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One of my students is looking for a translation from Yiddish. Her cat is named Tikva. Any clues?

hermillion wrote:One of my students is looking for a translation from Yiddish. Her cat is named Tikva. Any clues?

While I'm not frogman, I am Jewish. I think it means "hope". Hatikva is the name of the Israeli national anthem.

Tikva(h)- (hope) actually isn't a Yiddish word, it's Hebrew. A lot of folks don't realize they're distinctly different languages.

Thanks, all! She's delighted that I received such a quick response.

You guys rock.

Wow, I need to be checking the bored more frequently!

Yes Yiddish and Hebrew are different languages that share the same character set - I'm an expert in neither but have a schtickle of knowledge of both (my folks used to speak in Yiddish when they didn't want the us kids to know what they were talking about - something they regretted doing years later - when they realized they should have taught us more Yiddish).

---Jay (If you give me a Lamed and a Het (but clear your throat when saying that letter) - that adds up to the number of days to ....)

frogman042 wrote:Wow, I need to be checking the bored more frequently!

Yes Yiddish and Hebrew are different languages that share the same character set - I'm an expert in neither but have a schtickle of knowledge of both (my folks used to speak in Yiddish when they didn't want the us kids to know what they were talking about - something they regretted doing years later - when they realized they should have taught us more Yiddish).

My dad and bubbe and uncles used to do this, too. Until I took German in high school. Lots of similar words, enough that I could often figure out what they were talking about. It stopped after that, at least with me.

My favorite Yiddish word is zaftig. In Yiddish it means a pleasingly, plump woman. In German it means juicy like a steak. My German friend thought this was so funny as she didn't know Yiddish.

geoffil wrote:My favorite Yiddish word is zaftig. In Yiddish it means a pleasingly, plump woman. In German it means juicy like a steak. My German friend thought this was so funny as she didn't know Yiddish.

Does that mean the girls in Germany walk around town with the word ZAFTIG splayed across their butts?!?

I'm a first-generation American born of Polish holocaust survivors, so Yiddish was the language spoken at home until my parents mastered English. I can still understand it pretty fluently, but my recall on speaking is only a bissel... Had 'em fooled for a long time growing up, as they didn't realize I remembered enough to decipher the "secrets." hee hee Mom is still surprised when I know what they're all yammering about at the family gatherings.