Yenta or Yente ( Yiddish : יענטע ) is a Yiddish woman's given name. It is a variant form of the name Yentl ( Yiddish : יענטל ), which ultimately is thought to be derived from the Italian word gentile , meaning 'noble' or 'refined'. The name has entered American English only in the form yenta in the senses of "meddler, busybody, blabbermouth, gossip" and is not only used to refer to women. Both the forms yenta and yente are used in Yinglish (Jewish varieties of English) to refer to someone who is a gossip or a busybody.
12-474: The use of yenta as a word for 'busybody' originated in the age of Yiddish theatre. During and after World War I, Yiddish-language discs recorded in New York by theatre actors such as Clara Gold and Gus Goldstein portrayed the characters Mendel and Yente Telebende and sold so well that dozens of copycat recordings were made. The popularity continued in the 1920s and 1930s as the humorist Jacob Adler, writing under
24-496: A solo singer; the disc was not released but she was soon invited back. Starting in 1917, she started making Yiddish-language comedy and theatre discs for Victor and also for Columbia Records . Most of her early recordings were made with actor Gus Goldstein and consisted of scenes featuring the popular Yente Telebende character (the source of the term Yenta , and a character which had previously been played by Bina Abramowitz ). In 1919 she also recorded some Yiddish songs arranged by
36-674: Is a Jewish cemetery located in Flushing, Queens , New York, United States. It was founded in 1903 as the Jewish section of Cedar Grove Cemetery , and occupies the vast majority of the grounds at Cedar Grove. The cemetery is on the former Spring Hill estate of colonial governor Cadwallader Colden . Mount Hebron is arranged in blocks, which are then split up into sections or society grounds. Sections were originally sold mainly to families or Jewish community groups such as landsmanshaftn , mutual aid societies , and burial societies. For instance, Mount Hebron
48-591: Is known for having a section reserved for people who worked in New York City's Yiddish theater industry. While this type of organization is common for American Jewish cemeteries, Mount Hebron has an especially diverse range of society grounds. About 226,000 people have been buried in Mount Hebron since it opened. There is a large Workmen's Circle section in both Cedar Grove and Mount Hebron Cemetery, with about 12,000 burials of Jewish and non-Jewish members of
60-601: Is the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof , in which a character named Yente serves as the matchmaker for the village of Anatevka. The name has also been used for: This Yiddish language -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Clara Gold Clara Gold ( Yiddish : קלאַראַ גאָלד , 1888–1946) was an American Yiddish theatre actor and recording artist. She recorded more than twenty Yiddish theatre music and comedy discs between 1917 and 1929, usually with comedic partner Gus Goldstein . Gold
72-606: The Klezmer recording artist Israel J. Hochman . In 1922 and 1923 she then made a series of discs with OKeh Records , including some with Goldstein and some as a solo singer. Her final recordings seem to have been with Victor Records in July 1929. In the 1930s, after the general collapse of the recording industry due to the Great Depression , she continued to act on the Yiddish stage. She
84-492: The Workmen's Circle. Mount Hebron also hosts a number of Holocaust memorials erected on society grounds by Jewish immigrants. For instance, there is a large monument erected by immigrants and descendants of immigrants from the city of Grodno in what is today western Belarus . The monument is dedicated "In memoriam to our dear parents, brothers and sisters of the city of Grodno and environs who were brutally persecuted and slain by
96-619: The actor's union she became a character actor on the mainstream Yiddish stage in New York and Philadelphia , including at the Liberty Theatre with Julius Adler and later Anshel Schorr , at the Prospect Theater, and at the Lyric Theatre. According to Pesach Burstein , Gold was illiterate and memorized all of her lines by ear before any new performance. In 1916 she was invited to Victor Records to make test recordings for them as
108-426: The pen name B. Kovner for The Jewish Daily Forward , wrote a series of comic sketches featuring the characters, with Yente as a 'henpecking wife'. The popularity of the character led to the name developing its colloquial sense of 'a gossip'. There is a mistaken belief that the word for a Jewish matchmaker is yenta or yente . In reality a Jewish matchmaker is called a shadchan (שדכן). The origin of this error
120-657: The war; her final appearances seem to have been at the Bronx Art Theatre in fall 1946 in Anna Chernak and Sophie Geby's "The Woman that God Forgot". She died on December 12, 1946. She was buried in the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance section at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens . Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City) 40°44′03″N 73°49′50″W / 40.73417°N 73.83056°W / 40.73417; -73.83056 Mount Hebron
132-610: Was born in New York City in 1888. Her father was a house painter. Not long after she was born, the entire family moved back to Lemberg , Austria-Hungary (today Lviv, Ukraine ). The family returned to the United States when she was thirteen. She got her start in acting as a chorus girl in the Windsor Theater. She then became a Vaudeville and variety artist at various venues and music halls in New York. When she entered
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#1733126884420144-688: Was in a production at with Nellie Casman at the Odeon Theatre on Clinton Street in 1930. She performed for a time in Detroit in 1931. She was a regular cast member at the Liberty Theater once again under Louis Birnbaum starting in 1932. During the late 1930s and early 1940s she often performed in supporting roles at the Hopkinson Theatre in Brooklyn. She continued to appear on stage during and after
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