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Re: Velvel
Hmmm, I don't speak Yiddish, but I think that many Yiddish names have diminutive forms ending in -el, -ele or -l. For example Tzirel for Sarah, Shoshele for Shoshanna, Yentl for Yenta, Fraydel for Frayda...Short and sweet like Swedish summer....
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Yes, that's my impression too, heavily based on Fiddler on the Roof! But then we run into the gender issue: all those -l ending names seem to be feminine, whereas my friend's father was by definition and inclination quite the reverse. Come to that, even Tolkien put in that cute bit about how "real" Hobbit male names tend to end in -a but he changed it for English readers to avoid confusion. So that would make Velvel the diminutive of the male name Velva, right? Makes sense ... but isn't in the Database, oddly enough. Maybe one day.
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