more on "break a leg" --- (about Yiddish kunna hurra)

[Victor]

My initial response to Dave Wilton would have mentioned more on "evil
eye avoidance" Biblical roots, but I took it out in favor of a direct
response to "jinx". But that is precisely my point. "Evil eye" is a
Biblical concoction, so it's been absorbed into many Christian and
Jewish cultures, despite a proscription against superstitions. This is
particularly strong among rural Slavs AFAIK (for reasons I won't discuss
here), although, I suspect, it persists in other places as well.

My point earlier was precisely the question why the superstition would
divert form this evil-eye base toward more esoteric expressions that are
both obscure to outsiders and counterintuitive, yet are similar enough
in their semantic structure. It's a giant leap from avoiding mentioning
something to saying the opposite--in a sense, "wishing" for something
bad to happen. This goes well beyond the evil-eye avoidance.

Any anthropological and cross-cultural tips would be appreciated.

    VS-)

Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
> The Yiddish form is kunna hurra  (Kein ein hora=No evil eye, literally: no (kein) eye (ein; from Hebrew), ha (the), ra' (bad, evil; from Hebrew), i.e. "No eye (of) the evil."
>
>     If more information on this is sought, I yield to my very knowledgeable colleagues on the Jewish languages discussion group (jewish-languages at googlegroups.com).
>
>     Btw, for the last part of kunna hurra (ra) I find the following in http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/7451.htm
>
> 7451. ra' (rah)
> 7452 >> <https://minermail.mst.edu/hebrew/7452.htm>
> ________________________________
>
> >From ra'a' <https://minermail.mst.edu/hebrew/7489.htm> ; bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) -- adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease(-ure), distress, evil((- favouredness), man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief(-vous), harm, heavy, hurt(-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief(-vous), misery, naught(-ty), noisome, + not please, sad(-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked(-ly, -ness, one), worse(-st), wretchedness, wrong. (Incl. Feminine raaah; as adjective or noun.).
>
>

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