The Hebrew word for young girl was very close to the word virgin, there was only a subtle difference in the spelling. Sorry, but this simply isn't so. עַלמָה

The Hebrew word for young girl was very close to the word virgin, there was only a subtle difference in the spelling. Sorry, but this simply isn't so. עַלמָה -- 'almah -- is the Hebrew word for young girl in Isaiah. (The corresponding male term is עֶלֶם -- 'elem.) בְּתוּלָה -- betulah -- is the Hebrew word for virgin. (There is no corresponding male term.) Note that, aside from the feminine ah ending (i.e. the last consonant and the vowel under the next-to-last consonant), they don't look, or sound, alike at all and, semantically, their roots are totally different.