Jewish lifeFrom names to wordsMyths & disputes

schlemiel

Yiddish shlemil, the hapless bungler, may come from the Biblical name Shelumiel, though that is a proposal, not a fact. It became famous through Chamisso's German tale of Peter Schlemihl, who sold his shadow.

Weakest linkPossible

The story you may have heard

That schlemiel is 'from' the Biblical Shelumiel, the luckless prince, is often told as fact. It is one of several proposals, the chain from Shelumiel to 'bungler' is unexplained, and the word may have no Biblical link at all.

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500 BCEBiblical Hebrew

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