived there from childhood on and attended regular public elementary and secondary schools.) I have no trouble understanding and being understood during frequent visits to Israel (most recently March 2017) or chatting with Israeli friends/relatives who visit the U.S. (most recently last week), but it's obvious that my Hebrew is not what one hears today. My accent is still good, I know the words for things like "computer" and "sunscreen" that didn't exist then, but usage has changed. I try to learn current forms, but without more regular exposure to today's language than I get, that's not possible. I learn a lot from this site, though I know enough not to try to answer questions unless they're like "What does it say in this picture?".


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## slus

מרשם is used only for medicine.
מתכון is for food.
This was also true 20 and even 40 years ago, although my grandmother sometimes used מרשם for both.


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## shalom00

Actually מרשם has an additional use, such as מרשם אוכלוסין. You might translate it as registry, but I am not sure that it would convey the exact meaning.


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## amikama

The old word for both was רצפט, borrowed from German 'Rezept'. Nowadays it's found mainly in dictionaries and crosswords


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## elroy

Arabic also uses the same word for both (وصفة).


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