Yenta - Wordsmith.org

A Yenta is not a Matchmaker? Oh, well. I do learn something every day.

Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, is reported to have said, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse." One wonders how he would have completed, "and Yiddish to..."

To his mother of course! Who else?

Janet

Quote:

A Yenta is not a Matchmaker? Oh, well. I do learn something every day.

A matchmaker is a shadchen.

This word may indeed have come into currency in the United States from the Jiddisch, but it seems to be a descendent of Old Norse �genta� (�joke�, �prank�) and has active descendents in the Nordic languages (Swedish dialects �jenta�, Norwegian (bokm�l) �jente�), i e, a young girl. Presumably Jiddisch picked the word up from these languages....

Dutch laguage has absorbed lots of Yiddish words. Earlier this year there was a poll in Amsterdam for the most populair Amsterdam word.
The winning word was : Achenebbish (though I don't know exactly how to write it), is a very common dutch word.Also outside of Amsterdam. Strange choice as it means: poorly, shabby. Pronounced with the sharp G.: aGennebbees.Most people never know where words come from. Yenta, I never heard of before.
I'm a yenta, no doubt.

As any literate Jew knows, Yenta was the name of the matchmaker in Sholom Aleichem's stories, several of which were collected into what became the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Sholom Aleichem, taken from the common greeting that essentially means hello, was the pen name of Solomon Rabinovitz. Because Yenta was such a busybody, her name became synonymous with that characteristic. Perhaps because that characteristic is an advantage to a sachem (matchmaker), I often run across people who believe that Yenta means matchmaker.

Thanks for that explanation Dresdner.

I, like Komowkwa, also thought that yenta meant matchmaker. I seem to recall Barbra Streisand calling herself a yenta in the movie Hello Dolly, in which she was a matchmaker.

I'm strickly going on memory here, so, memory being what it is, I could be wrong.

Here's some examples of what a Yenta sounds like:

www.yentatones.com

Enjoy.

Quote:

As any literate Jew knows, Yenta was the name of the matchmaker in Sholom Aleichem's stories, several of which were collected into what became the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Sholom Aleichem, taken from the common greeting that essentially means hello, was the pen name of Solomon Rabinovitz. Because Yenta was such a busybody, her name became synonymous with that characteristic. Perhaps because that characteristic is an advantage to a sachem (matchmaker), I often run across people who believe that Yenta means matchmaker.

An example of that:

"Have I Got a Boy For You"

Some years a service was offered (briefly, I think) in NYC called RentaYenta. For a fee a woman (presumeably) would harangue/harass a person of your choosing. Wonder if it's still around . . . ?

Yente from Yentl is one of those Yiddish words of Romance origin. In this case from Italian Gentile 'highborn, amiable'. Some more information about some Yiddish proper names at this posting (search for Yentl in the text) on Mendele.

Well, Sinatra might have said, "Could be that dame in the story just had a Yenta match-make."

Two wonderful books: Born to Kvetch - Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods, by Michael Wexler (thought-provoking and well-written), and Yiddish with Dick and Jane by Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman (hilarious). Recently I moved from the east coast to the middle of the country, where Yiddish is practically UNKNOWN!

Schmooze has settled into the dutch language as:
smoezen . It has about the same meaning: some people talking at low voice, often in the company of others.
It can have a positive tendency (preparing a surprise) or a negative one (gossiping).(Or also business transactions)
I hope this is the right place to make this post.Or do you people make a different thread for each word of the week ?

Thanks for today's Thomas Jefferson quote . Where has all that wisdom gone?

branshea, you are people too, so you are perfectly right to continue the thread any way you want. (thread have been hi-jacked here as a matter of course.

(and note that the weekly themes forum is under utilized anyway!--so do as you please.. (so long as you don't break any of the rules (that don't exist!))

Thanks of Troy, yes I guess I am, but I still feel a stranger allright.

I like this week's theme. Jiddishe traces are left in so many languages around the world and of course jewish people took up words in the various countries as well. It's funny to see how different words have been 'naturalized' in this language or that. And to think about a possible reason why this word was left to stay here/or there.
So I'm already curious about the next one.

bikingbill, I sympathize with your signature. However, H.G. Wells would have had much more reason not to dispear if every adult would ride a bicycle by now. The best invention since they did the wheel. (cute little song too)

I recognize remnants of Yiddish expressions when I hear old Ashkenazim speaks. They sure do ramble about bubkis.

Well, after having appeared as Motel the Tailor in two different productions of Fiddler, and having seen a production of Tevye and his Daughters in one of my Mom's theatre company's when I was a boy, i had always associated yente as a busybody first, and also as a matchmaker. In fact, the popular song Matchmaker, Matchmaker from Fiddler is addressed towards Yente.

This week's theme reminds me to get out one of my all time favorite books, Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish. It may be out of print now, but it is well worth a search.The humor inherent in Yiddish words is delightfully shown in this book. It also has ample examples of usage and a clear guide to pronunciation. Professor Rosten would appreciate this theme and would probably contribute were he only still alive.

This week has been like a homecoming for me!

I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and, though not Jewish, I picked up a lot of Yiddish along the way. Once I moved away from the area, I realized that not everyone uses such colorful expressions and I still get strange looks when some words slip into my "everyday speak".

A fun book (and a quick read) that I keep on my bookshelf is "Drek!: The REAL Yiddish Your Bubbe Never Taught You" by Yetta Emmes (apologies if this book has already been mentioned). I find it keeps that part of my "borrowed culture" in shape.

Some words just from memory like my non jewish family used them.
Mesjokke = crazy or crazy about. 'De mazzel' (from mazzeltov)as a salute is still used on a large scale. Gochemerd or gochum for clever.
Not koosher for anything 'fishy'. Today's word came from polish and is transformed through jiddish to the regular english word slob?
It's a partial world language in a way.

Hi QA, homecoming indeed. One more geek is always welcome.

I saw somewhere that Streisand is doing a new movie about a Jewish girl who trains grizzlies: Yentl Ben.

Dresdner
stranger
Reged: 07/17/06
Posts: 1
Loc: Puyallup, WA USA

Wow! Puyallup is just down the road. And I know how to pronounce it.

Puyallup is just down the road. And I know how to pronounce it. Just like it looks?

Quote:

Puyallup is just down the road. And I know how to pronounce it. Just like it looks? ;)

Pweelyup?

See, I would have said

Pie - all - up

jackie: poo-y'all-up

poo- y'all -up

Bad tsuwm, bad, bad tsuwm...no laughing at our Southern members...the ladies are known to swoon at the slightest provocation.

Puy from a well? (french) all from ally? up from up you go?
Where's that pie? A high location. Pie in the sky?

Puy as in guy as in pie.

Allright,thanks!Puyallup.Easy.That didn't take long, did it?

They'll never find it pronounced like that although I'll admit that being from Vangcoover I might be a little off myself.

poo-y'all-up And the same to you!

Though in this case y'all doesn't rhyme with pal.

>>>Vangcoover

HA! Same type of thing happens to the pronunciation of Qu�bec. Many of my English friends say they live in this foreign place called kwee-beck, when oddly, they live on the same island I do.

> Though in this case y'all doesn't rhyme with pal.

does it ever?

The "puy" is pronounced pyoo, which rhymes with goo and few and through.
The "all" is pronounced like the man's name "Al" and rhymes with gal and pal.
The "up" is pronounced like up only without a lot of emphasis on the "uh" part.
The emphasis is on the middle syllable.
Hence: pyoo-AL-up.
It is a Native American word.

This seems to settle it once and for all. The pronouciation I mean.
Very clear. What I would like to know though, and as a non american I never thought about it consciously or heard/saw it discussed : What's the definition of a Native american word? From indian origin? Aren't most of the words from imported origins?

Before Puyallup was a city, it was the name of an Indian tribe. The Puyallup people are Native Americans whose reservation is in western Washington State's Puget Sound area.

The original name of the tribe was spwiya'laphabsh, meaning generous or welcoming. The tribe originally spoke the Puyallup Nisqually tongue of the Salishan family of languages spoken among Northwest Coast original peoples.

Washington State has lots of Native American place names because of the many tribes of Indians who resided here before the Spanish, English, French, Russians and other Europeans showed up.

Wow! That's an interesting piece of new knowledge to me.

Wow!!! ( doesn't that sound indian as well?)

I had trouble (at first) with indian names in Washington when i visited Seattle, (just as many have trouble with east coast indian place names)

once i got used to the names, i could make a good guess at how to say them.

every language divides up words into sylabils slightly differently, and there are different 'silent' (or virtuately silent because an untrained ear doesn't hear the difference) letters in different languages..

Hohokus or Quogue or wynadanch are easy for anyone to parse,but the others are less so. (ho-hokus is the easies, wynadanch is the hardest)--

i would have guessed
puy like buy (not like goo)
all as uhll (not quite Al or gal, more of a schwa)
and up the same (Uhp) not Up
(together some thing like Pile up run together (as in there was a 13 car pileup on the expressway)(said as a redneck)

Hence: pyoo-AL-up. Well for heaven's sake--I never guessed that whoever made up the English-ized name put the y in the wrong place; or to put it another way, I never knew that the y was silent.

Thanks, Father Steve.