Nebbish

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7419
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Nebbish

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Jun 24, 2011 11:23 pm

• nebbish •

Pronunciation: ne-bish • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A wuss, a milquetoast; a meek, timid simpleton, usually a whiner.

Notes: Today's Good Word is another contribution to English by Yiddish. Very little has been attempted in terms of derivation, though nebbishy and nebbishness pop up from time to time.

In Play: Woody Allen and Rick Moranis play the best known nebbishes in US movies. Nebbishes tend to be meek fumbling characters, constantly flubbing up, like this one: "Luke Worme is such a nebbish he won't eat lobsters for fear they will eat him first." Nebbishes tend to be subservient if not servile: "The nebbish serves her husband breakfast in bed every morning."

Word History: This word comes from Western Yiddish nebesh, a dialectal variant of standard Yiddish nebekh. The word originates in a Slavic language, perhaps Ukrainian nebizh "poor hapless creature" or Czech nebohý "poor, unfortunate". These words are based on the Slavic root bog- "god, rich, fortunate" seen in Russian bog "god" and bogatyi "rich". This root goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root bhag- "share, good fortune, riches" that became phag- "eat" in ancient Greek. We see this root such borrowings as esophagus and sarcophagus, which meant "flesh-eating" in Greece in the times back when people believed that limestone ate the flesh of the dead. Another related word is baksheesh "a gift or present in return for a favor". It comes from Persian bakhshidan "to give". (We thank Margie Sved for not being a nebbish but suggesting that we make it today's Good Word.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8041
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: NEBBISH

Postby Slava » Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:53 pm

Odd that after all this time I have only just now noticed the idea of using nebbish to refer to a female. I have always thought of it as a word for a non-masculine male. Not necessarily effeminate, but most definitely far from macho.

Has anyone out there heard it used of a female? Or seen an example?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Nebbish

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Nov 11, 2014 10:21 pm

I have also heard and used it to mean a nobody. Brings to mind Gideon who characterized himself as the lowest in his family, which was lowest in his tribe, which in turn was lowest among the twelve. And when we first meet him, he is trying to separate wheat from chaff by tossing it in the air while in a wine vat from fear of Israel's enemies. That's usually done on a hiltop on a windy day. Thus, I always picture the angel leaning against a tree, picking his teeth, while he interrupts with, "Hail, thou mighty man of valor." Can angels be sarcastic?
pl

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Nebbish

Postby Philip Hudson » Fri Nov 14, 2014 2:14 pm

Nebbish - Yiddish. Are there any non-pejorative Yiddish words? At least this one has PIE roots.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8041
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Nebbish

Postby Slava » Fri Nov 14, 2014 2:37 pm

Mensch isn't pejorative. Nor is zaftig. Schlep is neutral.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 60 guests