Tuesday, March 06, 2007

More Purim Lore

I think this is pretty well known, but judging from the appalled looks I received this weekend, I guess I was wrong. So for the record (via Wikipedia):

There are two possible origins of the name. The most popular theory is that the name hamantash (המן־טאַש), which literally means "Haman's pocket," is a reference to Haman (also known as Homen), the villain of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther. This theory has no basis in fact. A more likely source of the name is a corruption of the Yiddish word מאן־טאשן (montashn) or the German word mohntaschen, both meaning poppyseed-filled pouches.[1] Over time, this name was transformed to hamantashen, likely by association with Haman. In Israel, they are called אוזני המן (Oznei Haman), Hebrew for "Haman's ears."
Feel free to say "duh."

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