yarmulke

English

WOTD – 23 September 2008

Yarmulkes

Alternative forms

• yarmalka, yarmalke, yarmelka, yarmelke, yarmulka, yamacha, yermulke (rhotic variants)
• yamaka, yamalka, yamalke, yamelka, yamelke, yamilke, yamuka, yamulka, yamulke (nonrhotic variants)

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish יאַרמלקע (yarmlke), from Polish jarmułka (“skullcap”) or a Ukrainian cognate of the same. Possibly from the Turkish yağmurluk (“rainwear”), though it could also be from Medieval Latin almutia (“hood, cowl”) (compare Latin amictus (“clothed, veiled”)).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈjɑːməlkə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈjɑ(ɹ)mə(l)kə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

yarmulke (plural yarmulkes)

1. A skullcap worn by religious Jewish males (especially during prayer). [from 1903]

   Synonyms: kippah, kappel, skullcap

   • 1991 October 1, Richard Goldstein, “The New Anti-Semitism: A Geshrei”, in Village Voice‎^[1], page 33:

     And I always feel uncomfortable dur­ing the High Holy Days watching people in yarmulkes rushing through the streets, knowing they’ll be swaying and moaning something ancient and indecipherable, even to me.

   • 2007 April 29, Patricia Cohen, “The Frozen Dozen”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     But once Dr. Levenson, who works for the Indian Health Service and wears a colorful tapestry yarmulke, has alerted the tiny network, it almost seems as if we have stepped into Yiddishland.

Translations

skullcap worn by religious Jewish males

• Afrikaans: jarmoelka, kippa, skedelmus
• Arabic: قُبَّة f (qubba), كِبَّة f (kibba)
• Belarusian: ярмо́лка f (jarmólka)
• Bulgarian: ермо́лка f (ermólka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卡巴 (kǎbā)

• Czech: kipa f, jarmulka f
• Esperanto: kipao
• Finnish: kipa (fi)
• French: kippa (fr) f
• German: Jarmulke (de) f
• Greek: σκούφος (el) m (skoúfos)
• Hebrew: כִּפָּה (he) f (kipá)
• Hungarian: kipa (hu), jarmulke
• Indonesian: kippah
• Italian: kippah (it) f
• Japanese: キッパー (kippā), キッパ (kippa), ヤムルカ (yamuruka)
• Korean: 키파 (kipa), 야물커 (yamulkeo)
• Macedonian: јармулка f (jarmulka)
• Malay: kippah
• Persian: کیپا (fa) (kipâ), یاماکا (yâmâkâ)
• Polish: jarmułka (pl) f
• Portuguese: quipá (pt) m or f
• Russian: ермо́лка (ru) f (jermólka), кипа́ (ru) f (kipá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јарму̀лка f

  Roman: jarmùlka (sh) f

• Slovak: kipa f, jarmulka f
• Slovene: jarmulka f
• Spanish: kipá (es) f
• Swedish: kippa (sv) c
• Tagalog: kipa
• Turkish: kipa (tr), kippa, yarmulke
• Ukrainian: ярму́лка (uk) f (jarmúlka)
• Yiddish: יאַרמלקע f (yarmlke)

References

• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 10th Edition (1997)
  
• “yarmulke”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.