Yiddish in UK English (anecdotal)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

The derivation of Yiddish anatomical shmuck (actually: shmok) from  German Schmuck (= jewelry, decoration, embellishment) is false.  I have the relevant articles in my office, but meanwhile, IIRC, Yiddish shmok derives from a Slavic word indicating a snake or snake-like creature.  My bibliographical notes at home contain the following references, all from Comments on Etymology:
 
1) Gerald Cohen (title: ?), vol. 13, #5-6, Dec. 1983, pp. 12-13.
2) J. Peter Maher (letter), vol. 13, no. 11-12, March 1984, pp. 7-9.
3) Joseph Walfield (article title: ?), vol. 14, issues # 11-12, March 1985, p. 7.
4). 'Yiddish "shmok" (= English "shmuck") revisited.' ----- vol. 22,  #2 (Nov. 1992), pp. 20- 22. Contains:
   a) Reprint of article by "Philologos" in _The Forward_, July 24, 1992: 'Snakes in the Grass.' (pp. 20-21).
   b.) Joseph Wallfield: '"Shmuck" --- again.' (p.22)
 
Also, I seem to remember another, longer item, on the subject--probably written by my deceased friend and colleague, Joseph Wallfield. If it's of any interest, I can check this when I'm back in my office.
 
Gerald Cohen
 
________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Laurence Horn
Sent: Sun 10/21/2007 7:18 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Yiddish in UK English (anecdotal)

At 5:35 PM -0400 10/21/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>  >From my experience in the the military, I can testify that, in
>colloquial German, too, and not only in Yiddish, "schmuck" means
>"penis," as in, e.g. "Der Schmuck ist starr," a phrase that often fell
>trippingly from the lips of b-girls I've read somewhere or other that
>the semantic point is that the male genitalia "decorate" or
>"compliment" or "complement" or "complete" their bearer's manhood or
>manliness or something along those lines.

I've always understood it as the same idea as the "family jewels"
metaphor, although there's only one such jewel involved in the
German/Yiddish case.

LH

>I used to vaguely wonder
>whether one could buy decorative representations of the penis at a
>Schmueckerei.
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 10/21/07, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>>  Subject:      Yiddish in UK English (anecdotal)
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  From an English friend, commenting on a post which used the word "kvetch"
>>  (Yiddish for 'complain, gripe'):
>>
>>  'Kvetch' is one of several Yiddish words which have made their way into
>>  > English ('kibitz' and 'schmuck' are others I can think of which
>>I hear quite
>>  > often). I suspect from the British Jewish communities (especially the east
>>  > end of London) as well as imported via American, I certainly
>>heard 'schmuck'
>>  > and 'kvetch' when I was at school before we had very much
>>American cultural
>>  > influence in the British media. Confusingly, 'schmuck' in German means
>>  > decoration or jewellry (also 'pretty' and 'smart' (as in dress, not
>>  > intelligence!)), I got very confused when I saw signs saying "Juwelier und
>>  > Schmuck"!
>>
>>
>>  m a m
>>
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>
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