# נו בקשה



## CarlitosMS

Hello everybody

I would like to know what does "נו בקשה" mean, I'm not sure if I wrote it correctly.

Kind regards

Carlos


----------



## origumi

נו is urging to do something (borrowed from Yiddish, I guess a cognate of German nun = well, now).
בבקשה is please

נו בבקשה (pronounced nu bevakasha) means _well (do it) please_, or _well (take it) please_, or even _here we go again _(something that was expected really happened).

What's the context?


----------



## CarlitosMS

It's the start of "Shir ha-batlanim", a song by famous Israeli comedians Natan Datner and Avraham "Avi" Kushnir.


----------



## origumi

Kushnir says בבקשה, נו = please, let's start.


----------



## Aoyama

> נו is urging to do something (borrowed from Yiddish, I guess a cognate of German nun = well, now).


"Nu" is also found in Russian and in Ukrainian (and maybe in Polish and Belarussian as well) with a slighly different meaning.
So is it really coming from German through Yiddish, or is it coming from Russian or ... is the Russian usage borrowed from Yiddish ?
Nu , in Hebrew (being what I call an "idiosyncratical word") = come on, so are you coming /starting, telling (what you should tell).
It may also depend on intonation. So what, what do I care, and then.
You could say : nu, ma kara ? So then, what happened ?
Nu, tavo kvar ! It's taking too long, come already !
Nu, ma yesh (po/kan) ? What's going on here ?
Nu could also have the meaning of the Spanish (ahora) "vamos vamonos", as in "nu, nelekh" or "nu, akhshav olkhim/nosim" (s is s not z).

the list could probably be endless ...


----------



## origumi

According to Safa Ivrit and to Ruvik Rosental נו is from Yiddish. However both only say it, with no further elaboration. In Latin it's nunc, so this can be a common IE word.

http://www.safa-ivrit.org/imported/yiddish.php
http://books.google.co.il/books?id=3JTy9EcFb4YC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=%D7%A0%D7%95+%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A7+%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%96%D7%A0%D7%98%D7%9C+%D7%99%D7%99%D7%93%D7%99%D7%A9+%D7%96%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%96&source=bl&ots=eGeaOSayyz&sig=MvbKvXRB0gSmK7ui3k4dTm0eGRg&hl=en&ei=aW3FTYKTL4qTswals6TIDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%20%D7%A0%D7%95%20&f=false

---

Added: it's derived from Proto-IE *nū.
http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/re...ny=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on


----------



## Aoyama

Yes, thank you for the links.
Simply, when you come to think of it, "nu" would be linked to ... "now" ...
But first of all, clearly this was NOT used in Old, Classical or even pre Modern Hebrew.
It must have began to be used probably in the 1930ies (with the arrival of Eastern Europe immigrants). Extended usage must have really taken place after 1948.
It would also be interesting to know if Sephardim Jews use it (in Israel) as often as Ashkenazim (provided they use it at all).


----------



## origumi

Aoyama said:


> It must have began to be used probably in the 1930ies (with the arrival of Eastern Europe immigrants). Extended usage must have really taken place after 1948.


י"ח ברנר (who was murdered in 1921) uses it a lot. For example in מסביב למדורה, ערב ובוקר, נכא רוח.
שלום עליכם (who died in 1916, wrote mostly in Yiddish but also Hebrew) uses it. For example in פסח מוקדם.
א"נ גנסין (who died in 1913) uses it. For example in סעודה מפסקת.

All of them in the same meaning as of today's modern Herbew.


----------



## Aoyama

Right, but Both Brener and Shalom Aleichem/Sholem were Ukrainian. Uri Nissan Gnessin was Russian ...

(Posted the following day)
An Israeli friend of mine makes the pertinent comment that "nu" can be compared (in a way) to "yalla" (Arabic for "hurry", "fast", "move" frequently used in Hebrew as well).
Now, the other question could be : do Ashkenazim tend to use "nu" while "Sephardim" use "yalla" ... ?


----------



## origumi

You can add אבשלום פיינברג who uses it in a 1912 letter to שרה אהרונסון. He was a Sabra, born in The land of Israel, 1889 (although his parents immigrated from Russia). Also י"ל פרץ in סיפורי מסע. He was Polish, died 1915.

As the western Yiddish dialect almost (or fully) disappeared, the vast majority of Yiddish speakers lived among Slavic (or Balto-Slavic) people. For the vast majority of them (at least until early 20th century) Yiddish was the mother language. Therefore the fact that examples of נו in early or (pre-) modern Hebrew writing is from authors born in Eastern Europe does not strengthen the assumption that the word is borrowed from a Slavic language. Otherwise you could say it about any Yiddish borrowing into Hebrew if the word exists in any Slavic language.

Also, the two sources mentioned above (Safa Ivrit, Rosental) claim it's from Yiddish.

Therefore: I am not sure what makes you assume it's from Slavic origin.


----------



## OsehAlyah

Not sure how useful any of the following might be.


Aoyama said:


> So is it really coming from German through Yiddish, or is it coming from  Russian or ... is the Russian usage borrowed from Yiddish ?


I  can't answer this question definitevly, but just wanted to add that  Ashkenazi Jews came into Russia Proper from Ukraine and only in the 20th  century. When the Czarist Russian beat Poland to take the area of  Ukraine back, Jews were not allowed to move around freely where ever  they felt like. They had to stay put where they were. The doors only opened up after the communist revolution. So whatever influence that had taken place had to take place from about 1920s and on. On a separate  note Peter the Great had great admiration for German culture and  imported many Germans into Russian. Along with some linguistic German  elements. Among other things.


Aoyama said:


> It may also  depend on intonation. So what, what do I care, and then.


 In the  Russian language I don't believe Nu by itself can be used to mean these three  things


Aoyama said:


> Simply, when you come to think of it, "nu" would be linked to ... "now" ...


Using the word "Well?" as an expression also matches the word Nu well.


----------



## Aoyama

> I am not sure what makes you assume it's from Slavic origin.


very simply (and naively) because my two neighbours (in Paris), one Ukrainian, the other Russian (from Nalchik) use(d) "nu" while talking Russian to each other. My Russian being almost inexistant I still realized that this word was similar to Hebrew.
None of them are Jews, though the guy from Nalchik has a good friend living ... in Netanya, who then told me that this "nu" was the same word (but is it ?).



> Using the word "Well?" as an expression also matches the word Nu well.


 true. I meant phonetically, as also "nun" is close to "nu" (and other words cited in the link. "Well" is close semantically.


----------

