Erev Rosh Hashana I found in front of my shul a shopping cart full of discarded books and papers that need to be buried. I thought, if this stays here, the shopping cart will wind up hitting someone or something, and that something is probably made of glass, so I took it outside and locked it to the fence.
A man from the shul up the road yelled at me "haram!". I don't know if he realized that he was speaking to me in Arabic, not in Hebrew and that there was really no reason I ought to understand what he was saying. I took a poll of other people from the same shul and the only two that got it were a rabbi and a young man studying Arabic, although most recognized the connection to "cheirem" after I told them what the word meant.
http://www.facebook.com/warren.b...80145941&
ref=mf
Funny story...
Hello Dave:
The blurb on your main page says you're welcoming readers' questions, so here's mine.
How the word רפסודה (raft) has come into being? Is there a link with the word rhapsody?
Someone wrote to me a while about that, and here's what I wrote:
Looking at the word רפסדות, most of my sources give no etymology. The only one that does is Even-Shoshan that says it might derive from the Akkadian rakasu, meaning "to bind". Now while the source of rhapsody also is related to a root meaning "to stitch":
http://www.etymonline.com/
index....searchmode=none
I don't think there's a connection between the Greek and Akkadian here. Not saying it's impossible, but I haven't seen anything to connect the two.
Thank you!
Harem sounds a lot more fun. Can we get Letterman (the superhero, not the comedian) to change Wadi Charamia into ... never mind, my wife may be reading. Good post.
i've read many times that the word marrano comes from hebrew Mar Anus. true of myth?
I hadn't heard that before. I looked it up, and I do see "mar anus" quoted in a number of sites, but I'm not sure - it just doesn't sound right to me. I can't really see Jews calling each other that, and in any case this is more of a term that Jews were called by non-Jews.
Just came across your blog via Rutimizrachi. I LOVE THIS STUFF!
I lived in the Arabian Peninsula for 7 years and when I finally made it to Israel was fascinated how much of the language is similar. Of course, that's no surprise at one level, but it is really fascinating. So much tooing and froing of nomadic peoples, attempting lingua franca for trade etc. Marvellous.
Keep this up.
I knew the word "Marrano" but had no idea it was connected to cherem/haram. Like sheigetz/shiksa -- the "abomination" to be avoided. In New Mexico, where many crypto-Jews settled, the name "Jaramillo" is well known. "J" is pronounced as guttural "ch" and "illo" is a diminutive suffix. Any connection?
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