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{{Short description|Yiddish term for a gentlewoman or noblewoman}}
'''Yenta''' (יענתּאַ) from the ] Yente, a back-formation from the woman's name Yente, alteration of Yentl, from Old Italian Gentile, from gentile, amiable, highborn, from Latin gentīlis, of the same clan. A Yenta is a term sometimes used to describe a Jewish Female. Despite its higher origin's, today, yenta is a descriptive term for a funny talkative Jewish female to a gossipy woman; a blabbermouth, who can't keep a secret, who spreads rumors and scandal and gladly gives advice whether or not one even wants it, to a popular term for a matchmaker.
{{wiktionary|yenta}}
'''Yenta''' or '''Yente''' ({{langx|yi|יענטע}}) is a ] woman's given name. It is a variant form of the name '''''Yentl''''' ({{langx|yi|יענטל}}), which ultimately is thought to be derived from the ] word '']'', meaning 'noble' or 'refined'.<ref name="forverts">{{cite web| url = https://forward.com/sisterhood/171019/yentas-real-yiddish-history/| title = Yenta's Real Yiddish History – The Forward| date = 12 February 2013}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=yenta |title = yenta {{!}} Search Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref> The name has entered American English only in the form '''''yenta''''' in the senses of "meddler, busybody, blabbermouth, gossip" and is not only used to refer to women.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yenta | title=Definition of YENTA | date=4 August 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=yenta | title=The American Heritage Dictionary entry: Yenta }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/yenta | title=Yenta: Meaning and Definition of &#124; Infoplease }}</ref> Both the forms ''yenta'' and ''yente'' are used in ] (Jewish varieties of English) to refer to someone who is a gossip or a busybody.


The use of ''yenta'' as a word for 'busybody' originated in the age of Yiddish theatre. During and after World War I, Yiddish-language discs recorded in New York by theatre actors such as ] and ] portrayed the characters Mendel and Yente Telebende and sold so well that dozens of copycat recordings were made.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buhle |first1=Paul |title=From the Lower East Side to Hollywood : Jews in American popular culture |date=2004 |publisher=Verso |location=London |isbn=1859845983 |page=40 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sapoznik |first1=Henry |title=Klezmer! : Jewish music from Old World to our world |date=2006 |publisher=Schirmer Trade Books |location=New York |isbn=0825673240 |page=82 |edition=2nd}}</ref> The popularity continued in the 1920s and 1930s as the humorist Jacob Adler, writing under the pen name B. Kovner for '']'', wrote a series of comic sketches featuring the characters, with Yente as a 'henpecking wife'. The popularity of the character led to the name developing its colloquial sense of 'a gossip'.<ref name="forverts" />


There is a mistaken belief that the word for a Jewish ] is ''yenta'' or ''yente''. In reality a Jewish matchmaker is called a '']'' (שדכן). The origin of this error is the 1964 musical '']'', in which a character named Yente serves as the matchmaker for the village of Anatevka.<ref name=Yent.NPR>{{cite web |website=NPR.org |date=June 13, 2012
Though Yenta doesn't have anything necessarily to do with match-making; in fact, the Yiddish word for matchmaker is '']'', not ''yenta'', yet it does have that usage in both social and cybersocial contexts, it is used often in that manner. Yenta is the name of the ] in the ] ] '']''. This is something of an erroneous association, since matchmakers in traditional Eastern European Jewish ] were men, and the match was settled between the fathers. The original stories of ], from which '']'' is based, have all the matchmakers as men.
|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/06/14/154955498/whats-a-yenta
|title=What's a Yenta?
|last=Joffe-Walt|first=Chana|access-date=October 7, 2019}}</ref>


==Notable persons==
* ], Jewish-American Yiddish-language writer.
*], Jewish spritiual Hasidic leader
*], Dutch microbiologist and politician
*{{ill|Yentl Schieman|nl}} from ]
*]
*]


==See also==
Yenta is becoming a popular comic term for a funny American Jewish woman. One notable example, and there are many, is Annie Korzen and YENTA UNPLUGGED (Excuse Me, I’m Talking!), an urban, contemporary look at womanhood, from the Bronx to Beverly Hills.
* ]
Korzen (SEINFELD’s Doris Klompus) tells a coming-of-age story of what it’s like to grow up female and Jewish in America.
Korzen work slices through tired stereotypes. First performance date was March, 1996.


==References==
{{reflist}}


⚫ ]
The name Yenta has also been applied, perhaps somewhat erroneously, to matchmaking websites and matchmaking software, and it is the name of the ] ] controller driver, which brings together Cardbus cards with the rest of the computer. Yenta, apart from the popular dating context, is also a highly developed peer-to-peer coalition-formation computing system that autonomously determines users' interests and then automatically forms discussion groups, in which users who share one or more interests may send secure real-time messages to each other, either one-to-one or in groups. The system was originally developed as part of Leonard Foner's doctoral dissertation at the MIT Media Lab's Software Agents group and his patented method and system for constructing a knowledge profile of users comprising both a public and private data base of a computer users profile.
]

]

Among ], the use of the word "Yenta" in the derogatory sense is considered by some as ] (] for "evil tongue", the Jewish ] of gossip which generally refers to true statements). Though, if one is truly a Yenta (a gossip), then those calling her that name are themselves practicing ], according to the ]. Though Yenta is a proper name, it is also a term to describe a woman's character and using it is considered by some to defame all women who have that name since many women named Yenta may be quite respectable. Outside of Orthodox circles, the use is much less negative, and even humorous and for many merely connotes an American Jewess without any negative connotation.

yen·ta (yĕn'tə) pronunciation
n. Slang.

Yenta




==External links==
*

Answers.

Patent abstract 6115709.

Leonard Foner.

⚫ ]]


{{vocab-stub}}

Latest revision as of 07:35, 13 December 2024

Yiddish term for a gentlewoman or noblewoman

Yenta or Yente (Yiddish: יענטע) is a Yiddish woman's given name. It is a variant form of the name Yentl (Yiddish: יענטל), which ultimately is thought to be derived from the Italian word gentile, meaning 'noble' or 'refined'. The name has entered American English only in the form yenta in the senses of "meddler, busybody, blabbermouth, gossip" and is not only used to refer to women. Both the forms yenta and yente are used in Yinglish (Jewish varieties of English) to refer to someone who is a gossip or a busybody.

The use of yenta as a word for 'busybody' originated in the age of Yiddish theatre. During and after World War I, Yiddish-language discs recorded in New York by theatre actors such as Clara Gold and Gus Goldstein portrayed the characters Mendel and Yente Telebende and sold so well that dozens of copycat recordings were made. The popularity continued in the 1920s and 1930s as the humorist Jacob Adler, writing under the pen name B. Kovner for The Jewish Daily Forward, wrote a series of comic sketches featuring the characters, with Yente as a 'henpecking wife'. The popularity of the character led to the name developing its colloquial sense of 'a gossip'.

There is a mistaken belief that the word for a Jewish matchmaker is yenta or yente. In reality a Jewish matchmaker is called a shadchan (שדכן). The origin of this error is the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, in which a character named Yente serves as the matchmaker for the village of Anatevka.

Notable persons

See also

References

  1. ^ "Yenta's Real Yiddish History – The Forward". 12 February 2013.
  2. "yenta | Search Online Etymology Dictionary".
  3. "Definition of YENTA". 4 August 2024.
  4. "The American Heritage Dictionary entry: Yenta".
  5. "Yenta: Meaning and Definition of | Infoplease".
  6. Buhle, Paul (2004). From the Lower East Side to Hollywood : Jews in American popular culture. London: Verso. p. 40. ISBN 1859845983.
  7. Sapoznik, Henry (2006). Klezmer! : Jewish music from Old World to our world (2nd ed.). New York: Schirmer Trade Books. p. 82. ISBN 0825673240.
  8. Joffe-Walt, Chana (June 13, 2012). "What's a Yenta?". NPR.org. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
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