Hot answers tagged yiddish
11
Its source may be the Arabic name Farida, which means "unique / precious" (as opposed to the Germanic name Frida, which means "peace"). [link]
10
According to Merriam-Webster:
Etymology: Yiddish yarmlke, from Polish jarmułka & Ukrainian yarmulka skullcap, of Turkic origin; akin to Turkish yağmurluk rainwear
9
Leib (as well as Label, Leibush and Loeb) is the Yiddish version of the German Name Loeb which means Lion (from the German for lion, Löwe).
The English equivalent of this name is often Leo or Leon which are root in the Latin word for lion, leo.
[Source: Kolatch, Alfred J. 1984. The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names. Middle Village: ...
9
Wikipedia says it's "probably derived from the Old High German kraepfo meaning grape." However, I would think it's more likely related to crepe (French for a type of pancake that's often filled, much like a krepel).
9
Having grown up "heimish" I will do my best to explain.
The first thing I tell people that ask me to define Heimish, is "mixed up". From the outside looking in, our accent in davening is typically that of chassidim, yet we (For the most part) are clean shaven (which is a huge no-no in the chassidish world). You might see us wear a gartel on shabbos ...
8
From Wikipedia:
Max Weinreich traces the etymology of
cholent to the Latin present
participle calentem, meaning "that
which is hot" (as in calorie), via Old
French chalant (present participle of
chalt, from the verb chaloir, "to
warm"). One widely quoted folk
etymology, relying on the French
pronunciation of cholent or the
Central and ...
8
Some claim it is a variant of the Greek word Phoebos, meaning "bright," which is why it goes together with Shraga (= flame in Aramaic).
However, others dispute this etymology. Here is one interesting alternative:
"Feivel" does not come from the "Phobos" (aka Apollo), the Greek Sun God! (This was a false etymology put about by German Jewish scholars in ...
8
Sounds like it could be a case of overregularization of the copula+participle pattern found commonly in Chaza"l to express habituals (e.g. הוי מקבל את כל האדם בסבר פנים יפות). I have no historical basis for showing this spill-over to have occurred.
Perhaps it is simply a shortcut for code-switchers using a copula in a more familiar language to bear the ...
8
I'm surprised to read the other answers provided, not to mention the direction of the question leading to those answers. I didn't know what to expect when I clicked on the title, but it wasn't that.
I have personally never heard the word in any context other than, simply, "friendly". As in: "This is a Heimish Shul" (not as a denomination, but just ...
7
A search on Hebrewbooks yields the following earlier (16th-century) uses of the Hebrew סברת הכרס:
Radvaz, teshuvah 1463: זו סברת הכרס היא
Yam Shel Shlomo, Gittin 4:28: וכל אחד עושה לו סברת הכרס כמו שיחפוץ
...and I'm sure there are others too.
Considering that Radvaz lived nowhere near any Yiddish speakers, I doubt that the Hebrew is a calque of the ...
7
Interestingly (but unsurprisingly), there is a Wikipedia page about this! They give the spelling ןאוייעך, which is how the word would be transcribed into Yiddish based on sound alone.
7
The word "shtender" (שטענדער) is Yiddish, and it's usually translated as "stander," although a more correct translation would be "lectern." It's an object used to prop up your books at an angle, and allow for easier reading. Some models are designed to be placed on a desk, and others, like the one pictured below, are for people who prefer to stand.
Jews ...
6
OK, I may have enough of an idea to offer an answer.
I think the panel in the upper right is supposed to say כינור שפילט, like "harpist" or something in Yiddish.
The upper middle seems to say something about a harp.
The upper left says מאנדלן, Yiddish for almonds.
I think the lower right might be א ליד, "a song."
The lower middle says "baa..."
I don't know ...
5
Etymonline seems to be essentially correct. Two other sources discussed in Balashon's article here describe the journey a little more explicitly:
Yiddish latke, from either Russian latka or Ukrainian oladka, both derived (I assume) from Old Russian оладья, olad'ya. This is then apparently derived from the Greek ελαδια, eladia, "olive-y things", ultimately ...
4
The only meaning of "shtibl" that I know of is "a little house". There is a song performed by the Barry sisters that begins: "In main shteitl shteit a shtibl mit a grinem dach..." - "In my village stands a little house with a green roof..."
The word for "house" in both the Galician and the southern (Ukrainian) dialects of Yiddish is "shtib". It would ...
4
I don't know.
However, the Online Etymology Dictionary says English grapple is from Middle English grapple from Old French grapil, "hook", diminutive of Old French grape, "hook", from a Germanic source.
Wikipedia claims (without any source given) that Yiddish קרעפל is "probably derived from the Old High German kraepfo meaning grape. The Middle English word ...
4
From Wikipedia:
The name hamantash (המן־טאַש), is commonly known as a reference to Haman, the villain of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther. The pastries are supposed to symbolize the defeated enemy of the Jewish people, and thus resemble the "ears of Haman". A more likely source of the name is a corruption of the Yiddish word מאן־טאשן (montashn) ...
4
I've always heard this used as a synonym for "frum". If it has a more specific connotation, based on the usage I have heard, I would interpret it as having the following characteristics:
very traditional (i.e. not modern), black hat, and linguistically the environment would be yiddish/english.
Update:
I discussed this question with our Rabbi at shul today, ...
4
Maybe the Poles in the Jewish areas were generally lower-class peasants with whom the Jews had little interest in culturally assimilating? I recall a story about Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz zt"l, where he greeted a man working in his house with "Good Morning" in Polish, and then apologized profusely after realizing that the man was actually Jewish. Apparently ...
4
Many Jews spoke Hungarian in Hungary because there was a very successful policy of Magyarization in Hungary. This is one of the explanations for the rise of ultra-orthodoxy in northeast Hungary (the 'Unterland'), and the invention of a new Halakhic tradition under the disciples of the Hatam Sofer (d. 1839), as a reaction against the great transformation of ...
3
This is just a guess, but in Hebrew a 'shul' is called a 'Beit Keneset' (a house of gathering). My guess is that in the old times, the place of gathering is where Jews would pray and teach. Even today, many shuls double as a beit midrash. (house of teaching)
Secondly, the word school itself, didn't always mean a place of learning. It also meant a place ...
3
It originates from the Yiddish language where:
דאַוונען = to pray
So just do a little yiddish -> english transliteration magic and you get:
Daven
Couple of other notes:
It was originally called doynen in old Yiddish, before it changed to davnen (source)
As for the etymology: many say it is unknown.
But... you can find a bunch of supposed ones...
Here ...
3
Not specifically adjectival use of nouns, but:
man d'amar, Aram. non-constituent, to mean "opiner", noun
hava amina, Aram. verb phrase, to mean "first thought", noun
teku, Aram. verb, to mean "unresolved question", noun
ma matzinu, Heb. non-constituent (I think), to mean "logical argument from one thing to a comparable thing", noun
k'le kodesh, Heb. plural ...
3
I don't know Hungarian or Polish, but it would seem reasonable to guess that it is a Yiddishized version of the English phrase "to show." The pure Yiddish term for this would be באוויזן (ba'veizen). Maybe the English word is used because "ba'veizen" could have aggressive connotations (as in "proving" something). But this is all pure conjecture.
Anyway, here ...
3
סארטין מנאליווקעס seems to mean "sorts (types) of liqueur" - nalivka being the Russian word for a beverage of that type, some formulations of which, I guess, might contain chametz.
I think that Dave is correct that ארסיקלען שבדרוג משארס should be ארטיקלען שבדראג סטארס - articles (items) in drugstores.
הנאטיס, as I mentioned in a comment, I think simply ...
2
I'm guessing Yiddish shtibl is actually related to English stove, which may be from Vulgar Latin, whereas steeple is apparently from a Germanic root and completely unrelated.
2
There's no reason to believe that the two are related. Though I recall hearing (in my youth) that the name of Country Yossi's "Shteeble Hoppers" album was a take-off on a Steeple-related band name.
[Update: I emailed CY, and he said the name "just sounded cute" and had nothing to do with steeples. So much for that myth!]
2
Thanks to yaavetz and Google, I have discovered that the source is the German and/or Yiddish "Kindbett" -- the bed upon which a woman who has just given birth convalesces.
2
A reason mentioned for eating hamentashen is the meaning of the word – hamentashen, since Haman wanted to kill us out and Hashem weakened him and prevented him from doing evil to us. Thus, the treat is called המן תש (Hamen became weakened). In addition eating these pastries shows our faith that the same result will befall all our antagonists.[Avraham Eliezer ...
2
According to The Merriam Webster Dictionary online it is from the Polish word grzegarz, meaning rattle.
My knowledge of the polish language is non-existent, but the dictionaries I found online (such as this one) didn't translate rattle that way. See here for many different polish words for the word rattle.
Google Translate has tons of different words for ...
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