Re: tembel

[Joshua Horowitz <horowitz...>]

Hi Sandra,

wow. This etymological stuff is bound to go around a coupla corners
before we reach Djerba. Okay, to sum it up thus far, we've got the
INSTRUMENT on the one hand, which - maybe we can agree -comes from the
Greek Kymbalon, which went through various phases of linguistic
interference until it became the Latin Cymbalom (K becomes s, and s
becomes ts; n becomes m). The Greek Kymbalon referred to a pair of metal
cymbals, whereas the Latin Cymbalom referred first to bowl-shaped bells.
In any case the common point is they were all struck and not blown or
rubbed, etc. So Cymbalom came to mean "struck instrument."

Then we have the words for idiot, "Tembel"
(Turko-Greco-Hebraic-Judeo-Spanish)

Then we have the Slavic "Ty cymbale" which means "you idiot" today but
which could have another root beside the instrument.

That implies that the concept and word for idiot came from the middle
east and was taken up to mean the same thing in Poland, but since the
word was phonetically similar to the instrument found in Poland, the
concept of the idiot became synonymous with the player of the
instrument. Gee and all this time I thought we tsimblists were just
plain stupid. 

Reminds me of the misleading translation of the German passage:

Im Zimmer gibt es ein Zug. Machen Sie bitte das Fenster zu, sonst muss
ich ausziehen.

One possible literal translation: In the room there is a train. Make the
window close you, otherwise I have to undress.

Semantic interpretation of original: There's a draft in the room. Close
the window, please, otherwise I'll have to move away. Josh

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