Some Portuguese Words with Jewish Roots

05Jun11

Since June is Portuguese Heritage month, here are some Portuguese words with Jewish roots. I will post more later.

Sábado = Saturday, but also Sabbath in Portuguese. Its origin is from the Hebrew Shabbat and from the Judeo-Portuguese word sabá.

Curiosity: Portuguese, differently from other European languages, which have days named after planets, such as “Monday”, “lunes” and “lundi” (“moon day” in English, Spanish and French, respectively), numbers all days from 2 to 6. Monday is number 2, “segunda-feira”, the second, not the first day of the week).

Tâmara = date (fruit), from the Hebrew for date, “tamar” (תמר).

Curiosity: Spanish, often compared to Portuguese, stuck to the Latin “dátil”.

Chá = Tea, from Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) “chay” (pronounced “shay”). Noticeably different from the Spanish “té” and the French “thé”.

Curiosity: It was a Portuguese woman of Jewish origin who introduced tea to the Queen of England for the first time.

Azeite, azeitona = Olive oil and olive, respectively. From the Hebrew ha-zeit (“the olive”).

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