shadchan

[prettygoodword]

shadchan (also shadkhan or schatchen) - n., a person who arranges Jewish marriages, matchmaker.


Yiddish, from Hebrew. The shadchan in Fiddler on the Roof was named Yenta, meaning busibody. (Ignore the fact that it looks like a Japanese diminutive for a fish.)

---L.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Now I'm going to think that matchmakers are the cutest little Atlantic herring ever.

(edited: D'oh! Yiddish is a language, not a nationality; silly me)

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

And now I'm going to spend hours imaging a little old Jewish matchmaker getting a swimming lesson from a 5-year-old Japanese girl. "Think pike!"

---L.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

Well, hey, there are only so many phonemes. I heard that there was some language or other in which the sound with which we pronounce "robin" was a (possibly entirely unrelated) word meaning "eagle" (or something like that).

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

And then there's also those drinks pronounced "gin-and-tonic."

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

This puts in mind a weird thing I heard about Chinese: that in Chinese, as in English, the word for the bird "swallow" and the word for the verb "to swallow" are homophonous. How weird is that? The verb to swallow is fourth-tone "yan"; the word for the bird is, too! (Characters are different, however.)

[packbat.livejournal.com]

That's really odd! I wonder if there's a reason...

*Googles*

...okay, it's not really obvious. :?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

explain, explain!

My husband thinks it's because swallows make nests with spit. (The Japanese word for swallow-the-bird is homophonous with the word for spit)

Is that the reason (am too lazy to Google...)

[packbat.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, my Google-fu is too weak to confirm or deny. Wiktionary suggests that the symbol also means "comfort, enjoy", but there's no etymology or citation.