Yimakh shemo
Hebrew curse From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yimakh shemo (Hebrew: יִמַּח שְׁמוֹ, romanized: yīmmaḥ šəmō, lit. 'may his name be erased') is a Hebrew curse placed after the name of particular enemies of the Jewish people.[1] A variant is yimakh shemo v'zikhro (Hebrew: יִמַּח שְׁמוֹ וְזִכְרוֹ, romanized: yīmmaḥ šəmō vəzīḵrō, lit. 'may his name and his remembrance be erased').[2]
Usage
Summarize
Perspective
The term, although Hebrew, may be inserted as a set phrase in languages other than Hebrew, including Yiddish,[3] for example, "Dos iz a kol-boynik, yemakh-shmoy!" ("He is a scoundrel, yemakh-shmoy!")[4][5] and English.[6] When the phrase is used in English of plurals the Hebrew plural -am ("their names and their memories" yimach shemam ve-zichram) is applied.[7][8] The epithet may be abbreviated as "Y. S." in some English texts.[9] In Hebrew the abbreviation is (יש״ו) y-sh"u[10] The curse connects with examples of erasure of names in other cultures.[11] It has been called "the classic Jewish curse".[12]
Biblical origin: Psalms Haman and Amalek
The phrase has its origins in Psalm 109 verse 13.
13 May his end be to be cut off; in another generation may their name be blotted out. יגיְהִֽי־אַֽחֲרִית֥וֹ לְהַכְרִ֑ית בְּד֥וֹר אַ֜חֵ֗ר יִמַּ֥ח שְׁמָֽם: [13]
The Extra word (vezikhro) originates with Purim[14] and is applied to Haman.[15][16]
Although the immediate context of the phrase yimakh shemo vezikhro is related to Haman, some sources[17] suggest that the second part of the phrase, "and his memory" (vezikhro), harks back to the instruction to "obliterate the memory of Amalek" (תִּמְחֶה אֶת־זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק) in Deuteronomy 25:19, and Exodus 17:14.[18] This connection is supported in some sources by the idea that Haman is a descendant of Amalek.[19][20]
Relation to damnatio memoriae
The obliteration of Amalek's memory has been compared to the Latin damnatio memoriae by several European academics.[21][22][23][24]
Historical national enemies; personal enemies
The phrase can also be applied to anyone perceived as "a great enemy of the Jewish nation"[25] such as Sabbatai Zevi,[26][27] Bohdan Khmelnytsky,[28] Spain,[29] [better source needed] Joseph Stalin,[30] Russians,[31] Poles,[32] Adolf Hitler,[3][33][34] Adolf Eichmann,[35] Josef Mengele,[36] any other Nazi,[37][38] or even in cases of interpersonal relationships, such as in reference to an abusive father,[39] or conversely as the father of Israel Zangwill of his playwright son.[40] Yisrael Meir Kagan used the epithet of the man who tried to persuade him to abandon his studies.[41]
Jesus
There are only a very small number of texts where yimakh shemo is used of Jesus,[42] although the tradition that Yeshu (יֵשׁוּ – (יֵשׁוּעַ minus the ayin) is related to the yimach shemo has a little popular circulation, maybe an inheritance from medieval polemical traditions.[43] An early introduction of this connection into Lutheran literature was made by convert Johan Kemper.[44]
Usage in English and Yiddish literature
Saul Bellow places the phrase in the mouth of the titular character of his novel Herzog[45] to comically depict his anger.[46] Leo Haber's The Red Heifer (2001), set in New York's Lower East Side in the 1940s, includes the term in a glossary.[47]
Derived Jewish terms
In Yiddish a derived noun, formed with the Slavonic -nik nominalizing suffix, is yemakh-shmoynik 'scoundrel' (feminine yemakh-shmoynitse), but this is not used with the strength of the original epithet yemakh-shmoy.[48]
The term yimakh shemo is often used in combination with the term meshummad from the root shamad, which signifies to destroy.[49][50]
See also
References
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