Pessel | Imamother

amother

Tue, Jul 21 2009, 9:33 am

Does anyone know the meaning of the name Pessel or what the hebrew equivilant would be?

Tamiri

Tue, Jul 21 2009, 9:40 am

A pessel is an idol in Hebrew. The root peh samech lamed is pasool, something defiled.
Pessia is a name I have heard.

Ruchel

Tue, Jul 21 2009, 9:43 am

Many of my cousins are Pessel Rechel.
Pessel IS a Yiddish name. Machlokes if it's from Pessach, Perel, etc.

sped

Tue, Jul 21 2009, 9:58 am

I am under the impression that it is a form of Batya (Basya). I had an aunt Pessel - she was a very, very special woman.

poelmamosh

Tue, Jul 21 2009, 10:10 am

sped wrote:

I am under the impression that it is a form of Batya (Basya).

Yes. Basya -> Pessia -> Pessel
It's spelled פעסל, and pronounced peh/sl as opposed to the hebrew peh\sehl.
The word itself also means "barrel" (as in phessel-vessel) in yiddish. This from a dear teacher of mine in Melbourne, Australia whose wife also had this name.

Rodent

Tue, Jul 21 2009, 8:30 pm

Except that the name is correctly Bitya and not Batya despite what everyone seems to think....

hila

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 5:13 am

This will date me - but it reminds me of the Danny Kaye movie with the "the pessel with the vessel hold the brew that is true" - I think it was "the Court Jester"

I could be wrong..

maidale

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 5:32 am

Ruchel wrote:

Many of my cousins are Pessel Rechel.
Pessel IS a Yiddish name. Machlokes if it's from Pessach, Perel, etc.

Interesting! Dh's grandma is named Pessel Rechel, although I have to find out after whom.

Does anybody know if Rechel comes from the hebrew name Rachel?

amother

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 7:48 am

OP here

Thank you everyone for your replies. For Tamiri, Zus, and all hebrew speakers, we are MO and live in an area with many israelis (in america). Does Pessel sound as bad to them as, say, Moron would to american kids?

Zus

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 7:55 am

No it doesn't sound like moron, it sounds like 'statue' or worse, 'idol'. Israelis can't pronounce Pessl, they'll say it like pessel.

Ruchel

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 7:57 am

maidale wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

Many of my cousins are Pessel Rechel.
Pessel IS a Yiddish name. Machlokes if it's from Pessach, Perel, etc.

Interesting! Dh's grandma is named Pessel Rechel, although I have to find out after whom.

Does anybody know if Rechel comes from the hebrew name Rachel?

Rechel does come from Rachel. Some of these cousins are called Racheli. If I remember you are from Belgium? my cousins are from there too (some moved to LOndon or Israel).

poelmamosh

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 9:07 am

Zus wrote:

No it doesn't sound like moron, it sounds like 'statue' or worse, 'idol'. Israelis can't pronounce Pessl, they'll say it like pessel.

You can always shorten it to Pessi, if that's any better...

amother

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 9:42 am

OP again

Pessi is not better in MO circles. I once knew a Pessi, everyone called her Pishy

Ruchel

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 9:48 am

Better a real name with a real Jewish history, like Pessel, than a made up name even in Hebrew. JMHO.

Ruchel

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 9:54 am

Not everyone rules it's ok to change the form of the name (like going from Yidis to Yehudit).

maidale

Wed, Jul 22 2009, 10:22 am

Ruchel wrote:

Not everyone rules it's ok to change the form of the name (like going from Yidis to Yehudit).

Yidis IS a nickname for Yehudit. As far as I know, there's no name Yidis. All the ones I know were given the name Yehudit by their kiddush.