Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/18

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vn. JAN. 5, 1001.

two became professors in American colleges." I shall be obliged by any biographical details of David and Daniel. I may mention that when David Dale's mansion house in Glasgow was sold by his five daughters in 1823, the signature of one of the ladies to the convey- ance was witnessed by "Daniel Dale Owen and Richard Owen, sons to the said Robert Owen." To the signature of Mrs. Owen (who signed at Seafield Baths, near Leith) one of the witnesses was "William Owen, of New Lanark Mills." What became of Richard 1 William, I presume, was not a son.

WILLIAM GEORGE BLACK. Ramoyle, Bowanhill Gardens, Glasgow.

Qtglitz*

" SHIMMOZZEL." (9 th S. vi. 266, 371.)

IT is evident that many who undertake to write on Hebrew words anglicized into slang are not sufficiently acquainted with that com- plex subject, and cannot follow the evolutions and contortions of the terms now becoming current.

Take the word shimmozel, for instance. The common herd so pronounce it, whereas the great majority of Jews say shlemozel, which is a corruption of schlecht (German, bad) mozzel, i.e., misfortune, as contrasted with mozzel touv, Heb., good luck.

I hear the word merlocher very often. It is always used in a good sense, meaning work or business. If it has become a slang word it is a new experience.

tihoful may certainly be slang, but the connexion between a cab and the Hebrew noun for blackguard, or the Hebrew adjective for low in stature or degree, is difficult to understand or follow.

Caser is another example. It does no mean a bad crown piece, but a good one. In certain synagogues, happily few in number the ancient practice is retained of announcing pecuniary offerings in Hebrew, so as to keep closely in touch with the beloved languag of the worshipper. Surely in this instance when a man offers " halt'-a-caser," he doe not mean a bad half-crown.

English slang is indebted to these syna gogues for another peculiar term, ki/Uosl signifying a trilling atfair, a matter of n moment. The evolutions of the word woul puzzle a Skcat. Originally it meant eighteer pence, a tntiing amount. It is still used i that sense. It consists of two words th guttural c/^-eighteeri, and bosh = a, penm in Hebrew letters are often used as numeral

he guttural letter ch is eight, the vowel is ten. Eight and ten make eighteen. Ine lebrew for penny is poshet, abbreviated into osh, afterwards bosh. Consequently, kybosh is ighteenpence good in Jewish affairs, some- ling of no value in ordinary transactions.

Here is another word in common use, olbose, signifying householder, person of some mportance. In correct Hebrew, as found in be Prayer Book, it is bahng-ol hob-bah-yiss, honetically transliterated. Many such words re heard in Jewish houses, but persons of efinement eschew them as vulgar utter- nces.

The use of Hebrew or Yiddish words in ordinary conversation depends for its amount wholly on such factors as birthplace, educa- ion, or environment. English -born Jews enow but few, and these few they rigorously .void. Speaking for myself, a Londoner from ny birth, and imbued with intense British eeling, I hold in disfavour anything non- English. And yet, strange to say, I have at Ames, in the company of family and friends, conversed in a mixed dialect of pure English, Hebrew, and Yiddish a conglomeration wholly unintelligible to persons not of the Jewish race.

A short time ago a lady of good taste and education was talking in my presence, and detailing her annoyances with her servant. This was her mode of expressing her expe- ience : " My dear, I have such shiverlev Jieart- breaking) with my shickser (female servant). I cannot stand more of her chutzpa 'impertinence). I must shik (German schicken, send) her away. I tell her repeatedly things she must not do, and she will do them dovka, (absolutely in despite)." Vexation aroused the speaker to such intensity that she broke out in emphatic terms for which she could not readily find English equivalents.

M. D. DAVIS.

MR. PLATT'S list of Anglo-Hebraic slang words is most interesting, but incomplete. He might have added deenar (shilling), kibosh (eighteenpence), kokum (cleverness) from 03 H (a wise man), metsea (bargain) from n&OSD (a find), kosher (a drop of rum), the rum used for Passover being o.p., specially selected and refined, "XO=pure. I always understood a shoful was a four-wheeler, being "low" in construction. MR. PLATT'S explanation of caser is ingenious, but too philosophical. "U"D = crown; caser malchuth =crown of glory. The transition from crown to five shillings is natural, but not sublime. This word is in demand in those synagogues where schnodering (offerings) is still in vogue.