While ילד is the basic word for child, another word that appears in Biblical Hebrew is טף – “children” in general. The original root of טף is ט.פ.ל, which gives us the word for treatment – טיפול – as in:
יש לי טיפול שיניים באחת וחצי.
I have a dental treatment at one thirty.
It also means therapy:
הוא בטיפול כבר עשר שנים עם אותה המטפלת.
He’s been in therapy for ten years with the same (female) therapist.
What do treatment and therapy have to do with kids? Children need to be cared for, treated.
Now, טיפול is the word used today. But before the taboo on therapy in Israel started lifting, most Israelis spoke of it – on the rare occasion that they did – as תרפיה.
