Schlemihl

See also: schlemihl

German

Etymology

19th century, from Yiddish ⁧שלימיל⁩ (shlimil). Further origin uncertain; see the Yiddish for more.

The rather odd spelling with -ih- follows the use of Adelbert von Chamisso in his well-known novella Peter Schlemihl (1813). Von Chamisso probably avoided Schlemiel because it could have suggested a trisyllabic pronunciation as in Gabriel (though he might have spelt *Schlemil).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈʃleːmiːl/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

Schlemihl m (strong, genitive Schlemihls, plural Schlemihle)

  1. schlemiel

Declension
Declension of Schlemihl [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Schlemihl die Schlemihle
genitive eines des Schlemihls der Schlemihle
dative einem dem Schlemihl den Schlemihlen
accusative einen den Schlemihl die Schlemihle

See also
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.