עמעצער
Yiddish
Alternative forms
- אימעצער (imetser), איימעצער (eymetser)
Etymology
Perhaps from Middle High German ieman(d)s,[1] originally genitive of ieman (“somebody”), but since the 15th century also attested as basic form.[2] The suffix -er would have been added by analogy with the pronominal/adjectival declension (as also happened in the oblique cases of cognate German jemand); /n/ was lost by dissimilation.
Alternatively from Middle High German (ich) enweiz wer (“I don’t know who”), a common construction expressing indefiniteness, also reduced to neiz wer.[3] Compare Alemannic German neiwer. For the construction see also Old Norse nǫkkurr and Romanian niște. The /m/ would be due to assimilation of -nw-, but the /ts/ (instead of /s/) is difficult to explain with this approach.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɛmət͡səʁ/
References
- Yehudah Yofe, Mark Yudel (1961-1980) Groyser Verterbukh fun der Yidisher Shprakh, volume 3, New York: Yiddish Dictionary Committee, page 1261
- “jemand” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
- Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch. Vol. 1, p. 322
Further reading
- Map of dialectal variants for "somebody" from Litvish: An Atlas of Northeastern Yiddish by Dovid Katz
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