Jewish lifeMyths & disputes

yarmulke

Not Hebrew at all: Yiddish took the word for a skullcap from Polish, where it is recorded from the 1440s; whether Polish got it from Turkic 'rain cloak' or Medieval Latin clerical caps is still argued.

Weakest linkCertain

The story you may have heard

That it comes from Aramaic yerēʾ malkāʾ 'fear of the King' (i.e. of God) — a pious folk etymology built on the sound of the Yiddish word.

The road to English

From Polish to Ukrainian

From Polish to Russian

From Polish to Czech

From Yiddish to German

1443Polish

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

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