המן־טאַשן

Yiddish

FWOTD – 17 March 2022

המן־טאַשן

Etymology

Probably from מאָן (mon, “poppy seed”) +‎ טאַש (tash, “pocket”), altered to refer to המן (homen, “Haman”). The first element is from Middle High German mahe, from Old High German maho (“poppy”).

Pronunciation

• (YIVO) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔmənˌtaʃn̩/
• (Northeastern) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔmə(n)ˌtaʃn̩/, /ˈhɔmə(n)ˌtasn̩/, /ˈhɔməntəs/

Noun

המן־טאַשן • (homen-tashn) m pl or f pl (singular המן־טאַש (homen-tash))

1. hamantaschen (Ashkenazi three-cornered cookies traditionally eaten on Purim)
   • 2013 February 22, גענאַדי עסטרײַך, “מאָסקווער פּורים־שפּילן”, in Forverts:

     אָבער פֿון פּורים האַלט פֿון קינדווײַז אָן, צוליב די המן־טאַשן. איך האָב ליב נאָר אַזעלכע המן־טאַשן, וואָס זײַנען מיט מאָן.

     ober fun purim halt fun kindvayz on, tsulib di homen-tashn. ikh hob lib nor azelkhe homen-tashn, vos zaynen mit mon.

     But Purim lasts from childhood on, because of the hamentaschen. I only love the kind of hamantaschen made with poppy.

^{(please verify)} quote

Further reading

• Map of dialectal variants for "homentashen" from Litvish: An Atlas of Northeastern Yiddish by Dovid Katz