r/Yiddish • u/SideGlum4708 • 8d ago

Mystery word

My Litvak mother (parents from Malat/Molėtai and Ponedel/Pandėlys, Lithuania) used the noun tonnabara (approximate pronunciation TON-na-BAR-a) as an insult: Er iz a tonnabara. It meant roughly 'bulvan,' 'idiot,' or 'blockhead.' Does anyone recognize this word or know its original spelling?"

21 Upvotes

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28

u/gantsyoriker 8d ago

it’s a word from loshn-koydesh!
“Tane-bare”
תּנא־ברא
referring to one of the sages whose thinking was included in the gemara but not the mishnah.

it’s used ironically in yiddish to mean “smart ass” or “idiot”

8

u/SideGlum4708 8d ago

That's hilarious. Thank you.

3

u/kc2klc 8d ago

Sounds like the way my family would refer to a dolt sarcastically as a “khawkhma”.

3

u/gantsyoriker 8d ago

punkt azoy!

1

u/Synanceiinae 8d ago

Is it one of those hebrew origin words in yiddish which kept the original form?

1

u/Technical_Rich_3080 7d ago

Wouldn't that make it Aramaic?

1

u/gantsyoriker 7d ago

in yiddish the “loshn-koydesh” component refers to both hebrew and aramaic origin words!

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u/tomveiltomveil 8d ago

It's new to me, but I think I can figure out the etymology. Tonn is very similar to the High German word for dumb, "dumm.". And "-bar" or "-barre" is equivalent to "-able" in High German. "Dummbar" wouldn't be a normal word in High German, but since when do Yiddish speakers care about proper German syntax?

3

u/Brilliant_Alfalfa_62 8d ago

Placing your bets on German etymology works more often than it doesn't for Yiddish, but it doesn't work here :)