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Meaning of Schekerle in Hebrew or Yiddish? - Printable Version

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Meaning of Schekerle in Hebrew or Yiddish? - domdom - 07-18-2019

My grandmother used to call all of her kids and grandkids “Schekerle“. I am not sure how to spell it exactly. Is there a meaning in Hebrew or Yiddish for Schekerle or Sheker-le? I know that a -le at the end of something can mean “little” and it’s something endearing.


Meaning of Schekerle in Hebrew or Yiddish? - searchinmyroots - 07-19-2019

Hello Domdom and welcome to the forum.

Just to let you know, the first 3 posts are moderated to keep out spam and bots.

I don't know the answer to your question, but hopefully one of the other members will chime in.


RE: Meaning of Schekerle in Hebrew or Yiddish? - Jason - 07-19-2019

I've never heard of schekerle used of people. The word sheker means "lie." I don't think it makes sense for her to endearingly call children "little lies." I don't know where the expression would come from.


RE: Meaning of Schekerle in Hebrew or Yiddish? - domdom - 07-19-2019

Schekerle or schäkerle is how I remember it, my first language is German. But what if she said khek-ele?

khek
–> Yiddish חק‎‎ (khek, “bosom, womb”), from Hebrew חֵיק‎ (khék, “bosom”)
[source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sch%C3%A4kern]

-ele
–>  In Yiddish the primary diminutive is -l or -ele in singular, and -lekh or -elekh in plural, sometimes involving a vowel trade in the root. [source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diminutives_by_language#Yiddish]

So it would be a diminutive form of bosom or womb. Would it make sense to anyone that a mother would call her children khekele?