LL-L "Morphology" 2003.07.28 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 28.JUL.2003 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Grammar"

I think this qualifies as an English language question, so
here goes...

I've been trying to decide on what best to use as the plural
of "golem" in English (as in "The Golem of Prague", or the
novel by Meyrink &c).

Unfortunately, my English language dictionaries don't list
the word and "the golem" tends to turn up alone in the
literature, so I've had to resort to a Google search on
"plural golem", the results of which are conflicting,
giving the plural as either "golems" or just "golem".

I was wondering if anyone could either give a more
authoritative source or tell me what the Hebrew or
Yiddish plural was (I believe the word originated as
the Hebrew for "foetus").

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Morphology

Hi, Sandy!

An interesting question above ...  I'll take a stab at it.

_Golem_ is Hebrew and means something like 'dummy', 'artificial man', often
specifically referring to the 16th-century legend in which the Maharal of
Prague created such a creature from clay. a creature that sleeps hidden in
some basement and only gets up to come to the rescue of the Jewish community
in times of utmost danger.

_Golem_ is a masculine noun and thus takes the plural suffix _-im_ (/-iym/):

Hebrew:
sg. גולם golem (/gowläm/) -> גולמים pl. golamim (/gowlâmiym/)

Yiddish:
sg. גולם goylem -> pl. גולמים goylomim

(In both cases, primary stress is on _-im_, pronounced like "-eem.")

In his English-Yiddish-English dictionary, Weinreich lists Yiddish גולמס
_goylems_ as a secondary plural variant.

I don't think you could go wrong with "golems."  "Golamim" would probably be
the preferred variant in more specialist circles.  Most well-educated
readers would probably figure out "golamim" in conjunction with "golem" on
the basis of accepted "kibbutz" -> "kibbutzim" (קיבוץ -> קיבוצים).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

P.S.: Incidentally, Yiddish for 'robot' is גולמאט _golmat_ (final stress,
Germanic pl. גולמאטן _golmatn_), a contraction of גולם _goylem_ and אויטומאט
_oytomat_ 'automat(on)', I assume.

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