When/where did the idea of Hamantashen come from?
I have heard:
- Haman's hat
- Haman's Ears
But neither of those make any sense...
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Near-duplicate: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/69452– msh210 ♦Mar 17, 2016 at 17:15
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@msh210notreally near but it looks like an actual duplicate.– NaftaliMar 17, 2016 at 17:16
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seforim.blogspot.co.il/2008/03/…– ChaimMar 16, 2018 at 0:54
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Another idea -- Haman's dice. This is fascinating: web.archive.org/web/20140314133528/http://…– SAHApr 10, 2018 at 20:38
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Notwithstanding the popularity of other interpretations, I could swear this^ is the actual significance of hamentaschen. (Well, depending on how long they have been around.) This is Jewish humor exactly! It makes me want to eat more.– SAHApr 10, 2018 at 20:45
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1 Answer
Secular linguists (I believe this is attributed to William Safire) have suggested the most likely possibility that the original was "mon - tashen", i.e. "poppyseed pockets." (Mon being Yiddish for poppy seeds.) Then at some point someone had them on Purim and made some stretch from montashen to homontashen.
Eventually modern Hebrew needed some name for the treat and called them Haman's ears.
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I heard about some connection between Purim and (poppy) seeds, so it was not by coincidence that someone had them on Purim.– AdámAug 1, 2013 at 21:02