schmaltz

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃmɒlts/, /ʃmɔːlts/ (UK); /ʃmɔlts/, /ʃmɑlts/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Yiddish שמאַלץ (shmalts, “melted fat; sentimentality”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Middle High German smalz (“animal fat”),^[2][3][4] from Old High German smalz,^[2][3][4] related to smelzan “to melt”.^[3][4] It is related to smelt.^[4][6] Modern German Schmalz “fat, grease” has the same figurative sense.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cloying sentimentality, especially in music (1935);^[3][4][5][7] also melted chicken fat (1935).^[7]

Semantic evolution

In 1935 jazz musicians used schmaltz as a contemptuous term for sweet, straight dance music, as opposed to improvised hot jazz.^[4] The verb, to play or make sentimental, is from 1936,^[3][7] and schmaltzy from 1935.^[3] In Jewish-American cookery schmaltz herring is recorded by 1914.^[4]

Timeline

• 1914 – schmaltz herring.^[4]
• 1935 – sentimentality, chicken fat, and schmaltzy.^[3][4][5][7]
• 1936 – verb, to make sentimental.^[3][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Excessive sentimentality, especially in music, art or writing.
2. Melted fat, especially chicken or goose fat.

Verb

1. To make sentimental, or to play music in a sentimental way; often with up.

Word family

• schmaltzy

Related words

• smelt
• enamel

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press