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Hebrew Loan Words in Yiddish

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OtAzoy
United States of America

Hebrew Loan Words in Yiddish

Post by OtAzoy »

I study Yiddish on DL, and this language has many loan words from Hebrew. They are written out in Hebrew WITHOUT the vowel markings, so they cannot be sounded out. YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW THEM!

I have found children's books written in Yiddish (Amherst Jewish Book Center) where the Hebrew words are transliterated into Yiddish so that young readers, who would probably know the words when they heard them, would be able to sound them out.

I can think of three words off the top of my head that took an age to recognize, but I think I have them down now:

מעשׂה - story
משפּחה - family
חתונה - wedding

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Corinnebelle

Re: Hebrew Loan Words in Yiddish

Post by Corinnebelle »

מַעֲשֶׂה means an act or deed in Hebrew.

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OtAzoy
United States of America

Re: Hebrew Loan Words in Yiddish

Post by OtAzoy »

OK. That means that this word מַעֲשֶׂה has changed meanings when it is used in Yiddish. I don't know how it is pronounced in Hebrew, but the word is pronounced "MY-seh" in Yiddish and means "story".

A "tall tale" in Yiddish is a באָ֜בע־מעשׂה . Interestingly, this has nothing to do with the Yiddish word for "grandmother" which is באָ֜בע, but, according to Encyclopedia.com is based on the title of a Yiddish chivalric romance that was adapted from the Tuscan Buovo d'Antona (based on an original 14th-century Anglo-Norman story). This work, popular among Ashkenazi Jews, originally appeared as Bovo D'Antona but was subsequently printed as Bove-Bukh and in later editions was titled Bove-Mayse (mayse = "tale" or "story"). The similarity of Bove to Bobe (Yiddish for "grandmother") led to the substitution of Bobe-Mayse for Bove-Mayse.

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EranBarLev
Israel

Re: Hebrew Loan Words in Yiddish

Post by EranBarLev »

OtAzoy wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:54 am

OK. That means that this word מַעֲשֶׂה has changed meanings when it is used in Yiddish. I don't know how it is pronounced in Hebrew, but the word is pronounced "MY-seh" in Yiddish and means "story".

I doubt that it has changed meanings. You probably mean מעשיה, pronounced "ma'asiyah", meaning "tale".

OtAzoy wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:54 am

A "tall tale" in Yiddish is a באָ֜בע־מעשׂה . Interestingly, this has nothing to do with the Yiddish word for "grandmother" which is באָ֜בע, but, according to Encyclopedia.com is based on the title of a Yiddish chivalric romance that was adapted from the Tuscan Buovo d'Antona (based on an original 14th-century Anglo-Norman story). This work, popular among Ashkenazi Jews, originally appeared as Bovo D'Antona but was subsequently printed as Bove-Bukh and in later editions was titled Bove-Mayse (mayse = "tale" or "story"). The similarity of Bove to Bobe (Yiddish for "grandmother") led to the substitution of Bobe-Mayse for Bove-Mayse.

That would be the Hebrew expression "סיפורי סבתא", literally "grandmother stories", which is obviously a literal translation of the Yiddish expression. :lol:

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