It would be rather interesting if Davan Was of Baltic origin; as, to the best of my knowledge, Lithuanian words (and last names) are very rear in Yiddish.
You forgot the possibility of da-weinen: to cry before G’ for help and mercy.
Yulik Ungar
what is oren in yiddish?
Shalom. You mention an article by A. Mishcon on derivations. That rang a bell because I love to play with Jewish names and I live in the Upper Galilee, near Hatzor HaGelilit. In Hatzor there is an elementary school and also a traffic circle named after a certain Victor Mishcon. I wonder whether it is the same family. I tend to think that the source of the name is the Hebrew word, Mishcaan, that is, the Ark of the Tabernacle in the Bible. One modern use is משכן הכנסת, that is, mishcaan ha-knesset. Respectfully yours, Shlomo
This would be more convincing if Mishcon had come up with another Yiddish word in which a Latin long "i" sound changed to a Yiddish "a." Notice how the accented vowel sounds in ora/oren and benedice/benshn are more or less the same.
I'd say the origin of davenen is indeed still "unknown."
By the way, I'm delighted that you seem to be including more Yiddish words on your wonderful site (one of my top three favorites on the Net).
Ari - Oren means "to pray".
Shlomo - Sorry, but I don't know anything about A. Mishcon.
Matt - I'm really don't know so much about Yiddish, particularly pronunciations. I didn't grow up hearing it, so what I know is from what I read. But I do have a number of other Yiddish posts coming up, and I'll be happy to see any helpful comments from those in the know.
"Gravatar Ari - Oren means "to pray"."
is this a regional variation or an archaic form? i've never heard it.
From what I see online, daven is Eastern Yiddish, and oren is Western Yiddish.
Okay, I'm going to go way out on a limb here and suggest that davn/en (there's only one e/ayin in the original Yiddish and it's part of the standard -en verb ending after n) is related to the Slavic root DAVN, meaning "age-old" or "of long standing." Its Eastern Yiddish roots would seem to point to a Slavic rather than a Latin root, and the idea of davning as a sacred, age-old practice makes more sense to me than thinking of it as anything like the "Divine Service," which can only mean a mass (not daily prayers). It's also much less of a stretch from DAVN to davnen than from divina to davnen.
Interestingly -- although I'm sure this is only coincidental -- this etymology links it to two of the folk etymologies you cite: 1) "d'avunon דאבונן) , meaning “from our fathers" which is another way of saying "age-old"; and, even odder, 2) the English word, "dawn," which in fact seems to have the same Indo-European root as Slavic DAVN!
I've seen Lipman and other Yekkes use it in blog comments, particularly to MarG's blog when he talks about ohr-ing at Breuers.
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