Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Yiddish term or phrase:
Oy! Gevalt!
English translation:
Oh! (no)The Violence!!
May 3, 2003 07:23
21 yrs ago
Yiddish term
Mitchel J. Schapira
Gevalt
Non-PRO
Yiddish to English
Other
Oy Gevalt
I am looking for the etymology. Does it relate to Gevurah (Hebrew for power or forc.)
I am looking for the etymology. Does it relate to Gevurah (Hebrew for power or forc.)
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | Force |
Jonathan Widell
|
| 4 | Gewalt (German and germanic word) |
Eva Linderoth
|
Proposed translations
41 mins
Jonathan Widell
Canada
Canada
Canada
Translations from start to Finnish
Native in: Finnish
Works in: English to Finnish, French to Finnish, Dutch to Finnish, and 2 more.
Selected
Force
Could it be from the German word meaning "force" and "violence"? "Oy gevalt" means of course "woe is me".
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Note added at 2003-05-03 08:16:38 (GMT)
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Of course, the German word I meant was \"Gewalt\". And if you want a literal translation \"woe is me\" is \"vey is mir\", but wouldn\'t \"woe is me\" do for \"oy gevalt\" too?
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Note added at 2003-05-03 08:36:07 (GMT)
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I am pretty certain this is the etymology. We understand what the Force refers to. A couple of nifty translations I found in this glossary are \"Oh drat\", \"Quick, help!\" (See \"Oy gevalt\" at http://www.juf.org/jewish_identity/ji_gloss.asp#o )
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Note added at 2003-05-03 09:26:42 (GMT)
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If you transliterate the word from Yiddish, you get \"gevald\". It is difficult to track the etymology, but \"gevald\" means \"violence\" according to the following webite, which would take it back to \"Gewalt\", which means violence in German. www.snpp.com/episodes/8F05.html .
Besides, doesn\'t the Hebrew word gevurah yield \"gvure\" (might, prowess) in Yiddish?
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Note added at 2003-05-03 08:16:38 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Of course, the German word I meant was \"Gewalt\". And if you want a literal translation \"woe is me\" is \"vey is mir\", but wouldn\'t \"woe is me\" do for \"oy gevalt\" too?
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-05-03 08:36:07 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I am pretty certain this is the etymology. We understand what the Force refers to. A couple of nifty translations I found in this glossary are \"Oh drat\", \"Quick, help!\" (See \"Oy gevalt\" at http://www.juf.org/jewish_identity/ji_gloss.asp#o )
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Note added at 2003-05-03 09:26:42 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
If you transliterate the word from Yiddish, you get \"gevald\". It is difficult to track the etymology, but \"gevald\" means \"violence\" according to the following webite, which would take it back to \"Gewalt\", which means violence in German. www.snpp.com/episodes/8F05.html .
Besides, doesn\'t the Hebrew word gevurah yield \"gvure\" (might, prowess) in Yiddish?
Reference:
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
43 mins
Gewalt (German and germanic word)
the German word Gewalt means violence. Swedish has a related word, våld, and my etymological dictionary indicates that this word is of Germanic origin. Cannot tell you the origin of "gevurah" unfortunately.
Reference:
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