Glossary II

I thought it was useful to list rare or confusing words that some of use, but that aren't as idiolectic as these. (In other words, terms that existed before we made them up...)

Pfille = Sidder, Jewish "prayerbook". West Yiddish parallel form of tfille < Hebrew תפילה.

Tole, the = the character Christians regard to be the moshiach < Hebrew תלוי 'hanged, hung'. (Never mind he wasn't hanged. I mean, provided he lived at all.)

Here's to Chnucke!

Anyone f'r a Shnei Zeisem?

Important MS Found

An important early girso of a piyyut has been found. See here.

Glossary

I have noticed that the "SLaM Kavvana Club" (Steg, Lipman, and Mar) has developed its own terminology for a number of things. This is to be a collaborative post, on which all members are encouraged to work.

Let me (Mar Gavriel) start it out with a few:

[NB: Red items are Steg's coinages; blue items are MarGavriel's coinages; green items are Lipman's coinages.]

Dickdook = grammar. (Note: this spelling is used only in sexual contexts.)
Dog-and-Pon(e)y Show = Qabbālath Shabbāth
Ohrrer-Forrer = præcentor (שליח ציבור)
Shnei Zeisim = a mixed drink, made with two olives (שני זיתים), and with some sugar or salt on top, to create the appearance of snow (Schnee). See recipe.
Tequila Gedolah = literally, a popular Mexican drink for Rōsh Hasshānā. However, it has a number of figurative connotations, as well, especially in certain fixed expressions. I'm not sure exactly what these are; perhaps Lipman can help.
Wierd = weird. The normal English spelling weird is also used, at least by Steg and Lipman, but must be preceded by an asterisk.

Hwat shall we do?

The Yiddish word kvatter, 'godfather' at the brismile in Western Y, and one of three honours at the bris in Eastern Y, is related to the MHG gevatter. If we graciously leave aside the minor details that the latter is a loan translation of the gallechishe compater, while the English godfather isn't only unrelated, but the god- is actually originally good-, we come the this dilemma:

The word *god is reduced to a mere ק, which we can hardly replace by a ק!

You think we can turn the tables? Only in parts of the world. In most parts of Iceland, as far as I know, hv represents /kv/ (in others /hf/), and frankly, I don't know so many other languages that have a considerable frequency of -hv- anyway. In fact, there's an Icelandic word hvattar, meaning something like "speed up!"

So hwat can we do? Nothing.