This article was last revised on: 31 October 2005
 ?װי זאָגט מען אויף אידיש
Vi Zogt Men Af Yidish?
Alternatives to Uriel Weinreich's Dictionary
Other Sources for Finding Out How To Say It In Yiddish
(Can you trust a Yiddish dictionary that doesn't have a Tokhes?)
Links to sections below on this page:
Untold History of the Development of the Weinreich Dictionary
 Advice on How to Say It in Yiddish.
About the Russian-Yiddish Dictionary
About the Older Germanized Spelling Once Used for Yiddish

Background -- What Motivated Me To Write This Article
(Click here to skip this section and proceed to the Article)

On 22 July 2003, I sent an email to Dr Leonard Prager, editor of The World of Yiddish website in Haifa, Israel.

The World of Yiddish / Di velt fun yidish / haOlam haYidi is devoted to Yiddish language, literature and folklore. Special attention is given Hebrew-Yiddish relations and the generations of bilingual (Hebrew and Yiddish) writers. The site presents classic Yiddish texts, e.g., Yehoyesh's monumental Yiddish translation of the Tanakh (Bible); reference and bibliographic materials, e.g., Louis Fridhandler's magisterial guide to the works of Sholem Aleichem; and, English abstracts of the Hebrew-language Khulyot, a journal of Yiddish studies.

In that email, I'd complained about the spelling of the word Shmoys (Exodus) that appeared (and still appears) on the webpage (on the World of Yiddish website) that contains the above-mentioned Yiddish Translation of the Bible by Yehoyesh.

I wrote that IMHO "Shmoys is the Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation of the word שמות. In Yiddish, it is pronounced Shmos, (just as one pronounces פוסקים poskim, NOT poyskim). (Later I recanted, stating that either spelling can be used, although personally, I prefer Shmos over Shmoys.)

There are several other Yiddish words of Hebrew origin (besides Shmos and Poskim) in which the Hebrew khoylem vowel is pronounced O in Yiddish (exactly as Sephardi Jews pronounce it in Hebrew).
These  include: of (fowl), sof (end), b'khor (first-born son), shokhtim (ritual slaughterers), and kh'tsos (as in pravn kh'tsos).
Note: The only native Yiddish speakers (of whom I am aware) that might say Shmoys instead of Shmos are the Lubavitcher Chasidim -- whose ranks, incidentally, include my own forebears (sorry...).
A Yiddish scholar once told me that the Lubavitchers have a unique feature in their pronunciation of Yiddish words of Hebrew origin: While speaking Yiddish, they often pronounce these words the same way that they pronounce them while studying sacred texts or praying, which is the Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation.
Thus, they say Poyskim instead of the standard Poskim. Yes, and even Shmoys instead of Shmos. But at least they still say Rosh HaShone and NOT Roysh HaShone.

Dr Prager replied that "As to your suggestion that we not write shmoys, this is in disagreement with Uriel Weinreich and Niborski." (I, Yosl, did indeed check the Uriel Weinreich Dictionary. I found that, sure enough, the word שמות is transliterated there as shmoys, NOT shmos. Yet, Weinreich correctly transliterates פוסקים as poskim.)

It is the above statement by Dr Prager that spurred me to write this article.

Dr Prager's statement made me painfully aware of the unfortunate fact that for the Yehoyesh website, the Uriel Weinreich Dictionary serves as a definitive source of information.

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Indeed, for vast numbers of well-meaning (but misguided) Yiddishists in general, the Uriel Weinreich Dictionary serves as the main and definitive source of information.

It is my contention here that the Uriel Weinreich Dictionary is not a valid nor reliable source of information. for serious scholars of the Yiddish language -- although it can be a peerless tool for them if they use it with the proverbial grain of salt.

I will then try to present the reader with alternative means and sources (other Yiddish dictionaries) for determining how to say something in correct native European Yiddish.

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Untold History of the Development of the Weinreich Dictionary

Many people have repeatedly lamented the THOUSANDS of weird -- indeed outrageous -- neologisms that Weinreich introduced into his Dictionary. Some of these are, (if I still remember) ufblekhler for can-opener, and stashke-shmir for peanut butter (in Vilna they used to call it nus-puter according to the late Yankel Gutkowicz of the CYCO).

But IMHO, the most egregious of these is the neologism "shil / שיל" -- used instead of the traditional "shul / שוהל" to mean synagogue. For more on this, please click here.

Before the Dictionary was published, many people begged Weinreich not to include these neologisms in the Dictionary unless he (Weinreich) were to place some identifying symbol next to each of them -- to indicate that they were proposed or suggested words, and not words in actual use by native Yiddish speakers.

Weinreich replied that as soon as the dictionary was finished, he (Weinreich) would write up a list of all the contrived neologisms, for this very reason. Unfortunately, Weinreich died before the dictionary was published, so Weinreich was never able to complete this important task. Nor have any of his successors in the "Yiddish Establishment."

Furthermore, Uriel had unfortunately inherited from his father Max Weinreich a slightly impaired and distorted knowledge of the Yiddish language. Even though Max Weinreich was a linguist of world renown, still -- his knowledge of Yiddish was not quite up to par. In Vilna, people used to say that Max Weinreich spoke Yiddish like a ger (a convert to Judaism). Max's expertise lay more in the linguistics of German and Russian, according to my sources.

The result of the above issues was that thousands of these monstrous neologisms found their way into the Dictionary, and their presence in the Dictionary has in fact rendered the Dictionary INVALID for serious scholarly use -- and certainly invalid as an authoritative source of information about the correct meanings and usage (and even spelling) of Yiddish words and expressions.

And I am not alone in my evaluation of the Weinreich Dictionary. For example, read below what Leybl Goldberg writes about the Weinreich Dictionary in a 1995 posting to the Mendele List.

[Interestingly, in Psychology it is taught that the invention of new words -- neologisms -- is regarded as a symptom of certain psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia.]

And this dictionary has a secondary, albeit less-severe, flaw, as well: Uriel Weinreich was evidently a prude. Believe it or not, you won't find a trace of such common Yiddish words as Potz (Pots), Shmok, Tokhes, and Trenen in Weinreich! (You have to look in the classic Harkavy Dictionary.)  Now, honestly -- can you trust a Yiddish dictionary that doesn't have a Tokhes???

Also, Weinreich gives the plural for the word pen as penen. This is wrong. The correct plural is penes (as correctly listed in Harkavy's Dictionary). But since penes sounds like the word penis, it seems like Weinreich was too embarrassed to give the correct plural. (Yet he DOES list penis in the dictionary??!  Go figure ....)

It is quite possible that Weinreich himself was NOT the one who censored the dictionary (removing the so-called dirty words). This is because the dictionary came out after his untimely death.

Below is more on the subject of prudishness in the Weinreich Dictionary. It is from a posting on the Mendele Mailing List. (I have edited it slightly.)

Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997
From: gevaryahu@aol.com
Subject: More on the (Weinreich) Dictionary

Mr. Herzog missed the pun when I said "What a shvantz," since this word doesn't exist in the dictionary. No offense was intended. Whatever happened to the sense of humor of native English speakers?

I still think that it is a shande that the dictionary does not include many body parts, body functions and other "offensive" words. A language is dead if you cannot go to the bathroom with it, nor is it alive if you cannot cuss in it. It was certainly a big mistake to censor the language.

Jews suffered enough from censors throughout history, and we should not do it to ourselves. However, I am not sure if it was Mr. Weinreich himself who did it, as the dictionary came out posthumously.

Der Oytser fun der Yiddish Schprach by Nahum Stutchkoff included many of the censored words with an asterisk (*). Some of the banned words (in English and in Yiddish) are: tuches, shvantz, shmuck. drek u.s.v.

Even if Mr. Weinreich wanted to censor "improper" words, a word like "shvantz," which has both kosher and vulgar meanings, should have been included with at least the kosher meaning of "tail".

Gilad J. Gevaryahu

 
How to Say It in Yiddish - Advice / Vi Zogt Men Af Yidish -- Eytses

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Situation: You know how to say something in English, and you want to find out how to say it in Yiddish.

Because of the deficiencies in the Weinreich Dictionary, I offer the following advice to anyone in this situation:

The best way by far is to ask someone who knows (or check this Kosher Yiddish website regulalrly, as new material is constantly being added).

Otherwise, proceed as follows: First and foremost (friyer far alts) -- do not use the English-Yiddish section of the Weinreich Dictionary to find out how to say something in Yiddish unless you strictly adhere to the Caveat below.
Instead of using Weinreich, I recommend using a good English-Hebrew Dictionary to find out how to say the word in Hebrew. Then, use Tsanin's excellent 2-volume Hebrew-Yiddish Dictionary to find the bona fide Yiddish word or phrase. (A 1-volume edition of Tsanin's dictionary is available at the CYCO Bookstore for about $30.00.)
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On 04/21/2005 I purchased a copy of Yitskhok Niborski's Dictionary of Hebrew Words (That Are Found) In Yiddish. What a mechaye! I was profoundly surprised by the quality of this excellent work. And I say this in spite of the fact that Niborski uses the YIVO spelling conventions (ugh!). [To read my article on the so-called YIVO Takones, click here.]

Of course, Niborski lists only those Hebrew words that are used in Yiddish. So obviously it does not contain anywhere nearly as many entries as Tsanin's Dictionary (mentioned above). Also, note that sometimes Hebrew words have different meanings when used in Yiddish than when the same words are used in Hebrew (believe it or not!).  Nevertheless, this fine work can still prove very helpful on many occasions.

I was especially impressed by the multitudinous quotes from Yiddish literature that are interspersed through this work. These are invaluable in helping the used understand the true meanings and usage of arcane words and expressions,
You can also use an English-Russian Dictionary, and then the excellent Russian-Yiddish Dictionary, described below:
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The Russian-Yiddish Dictionary
The text below is paraphrased from the Mendele List of 04 May 1995

Howard Gershen inquired about Russian-Yiddish and Yiddish dictionaries. As far as I (Leybl Goldberg) know, the only one generally  available is the 1984 hardcover Russko-Evreiskii (Idish) Slovar/Rusish-Yidisher Verterbukh by Shapiro, Spivak, and Shulman.

 I got my copy earlier this year from Victor Kamkin's in Rockville, Maryland for $22.50.  The softcover dictionary that Howard (Gershen) referred to must be the Hebrew-Russian one which someone tried to sell me at the same store (a result of the ambiguity of "yevreiskii" [Jewish] in Russian).

According to the editors of the 1984 Russian-Yiddish dictionary, the last Yiddish-Russian one was published in Minsk in 1941 under the editorial direction of Rokhkind and Shklyar and prior to that only one edited by Yitskhok Mendel Lifshits (friend of the "other" Mendele) in 1876.  There are several other Russian-Yiddish dictionaries, published in 1868-69, 1909, and 1941, but no "two-way" Russian-Yiddish, Yiddish-Russian ones listed.

Incidentally, the 1984 Russian-Yiddish dictionary is a good one, too. It includes a comprehensive survey of Yiddish grammar by Falkovitsh in an appendix.

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Weinreich's "Inventions" (i.e., Neologisms)

The Russian-Yiddish Dictionary is also much more reliable than Weinreich in giving you terms that Yiddish speakers actually use -- rather than terms that scholars (i.e., the Weinreichs) "wish" they would use.  -- Leybl Goldberg)
(For instance, if you look up "plastinka" ([phonograph] record) in the Russian-Yiddish dictionary, you get "plat, plate, plastinke," whereas if you looked it up in Uriel Weinreich, you'd find Weinreich's invention, "disk".)

Other "mayles" are the Russian-Yiddish Dictionary's copious examples illustrating Russian and Yiddish usage, and the fact that it consistently indicates the Yiddish stress.

-- Leybl Goldberg <lee.goldberg@neteast.com>
Many years ago I bought a copy of this dictionary at the Victor Kamkin store that was on 5th Avenue (or Broadway) and West 21st Street. Their current website is http://www.kamkin.com

You can also try the English-Yiddish section of the old (1910) Harkavy Yiddish-English, English-Yiddish Dictionary. Believe it or not, this entire dictionary (1910 edition) is available online! Go to http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/harkavy/index.utf8.html.
       
But be careful -- many of the Daytshmerizmen found in this dictionary are no longer in vogue. (Daytshmerizmen are Germanized spellings of bona fide Yiddish words, as well as actual German words which were unfortunately and tastelessly imported into modern Yiddish.)

In fact, the spelling of many words in this 1910 Harkavy Dictionary is no longer usable at all. As it states at the above uky.edu website, "This dictionary uses a somewhat Germanized orthography."

Because of the obsolete orthography used in this 1910 dictionary, you have to be familiar with a word's older Germanized (Daytshmerish) spelling. A brief Guide to this spelling appears in the Table below:

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Guide to the Older Germanized (Daytshmerish) Spelling Once Used for Yiddish
If you seek Yiddish words that begin with Look in Harkavy's 1910 dictionary for words that begin with
der- (e.g., derhaltn) er- (erhaltn)
far- fer-
tse- or tser-
(tze- or tzer-)		 tsu (tzu)
ba- be-
aroys- (aruys-) heroys-
arum- herum-
arunter- herunter-
ariber- heriber-
arayn- herayn-
arop
 herob
aroyf
 heroyf
op
 ob

There are probably more such examples. I will try bli neder to add them here when I come across them.
BTW, I personally find the online 1910 Harkavy Dictionary indispensable for ascertaining the gender (male, female or neuter) of Yiddish nouns. For some reason, in his more recent (1928) Yiddish-Hebrew-English Dictionary  (below),  Harkavy  decided not to provide the gender for nouns. Beginning with page 3 of his 1928 Dictionary, Harkavy indicated for each noun just the abbreviation s. for substantive (noun) -- instead of the noun's actual gender (m., f., or n.).

The Weinreich Dictionary is also useful for ascertaining the gender of Yiddish nouns.
Harkavy's more recent (1928) Yiddish-Hebrew-English Dictionary , a/k/a the Dray-Shprakhiker Verterbukh is much better, but it has no English-Yiddish section. And also, it is not available on the Internet (as far as I know), although a paper copy is available for sale at the CYCO (about $30).
Additionally, you can explore the vast entries in Stutshkoff's Yiddish Thesaurus (Oytser fun Der Yidisher Shprakh).
Recently, while at the YIVO, I came across yet another brand new Hebrew-Yiddish and Yiddish-Hebrew Dictionary. I'd never heard of this dictionary before. A Google search provided the link: www.booksinternational.com/index.htm. Once at this website, searching for "Reicher, Hana" provided the following information:

Reicher, Hana - Neyer (Nayer) Verterbukh. Hebreish-Yidish, Yidish-Hebreish - Milon Hadash Ivri-Yidi, Yidi-Ivri - Hebrew-Yiddish and Yiddish-Hebrew Dictionary. 50,000 entries and 200 expressions. Item No. 18269. Zack Publishers, 2001, 785 pp, Softcover (in Yiddish/Hebrew).

I gave this dictionary a cursory inspection, and it seemed great. But I'd have to examine it at length in order to be able to wholeheartedly recommend it.

If you have any information of this new dictionary, please enter it on my Comments Page. Thank you.
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Caveat on Using the Uriel Weinreich Dictionary

If you find a Yiddish word in Weinreich, use it with extreme caution. Every word that you encounter in Weinreich is suspect. Before using it, check to see if it appears in Tsanin or Harkavy or Stutshkoff - to make sure that it is indeed a valid word. If you do this, you'll avoid making a fool of yourself while speaking Yiddish to a native speaker.

As they say, every word in Weinreich's Dictionary shteyt unter a frage tseykhn. (I suppose Weinreich would recommend freg tseykhn.) Every entry in that book is mutl besofek.

After you find a Yiddish word listed in either Tsanin or Harkavy or Stutshkoff, you can THEN use Weinreich's Dictionary to look up its English translation. In general, Weinreich's Dictionary is useful ONLY for looking up words that you already know (from an independent source) to be authentic.

Remember - Di Untershte Shure: If you find that a Yiddish word is listed in either Tsanin or Stutshkoff or (to a lesser extent) in Harkavy, then you KNOW that it is a bona fide and valid Yiddish word - not a phony, bizarre neologism!


To cast further light on the matter of whom you can trust for guidance in Yiddish, I draw your attention to the following Talmudic story about Elisha ben Avuya. It is mainly from http://www.torah.org/learning/olas-shabbos/5760/bo.html.

The Gemara (Chagiga 15a) tells the tragic story of Elisha ben Avuya -- also known as "Acher" (Akher, the "other"). Elisha had been a great scholar and teacher. Elisha's wisdom is shared in Pirkey Avot (the Ethics of the Fathers). After many years as a renowned Torah scholar, Elisha lost his faith, and became an apostate. Elisha was the third of four friends who had ascended to the Heavenly "Pardes" -- where they all had mystical (Kabbalistic) experiences. After his experience, Acher descended to earth, and denied G-d's unique sovereignty.

One of Acher's greatest disciples had been the great Talmudic sage Rabbi Meir. The Talmud relates that even after his rebbe, Acher, had abandoned Judaism, Rabbi Meir continued to visit him -- partly in order to try to bring him back, and partly to learn Torah from him (despite Acher's apostasy). Rabbi Meir never left Acher, and always attempted to sway him to return to G-d.

The Talmud asks how come Rabbi Meir was able to learn Torah from a tainted source like Elisha. The Talmud answers that Rabbi Meir was unique in that he knew how to successfully "eat the pomegranate's seeds, and spit out the [unfit] shell." That is, Rabbi Meir could glean the good teachings of Elisha, and reject the chaff. Rabbi Meir could learn from Elisha without being adversely influenced by Elisha's apostate behavior. < END of Story About Elisha ben Avuya>

The parallel between Elisha and Weinreich is obvious. Like Elisha, Weinreich was a mental giant. Like Elisha, Weinreich unfortunately strayed from accepted and proper standards. Elisha strayed from standard and accepted religious beliefs and practices. Weinreich strayed from standard and accepted linguistic norms. (You just don't place phony words into a dictionary disguised as legitimate and authentic words. This is misleading and fraudulent - g'neyvas da'as.)

And like Rabbi Meir, we have to know how to glean the good teachings of Weinreich, and reject the worthless chaff (opteyln dem soyles funem psoyles) - as I described above in how to use Tsanin and Stutshkoff and Harkavy to check the validity of Yiddish words that you encounter in Weinreich.

Mitigating Comments about the Weinreich Dictionary

I seem to have presented hereinabove quite a negative picture of Weinreich's Dictionary. In all fairness, let me state that this dictionary does indeed have tremendous merit and virtue (if you can get past the proverbial smell ...).

It is in fact an unequaled source of information for a vast number of Yiddish words and expressions. It is a virtual treasure-trove of information about the Yiddish language, containing much information that is not available at all - or at least not readily available - anywhere else. Above all, its language and spelling are relatively modern (hence its name, Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary). Don't forget, its immediate predecessor, Harkavy's Yiddish - Hebrew - English Dictionary was published back in 1928.

For this reason, Yugntruf and the Congress for Jewish Culture held a Yiddish Tog 2003 in New York City on May 25, 2003 - in honor of the 35th Anniversary of Weinreich's Dictionary.

It is a tragedy that the one major flaw of this dictionary -- its inclusion of phony words (neologisms) disguised as legitimate and authentic words -- has rendered it invalid as an authoritative source of information.

Conclusion

What really is at stake here is something much deeper and more profound then whether to use the spelling Shmoys or Shmos. The issue is, do we want to further the cause of authentic Yiddish - as spoken naturally by native speakers (such as Yehoyesh himself!? Or are we to succumb to the "phony baloney" derived from and contrived by sources -- including but not limited to Weinreich's Dictionary -- that are inimical to this cause? Ot-DO ligt der hund bagrobn.

Are we going to continue to look to Weinreich's Dictionary for authoritative guidance?

Or are we going to be selective like the wise Rabbi Meir?

Eyb nit ken emeser ekhter heymisher yidish, iz -- vos iz di p'ule?