Talk:Yekke

Etymology
I've Googled for the etymology but no luck was to be had. I'm asking, who seems to know these things. JFW | T@lk  20:24, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Some words are too heimish (words from the "old country") to be "Googled"... IZAK 08:02, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

So who should we ask? JFW | T@lk  20:11, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * How about some Yiddish speaking jews? Not to be too sarcastic but we all happen to walk among the general populous and will answer questions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimmyzimms (talk • contribs) 20:33, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

This is the only article I can find that deals exclusively with the etymology of the Yidish word yeke and is published in a scholarly journal:

Gold, David L. 1981. “The Etymology of Yiddish yeke." Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik. Vol. XLVIII. No. 1. Pp. 57-59.S. Valkemirer (talk) 15:45, 5 January 2021 (UTC)


 * Appears to be free on the web. Zerotalk 10:44, 6 January 2021 (UTC)

The meaning of "Yekke"
As far as I was told by my father, this derogatory name is an Hebrew acronym of "Yehudi K'eshe Havana (יהודי קשה הבנה)" meaning: A Jew who have hard time to get what he was told" (inflexible one).--Gilisa (talk) 15:05, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
 * A Yekke friend of mine gave me this same explanation: "Yehudi K'eshe Havana" which literally means "a Jew hard of understanding" - a person who has a hard time grasping things. The stereotype is someone who is such a stickler for familiar methods and details that they have trouble grasping new ideas. Still, it seems to me like this is likely simply a backronym. Is it worth noting in the article regardless? --80.179.12.87 (talk) 17:16, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Here's a footnote supporting this explanation: http://books.google.com/books?id=AM5hF1s9s0sC&pg=PA202&dq=yekke+yehudi+kashe&cd=2#v=onepage&q=yekke%20yehudi%20kashe&f=false

This was deleted by an anon. editor today. I don't know that it is accurate, but I thought it would be good to post it here rather than losing it completely: "The word itself stems from a coagulation of Hebrew and Yiddish, loosely meaning "jacket". (Note that the similar-sounding Jacke does mean jacket in standard German.)" LamaLoLeshLa (talk) 22:29, 6 August 2008 (UTC)


 * You may want to have a look to the German wikipedia page, they have some more theories! For instance that it dates back to the time of immigration of so called "Eastjews" to Germany from 1880 onwards. The rivalry with the local assimilated Jews resulted in derogatory naming of each other. The newcommers were called by their clothes "Kaftanjuden", and the residents "Krawattenjuden" (="necktie-Jews") or "Jecken". Please note that "Jeck" in German has also a conotation of "fool" in the area of Cologne carneval. Hope it helps : ) --84.59.124.243 (talk) 14:24, 10 November 2008 (UTC) Popolfi

Few residents?
I think the article is misleading/contradictory in that it defines Yekke as a german jew and then states that few reside in Germany. There are more than 200.000 german jews according to the Article Jews_in_Germany --Hisredrighthand (talk) 12:10, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Scope of article
Is this article about (1) German-speaking Jews - German Jews, Austrian Jews, etc, (2) the subset of that group that migrated to Palestine in the Fifth Aliyah, or (3) their somewhat silly nickname? I would say that (1) is really the most deserving of a complete article, and something that necessarily includes the other two, though perhaps it should have a more authoritative article title.--Pharos (talk) 12:59, 27 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Having read the article, I don't know. I'd like it if someone could add a little more to the lede, at least, to make the subject clearer. How are "German-speaking Jewish" people distinct from Ashkenazim? I would assume that means speakers of Standard German (or other more recent German dialects) as opposed to Yiddish. But it's hard for me to tell if the author of the article was thinking along the same lines. I fear that somebody out there might describe a person who speaks Yiddish as "German-speaking". – Greg Pandatshang (talk) 17:28, 2 September 2017 (UTC)