But now Irving Rothman, a University of Houston professor of English literature and Jewish Studies, argues that Swift’s mystery words are variants of Hebrew. In an article published in the summer 2015 edition of Swift Studies, an annual review of Swift scholarship, Rothman notes that Swift was an Anglican minister who studied Hebrew at Trinity College.  Published in 1726, “Gulliver’s Travels” is Jonathan Swift’s best-known work, a romp of a sociopolitical satire that remains a canonical text for English majors at most universities. Written in the voice of traveler Lemuel Gulliver, the novel reports the unlucky Gulliver’s various adventures, including his capture on the shores of the island nation of Lilliput by a race of people just six inches tall. Here’s Rothman describing Gulliver after his capture by the Lilliputians: 
 
 “When Gulliver awakens to find himself tethered to the ground, he finds himself face-to-face with a six-inch Lilliputian who utters the words ‘Hekinah Degul.’ The words are repeated when the Lilliputians observe Gulliver drinking two hogsheads of a liquor resembling Burgundy. … I suspect that Swift simply made up nonsense for the purpose.” 
 
 Rothman disagrees and offers a lengthy list of examples as evidence of Swift’s use of Hebrew. When he swallows… the people shout ‘Borach Mivola.’ 
 
 Rothman argues that the phrase Borach Mivola can be interpreted with Borach as a variant of the Hebrew Boruch, or blessed. Mivola, if spelled in the Hebrew manner mivolim, means “complete defeat,” he said. Thus, he said, the four-letter name for God, or tetragrammaton, is used by Swift to designate the “Yahoo.” 
 
 He described his work as “breaking the code,” relying on different sounds, or allophones, of the letter “v,” which can be pronounced “v,” “oh” or “ooh.” For the word “Yahoo,” Swift employed the “ooh” version.
– Long have scholars debated the origins of the "nonsense" language in Jonathan Swift's most famous novel, Gulliver's Travels, though Isaac Asimov once said making sense of it is a "waste of time" because "I suspect that Swift simply made up nonsense for the purpose." But now a linguist at the University of Houston says he's solved the riddle, and he argues in the summer 2015 edition of Swift Studies that the words play off of Hebrew. Irving Rothman says he's amassed several clues, one being that Swift, an Anglican minister, studied Hebrew at Trinity College before going on to publish his iconic book in 1726, reports the Houston Chronicle. The book chronicles the travels of Lemuel Gulliver, who at one point is captured by 6-inch-tall people on the island Lilliput. Here Gulliver encounters a "nonsense" language built off of 22 letters, just like Hebrew. And one phrase, "Borach Mivola," shouted while Gulliver imbibes liquor, could be a variant of the Hebrew "Baruch," or "blessed," with "Mivola" being related to the Hebrew "mivolim," or "complete defeat." And the "Gnea Yahoo," Swift's term for irrational, wild creatures, could be built off a Hebrew variant of God—Yahveh—where "Gnea," if read right to left, as Hebrew is, sounds like "ayn," or "not." "Those beasts are the opposite of God," Rothman concludes, while "Gulliver is a human being achieving saving grace, a hope not accorded to the Yahoo." (How old is the Old Testament really?)