![]() Yiddish is closely related to modern German, and many Yiddish words have German cognates in some cases it is difficult to tell whether a particular word was borrowed from Yiddish or from German. For that reason, some of the words listed originated in Hebrew or Slavic languages, but have entered English via Yiddish. Yiddish is a Germanic language, originally spoken by Jews in Central and later Eastern Europe, written in the Hebrew alphabet, and containing a substantial substratum of Hebrew words as well as numerous loans from Slavic languages. A number of Yiddish words also entered English via large Jewish communities in Britain, particularly London, where Yiddish has influenced Cockney English. Many of these words are more common in the American entertainment industry (initially via vaudeville), the Catskills/ Borscht Belt, and New York City English. There are differing approaches to the romanization of Yiddish orthography (which uses the Hebrew alphabet) thus, the spelling of some of the following words may be variable (for example, shlep is a variant of schlep, and shnozz, schnoz). This is a list of words that have entered the English language from the Yiddish language, many of them by way of American English. JSTOR ( April 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "List of English words of Yiddish origin" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. "Incidentally, the kid used all our equipment, fiddling like the klutz he is with a brand-new Panavision camera, which now when I press the button makes a sound like when you turn slowly the wood handle on those tin party noisemakers Elsie calls groggers.This article needs additional citations for verification. There does not appear to be any written evidence of klutz in English prior to 1959, when Carl Reiner explained the meaning of the word to the Los Angeles Times: " a dancer who dances as good as he can, but instead of just applause he also gets laughter." It comes from the Yiddish word klots, which means 'wooden beam.' Example: The word came to our language but a few generations ago, began its hardscrabble life as a non-standard lexical item, and through dint of hard work and having the good fortune of beginning and ending with two very funny letters, managed to make itself a widely accepted and useful member of our language. The story of klutz is a classic immigrant's tale. : a person who often drops things, falls down, etc. Buckley, Aberdeen American News, 12 June 1973 "The turgidity of Clifford's presentation makes it sadistic to dwell on the analysis, but one must, one absolutely must, since such chutzpah requires recognition." - William F. A common non-lexicographic way to define chutzpah is to say that it is exemplified by the man who kills his parents and then asks the court for mercy, on the grounds that he is an orphan. ![]() Some speakers of Yiddish feel that this word has been diluted in English use, and no longer properly conveys the monumental nature of the gall that is implied. Chutzpah comes from the Yiddish khutspe, which is itself descended from the Hebrew ḥuṣpāh. Its first known occurrence in English dates back to 1867 many of the other Yiddish words we've borrowed don't appear in print until the middle of the 20th century. : supreme self-confidence About the Word:Ĭhutzpah is not only one of the most well-known words of Yiddish origin we have in English, it was also one of the first to be borrowed. Nice." - Olivia Goldsmith, The First Wives Club, 2008 "And I got bubkes for alimony and child support. The Yiddish word bubkes (also spelled in both English and Yiddish as bupkes or bubkus) is thought to be short for the colorful kozebubkes, which means 'goat droppings'-something you may want to consider the next time you find yourself saying 'I've got bubkes.' Example: : the least amount also : nothing About the Word: It should be noted that these are not direct English translations of Yiddish words they are words from Yiddish that have been sufficiently naturalized in our language to be included in an English language dictionary. ![]() What follows is a list of some of the more well-known words of Yiddish origin to have entered English. More recently, in the last hundred years, we've added many Yiddish words in our melting pot. ![]() We've been borrowing liberally from other languages-French, Latin, and Italian to mention just a few-for centuries.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |