1833: yenta Dec 22, 2019

Made famous by 'Fiddler on the Roof", there is some confusion about the meaning of 'Yente'. Some people think this is matchmaker—this was only her job in the story—but what simply started as a surname has indeed morphed into a word in English, in some communities, meaning 'gossip'. However, the name itself actually originated as a variant of 'Yentl' (יענטל‎) from Italian meaning literally 'gentile'. To be clear, this is not to say it meant 'non-Jew', but instead 'noble'.

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