LL-L "Etymology" 2005.05.15 (05) [E/Yiddish]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 15.MAY.2005 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2005.05.14 (06) [E]


German miners certainly worked in lead mines in the Derbyshire Peak
District, but as far as I know they were High German speakers.  A possible
etymolgy for the local name "toadstone" for basalt is "Totstein" - rock is
"dead" in that it usually contains no ore.
The traditional occupations of Lowlands immigrants into England are
typically sea-farers, wool traders, and later on, drainage engineers when
the Fenlands were drained; all could reasonably have used baskets of some
kind.  Also, in the late Middle Ages, Flemish brick-makers and layers were
in demand (Flemish Bond is still a brick-laying term).  I imagine they would
have used "korfe" as well.

Paul

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From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2005.05.14 (06) [E]


Frank Verhoft wrote:
"...this makes me wonder if Flemish/Dutch/Low German speaking
mineworkers/architects (?) were active in Britain, i can't think of another
way the word could have entered ME. Could anybody shed some light and give
some more details?"

In yet more evidence that the ordinary man and woman on the street are much
more academic than many academics, a number of relatives and friends in the
East Midlands of England expressed surprise that I wasn't aware of the
activities of Flemish / Dutch / Low Saxon (all subsumed under "Dutch", of
course) workers in the fens and lowlands of eastern England from Tudor times
onwards.

I do not know how true this folk knowledge is, of course. But the consensus
was that none but the "Dutch" (that is, Flemings / Dutch / Low Saxons), with
their experience of similar environments back home, could have engineered
the vast engineering schemes used to drain the fens in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. When you add to this folk memory some minor evidence
of lexical correspondences within Zeeuws and East Midlands English (I am
thinking specifically of Z. _zelven_ and EMEng _senn_ 'self' and EMEng _us_
for 'our' which recalls Dutch _onze_), it must, at least, merit further
investigation.

Go raibh maith agat,

Criostóir.

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From: Larry Granberg <nibwit at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.05.14 (05) [E]
Hi,
Yes, both. Can also be spelled in many different ways. Schmear, schmeer,
shmear, smeer, szmeer and on and on. I have encountered the word meaning
"sandwich" more as a noun than as a verb- from Luxembourg, Saarland,
throughout Germany (all the way north in Rügen too), and into Poland. I
don't know if it is a modern case of a traveling colloquialism, or if the
word has a history of it's own in the different areas.
In Yiddish, schmeer (esp. in New York) the word is used to describe a spread
of something as in Lox and Schmeer, Lox and a bit of cream cheese. It is
based, I think, on the Yiddish verb schmirn (noun - schmirechz) "to grease".
The Yiddish word has it's origins in German verb schmieren (noun-schmiere).
In restaurant circles, the word has taken on a life of it's own, and is used
to describe a spread of anything, be it butter, cheese, or whatever have
you. In one restaurant in (don't snicker now) West Virginia, the cooks there
who wouldn't know a rugelah from a pig in a blanket had on the menu "bagels
shmeered with butter and bacon". I thought that they were having a joke, but
the waitress was quite serious. Oh well.

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From: Larry Granberg <nibwit at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.05.14 (08) [E]
Hi,
well this post came in after I wrote the other email. Sorry for the
duplication. Although I haven't heard schmeer used in the sense of buttering
someone up, Ron, the one I know is "schmooze" (from the Yiddish schmuesn
schmuese - chat). Have to say that shmeer  for bribe I haven't heard that
often. What I heard most in Yiddish would be habeer or shtup (that also
means sex), or something like that.
Zay gesunt,
Larry

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

Larry,

> well this post came in after I wrote the other email. Sorry for the
> duplication.
> Although I haven't heard schmeer used in the sense of buttering someone
> up, Ron, the one I know is "schmooze" (from the Yiddish schmuesn
> schmuese - chat). Have to say that shmeer  for bribe I haven't heard that
> often.

Oy, Larry! Ikh veys shoyn ... es zennen di finger ... di Flinkn Fingerlekh
Funem Fantastishn Farvalter.  Sorry to keep stealing your thunder.

Larry, "shmeer" in the sense of "to butter up," "to bribe," etc. is
apparently non-American English, probably England English.  Bear in mind
that British English had its own source of Yiddish loans.

"To schmooze" has pretty much entered general American English.  I think it
is understood widely outside North America.  I use it a fair bit, usually in
a negative or jocular fashion (e.g., "Now what are they shmoozing about,
those two?", "I was able to shmooze them into letting me have it at a
special discount.").  In Yiddish שמועסן _shmuesn_ means 'to converse' (often
much like North Saxon _kloenen_ does).  It comes from Hebrew שמו _sh'muoth_
'news'.  German _schmusen_ 'to cuddle', 'to snuggle', 'to make out' is based
on the same Yiddish word, possibly derived via Rothwelsch.

Other commonly known Yiddish loans in America English:

bagel <  בײגל beygl
 hard ring-shaped bread roll made by boiling then baking the dough


blintz(e) <  ×‘×œ×™× ×¦×¢ blintse < Russian blintsy блинцы, pl. of blinets блинец
< dim. of блин blin
cheese-filled crepe

chutzpah <  חוצפּה khutspe
 audacity, effrontery, British "cheek"

dreck < דרעק drek 'filth' (cf. G _Dreck_)
excrements; filth; scum

kibitz <  קיבעצען kibetsn (cf. German _kiebitzen_ < _Kiebitz_ 'lapwing')
 to offer unwanted advice, e.g. to someone playing cards; to converse idly

klutz ~ klotz <  קלאָץ klots 'woodblock' (cf. German _Klotz_)
clumsy person

kosher <  כּשר kosher < Heb. כּשר kasher
 conforming to Jewish dietary laws; appropriate, legitimate

kvetch <  קװעטשן kvetshn 'press, squeeze' (cf. German _quetschen_)
to complain, to whine

latke < לאטקע latke < Russian латка latka
potato pancake

lox <  לאַקס laks 'salmon' (cf. G _Lachs_)
cold-smoked salmon

mishmash <  מישמאַש mishmash (cf. G _Mischmasch_)
 hodgepodge

nosh <  × ï¬®×©×Ÿ nashn 'to snack' (cf. G _naschen_)
snack, to eat, food (also non-American English)

shlep <  שלעפּן shlepn 'to drag', 'to haul' (cf. G _schleppen_)
to drag or haul,  to make a tedious journey, to drag oneself around

shlock < שלאק shlak ~ שלאג shlag 'stroke', 'hit' (cf. G _Schlag_)
shoddy work, quickly thrown together for the appearance of having been done
properly

shlong <  ×©×œï¬®× ×’ shlang 'snake' (cf. G _Schlange_)
penis

shmaltz <  שמאַלץ shmalts (cf. G _Schmalz_)
excessive sentimentality; chicken fat or drippings used as a _shmear_ on
bread

schmuck <  שמאָק shmok 'ornament', 'adornment' > 'penis' (cf. G _Schmuck_)
jerk, unpleasant person

shnoz <  ×©× ×•×™×¥ shnoyts 'snout' (cf. G _Schnauze_, E "snout")
 nose, especially a large nose

shtik <  שטיק 'a piece of something' (cf. G _Stück_)
 comic theme; a defining habit or distinguishing feature

 schtup < שטופּן 'to nudge' (cf. G _stupfen_)
to push, to nudge; to have sex

shpeel, spiel <  שפּיל shpil 'play' (cf. German _Spiel_)
lengthy talk, to-do

(t)cho(t)chke <  טשאַטשקע tshatshke < Russian цацка tsatska
trinket, knickknack, worthless item; pretty girl (usually dim.
"tchotchkele")

Some people, especially on the East Coast, also use "shmatte" ~ "shmatta" ~
"schmatte_ < Yiddish שמאטע _shmate_ 'rag', 'cheap dress', 'duds' < Polish
_szmata_ 'rag'.

זײַט ×’×¢×–×•× ×˜
Zayt gezunt

Reinhard/Ron

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