נפולת של נמושות

[rolmich]

Hello everybody,
I believe this insult was coined by Itzhak Rabin as he visited the USA on an official mission.
This is how he considered the יורדים (Israeli emigrant to the US).
How would you translate it in english : residue of weaklings?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
rolmich

 

[origumi]

נפולת של נמושות

 

[rolmich]

נפולת של נמושות

Thanks for the correction, then : fallout of weaklings?

 

[Vishinka]

Hey Rolmich.
Since you can't really translate it word by word, I would have translated it as "bunch of scum".

 

[arielipi]

Scum is a bit harsh imo for נמושות.

 

[airelibre]

I agree, Vishinka, it must be a translation of the meaning and force of the statement rather than word by word.

I really want to think of something more similar, something including the idea of weakness, but since I can't right now, I'll suggest these:
bunch of nobodies, scum of the earth

 

[ystab]

I'd go for "a fallout of wimps", "a bunch of wimps" or "dropout wimps".

 

[airelibre]

Dropout wimps is great. A fallout of wimps is not so natural.

 

[rolmich]

Thanks everybody for your help.
rolmich

 

[seitt]

This is a different version to what I think my Hebrew teacher told me, though it is many years ago and I may be mistaken.
I think she said that Rabin's words were נפולת חלשים - would this at least be correct Hebrew, please?

 

[amikama]

Never seen נפולת חלשים before, and Rabin definitely said נפולת של נמושות.
נפולת חלשים is technically correct Hebrew.

 

[Abaye]

Never seen נפולת חלשים before.

Neither did Google, not idiomatic, will puzzle Hebrew speakers (although they'll understand it).

 

[seitt]

Many thanks - btw, how would you pronounce נמושות?

 

[Abaye]

Nefolet shel nemoshot

 

[seitt]

And the singular is also nemosha?
That seems to be a change from what Segal says in his dictionary, but of course languages do change.
Btw, what is the root of the word? Is it a Niph'al form?

 

[Drink]

Dictionaries say nemusha/nemushot. But it could be that people say nemusha/nemoshot. After all, the masculine form is namosh.

Yes, it is nif'al. Root מוש.

 

[Abaye]

Wiktionary says both namoshot (as appears in כתב יד קויפמן של המשנה, פאה ח א) and nemushot (of root מוש).
In אבן שושן we find namoshot.
The Academy says namoshot (of root נמש) and mentions nemushot as incorrect.
Other sources like this suggest nemoshot.
According to שפה עברית the root is משש.

Maybe there are two different words of two different roots, both have nearly the same sound and meaning, both are not very commonly used?

 

[Drink]

That's very interesting. That's only regarding the plural despite the singular being nemusha? Or is the singular also namosha?

It could be that the semantic root is משש, while the morphological root is מוש.

 

[seitt]

It could be that the semantic root is משש, while the morphological root is מוש.

Yes, these are the most difficult root types, I think, for learners.