QRT #JWHIA https://babka.social/@jewwhohasitall/109659468745368449
I just got new reference books! So I'm happy as a clam (among folks who keep kosher, anyway). Let's test them out, shall we? The evolution of a #name, a 🧵:
1/
My gentile friend MARGARET just asked me to stop calling her Margalit because “for the hundredth time, that’s not my name.” Why would she prefer the #exotic variant rather than the beautiful, typical form of her #name? xpost
#Margaret /'margrɪt or 'margərɪt (US English) = female #given #name meaning "pearl"; attested in English at least since the 1000s.
#Margalit (also #Margalith, #Marganit) /marga'lit (Hebrew), 'margəlit (English)/ = 1. female #given #name meaning "gem, pearl" ➡️ 2. a Jewish #matronymic ➡️ #paternal #surname attested at least as early as the late 1400s.
2/
There are dozens of variations of the surname (due in significant part to Jewish migration & contact w/ gentile languages) including #Margaliot, #Margolies, #Margarethen, #Margent, #Margolevsky, etc.
The surnames #Perl, #Perel, #Pearl, and variations (e.g. #Perelman, #Perlitz) have multiple etymologies; in some families the name is a direct translation of the Hebrew surname.
3/
Margaret and Margalit are both derived from Greek and, ultimately, an ancient Indo-Iranian language (a subset of languages in the Indo-European language family tree), probably a dialect of Ancient Persian/Farsi or a closely related language (e.g. Sogdian or Kurdish).
Old Persian MARGARITA (=pearl) ➡️ Greek MARGARITES (=pearl) ➡️ Late Latin MARGARITA (=pearl) ➡️ Old French MARGUERITE (=pearl) ➡️ Middle English MARGARET
4/
Old Persian MARGARITA (=pearl) ➡️ Greek MARGARITES (=pearl) ➡️ Ancient Hebrew MARGALIT (=pearl)
There are dozens (hundreds?) of variations of the given name in various languages around the world, most of which were directly borrowed from Persian, Greek or Latin; including #Marjorie, #Margaretha, #Marjit, #Máiréad, #Megan, #Gretchen, #Rita, etc.
5/
fun extra on the way!
Fun extra:
The word #margarine (as in the butter substitute) is ultimately derived from the same source. A French chemist called the substance "margarin" (later "margarine") in the early 1800s for its "pearly luster," and derived from the term "acide margarique" (=margaric acid, a fatty acid named for its lustrous appearance).
/end
Oh just thought of another fun extra! One of Terry Pratchett's #Discworld witches is named #Magrat, who has a daughter named Margaret Note Spelling, and as a speaker of US English I didn't understand the joke until I was a linguist and had more familiarity with other English dialects.
There are lots of regional British dialects, with enough vowel variation that that Margaret is pronounced in notably different ways there, e.g. /'mɑgərɛt/, /'margrɛt/, /'mægræt/.
a/
That last one, /'mægræt/? If I had to spell out the pronunciation in English, rather than IPA, I'd probably write mag-rat, i.e. Magrat.
The character Magrat's daughter is Margaret Note Spelling because the daughter is a) named after her mom, but b) mom wanted to be sure it was spelled correctly, so wrote a parenthetical "note spelling" next to the name, only the person reading/writing it during the legal naming ceremony read/wrote the whole thing, including the parenthetical.
b/
anyway, you're welcome for making that joke unfunny, but also a few folks in the same boat of linguistic unawareness as the **-years-ago version of me (my how time flies 😱) just had a lightbulb go off, and my goodness are those lightbulbs satisfying.
/end, again
#Servicetweet
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine
Margarine, Kunstbutter oder Oleomargarin (über französisch acide margarique „Margarinsäure“ von altgriechisch μάργαρον márgaron oder μαργαρίτης margarítēs „Perle“)
Jewterpretor
marcmagus
Wikinaut