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Mensch. Mensch (Yiddish: מענטש, mentsh, from Middle High German Mensch, from Old High German mennisco; akin to Old English human being, man) means "a person of integrity and honor". [1] According to Leo Rosten, a mensch is "someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than ...
Shiksa. Shiksa (Yiddish: שיקסע, romanized: shikse) is an often disparaging [1] term for a gentile [a] woman or girl. The word, which is of Yiddish origin, has moved into English usage and some Hebrew usage (as well as Polish and German), mostly in North American Jewish culture. Among Orthodox Jews, the term may be used to describe a Jewish ...
This is a list of words that have entered the English language from the Yiddish language, many of them by way of American English.There are differing approaches to the romanization of Yiddish orthography (which uses the Hebrew alphabet); thus, the spelling of some of the words in this list may be variable (for example, shlep is a variant of schlep, and shnozz, schnoz).
kosher – Yinglish, not in its religious or Yiddish meanings, but only in five slang senses: authentic, trustworthy, legitimate, fair, and approved by a higher source. Its pronunciation, as "kōsher", is another distinguishing factor, as in true Yiddish it is pronounced "kūsher" or "kösher" mensch – a person of uncommon maturity and decency
Yenta or Yente (Yiddish: יענטע) is a Yiddish woman's given name. It is a variant form of the name Yentl (Yiddish: יענטל), which ultimately is thought to be derived from the Italian word gentile, meaning 'noble' or 'refined'. [1][2] The name has entered American English only in the form yenta in the senses of "meddler, busybody ...
Schlemiel (Yiddish: שלומיאל; sometimes spelled shlemiel or shlumiel) is a Yiddish term meaning "inept/incompetent person" or "fool". [ 1 ] It is a common archetype in Jewish humor, and so-called " schlemiel jokes" depict the schlemiel falling into unfortunate situations. [ 2 ]
Members of Yiddishist movement, 1908. Yiddishism (Yiddish: ײִדישיזם) is a cultural and linguistic movement which began among Jews in Eastern Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. [1] Some of the leading founders of this movement were Mendele Moykher-Sforim (1836–1917), [2] I. L. Peretz (1852–1915), and Sholem Aleichem ...
Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews (1988) Later linguistic research has refined the Weinreich model or provided alternative approaches to the language's origins, with points of contention being the characterization of its Germanic base, the source of its Hebrew/Aramaic adstrata, and the means and location of this fusion. Some theorists argue that the fusion occurred with a Bavarian dialect ...