Need help translating a Yiddish name to a Hebrew name
mle...@delphi.com
child after a person whose Hebrew name was Zisha (spelled Zayin Yud
Shin Ayin). Zisha is a Yiddish name, and we want to use a Hebrew name,
since we plan on making Aliyah in the future.
We asked around, and it seems that Zisha is related to the word Zisel
in Yiddish, which means "sweet". Everybody immediately said that th
Hebrew equivalent would be Noam. For a girl, it would be Naama or
Naomi.
While these suggestions are good, we want to know if there are any other
Hebrew names which also mean "sweet", or would be associated with "sweet".
Any Hebrew or Yiddish linguists out there, or anybody with any ideas,
we would appreciate any and all suggestions for a Hebrew name.
(Sorry, there is no prize for picking the right name).
-Michael
Abe Kohen
>My wife (due to give birth in 4 weeks) and I are looking to name our
>child after a person whose Hebrew name was Zisha (spelled Zayin Yud
>Shin Ayin). Zisha is a Yiddish name, and we want to use a Hebrew name,
>since we plan on making Aliyah in the future.
>
>We asked around, and it seems that Zisha is related to the word Zisel
>in Yiddish, which means "sweet". Everybody immediately said that th
>Hebrew equivalent would be Noam. For a girl, it would be Naama or
>Naomi.
naomi means pleasant.
for a girl try Metuka, Tamar.
Personally, I'm against naming children for deceased ancestors.
Methinks this practice puts an onus on the child.
This is especially true for holocaust survivors and their progeny.
Abe
Sruli Federman
: My wife (due to give birth in 4 weeks) and I are looking to name our
Dvasha is a modern hebrew name, it means Honey, which is rather sweet.
Also Tamar is an ancient Hebrew name meaning date. Dates were the primarary
sweetener in ancient Israel.
Itamar Even-Zohar
I have never met anybody whose name was "Dvasha", and "Metuqa" is awful.
I would recommend indeed, as the others did, TAMAR (stress on the last
syllable). It's a simple, euphonic, and well accepted name.
Itamar Even-Zohar
Janice Gelb
Although "motek" means sweet, in Israel it's generally used as an
adjective ("What a cute little motek") so I wouldn't use it as a given
name.
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Simon Hawkin
itam...@plato.tau.ac.il (Itamar Even-Zohar) wrote:
*> I have never met anybody whose name was "Dvasha",
Isn't Yiddish "Dvosya" the same name ? (Byelorussian Yiddish.)
Thank you.
Simon
--
This is Simon Hawkin from Merry Land || Department of Computer Science
==> ce...@cs.umd.edu || University of Maryland
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(301) 422-0213 (home) || (301) 405-2775 (office)
Sheldon Ackerman
: I have never met anybody whose name was "Dvasha", and "Metuqa" is awful.
: I would recommend indeed, as the others did, TAMAR (stress on the last
: syllable). It's a simple, euphonic, and well accepted name.
There's an old Yiddish song that begins with the name of the girl the song
is about. Her name is: Yachna D'vasha (Honest)
--
>>><<<Sheldon Ackerman>>><<<
>>acke...@dorsai.dorsai.org<<
Sruli Federman
: I have never met anybody whose name was "Dvasha", and "Metuqa" is awful.
: I would recommend indeed, as the others did, TAMAR (stress on the last
: syllable). It's a simple, euphonic, and well accepted name.
: Itamar Even-Zohar
Dvasha is not so uncommon. I have more than one acquaintance with that name,
and have also encountered it in literature. I agree with you, Metuqa grates
on my American ears, but who knows? It may sound like a good name to Israelis.
Remember, the point IS to find a name which will suit the child in Israel,
not necessarily here.
Harry Katz
in <Jy6vUNv...@delphi.com>,
mle...@delphi.com writes:
There is some confusion in this post as Zisha is identified as a Hebrew
name and as a Yiddish name. It seems most likely that Zisha is
Yiddish, rather Hebrew, and might be a Yiddish nickname for an unknown
Hebrew name. For example, the name Nakhman is the Yiddish nickname for
the Hebrew Nahum, and the name Yankel is the Yiddish nickname for
Yaakov. While the Yiddish word for sweet is "zise," its similarity to
Zisha is most likely coincidental (unless Zisha is actually a pet name,
like "Dear" and "Honey"). Most likely it is a Yiddish nickname for a
Hebrew proper name, but what the proper name might be I do not know.
It is also possible that it is a Yiddish nickname for a non-Hebrew
name. For example, my Hebrew name is Zvi, but my Yiddish name is
Hershele, a take-off on Harry.
My point is that although Zisha may mean sweet in Yiddish, it does not
mean that the person whose name it was, had a Hebrew name meaning
sweet.
--
Harry Katz
==========
Retaining human dignity, withstanding humiliation, and persevering in
the hope of redemption were forms of resistance.
-- Hyman Bass
chr...@vmsa.technion.ac.il
writes:
> Itamar Even-Zohar (itam...@plato.tau.ac.il) wrote:
>
> : I have never met anybody whose name was "Dvasha", and "Metuqa" is awful.
> : I would recommend indeed, as the others did, TAMAR (stress on the last
> : syllable). It's a simple, euphonic, and well accepted name.
>
> There's an old Yiddish song that begins with the name of the girl the song
> is about. Her name is: Yachna D'vasha (Honest)
> --
mistaken - is derived from D'vora (Deborah)?
Of course, since bees produce honey... :-)
Amitai
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
| E. Amitai Halevi <chr...@vmsa.technion.ac.il> |
| Department of Chemistry, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology |
| |
| "`Od yenuvun be-seva, deshenim ve-ra`ananim yihyu", Psalms 92,15 |
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
> >>><<<Sheldon Ackerman>>><<<
>>>acke...@dorsai.dorsai.org<<
Abe Kohen
>
>Yiddish, rather Hebrew, and might be a Yiddish nickname for an unknown
>Hebrew name. For example, the name Nakhman is the Yiddish nickname for
>the Hebrew Nahum, and the name Yankel is the Yiddish nickname for
I think that the Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) would be tickled pink
to find out his father had a Yiddish name!
Abe
mle...@delphi.com
>Personally, I'm against naming children for deceased ancestors.
>Methinks this practice puts an onus on the child.
>This is especially true for holocaust survivors and their progeny.
>
We agree with you about not naming after dead people. Originally, we had
names picked out based upon what we liked. Unfortunately, my father-in-law
passed away 2 weeks ago, so we feel that we would like to name the
baby after him.
We agree with the majority of the postings to this thread that we
like the name Tamar, and will consider it, and even Dvash is not bad.
However, Metuka really did not hit home with us.
Thanks for your reply, and thanks to everybody else too. Any more ideas
will be greatly appreciated....we are getting closer to the due date!
Keep those replies coming!
-Michael & Dena
Warren Burstein
>Although "motek" means sweet, in Israel it's generally used as an
>adjective ("What a cute little motek") so I wouldn't use it as a given
>name.
I'd think it's a noun. The adjective is "matuk", which I'd translate
as "sweet". I'd translate "motek" as "sweetie".
It's also used for adults, and used properly is term of endearment.
Of course used improperly it's used to belittle people, usually women
(although it's still motek, even when used about a woman). So any
name from the same root as motek is probably not a good idea.
There is family in my shul that has a daughter named "Duvsha".
--
/|/-\/-\ If two half-slave-half-free people witness an ox
|__/__/_/ owned in partnership by a Jew and non-Jew gore a Coi
|warren@ bein hashmashot, in which state are the survivors
/ nysernet.org buried?
Ismet Fanany
jan...@marvin.Eng.Sun.COM writes:
>>:
Just a note about Dvosha. This was a quite common girl's name for Yiddish
speakers. It sounds sort of old-fashioned now. I don't know if it would
be a good name for a child in Israel.
Rebecca Fanany
mle...@delphi.com
do. We re-read the Hebrew baby name book again this Shabbat, to try to
find any other possible names.
As we stated in our original posting, when we asked around here and said
the name Zisha, people immediately said that the corresponding Hebrew name
would be Noam (logic is Zisha --> Zisel --> Sweet --> Noam). Are we
going too far off the mark by using Tamar, or another object which
is an example of something sweet? Would using the name of an object
which is sweet be appropriate in naming after somebody, or is the only
way to name after somebody by using a word in Hebrew with the same
meaning as the original name (Noam)?
Also, does Noam really mean sweet? We gave it some thought, and I think
it means "pleasant" more than "sweet"? It comes from the root (shoresh)
of Nun Ayin Mem. Another example of that root is Naim (Nun Ayim Yud Mem),
which means "pleasant" or "comfortable".
So how did people exactly get from "sweet" (the undisputed meaning of
Zisel in Yiddish, which we are assuming is related to Zisha) to Noam (or the
rt) which is really "pleasant"? Granted, a pleasan
person is sweet, but the meanings are not exactly the same.
Thanks again to those participating in this thread. Looking forward to
reading more replies. Chag Shavuot sameach!
-Michael &Dena
mle...@delphi.com
>Just a note about Dvosha. This was a quite common girl's name for Yiddish
>speakers. It sounds sort of old-fashioned now. I don't know if it would
>be a good name for a child in Israel.
Thanks for your reply. I agree, Dvosha would not be a good name in
Israel.
Shabbat Shalom.
-Michael & Dena
Reb Zisha
Whatever name you choose, or chose, I'm sure it will be wonderful. I happened to find this page, and wanted to record a bit about the name Zisha, my "Hebrew" name.
I did not know a lot about it until I got divorced, and the rabbi writing my Get looked it up the "Kuntras Shemot" (Almanac of Names) to get the correct spelling:
Zayin-Yud-Shin-Aleph. The derivation is most likely from the name Alexander, which was popular when the Good Czar Alexander ruled. The Russian nickname for Alexander is Sasha, which seemed to morph into Zisha. No connection to "sweetness." :) Another suggested derivation was Eliezer -- don't ask me how.
Kol tuv,
Reb Zisha
www.rebzisha.net
step1v...@gmail.com
> My wife (due to give birth in 4 weeks) and I are looking to name our
> child after a person whose Hebrew name was Zisha (spelled Zayin Yud
> Shin Ayin). Zisha is a Yiddish name, and we want to use a Hebrew name,
> since we plan on making Aliyah in the future.
>
> We asked around, and it seems that Zisha is related to the word Zisel
> in Yiddish, which means "sweet". Everybody immediately said that th
> Hebrew equivalent would be Noam. For a girl, it would be Naama or
> Naomi.
I hope your child has grown well over the years. :)
I just found this thread on Tisha Be-Av 5780, and I thought I would weigh in and post a bit of background for the next person.
My Hebrew name is Zisha, named for my great-grandfather z"l. I knew nothing about my name until I went to get my Get for my divorce. One of the rabbis consulted a book called "Kuntras Sheimot" (Almanac of Names) to verify the spelling, which we determined ends with alef. :) According to that book, Zisha is a corruption of the Russian name Sasha. Why that? Sasha is a Russian nickname for... Alexander. Alexander has been a popular Jewish name from the days of Alexander the Great through the days of the "good' Czar Alexander. So it seems to have been adopted as a Jewish name. An alternate etymology was that it was derived from Eliezer, but I prefer the first. :)
Had I found this back when you first asked, I would have lobbied to use the name Zisha -- there are not a lot of us, and it is a name worth preserving. When I was a teenager, I received a copy of Elie Wiesel's "Souls on Fire", and I read of Reb Zusia of Hanipol. I assumed his name was a variation on mine, and he became a favorite. :)
Kol tuv,
Zisha Arye ben Tzvi Menachem ve-Seema Chana