Beyond EnglishJewish lifeMyths & disputes

Mokum

Hebrew māqôm 'place' became Yiddish mokem 'town', and in Dutch thieves' cant any town was a mokum; Amsterdam was 'Mokum Alef', the town beginning with A, and the nickname stuck.

Weakest linkCertain

The story you may have heard

That Amsterdam was called Mokum because the word means 'safe haven' for persecuted Jews. In Bargoens mokum simply meant 'town': there was a Mokum for Berlin, Delft and Rotterdam too, and Amsterdam's was Mokum Alef, named for its first letter.

The road to Dutch

From Biblical Hebrew to Modern Hebrew

900 BCEBiblical Hebrew

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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