Hebrew word of the week: Compliment/MaH(a)ma’ah

I have been asked whether there is any connection between maHma’ah “compliment” and Hem’ah “butter.” Indeed, there is. It is based on the one occurrence of maHama’ot in Psalms 55:22, which seems to be a misreading of me-Hem’ah. Compare to the JPS translation: “his talk was smoother than butter.” Now compare to the informal English expression, “to butter someone up,” meaning “to flatter.”

In modern Hebrew, both maHma’ah and qompliment (probably from the German/Russian kompliment)* are commonly used. A new derivative verb is le-haHmi’ “to flatter, compliment”; somewhat synonymous with le-fargen “treat favorably” (from Yiddish).

*Originally from the French-Italian-Latin complementum’ “completion, fulfillment of requirements of courtesy.”

Yona Sabar is a professor of Hebrew and Aramaic in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA