Dear JPete,
Chendahl, in various forms (as discussed above by my colleague
Pafalafa-ga), is not a hebrew name, although it is a distinctive
Jewish first name for a woman. It is a Yiddish name.
Yiddish, as you may already know, is an European language used by Jews
of Eastern Europe and Russia, that integrated old-German and Hebrew.
The word Sheyn in Yiddish means "beautiful", "fair" or "pretty" ,
similarly to the German "sch?n".
The "dl" suffix is popular in Yiddish names as a diminutive, "cuter" form:
"The Yiddish diminutive of a name, as well as of other words, is usually
formed by the addition of a final lamed /l/, for example Avreml, Dovidl,
Khayiml. But when the name ends with a nun /n/, it is formed by the
addition of daled _and_ lamed /dl/, for example Sheyndl, Zalmendl,
Zundl." (SOURCE: "Mendele: Yiddish literature and language",
<http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/vol05/vol05.125>).
"Popular diminutive endings for Yiddish female names were -el or -dl,
such as when Raisa becomes Raisel, Sheina becomes Sheindl, and Feiga
becomes Feigel. (Note that typical Polish spellings are used in the
slide)." (SOURCE: Diminutives, Yiddish - Female,
<http://www2.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/GivenNames/slide32.html>).
In Yiddish, by the way, it is written like that:
???????
or, I also seen
??????
Since Yiddish is written with Hebrew fonts, I am not sure if this
original form helps at all, it is pronounced "sheyndel".
The meaning of your friend's name, in other words, is "beauty", and
from the way you describe her, it is pretty appropriate ;-)
As for the origin, and given the fact that you are spelling your
friend's name from pronounciation, it could be, generally speaking,
from everywhere in Eastern Europe/Russia, and even from some Yiddish
speaking communities in Western Europe.
However, the Given Name Database
<http://www2.jewishgen.org/databases/GivenNames/index.htm> has a
couple of records that might shed some light, although they are also
highly speculative: as I said before, the name was a highly popular
name among Yiddish speakers, and was popular across geographic
boundaries.
The GNDb suggest, as a first source, Galicia (today part of Ukraine
and Lithuania), where you can find two items with this name:
The Galician Given Names Database
<http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model~GNDB_GALI~CHENDAHL~GD~!4!~0~USRECORD467>
Record II from the Galician Given Names Database
<http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model~GNDB_GALI~CHENDAHL~GD~!4!~0~USRECORD468>
It does not give reference to this name, with this spelling from any
other of the countries in their database, so it could be that the name
- in this transformation comes from Galicia.
See more:
Behind the name: Jewish Names <http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/jew2.html>
Yiddish/Foreign origin Names
<http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/Middle-East/Jewish/Yiddish.htm>
I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
further clarification on this answer before you rate it.
Sources: I must admit that I recognised the name the moment you wrote
the question, but just to be sure:
(1) Spoke with a Yiddish speaker
(2) Searched the net on Yiddish names, and their history.
PS: There is an American actress who goes by the name of M?dchen
Amick. The word "M?dchen" means "a girl" in German (and Yiddish),
that's all. I wonder what her parents were thinking. |
